An old friend, and a new friend

Been nice to be back on the bike. I was at Luton on Friday and back on the bike Monday.

The old friend:

I was wanting to ride on Monday. I gave Matt a shout and we headed to Upper Mac. For a short trail, it really is an asshole. This trail has never been one of my favorites but it is a track that is something to ride where you don't have to worry about getting mowed down by a distracted driver. And it is singletrack....which is the entire point of this blog in the first place.

I only did one full loop because frankly my legs just were giving me the finger. Meaning, zero power. Because of the zero power I nearly tumbled backwards down a steep valley wall because I just didn't quiet have enough to reach the top (for the first time ever). I grabbed at a tree and slowly felt my fingers sliding across the bark....and then feeling air. Thankfully I kept my balance and didn't each shit. Because I would have rolled down the damn hill and probably ended up in a huge pile at the bottom of the hill....without a gopro running. lol. Matt and I went our seperate ways and I headed home having ridden 5ish miles.

Not sure if I have mentioned it or not, but a few guys at work have decided to do a weekly ride. This week was supposed to be the first ride. Nobody else was able to make it so I headed to Ken-o-Sha Park which is less than 2 miles from where I work. I knew it would be short, but I wanted to check it out.

Into the woods and across the bridge is where the Northern trails are located. The bridge is needed because there is a pretty solid creek running thru this area. 

The trail is marked pretty good with some 4x4 posts and arrows. As you come across the bridge there are numerous trails converging. I went straight thru to the second post and headed to the right. Here was a quick little loop that has a few twists and turns to go along with a little kicker before dumping back out by the bridge.

Back down the trail and this time to the left. The trail leads out into the woods on a small incline. If you know the area you might surprised to know that there is indeed a hill back in the park. Much like Upper Mac, there is a single hill that you ride up and down. The entire area around both parks are flat, so I was pleased to find some small climbs in here.

I was also happy with the trail surface. It is what I classify as "normal". lol. The trail has a pretty good flow to it and I was just cruising around enjoying nature with a city piled all around me. You can see from the picture below that it is city and then some random woods. 28th St is on the North side and Kalamazoo is on the East side of the park. The main entrance is off Kalamazoo. You end up parking by the Ken-O-Sha elementary school

So there are three loops on the north side of the paved trail. A short one to the right at the first tee. If you go left at the first T you arrive at an unmarked split. The trail appears to flow to the right, but is very clear to the left as well. The right is the longest of the 3 sections and actually brings you back to the second tee where I decided on left. This medium length loops brings you by the creek and eventually back to the paved bridge. 

Overall I rode for just over an hour. Lots of looking around and trying to sort things out. Exploring if you will. I guess I missed an entire loop on the south side of the pavement. I think that section must be about half a mile more or so. Knowing that I have a trail that close to work is awesome though. I will head there work on handling at speed and cornering. Not much climbing. Just a fun little trail that I can ride all the time.