Saturday morning opened cool and crisp, a perfect day for trail riding. Badgerman arranged a ride with his co-worker Russ, and Ian, Sparkey, Craig and myself took him up on the invitation to go along. The Grand Rapids group met at a Park and Ride and buddied up, heading off to Russ' property on the southern edge of the trail.
Up the road north and west, we met the trail within a short distance. I hadn't been on the Little Manistee in years, and frankly on that ride I wasn't too impressed (a CCC ride), thinking it was basically a whooped out sand pit. We were all greated with a great surprise, as the first parts of the trail were fantastic! A variety of it all greeted us - nice fast single track, tight twisty hardwood sections, big whoops and sand, tricky up hills and downhills, smelly, stinky deep muck and a couple good water crossings.
This trail system has both single track and open ORV route stuff, so the squidley's on the ATV's and non-spark-arrested MX bikes pretty much stay to the open stuff where they can hone their talent on going straight, fast and impress no-one.
Twenty seven miles into the dream trail, I hit the wall with my glucose level. Darn it!! I felt it coming, but stupid me didn't pull over to take care of it when I felt it. I thought we had a little ways to go, but the next thing I knew I felt like I was going to black out or something. Good thing I bought some Chuckles just in case. After eating those and going through the sweaty shakes, I was quickly just fine, like someone turned on the light switch. Weird.....I gotta learn to work with this better than I have been.
Craig and Badgerman were off like lightspeed at each stop - man those guys are awesome riders. At least I think so, I don't get to see them actually ride much! Sparkey, Badger Jr, Russ and myself were a tighter group. Sparkey had just gone through an oil change on his bike and was trying at first to adjust to the different reaction, but quickly got used to it and picked up the pace.
Despite that fact that each of the parking areas on the trail had a lot of people parked there, we didn't see many people on the single track. The only time we ran into people were within a couple miles of each parking area, and then they were most often on the ORV route anyway. The combination Route/Trail system is pretty nice, keeping the ATV's and MX bikes on the route, leaving the trail to those of us that like that kind of riding. I didn't see many spots of single track that were over-run by ATV's like what's going on with other trails that used to be more single-track-like, but are getting widened by 4-wheelers.
The only fall was Russ. I came upon him after he got entangled in a couple good-sized logs. His big DRZ was right on top of him, only his head visible. I was just about ready to drop my bike and run to him and help out, certain that he was hurt. Somehow he got that beast off of him, it must have been adrenaline because he lifted it like it was a titanium-framed 125. Thank God he was just fine, it looked pretty gnarley.
I followed Ian through some of the hilly sections, and marveled at how much he looks like his Dad riding. He's got the same technique going, especially how he's able to rear-wheel steer around tight tree-filled corners. Very impressive! In another couple years I'm sure they'll be battling each other for the front line.
Unfortunately what comes with low blood sugar levels is also a drop in potassium levels, and at about mile 40 just about every muscle in my body started cramping up. Geez!!!! Anyway, Russ took the opportunity to bail out and we took off down the road to his place. Even though we were on the road, Craig and Badgerman were able to meet us at the road crossings.
Thanks to Badgerman and Russ for setting an awesome ride! I'll be taking in the Little Manistee again for sure!
I know this is a pretty shallow trail report, but it's really tough to beat YZMan, Nestrick and Woodsy with their prose!
Up the road north and west, we met the trail within a short distance. I hadn't been on the Little Manistee in years, and frankly on that ride I wasn't too impressed (a CCC ride), thinking it was basically a whooped out sand pit. We were all greated with a great surprise, as the first parts of the trail were fantastic! A variety of it all greeted us - nice fast single track, tight twisty hardwood sections, big whoops and sand, tricky up hills and downhills, smelly, stinky deep muck and a couple good water crossings.
This trail system has both single track and open ORV route stuff, so the squidley's on the ATV's and non-spark-arrested MX bikes pretty much stay to the open stuff where they can hone their talent on going straight, fast and impress no-one.
Twenty seven miles into the dream trail, I hit the wall with my glucose level. Darn it!! I felt it coming, but stupid me didn't pull over to take care of it when I felt it. I thought we had a little ways to go, but the next thing I knew I felt like I was going to black out or something. Good thing I bought some Chuckles just in case. After eating those and going through the sweaty shakes, I was quickly just fine, like someone turned on the light switch. Weird.....I gotta learn to work with this better than I have been.
Craig and Badgerman were off like lightspeed at each stop - man those guys are awesome riders. At least I think so, I don't get to see them actually ride much! Sparkey, Badger Jr, Russ and myself were a tighter group. Sparkey had just gone through an oil change on his bike and was trying at first to adjust to the different reaction, but quickly got used to it and picked up the pace.
Despite that fact that each of the parking areas on the trail had a lot of people parked there, we didn't see many people on the single track. The only time we ran into people were within a couple miles of each parking area, and then they were most often on the ORV route anyway. The combination Route/Trail system is pretty nice, keeping the ATV's and MX bikes on the route, leaving the trail to those of us that like that kind of riding. I didn't see many spots of single track that were over-run by ATV's like what's going on with other trails that used to be more single-track-like, but are getting widened by 4-wheelers.
The only fall was Russ. I came upon him after he got entangled in a couple good-sized logs. His big DRZ was right on top of him, only his head visible. I was just about ready to drop my bike and run to him and help out, certain that he was hurt. Somehow he got that beast off of him, it must have been adrenaline because he lifted it like it was a titanium-framed 125. Thank God he was just fine, it looked pretty gnarley.
I followed Ian through some of the hilly sections, and marveled at how much he looks like his Dad riding. He's got the same technique going, especially how he's able to rear-wheel steer around tight tree-filled corners. Very impressive! In another couple years I'm sure they'll be battling each other for the front line.
Unfortunately what comes with low blood sugar levels is also a drop in potassium levels, and at about mile 40 just about every muscle in my body started cramping up. Geez!!!! Anyway, Russ took the opportunity to bail out and we took off down the road to his place. Even though we were on the road, Craig and Badgerman were able to meet us at the road crossings.
Thanks to Badgerman and Russ for setting an awesome ride! I'll be taking in the Little Manistee again for sure!
I know this is a pretty shallow trail report, but it's really tough to beat YZMan, Nestrick and Woodsy with their prose!
