I thought I'd try my hand at a woodsy report. Here goes.
It's 7:30am and the alarm is blasting in my ear. What the heck am I doing getting up this early on a Saturday. Oh yea... I'm going riding today :yeehaw: Pop up outta bed and head to the 7 yr old kids room to roust him from the dead. That done I throw some clothes at him and head out to hook up the bikes. Come back in the house and wake the kid up again, this time it sticks and he mumbles something at me under his breath :think: and starts getting dressed.
Its 8:00am and we are on the road. Hit the ATM, go back home to pick up all the things that I forgot, then hit Mickey D's for some grease and settle in for the short 1-1/2 hour drive to the staging area.
10:00 and We arive at the staging 7 mile staging area. Man that place gets farther away every time I go there. I spot my buddy Joe (530 KTM) and his wife Pat. Oh there is Jim from Manistee (wr426) and Lori from Ludington. I park the truck and here is Gary from Scottvile rolling in with his yz426 in tow. I head to the bathroom to get rid of an egg mcmuffin. Ahhh Thats better. Step out and there is Keith (yz250F)from Muskegon, his brother Kurt (WR250F) from Wayland, His other brother Kevin on a quad and Dan also on a quad. The gang is all here.
Well its off we go. This is gonna be an interesting ride. I am bring my kid along on this one. He is on a TTR90. He is 7yrs old and has been ridding since he was like 3-1/2 yrs old. So far the farthest that he has rode is 18 miles of Ceder Creek. So today is gonna be a challange. So we head out on the 2-tracks to get to the start of the connector trail that heads up to Lincoln Hills. The kid goes down in the sand right off the bad. Hmmm this may not have been a good idea to bring him. :think:
But he soon gets the hang of the sand and makes it to the connector trail. Once on the single track he does much better and zipps right along. We had to stop quite a few times in this section to remove trees from the trail. My kid is working out pretty good for me out there.
1. I have to keep an eye on him so I cannot be stopping all the time to remove trees and such
2. His speed is just about right that we can all work the trail cleanup and keep up in a group.
We started counter clockwise around Lincoln Hills and soon hit that logged section with all the down trees (you know the section Woodsy). That was fun. Give my kid a little folding saw and he is a happy camper. Although I think he is vying for Joes spot as the new trail boss. Every time we stop for a breather he is hollering at us to get moving. He screams out to us "I WANNA RIDE!!" I try to explain to my kid that he should take advantage of these moments and rest. I tell him that it is gonna be a long day and he is gonna need his strength. But nooo he keeps right on going. Oh well he will learn soon enough. His youthfull energy cant last forever can it??? CAN IT??
We continued on toward the bridge until Gary rides up and tells us about the fire in the trail that he just put out. We all were like HEHHH!!! He said that he rode right thru it before realizing that the trail was on fire. By the time he got back to it it was like a 4' section of trail on fire. He stomped it into submission with his boots until he was sure it was out. WE still dont know how that started. There were some campers in the area. Maybe an ember from there fire floating in the wind. Maybe a leaf laying on one of the 4 strokes exhaust ignited and fell on the trail. I really dont know. Kinda creapy.
We finially get to lincoln Bridge to find Pat and Lori in the chase truck mushroom hunting in the field. Um yea. I can tell who is doing all the work now. Its right about here that my kid informes me that he has to poop. God I love beeing a parent sometimes. So its off to the woods to teach my kid his 1st leason on pooping in the woods. 1st ya hotta find the perfect tree to drape your goods over. Hmm that aint working. Next best thing, squat down and lean back on a tree. yea this is working just grand. Ahhh what is that smell. No more mcdonalds for you kid. Nasty. With that wonderfull adventure outta the way its back onto the trail.
Next we come into a nice mile long section of sand woops. Oh joy this is gonna be fun for my son. He Starts hitting the ground left and right. Each time he hits the ground I can see a little bit more energy leaving his battered body. The end is near. We finially clear the sand woops and hit some really nice trail. No sand and tight. I am loving it. So I follow my kid for like 5 more miles. He is zipping along pretty good. No mistakes. But I know that it cant last. We have covered almost 20 miles and he wont last much longer. Finally we hit a xing and he says dad how much further is the truck?? Ahh the end has arrived.
The chase truck shows up and we load the kids bike up and send him on his way with Pat and Lori. Finially I can ride.
So I blitz on ahead to catch up with the rest of the crew that is like a mile ahead and start helping them with the trail work. Wow the trail is a lot more wooped out now that I am outta 2nd gear (behind my kid) I was getting so restless behing my kid I was starting to sing movie theme songs.
We finially get back to 9 mile road and it is everyone for themselves. It becomes a drag race, the quads on the wide track and the bikes in the single track. The quads have a slight advantage
ANd so the trail maintance is over. We load up and head to Twin Creek inn for some dinnner and......refreshments. A great end to a great day. For some reason my son seems to still have energy and is roaming around the place. That wont last long cause as soon as we hit the road for home he is out. Get home at like 7:30 and he stumbles into the house, hits the couch and is out again. AH haaa I have worn him out. It is possible. Kids do not have endless energy reserves.
Well its now 9:30pm and he is still out. I dont think he is gonna move from the couch tonight.
Well today I learned that I do not like teaching my kid to poop in the woods.
I learned patcience is sooo important. Its so easy to get exasperated at them. Ya just gotta remember that they are doing the best they can.
I learned that my kids maximun range is about 22 miles. Up from 13 miles last Sunday.
I learned that 4 strokes can apparently start forrest fires. God I hope I am wrong though.
But most importantely I learned that I can have a good time ridding with the guys with my kid in tow. Its happening, slowley, but it is happening. He is becoming my best ridding buddy.
