Saturday, December 25, 2010

On the edge

The snow cover in southwest Michigan teeters on the edge of not being enough to XC ski yet too much to bike on. This morning I swung over to Fort Custer, my favorite place to ride in Michigan. I've driven out there before at Christmas only to find it unrideable. Today I lucked out. There was a little less snow than on the lakeshore. Many riders had been out on the red trail already, packing it to perfection. A good set of knobbies were all that was needed. No ice was to be found anywhere.

The Trenches on the Red Trail. Presumably used for trench warfare
training at one time. Super fun to swoop through these, especially
when snow covered.

My big ring got a lot of use before I hit the green trail. Sections of the green trail saw no bike traffic and limited foot traffic. It was non-stop washboard and continuous hard effort. Still wicked fun (can I use the word wicked when in Michigan?). It wraps around Eagle Lake and throws a few rollers at you to keep the heart rate up.  The red and green loops form the core of trail riding at Fort Custer. These are purpose built trails with flow that rivals the best trails at Northeast Kingdom. The only down side is lack of any serious vertical.

Green Trail around Eagle Lake

When I came back to the parking lot after finishing the green trail, my car was the only one left. There was one more loop left to hit, the blue trail. This goes around Whitford Lake and tends to be wider, more open riding.

I finished with nearly 24 miles on the odometer in 2.4hrs riding time. Sunday will be a family/recovery day, then north on Monday for a ski at Vasa.

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