Eight trails in 64 miles

We had the day off on Friday so I had planned to get out and do a longer ride. I haven't done one in quite some time. The weather was calling for a chance of rain but the radar looked like the rain would pass to the north and south of us. I decided to resurrect an old ride that would take in many of the trails in the area.

I started with some older trails off the the PollyAnn trail; these were used a few years ago for a race and way back were part of some motorcycle trails; you could tell from the bermed corners. Unfortunately they had become overgrown so I spent some time ducking and weaving around the brush. And also getting very wet from the moisture still on the leaves from the rain the night before.

I then headed to Orion Oaks where I got even wetter when the rain decided to let loose in a short downpour. I had a rain jacket with me so put that on for the rest of the time in the park. The sun came out and the jacket off as I was leaving and heading to Lake Orion High School for a lap around the race course.

From the High School I entered Bald Mountain South for a partial lap and then headed over to Bald Mountain North. I rode most of a lap before exiting the trail and riding to Addison Oaks for a full lap.

After Addison I took the back roads over to Stony Creek and completed a lap of the XC course that will be used next weekend. On the way home I was on part of the Paint Creek Trail before the final short stretch of roads back to the house.

I could have ridden down to Bloomer for a lap after Stony but decided that I had enough for the day. Maybe later in the fall I will do the ride again and pick up Bloomer as well as the Macomb Orchard Trail and the Clinton River Trail as well. As it was I had 64 miles and only 24 of that was on roads. Even when on the roads only a little over 7 of the 24 miles were paved, the rest were dirt.

Yesterday I was talking to my team mate Bernie and we decided to get together for a ride today. It turned out to be somewhat similar to my Friday ride except that we skipped Orion Oaks. We started with the high school course and then headed to Bald Mountain North. Then we did an easy lap at Addison with another team member and his friend who was camping there. Bernie and I then headed over to Stony so he could check out the XC course as well.

By the time we got back the sun was starting to cook us and I could feel the effects of Friday's ride plus from my ride yesterday testing my SS gearing. We had almost 48 miles and again, a majority of that was on the trails. In spite of being tired it was nice to ride with someone for a change.

I'm glad tomorrow is another day off work, I need it to recover from the weekend.

Hopefully I will be able to post the flyer to the October 26 LOHS running and mountain bike race pretty soon. We should have it down this week.