Two weeks ago, Tim, Brent, and I had our best ride of the summer in
Michaux State Forest. We started off on familiar trails...and in the typical fashion...but along the way we ended up finding two "new to us" trails that I have been re-riding in my head ever since. When I looked at the school calendar, and realized that I didn't have school today, I knew that I just had to head back to Michaux and ride those trails again.
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| Today's ride...like my ride with Tim and Brent two weeks ago...began with a ride up to the Vista which overlooks Michaux State Forest. It had rained the whole way up the ridge....but we were seemingly above the rain clouds once we got up to the Vista. -- August 31, 2018 |
Just a little ways above the Vista the trail comes to a "T." I've always turned left...simply because, well, that's the way we always went. Besides that...there literally are pieces of bark wedged into the tree branches at the "T" pointing to the left. Today, we turned right. Sure, I set out with the intention to ride those two specific trails Tim and Brent and I rode two weeks ago...but I was also determined to see where Matt and I would end up if we turned right. What we found was a nearly mile long single track, lined with huge prehistoric boulders, that looped us right back to the "T" in the trail. On Strava, it is segmented as "Round About" and on
Mountain Bike Project is is simple included as part of "Vista" trail...but, regardless of the name, to Matt and I it was just pure fun.
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| I've always turned left at the "T" in the trail above the Vista because the arrows point that way. Today...we tried something new and it proved to be pretty amazing. -- August 31, 2018 |
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| Matt Linnane and Dave Raymond in Michaux State Forest. Today's ride was all single track and all smiles! -- August 31, 2018 |
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| Matt riding a super cool loop (part of Vista Trail) that neither of us had ever been on. It was littered on all sides with boulders the size of my truck. -- August 31, 2018 |
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| Making my way off of the ridge and back down towards the furnace stack, Matt and I came across these recently laid bridges making a usually swampy section of trail extremely easy to ride. -- August 31, 2018 |
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| I stopped to take a pic of this sketchy looking ramp that someone had built along the trail...as I snapped the pic, Matt blew past me and rode right over it. Show off. -- August 31, 2018 |
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| Nearing the end of our ride, Matt and I crossed Tom's Run before making back to the furnace stack in Pine Grove Furnace State Park. -- August 31, 2018 |
Matt and I were also able to ride the two trails that I rode with Tim and Brent a few weeks ago...one a super cool single track that switchbacks up to the intersection of Ridge Road and Cold Spring Road...and the other a recently logged area on top of the ridge which is impossible to ride without a smile plastered to your face. From there, everything was familiar...single track that just wound it's way down the ridge, past huge boulders, over rock and log build ups, and through streams until we eventually made it back to the truck. It really was a perfect ride.
I just shot a text to Tim with my
Garmin stats to show him the cool loop that Matt and I added today. I'm betting he's anxious to check it out. If so...looks like I might just have to head over and ride it again.
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| Yep...I just had to come back here again. Matt and I taking a break at the Vista and above the rain clouds that had settled in over the forest for the first part of our ride today. It really did turn out to be a perfect ride. -- August 31, 2018 |
Life is a journey...not a destination.
David A. Raymond -- August 31, 2018
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| No immediate post-ride ice cream today...but I did hear today's lunch special at the Bobcat Creamery calling my name once I got home. As my Grandma Raymond would have said...It really hit the spot. -- August 31, 2018 |
@mountnbiker73
Here's the GARMIN map and data from the amazing ride Matt and I had in Michaux today...Happy riding!
"WRITE SOMETHING WORTH READING OR DO SOMETHING WORTH WRITING..." Ben Franklin
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