Everyone has a day where, at the end of work, the gravitational pull of the couch and a bag of potato chips is very strong. Today was one of those countless days for me. Thankfully, I know that the only way to combat that demon is to prepare in advance…putting my bike and all of my gear in the car is half the battle, the other half is making the trip to the trailhead before I get home. On the way home tonight, I was going to stop at Island Lake for a quick loop before the autumnal equinox darkened the woods. Instead, I went to a place that I have heard of many times, but never tried-The Tree Farm in Novi.
I got there about 5:30pm and put my WSI/Team Active knicker and long sleeved shirt on, seemed a tad cool for me. As I went to the trailhead, I ran into a guy who was just getting ready to roll as well. Since I have never ridden the trail before I asked him where the trailhead was, he said that he was on his way and was happy to show me. He was riding a Niner, full rigid, single speed–I knew I would not be waiting for him! I asked his name and he said in a British accent Paul. I immediately wonder if he knows Gary, the other British guy I ride with (what a silly thought it was, but it was my thought, none-the-less, so I say nothing.) Bad thing about accents on the bike, if someone warns you about a long drop off a log jam and you cannot understand them, chances are you will find out the hard way what they were saying–I did, spectacular crash off the top of a log jam in the first 5 minutes of the ride.
After that, it was just a nice flowing pace on a semi-technical course through the woods in southeast Michigan. I made a new fried (which is always the way these impromptu exploratory rides seem to be) and had a nice training ride on the last day of summer 2014. Not too much longer to the Iceman. There will be a lot of miles and crashes between now and then.
Don’t forget to check out the fund raising that is the focus of the Iceman race for me. We are over 1/3 the way to our goal to raise $3,000 for Alzheimer Family Support at the University of Michigan. See you on the trails!
Jack Miner
http://www.active.com/donate/AlzheimerFamSupport