Mountain Biking Michigan

[TreeHugger]

I've been gone for three weeks on a trip back home to MI, it's been a while since I've spent time there, so I was due. Took the bikes and did some riding while I was there, it was so much fun!! The riding is MI is so different from here, I remember when I first moved here I had to learn to ride all over again. The long, sustained climbs and long, rocky descents were a whole new skill set. In MI, you have short bursts of energy scattered throughout each trail and you dont get the nice looong descents to rest on. The trails in MI are more flowy, I'd say, and are all one way loops, which is nice. I rode 7 days while there on all my old haunts. Pontiac Lake is a super fun ride with lots of fun whoop-de-dos and short hills - we did that twice, once a double for about 19 miles. Then I did Island Lake, which is the super highway of mountain biking. 15 miles of pure flat, smooth speed. The easiest trail ever, but the one that people get hurt on the most because they go so fast! We also did the Poto - a 17 mile loop that is a bit of a grunt if you cant carry enough speed to make it flowy, plus the fact that it was 90 degrees with about 95% humidity when we rode it! We also rode up in Northern MI, the North Country trail which is one of my favorites, a lot more climbing there - actually about a TWO mile climb! haha. Then the VASA singletrack in Traverse City, a tight tight tight twisty trail that is super fun. Anyway, here's a few pics. It's good to be home!

[Alex]

That looks fun! Lots of shade, any uphill?

[TreeHugger]

LOTS of shade! That's the best part - riding in the WOODS! some trails are so tight with trees you hit your shoulders on them - an veritable obstacle course. The closest thing like it around here is John's Loop in Park City.

Yeah, some up hill, depending on the trail, like the Poto and Pontiac Lake has a lot of climbing, but they come in continuous short bursts (up, down, flat and twisty, up down, flat and twisty), maybe 50 yards or half a mile at most, rather than the long, never ending climbs you get out here.

[greyhair biker]

great stuff! Is that a Surly karate Monkey 29r I see? Someone has good taste. I can't TELL you how much I miss riding! glad to see you had a ball.

[TreeHugger]

That IS a Surly Karate Monkey 29er! That was my gift to my husband for his birthday last year (the frame, anyway).

When will you be able to ride again, you poor thing! I feel so badly for you, I HATE being laid up and not being able to play!

[DiscGo]

Way cool. I have been wondering where you have been, but I figure you were probably off doing something awesome before you had to get ready for school.

What part of Michigan?

[TreeHugger]

I'm from Ann Arbor. GREAT city! Lived there all my life, til I moved here.

[greyhair biker]

That IS a Surly Karate Monkey 29er! That was my gift to my husband for his birthday last year (the frame, anyway).

When will you be able to ride again, you poor thing! I feel so badly for you, I HATE being laid up and not being able to play!

I'm out of riding til the fall -damn-