| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
12.17 miles
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Route:
Kin-Mor-Way Trails
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Time: 01:53:02
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Avg Speed:
6.46 mph
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Max Speed:
0.00 mph
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Avg HR: 125 bpm
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Max HR: 147 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
185
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Off: XC
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Bike: Cannondale Rush Trail/AM
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| Club: Secular Cycleism |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny. Cool North Wind. 50°. |
Ride Description: First ride on the Rush in a while. I forgot how nice this bike rides.
After working on the trails yesterday and this morning, I was just riding for fun.
HR Monitor time includes 40 minutes of rest, taking pictures, surveying new trail possibilities and talking to Tom and a guy who is interested in buying the lot next door. |
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Most of yesterday, and early this morning I worked on my backyard singletrack. Mostly just raking the old trail, and exploring options for new trails.
Uphill Log Pile & Ramp Looking South. ------>
I'm trying to plan where to add more singletrack. But I'm having a few problems. My first problem is, I wasn't sure what kind of trail I wanted. I like loops, and wanted to make a nice trail that ends where it begins, and could be ridden in either direction. The first section of trail I completed last Fall and this Spring is tight, slow, narrow singletrack with a few technical sections. So I thought I wanted the new stuff to be faster with better flow.
Then I went riding for 2 hours today, and things changed. With such a small area to build trails in, a faster trail would take very little time to ride, so I started thinking maybe I'll keep the trails in the woods slow, tight and technical.
If I want to ride fast, I can ride the grass trails in the open prairie.
And, I started to think a loop might be a little boring, So maybe I should build more trails, and have more options to connect trails, creating a confusing network of "brown ribbon".
Downhill Ramp & Log Pile Looking North. ------->
And another problem is the amount of poison ivy out there. I don't really want to create a lot of trail that will require too much attention addressing weed control.
I'd rather ride than work on trail.
The other "problem" I encountered was, the areas I wanted to build fast and flowy trail is going to take a lot of work, because of the thick underbrush. I want some new trails fast, but part of me says, take your time and do it right the first time, then I won't have to do as many re-routes if it doesn't ride like I want it to.
I did find a couple big rock/concrete/brick piles that could be perfect for building an armored section of trail. Once again, a project that will take a lot of time, but would be a very kool section of trail if I take my time and do it right.
In The Quarry ------->
I also have to decide if I want to to use the "old quarry road path", a section of trail that was used as a "road" by trucks when the quarry was still in use, before there were many houses in the area.
On the positive side, it is ready to ride, (just needs raking) and has a wide 5-6 foot corridor.
On the negative side, it's straight, and goes uphill to the south, downhill to the north.
I don't really want any straight trail.
Perhaps I'll use it as a temporary route until I get some twisty stuff built in the thick areas.
The Quarry Drop In, Looking Up. ------->
I also found an awesome technical rock feature that needs almost no work! It's south of the quarry, near the church property line. It's a big round "roll up" rock, in front of a perfectly flat slab rock that drops off 6-8 inches between two trees. I cleared some sticks and branches to see if it would be rideable, and see if my handlebars would fit between the trees. It will be tricky, but my bars will fit with only a couple inches on each side. I'll need to make sure the approach is smooth enough to hit it straight, because there's not much room to make a straight section of trail before the rocks. After that, it's just a matter of raking, trimming small brush and mowing a way out, back to the main trail. It looks pretty kool.
I also explored the big rock section of the quarry. It would be so kool to have trail in that area, but it gets way too overgrown in the Spring and Summer, and there's way too much poison ivy in that area.
There's also a lot of trash, window screens and wood planks and junk in there. I'd like to clean it out, even though you can't see it when the plants grow in the Spring.
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