Beautiful Evening at Island Lake

As the trail usually is a sandy beach this time of year, it was a treat riding Island Lake tonight as the trails were firm, like my "G" used to be back in the day. We welcomed back a new rider in recent weeks, E, who completed his coaching stint in the Hi-White baseball/softball league. I am told his teams did quite well so way to go Gus posse! We actually passed some people tonight on the trail so the "blind squirrel" theory proved true. That couple pushing the baby carriage were going hard but we managed to pass them on the 13th mile.

The post ride consisted of the shortest balloon ride I have ever witnessed (it was up and down before you could say "cool balloon") and some junior high flashbacks. Whatever happened to Todd Morey, Doug Kivimaki, and Dawn Barrett? Can I get a shout out to the Brinckerhoffs?

Trail Head

Regardless of the weather, fish on

As it's one of the topics I hear about daily in the cubicle world I live in each work week (along with traffic/commute talk), I hate to do it, but yes, how about this weather? Friday and Saturday were about as muggy as you can get with the humidity giving my number six haircut a little extra fluff. I am happy to report that it didn't stop our fishing efforts Saturday afternoon out on Lake Orion. We never did get wet but the threat of rain kept the jet ski and speedboat activity to a minimum, which was a bonus. While the baby fish were doing most of the nibbling throughout the day, we both managed to bring in a few worthy of a "woo woo" call with Doke getting close to a three pounder. 

Lastly, my commentary for today. With Magglio (no longer "Singlio") out for awhile, the Tigers appear to be done. A lineup of Kelly, Sizemore, Worth, and Raburn just isn't going to get it done. Cabrera can only do so much and Boesch unfortunately came back to reality. I'll keep hoping for the best but it appears bleak.

Trail Head 

Stony Creek - Bike Tour heads east

The bike tour took to the east side today to see what the poor Macomb-ers had for choices in the mountain bike world. If Stony Creek is their pinnacle, I feel for them. The technical portions aren't too bad, however; there isn't enough of it to wet the riding appetite. The longest portion of the trail is pretty much a two track dirt road and if I want some excitement on a dirt road, I'll just ride my bike down South Tipsico Lake Road, stop in to see Dirt Road Del, and hear some 1/4 mile track race stories and how it's the toughest sprint out there (it really is). To make matters worse, the trail has an abundance of markers (pictured below) that point you this way and that way which doesn't help the riding mojo. Some markers point you one way and 20 yards later, you see a "wrong way" sign. What's with that? Those poor east side riders. All was not lost today though as the view atop Mt. Sheldon (highest point in Macomb I am told) wasn't too bad and I did get to see a hawk soaring while up there. My advice to the Macomb-ers, head west my fellow riders.

Trail Head

one of many forks on trail

view on top of

Mt. Sheldon

Magic Mountain Bike Bus

The ride tonight at the Milford Trail was a wet one to say the least but it gives me a chance to give a shout out to a visual I had seen in the area in recent months but got an up close view this past weekend at Lakeshore Park. The Helmet Heads are a mountain bike group whose mission is to ride for a cause (i.e.,http://www.bikems.org/) in addition to joy riding the state whenever possible for a trail ride. I spoke to one of the members and learned they got the bus via eBay for $900 with it lacking a solid transmission. A nice paint job and a rebuilt transmission and this is one magic bus. Based on the smell I experienced when they were leaving though, I think they need a new exhaust pipe also.

Ride on Helmet Heads!

Trail Head

 

Sometimes we fall....and sometimes we go to the hospital

Over the 10+ years of riding the many trails in southeastern Michigan, we've had our share of "wo wo's," "ohhh's," and "oh %#&*!!!" to go along with some skin scrapes that we would laugh about and walk away from, granted our bikes were still in one piece. Well, last night riding at Pontiac Lake, I heard the sound from behind me that definitely wasn't from a skin abrasion. It sounded more like a dying raccoon or cow. Mark was down and his ankle decided to turn the way it wasn't supposed to. This wasn't a limp away type of sprained ankle, bones were involved in this fall. A jogger caught up to us a few minutes later, we got Mark down to the road and met the fire-rescue truck who took it from there in getting him to the hospital. It turned out to be a break. Although Mark is going to be off the riding tour for awhile, looking at it with a "glass half full" angle, better an ankle injury than a melon injury. Ride on Frenchie.

