That's what it's all about

To give non-riders a perspective of the feeling of pedaling with the music player in your ears, this blind squirrel learned how to add music to the helmet cam videos so you thankfully don't have to hear me groaning, coughing and talking to myself. You get Black Bob throwing out some soul. 

With that, below is a two minute highlight from one of best trails in Southeast Michigan; pedaled this past Friday the 13th!! No visuals of black cats spilling salt while hanging out under ladders; just utopia.

As the Hokey Pokey song goes, that's what it's all about!

Trail Head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=honfty0nTNE



Of course its not all fun and glory as the attached video illustrates. Sometimes you just have to say "not today."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zkW2nv8P8k

Tribute

I am late in giving the man his accolades but we lost a great entertainer last week with T. Petty passing on. In tribute to the man who entertained the hell out of me three times (the third is a bit foggy) at Pine Knob, I give you the Leechbombs with their take on a Petty favorite. The harmonica player looks very similar to a large headed mountain biker. 

Trail Head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHWaG3OEFv4

Mountain Town Fish

The annual Chippewa River fish in Mt. Pleasant received a different perspective yesterday as we left the river vessels at home and fished the river shore via Chipp-A-Waters and Island Parks. I am kicking myself for not utilizing the parks more during my two year stay at CMU back in the 80's as both parks are still A-number-1 with some nice upgrades in the 30 years since. Great to see.

For the Saturday fish stories, the river holes were there for the fish taking but the production was minimal for the group as an 8 inch bass took top billing for the day. We sure couldn't complain about the conditions though as I don't believe I saw a cloud all day. Regardless if we are catching them by foot or by sea, its about the people and the group of Chippewa alums in my company did not disappoint. 

Chip-oo-wah!!!

Trail Head

Mike doing his Statue of Liberty impression (nailed it)

Island Park

Island Park

Chipp-A-Waters Park

Island Park

Island Park

Chipp-A-Waters Park

Chipp-A-Waters Park

Chipp-A-Waters Park

Chipp-A-Waters Park

 

Island Park

One Fat Tire

Unicycle mountain biker was out tonight at Maybury State Park. I had seen him riding out there before and told others so I had to get a picture to prove to all that it can be done; granted the guy had to walk a couple of rocky hills but would guess he probably hit 3/4 of the loop. My crash total on two wheels this summer has hit double digits so I'll strive to reduce that before I attempt the one wheel; which looks very intriguing. Yes, it will be attempted sometime, but not yet.

Trail Head 

tribute ride

Yesterday was a day of remembrance for a rider who is in the big trail head in the sky as a group gathered at Highland Recreation Area to honor Carlos Ramirez, a dedicated rider and trail volunteer. While I have only been an official mountain bike association member for a short time, I remember meeting Carlos and his riding dog companion Lilly many times at Highland in past years. The guy was always upbeat and Lilly was small but boy that dog could run with no stop in mind.

The world (mountain biking or not) was fortunate to have Carlos Ramirez in it.

Trail Head

  

thankfully not my frame but this bike owner gets
to find out if he has a warranty

fun with words and other border fun

today's destination 

I thought I've heard every question/comment possible in my 49 (and 10/12th - two months to 50!) years on earth going over the border crossing into/out of Canada but today I heard a new one.
You always get the usual questions; citizenship, where you live, what you do for a living, what you're bringing, weapon possession and depending on the mood of the guard, it can go easy or he/she might be feeling sassy and try to make you answer the simple questions with a twist. Some might just be looking for conversation as I've found the Canadian guards love to talk fishing it seems in my experiences going over. Just bring up Colchester to them and the line behind me will be held up as the guard explains how many perch they pulled out the previous weekend.  

For citizenship, don't even think about answering 'American' as you will get a 10 minute lecture from the guard. "Is that South America or North?" Yes, I received said lecture way back when. 

For the weapon possession question, don't do like my cousin from Arkansas did back in the late 80's and answer, "I have a gun at home." The car got ripped apart that day.

ran into a pack of these at the park

Another lesson learned is firewood is not allowed to be brought over (bugs). I had brought over a good portion one time and the guard didn't say a thing. Two weeks later I brought over some more and found out about the restriction. Back over the border into the U.S. went young Tim into a not so great neighborhood, dropped the firewood off for what I'm sure was a family that needed it and back over the border I went.

Today while heading over to do a pedal and visit with former neighbors Judy and Tom, I had a guard who I think was bored or a former grammar school teacher. "What is the purpose for your visit?" came the question. "Going to Point Pelee for a pedal" was my reply. "What?!?!?" came from the booth with a very serious look at me. "A pedal (pointing back at the bicycle in the bed), you know, bicycle," I replied. "Oh, I just never heard 'pedal' used as a verb before," the guard said. And off I went. Doubly odd is the Canadian side is usually the least bother.
The pedal was great.
Pedal on grammar guard.

Trail Head

the 'point' of Point Pelee

trail leading up to the point

yes, I'm 49 10/12 but can still giggle while going by signs like this

Gear Grinders of the Future - No Pedal Clips Required!

The mountain bike patrol duties brought a view of the mountain bikers of tomorrow at the MiSCA (Michigan Scholastic Cycling Association) races at Island Lake today. A gold star to the MiSCA group in having the group for one thing and getting kids from all over the state off the couch and the computer and onto the trails. Most of the youngsters I saw riding looked like they were having the time of their lives, calling each other out for passing, shouting out "nice line!" or "you okay?" (of course he/she's not!).  No toe/pedal clips needed as I saw a few youngsters more or less ghost ride down a serious hill of rocks and roots with their feet dangling off the pedals with big grins on their faces. Some riders, however, looked like they would have rather been at home playing Mortal Combat online. You just can't convert them all but the MiSCA group is trying and that is step one.

As this was my first MiSCA event, I am still getting familiar with the riding classes. Today they had the elementary and middle school-ers on an abbreviated portion of the loop that the high school riders complete. The abbreviated portion still had some challenging climbs and they had to do it twice. The high school varsity did three loops and the JV did two. I don't know enough about the structure on how many riders per team but congrats to the Brighton team for taking the gold today in the high school event.

Trail Head

yep, they even do the ceremony; no champagne showers though 

the scene

home base for me

patroller Vicki

patroller Jeff

15 minute to race time - stress out time for some

course marshal