Sunday, October 14, 2007

Bulletin Board Biker Bash and group ride


I spent Saturday out at Lakeshore park in Novi manning the Hammer tent and helping out at the Cycletherapy booth. The event was the MMBA bulletin board Biker Bash, a fall get together of mountain bikers who spend the day socializing, riding, and playing bike games. Several shops bring out bikes for the demo and the Cycletherapy booth was pretty busy all day. I had free Hammer samples and advice for those who stopped by. I also had a kerosene heater going as it was a bit chilly during the day.

I got to the park in time for an 8:00 am ride with Ernie, the owner of Cycletherapy, and several others. It was only about 36 degrees when we started but it didn't take too long to warm up on the trail. I hadn't ridden this trail in a few years so it provided a nice change from what I usually ride.

Today I got out to ride a little after 8:00 in the morning and again it was about 36 degrees but it was supposed to warm up later. I started by heading north on the back roads to ride some of the bigger hills before heading over to Stony metropark and try out some reworked singletrack. Along the way I saw quite a few deer and the when cresting a hill there were two hot air balloon just taking off and floating over the road. I wish I had my camera to get a shot of them against the sky and reflecting the early sun.

After Stony I then headed out of the park and just a short ways down the road to where a group of riders were preparing to preride a route that they want to use for a large group ride in a few weeks. We still had 19 riders at the start. I ended up leading most of the ride as I took them on an alternate route to what they had planned.

Anytime you get a large group of riders you will have people who ride at different speeds. Because this was a no drop ride, we had to be certain that everyone caught up at the major turns or intersections. This was not really a problem with our group but I can imagine if they get the 40 or 50 riders they are looking for then there may be some problems.

We ended up riding up and doing Bald Mountain and Addison Oaks before heading back down the Paint Creek Trail to the cider and doughnut stop. I turned off when we got closer to my house as it was running late.

Over all it was a good weekend to be out on a bike.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

do your familly come from the isle of man by eny chance kinley is a manx mame it meens son of wolf head my maiden name was kinley my farthers fam come from peel in the i o m thy were all fishermen hope you dont mind me asking thank you in addvanse veronica kinley vernon