The past few days I've been back home in southern Indiana...quite a change from the great white north. Here 20s and snowy. There upper 40s and sunny. I got in two days of riding. One at Brown County State Park the day after Thanksgiving, then Saturday at Wapehani MTB park in Bloomington.
Friday morning was pretty chilly; probably min-30s at the start, then rising to lower 40s by the end of our ride. The trails at Brown County have become some of my favorite. Excellent climbing variety, fast descents, and nice flowy singletrack make these trails a blast to ride. I've never ridden them on a single speed before, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There are a few spots on the "advanced" segment where I didn't have enough momentum to clear some obstacles, but with more experience I don't think this will be a problem at all. The ladder bridge on the Hesitation Point spur is kinda fun, but is much easier on the way up than back down because of a few little bumps on the way back down that seem to kill momentum...I definitely came to a dead stop on the top of the bridge, and looked real cool. MmmmHmmmm. Other than that, the trails were moderately muddy, but it was nothing un-rideable or dangerous to the trails. The only actual gripe about the trail and Wapehani, too is that the trail isn't blown. It may seem silly kind of like Dan said: "You want to know why someone isn't raking the trails for you?" but it is more of a safety issue than anything. Washing out on wet, slippery leaves is easy to do and I have seen one guy break his collarbone riding into a leaf-covered hole and flying over the bars.
Wapehani was a pretty surprising ride on Saturday. I was in B-town visiting a buddy and thought I'd get a short ride in before I headed back to my folks. I used to live down the street from the Wap and rode their a few times a week before I moved, so I know the area pretty well. Wapehani's trail system consisnts mainly of five or six long, snaking climbs up a ridge, all connected by a trail along the top of the ridge. Unfortunately there is now a cell phone tower on top of the ridge which has wiped out the connector trail, so there is no flow to the network. ride up the hill, look for another trial, or just ride back down. It is now much less fun than it used to be, but hey, it's still mountain biking. There are a few quite new-looking stunts there, too. one nice ladder bridge about 15' off a creekbed, and ladder bridge drop-off with a nice landing and run-out, and a half-assed stunt of some sort that just looked dangerous to ride. Again the trails were covered by leaves; if I lived in the area I'd get out there and blow 'em myself but, alas, I do not. Someone else has to step up and do this for both the fun factor and safety's sake.
Riding back in Indiana makes me hate the 15' wide ski trails I ride up here and long for the hills I no longer have. *SIGH* I'm just never quite happy with where I am.
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