sometimes we fall....and sometimes the entire city of Hamburg is there to help

The person in this photo is unknown to me but apparently he had a bad spill tonight at Brighton Recreation Area. As Mark and I rode through, every member of the Hamburg emergency unit were attending to this down biker. They brought in a 4x4 golf cart to get him out with an ambulance nearby to........take him back to his car as it turns out he just had a twisted knee!!!!???? What kind of a wuss (not sure how wuss is spelled) has to get all that VIP treatment and not end up going to the hospital for some reason? Fake it dude! In comparison, poor Mark C. a couple years back had an ankle held up by skin and tendons and had to get carried down a hill at Pontiac Lake just to meet the ambulance; and he did go to the hospital for a fix.

I guess the moral of today's story is if you are going to hurt yourself on the trails, do it at Brighton Recreation Area. That is some sweet service.

Ha

Trail Head

Tiger game - over before it started

A beautiful day it was yesterday afternoon at the CoPa, if you were a Texas Ranger fan. By the time Kelly and I had sat down in the first inning, they were down 6-0, soon to be 8-0. I hadn't even touched my beverage yet! Oh, well. A great afternoon to watch a comeback attempt (did not come) and people watch as the place was sold out. It was a "who's who" in the crowd as Kelly's sister was there with some co-workers. I ran into Doke, Raj, and the Clarkston posse with them. Last but not least, there was a Joe and Tania M. sighting! I made a small donation to Greektown Casino after the game (quickest loss of money ever!).

Go get 'em Tigers!

Trail Head

Riding Time

The 13th year of the mountain bike tour is upon us and hopefully, the little league schedules will open up to allow the riders of yesteryear another chance to fly (well, kind of fly) through the woods.

Under normal season conditions, the trails would just about be getting close to rideable as winter's deep freeze would take awhile to thaw as spring slowly showed its face. Well, as we all know, we didn't have a normal winter so the riding gods gave us an earlier riding season. The bike tour commissioner's riding clock, however, didn't adjust to post a schedule earlier so here it is!

And no, I don't know any of the people in these pictures (cool views though).

April 19 - Island Lake
April 26 - Brighton
May 3 - Pontiac Lake
May 10   - Highland
May 17 - Milford
May 24 - Island Lake
May 31 - Brighton
June 7   - Pontiac Lake
June 14   - Highland
June 21 - Maybury
June 28 - Island Lake
July 5 - Brighton
July 12    - Lakeshore Park
July 19  - Highland
July 26  - Pontiac Lake
August 2   - Island Lake
August 9 - Brighton
August 16 - Pontiac Lake
August 23 - Highland
August 30 - Hickory Glen
September 6 - Island Lake
September 13 - Brighton
September 20 - Pontiac Lake
September 27 - Highland

October 4 - banquet, location TBD

Trailhead meeting time is 6 pm. Times, dates, and locations are subject to change. Non-riders are, as always, welcome to join in for post ride hanging. Sunday morning riding (the Church of Tim) will again commence this year at various locations throughout the area.

Hope to see you all out there on the trails or in the parking lot. 

Trail Head 

new member to the bike tour

That's right, Mr. Shipoopi himself, SOL member Slick, hoping to reclaim his vocal ensemble spryness, was tearing it up tonight on the trails at Island Lake Recreation Area! He was passing people on the left and the right; amazing display.

Yep, that's what happened.

Welcome to the tour Slick.

Trail Head  

Kentucky Lake - many species, no whoppers

our dock - Jonathan Creek

The vacation bells were ringing as five overworked individuals (sixth was retired - he used to be overworked) got a much needed break from the 9-5 grind and converged upon Kentucky Lake in southwest Kentucky for fishing and as Bob Seger says, "cleansing the soul". We had all the preparation necessary in making sure all of the necessities of a fishing trip weren't missed. Accommodations? Check. Boats? Check. Fish supplies/license? Check. Maps? Check. Food/supplies? Check. Beer? Check, ummm, kind of a check. 

With respect to the latter, we did buy beverage supplies enough for about a day or so with intentions of running up to the local party store to buy more when we got there. Well, we roll into town last Sunday giddy as 4th graders on the last day of school and hit a local grill for a beer and a burger before we moved on to the lake house. As I didn't see any people drinking beer when we walked through the place, I started to get a bit curious. Once we asked the question to the waitress, we found out. We were staying in a dry county! What's with that? I see no positives to anyone. A minor flesh wound to morale, we made the drive to Paducah (30 minutes) the next day and stocked up quite sufficiently for the week. 

the Och boys

Back to the main intention of this trip, the fishing. From the fishing reports that are available via the Internet, we all had intentions of getting that six-plus pound trophy bass that we had read so much about. I had visions of catching a fish at least every five or so minutes from all the talk. Well, our six pounder became a four pounder (nice catch Doke) and every five minutes happened in spurts but not as much as I was expecting. We all caught our share with a good representation of the fish family though so no complaints. In the boat came largemouth, smallmouth, sunfish, bluegill, white, striped, crappy (lot of crappy fishermen, we were the minority), catfish, drum, a few turtles, and Jerry grazed a gar pike. The lures that seemed to be doing the trick were the lipless crankbaits along with moderate success with the wacky style; green being the ideal worm color. Doke even pulled out a new weapon to the arsenal, the Alabama rig; and got his share of fish using it. That lure takes the "most hooks" theory to a whole new level.

final day find

The lake itself was beautiful and besides one day of clouds/rain, which turned out to be Tigers' opening day so it was a win-win, we had blue skies the entire week. Our accommodations were outstanding with a very short walk to our boats. The ping pong championship goes to Al as I got taken down on a late Thursday evening. That darn serve! For the wives reading this, all of your husbands broke even in poker throughout the week. We had a visitor on Wednesday as former Redskin Buddy D. made the drive up from his home in Tennessee. Buddy was gracious (???) enough to bring a gift with him. A mason jar of clear liquid that definitely wasn't water and will give you the tequila/jager face beyond all tequila/jager faces. Holy holy!!! John gets a gold star for another prize winning fish fry on Thursday. Good eats.
The week was great and yes, my soul was cleansed!

Trail Head  

the posse

striper

no, that isn't water

John cooking up the day's catch

no, didn't make it to Sassyland

stress just oozing off this boat

Jim going for air off the edge of the dock

nice bluegill

snorting catfish

the crib