Trail Head     

Bike Tour Heads West

I was cringing earlier this year when I learned that a friend of Nancy's was getting married during the July 4th weekend up in the Leelanau Peninsula. I was going to make the best of it though and packed my toys into my truck for a west side adventure. The wedding, in Suttons Bay at The Vineyard Inn (pictured right), was one of the nicer weddings I had been to. The ceremony was right on the beach and the dress code was beach-wear casual (no, not bathing suits, think Don Ho). The topper was Bell's beer on tap at the reception. Yummy. While Suttons Bay is about 20 minutes north of Traverse City, make a note to yourself to NEVER attempt to drive through the cherry capital around July 4th. It took us a good 30 minutes to travel a mile. People were everywhere. 

It was play time the next day as I took the bike off the truck and headed for a loop at the Big M within Manistee National Forest. I had the entire trail to myself and was able to work off a few of the beverages from the night before.

My lodging for the night was at the Ochs' compound on beautiful Hackert Lake on the east side of Ludington. The mission there was to play with toy number two, my kayak, the following morning. It was already close to 80 degrees when I got out on the water around 7 AM. The fish were hitting so it didn't matter if it was snowing, my mind was centered on putting more worms on the hook as the total take was about ten. I lost two whoppers I am sorry to say. A little too giddy on bringing them closer to the boat I guess. Patience Tim, patience. Thanks John and Linda for the lodging and some good eats.

After the float, I packed up the truck and drove the back roads of west Michigan. South from Ludington, I veered through many winding roads and got an up close look at Pentwater, Silver Lake, Stony Lake, Montague, and Whitehall. The road quality wasn't that great so I may need to hold off on a motorcycle ride on this route but the views were exactly what the doctor ordered. As Fred Bear says in the Ted Nugent song, I got the effect that cleansed the soul. I stopped for lunch in Pentwater at an establishment called The Brown Bear. They specialize in burgers and I had their main speciality, a one pounder called the Bear Burger. It felt like something out of one of my favorite shows on the Travel Channel, Man vs. Food. It wasn't a stack of quarter pounders either; it was one huge mass of meat. And cooked just right. I am happy to say that Man won this challenge versus Food as it went down smooth with a couple of cold beverages to wash it down. I am sorry to say that Food won the next day, however. I'll get to that in a minute.

The destination the next morning was Cannonsburg, a small town just northeast of Grand Rapids for two mountain bike trails I had heard about from a fellow rider. The first ride was at the Cannonsburg State Game Area. This is where the Man vs. Food topic comes back to the story. As I mentioned earlier, getting the burger down the previous day wasn't a problem, however; as I parked the truck at the trail head and was getting my bike ready, that burger was putting some serious pressure on my back side. No air was coming out without something behind it; similar to the scene in Dumb and Dumber when Jeff Daniels took the laxatives. To make matters worse, the parking lot had no bathroom. No bathroom and a code red; what to do? I did what we do on the backpacking trips; I looked for a tree with a bend in it, grabbed on, leaned back like I was water skiing and let nature take its course. Food definitely won that battle. After getting that off my mind, I was ready to ride and a fine trail it was. I would compare it to a slightly difficult version of Island Lake. The stone-laced hill (pictured below) had visions of another hospital visit going through my head but I happily made it down in one piece.

The second ride of the day was just up the road at the Cannonsburg Ski Area. The trails are to the east of the ski hills. The six mile loop was similar to Pontiac Lake without the rocks. Two thumbs up to the Grand Rapids area trails.

Trail Head

Pre-Independence Day Ride - Where the h#@&! did June go?

Summer is upon us finally so we can all say goodbye to our lush, green lawns that were produced from all that rain in June. You remember June don't you? I don't. I blinked. Enjoy every moment because before we know it, we'll be crying about how the Lions looked so good in off season workouts and can't understand why they are still bad once the season kicks in (sorry, not eating the cornbread yet but I haven't lost hope). The summer is here and it's time to look to the west in the evening and say, "that orange sky looks pretty cool." That was the feeling tonight on a nice ride at Brighton Recreation Area. The June rains played havoc on parts of the trail in terms of washout but overall, no complaints. The post ride consisted of grill master Mark cooking up some tasty burgers while he, Jim, and I discussed little league baseball, junior high and other topics that have no bearing on the future of the world but still put a grin on my face.

Happy Independence Day!

Trail Head