It's 7:30am and the alarm is blasting in my ear. What the heck am I doing getting up this early on a Saturday. Oh yea... I'm going riding today :yeehaw: Pop up outta bed and head to the 7 yr old kids room to roust him from the dead. That done I throw some clothes at him and head out to hook up the bikes. Come back in the house and wake the kid up again, this time it sticks and he mumbles something at me under his breath :think: and starts getting dressed.
Its 8:00am and we are on the road. Hit the ATM, go back home to pick up all the things that I forgot, then hit Mickey D's for some grease and settle in for the short 1-1/2 hour drive to the staging area.
10:00 and We arive at the staging 7 mile staging area. Man that place gets farther away every time I go there. I spot my buddy Joe (530 KTM) and his wife Pat. Oh there is Jim from Manistee (wr426) and Lori from Ludington. I park the truck and here is Gary from Scottvile rolling in with his yz426 in tow. I head to the bathroom to get rid of an egg mcmuffin. Ahhh Thats better. Step out and there is Keith (yz250F)from Muskegon, his brother Kurt (WR250F) from Wayland, His other brother Kevin on a quad and Dan also on a quad. The gang is all here.
Well its off we go. This is gonna be an interesting ride. I am bring my kid along on this one. He is on a TTR90. He is 7yrs old and has been ridding since he was like 3-1/2 yrs old. So far the farthest that he has rode is 18 miles of Ceder Creek. So today is gonna be a challange. So we head out on the 2-tracks to get to the start of the connector trail that heads up to Lincoln Hills. The kid goes down in the sand right off the bad. Hmmm this may not have been a good idea to bring him. :think:
But he soon gets the hang of the sand and makes it to the connector trail. Once on the single track he does much better and zipps right along. We had to stop quite a few times in this section to remove trees from the trail. My kid is working out pretty good for me out there.
1. I have to keep an eye on him so I cannot be stopping all the time to remove trees and such
2. His speed is just about right that we can all work the trail cleanup and keep up in a group.
We started counter clockwise around Lincoln Hills and soon hit that logged section with all the down trees (you know the section Woodsy). That was fun. Give my kid a little folding saw and he is a happy camper. Although I think he is vying for Joes spot as the new trail boss. Every time we stop for a breather he is hollering at us to get moving. He screams out to us "I WANNA RIDE!!" I try to explain to my kid that he should take advantage of these moments and rest. I tell him that it is gonna be a long day and he is gonna need his strength. But nooo he keeps right on going. Oh well he will learn soon enough. His youthfull energy cant last forever can it??? CAN IT??
We continued on toward the bridge until Gary rides up and tells us about the fire in the trail that he just put out. We all were like HEHHH!!! He said that he rode right thru it before realizing that the trail was on fire. By the time he got back to it it was like a 4' section of trail on fire. He stomped it into submission with his boots until he was sure it was out. WE still dont know how that started. There were some campers in the area. Maybe an ember from there fire floating in the wind. Maybe a leaf laying on one of the 4 strokes exhaust ignited and fell on the trail. I really dont know. Kinda creapy.
We finially get to lincoln Bridge to find Pat and Lori in the chase truck mushroom hunting in the field. Um yea. I can tell who is doing all the work now. Its right about here that my kid informes me that he has to poop. God I love beeing a parent sometimes. So its off to the woods to teach my kid his 1st leason on pooping in the woods. 1st ya hotta find the perfect tree to drape your goods over. Hmm that aint working. Next best thing, squat down and lean back on a tree. yea this is working just grand. Ahhh what is that smell. No more mcdonalds for you kid. Nasty. With that wonderfull adventure outta the way its back onto the trail.
Next we come into a nice mile long section of sand woops. Oh joy this is gonna be fun for my son. He Starts hitting the ground left and right. Each time he hits the ground I can see a little bit more energy leaving his battered body. The end is near. We finially clear the sand woops and hit some really nice trail. No sand and tight. I am loving it. So I follow my kid for like 5 more miles. He is zipping along pretty good. No mistakes. But I know that it cant last. We have covered almost 20 miles and he wont last much longer. Finally we hit a xing and he says dad how much further is the truck?? Ahh the end has arrived.
The chase truck shows up and we load the kids bike up and send him on his way with Pat and Lori. Finially I can ride.
So I blitz on ahead to catch up with the rest of the crew that is like a mile ahead and start helping them with the trail work. Wow the trail is a lot more wooped out now that I am outta 2nd gear (behind my kid) I was getting so restless behing my kid I was starting to sing movie theme songs.
We finially get back to 9 mile road and it is everyone for themselves. It becomes a drag race, the quads on the wide track and the bikes in the single track. The quads have a slight advantage
ANd so the trail maintance is over. We load up and head to Twin Creek inn for some dinnner and......refreshments. A great end to a great day. For some reason my son seems to still have energy and is roaming around the place. That wont last long cause as soon as we hit the road for home he is out. Get home at like 7:30 and he stumbles into the house, hits the couch and is out again. AH haaa I have worn him out. It is possible. Kids do not have endless energy reserves.
Well its now 9:30pm and he is still out. I dont think he is gonna move from the couch tonight.
Well today I learned that I do not like teaching my kid to poop in the woods.
I learned patcience is sooo important. Its so easy to get exasperated at them. Ya just gotta remember that they are doing the best they can.
I learned that my kids maximun range is about 22 miles. Up from 13 miles last Sunday.
I learned that 4 strokes can apparently start forrest fires. God I hope I am wrong though.
But most importantely I learned that I can have a good time ridding with the guys with my kid in tow. Its happening, slowley, but it is happening. He is becoming my best ridding buddy.
