Staying with family members.
Rode part of the Mohican 100 mile mtn bike race course. The race is one of a few that are national sanctioned. 24 miles of it. Different forest: more open that MI and less oak but more beech. Just a little sand. Worth riding again, Nice job.
Meet Annette McCormick, a local advocate and instrumental in the whole trail deal. Their club have a challenging and rewarding trail to ride.
I will post more later. Going from 1 internet hot spot to another visiting my family.
Gap of 2 days.
North Country pathway left me short. Camped out in the forest. MI State XG have showers, got another one.
Drove thru the Elk Capital of MI, Wild Turkey, & saw a black bear splayed over the dog pen on a toy pickup, head first. Hiked into an alder thicket. Brought to mind Tom & Cal brushing @ 49N.
I hiked the Dune @ Sleeping Bear national Lakeshore, a rest day, but a trudge out to the lake shore. Dune was about 300′ above road way back towards the lake. Couldn’t see across if even from that height.
Drove to Big M trail system near Wellston. A foot race of marathon & 50 miler were sharing the trail system w/ me. Rode backwards made more sense that riding with them & trying to pass. Played w/ saddle adjustment & cleat locations & didn’t force hills lessened knee pain.
Short note. Got to get towards Ann Arbor & into Ohio Sun afternoon.
Slept @ NPS XG.
Just a start.
I’m now on eastern Time and I need to drive a bit North before to dark to find USFS dirtbag camp. Ride 2 days on the High Country pathway 70 mile trail.
Bristol is right next to Elkhart a large manufacturing center. The place I camp last night was at a horse trailer mfg plant. About 5:30A I was awakened to the sound of perhaps an unmuffled engine right outside van. The noise moved & abated. I looked out a window and saw a roadster parked and a guy getting out & walking away from m,e to a building. My sleep addled brain grasped the fact that I was parked in an employee parking lot and maybe the guy was notifying me that I needed to get up. I debated a few minutes & decided I should move. I drive a short ways still in the dark & find what appears to be a small park near another building. I went back to sleep & woke up about 7:30 and found I was in another parking lot albeit smaller & quieter, they let me sleep.
Crossed line into Michigan and worked way onto N/S rt 131 for N Michigan. Today’s ride is Yankee Springs as Fort Custer further S received 9″ rain per web site trail update. Yankee Springs was sand and further N hopefully out of hurricane dump. Lots of big lakes up here.
Found TH, paid $7.00 of $8.00 fee in paper and the other $ in change to MI DDR. The pay slot was too narrow for the change. I pulled it out, emptied the chnage & wrote an IOU on the envelop.
An older man & woman riding high end full suspensions returned from their ride and chatted me up while I was getting ready. They ride suspension for their bodies. I think it is because they have $ to buy.
Trail is marked & rides in 1 direction. Oak forest, more open as soil is sand sometimes tank slapper deep & long sections. The couple had problems with the sand as theirs were the only tracks in the sand. Us bikers don’t clean up the sand traps after we struggle out of them. Nice trail. More land so there were longer stretches before the next terrain feature. Started out as a hard sprint. Pushed too hard, ran out of gas before trail’s end. Ride was 1111′ vert in short little bursts & 12.59 long. One EDGE 305 but 2 software programs & EDGE analyze GPS data for distance & elevation gained. Motion Based said 1577′ vert. Set 2 woods turtles off the trail. Good ride. Worked too hard to ride it a second lap & needed to manage my energy for the High Country trail.
Rangers showed up as I was leaving & I flagged them down, told them of my coin story & offered to settle up. He said he would.
Drove to main XG & used my park pass for a XG shower.
Back on rt 131 for N. Made Cadillac, grocery shopped for store made meal so I could hit USFS as stated earlier. Drove faster than I should have looking for deer. Made it to Houghton Lake community which is sprawling. Found health care facility on main drag. parked in further reaches of parking lot. Hope for a quiet night.
Left knee is hurting more. I just push too hard. Great being low elevation, being fitter, more adroit, & more aggressive riding. Riding switchbacks where I change tire edges. Taking rougher lines for challenge & also to enjoy suspension.
Going to stay up here for 2 days. High Country is a 70 mile loop with some roads lacing the circle like spokes so I believe in 2 days I can ride the entire loop.
Little more hillier. Seeing some fall colors. Could be caused by drought stress but I do not know that.
No pictures as trails are mostly the same: Deep deciduous cover, mostly oak. I could have had fun with a turtle picture.
