| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
23.25 miles
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Route:
Three School Road Loop
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Time: 01:49:53
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Avg Speed:
12.70 mph
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Max Speed:
30.50 mph
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
193
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Cannondale Six13 / Cruiser Road
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| Club: Secular Cycleism |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny. Windy. NE Wind 20 mph. 57°. |
Ride Description: W/Sue...
Added Ramsey Road. Took SBT from R.O.F.P. to avoid bad sun roads.
Headwind on the way out. Avg'd 11.4 out. |
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I'm very fortunate to have 16 acres of beautiful land to play on. About 7 or 8 of the acres are grassy prairie, 6 or 7 are wooded and there's a quarry at the south end.
Here's how it came about.
I think it was sometime in the late 70's, a neighbor noticed several people out in the vacant 16.06 acres behind his house. He found out they were developers that were going to purchase the land, subdivide it and build houses back there. Our neighbor immediately went to all 11 of the property owners with land that backed up to the 16 acres and asked if they wanted to buy the land to keep it from being ruined.
Nine of the eleven agreed. Then, they went to the land owner, a gravel company, and bought the land.
Two of the land owners owned vacant lots next to their house, and later sold them. A house was built on one of them. And there's an empty lot that gets land rights to the back 16 when they buy the lot. The lot has been for sale, off and on several times in the 3 years I've been here. This could be yours.
The property is set up as an Association, where the now 11 property owners split the taxes on the land. In the beginning, the land was zoned Agriculture, and was dirt cheap, less than $300 (split 11 ways) a year. After a few years, the county changed the zoning and the taxes went up tenfold. We also pay a few extra dollars to the Association that goes to land maintenance, plants, trees, and other things.
In the Summer, several paths are kept mowed for walking and biking. The property is set up as a "Silent Sports" area, the only motorized vehicle allowed in the back is the lawn mower. In the Winter the same trails are groomed for cross country skiing, by filling an ice fishing sled with weights and pulling it while wearing snowshoes. The singletrack trails I've been building are used for snowshoeing.
Since I've been here, I've been working on new trail in the wooded areas, building narrow, tight twisty singletrack for biking, and opening up a wider, straighter trail for xc skiing.
The land isn't flat and has a slight rolling nature to it, but there are several short "steep" hills. There is a quarry at the south end. The quarry is about 30 to 40 feet deep. There is a trail along the east rim of the quarry, and a trail loop in the bottom of the quarry.
According to GPS, There's about a 70 ft. difference from the lowest spot of land at the north end, to the highest spot at the south end, south of the quarry. The only real flat area is the bottom of the quarry.
So there's the story. And remember, there's an empty lot for sale if you want in. But, you'd have to live next door to me. 
Hmmm, after adding the photos, I noticed I don't have any with the pretty Summer flowers in bloom. I'll add it later.
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  A treasure for sure.
posted by Sagebum on
6/4/2011
at 10:45:51 AM
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