Spring is almost here

You can feel it, literally. The warmer weather is causing the snow to melt off the roads and in the woods, leaving the trails mushy and some of the roads an absolute mess of mud. But other roads are perfectly fine. The conditions are starting to be favorable for long rides on the back roads again.

But the melting snow also means that the XC skiing is probably over with. Sandy and I were going to spend the weekend up near Grayling and Roscommon at a couple of the XC ski trails but the snow conditions were deteriorating so we canceled the trip.

Instead, on Saturday we went hiking at a state recreation area close to us that we had not been at before. The trails are also open to mountain biking so I had a chance to see what they might be like. It is not a long trail, about 3.5 miles or so, but it had some nice elevation changes and sweeping corners. It seemed like it will be fun to ride over on a bike and check them out this summer. I'm glad that the trail was not much longer because my knee bothered me more from hiking than from any riding I have done.

Today I put the knee to the test as I headed out early to try and ride most of the 100 mile loop some of my buddies had put together for a charity ride next month. The ride is geared toward singlespeed riders so that is the bike I rode. The roads were frozen hard when I set out and for the most part were in good condition even as it warmed up. There were a few that were a real mess and almost had me walking due to the heavy mud. I ended the day with 107 miles.

Back at Christmas Sandy had received an amaryllis plan from my Mom. She planted the bulb a while back and once it started to grow we were amazed at how fast it sprouted. Sandy started recording the growth and on some days it was over an inch in one day. It sort of reminded us of something out of The Little Shop of Horrors. We kept checking to see if all the dogs were still around.

This week promises more warm weather but it looks like some rain moving in. On Tuesday is the initial meeting of the interscholastic mountain bike racing league I am trying to start. We have some interest and hopefully we get enough of a turnout to get some committees up and running.