Ok, the Route of the Hiawatha rails-to-trails ride is a little bit out of our area, but we felt the need to get out of town. It was a 5+ hour drive but totally worth it. Camera was not working so you will just have to check the website to see how gorgeous it is up there: http://www.skilookout.com/hiaw/
15 miles of mountain bike trail, going through 10 tunnels and over 7 trestles. Make sure you have a good light on your bike!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Little Mud Creek Loop- Tuesday, July 17
This Tuesday's ride may be my favorite so far. And we didn't even have to drive any where to do it! When our group was all gathered we just headed up Highway 95 to Little Mud Creek Road, approximately 3 miles. This was a little hairy, with the big semi's roaring past, but for the most part drivers were very courteous and slowed down or moved to the other lane to pass us.
At Little Mud Creek we turned off the highway and headed down the gravel road. Before we had gone too far a road maintenance truck passed us coming the other way. He was watering down the dust, which made our ride even more pleasant. We had trees to keep us shaded, and cows for scenery. When the road forked, we took the right hand branch, knowing it would eventually loop around to Kimberland. At this point we lost our nice shade and had a hill to climb. There are more forks in the road along this section, but we kept taking the right-hand branches and eventually were rewarded with a nice mile + long downhill section. There is a barbwire gate near the bottom of this, which could be bad if you were not aware of it.
After we had passed through the gate Gordy closed it after us. We climbed the short hill to the next downhill section, 1 mile to the clubhouse! Here we had a couple of cold beers and a nice swim in the pool. The perfect way to end a ride. Unfortunately we still had 3 miles of hot furnace head wind to get back to the store. Next time I think we will start and end at the pool!
This ride was approximately 14 miles round trip, and sorry, forgot to take pictures.
At Little Mud Creek we turned off the highway and headed down the gravel road. Before we had gone too far a road maintenance truck passed us coming the other way. He was watering down the dust, which made our ride even more pleasant. We had trees to keep us shaded, and cows for scenery. When the road forked, we took the right hand branch, knowing it would eventually loop around to Kimberland. At this point we lost our nice shade and had a hill to climb. There are more forks in the road along this section, but we kept taking the right-hand branches and eventually were rewarded with a nice mile + long downhill section. There is a barbwire gate near the bottom of this, which could be bad if you were not aware of it.
After we had passed through the gate Gordy closed it after us. We climbed the short hill to the next downhill section, 1 mile to the clubhouse! Here we had a couple of cold beers and a nice swim in the pool. The perfect way to end a ride. Unfortunately we still had 3 miles of hot furnace head wind to get back to the store. Next time I think we will start and end at the pool!
This ride was approximately 14 miles round trip, and sorry, forgot to take pictures.
Ponderosa State Park- Tuesday, July 10
Since our other riders were out of town, we decided to go toodle around Ponderosa State Park.
We parked at the Day Use beach area, and headed down the gravel road to the Lily Marsh parking area, where we caught the Huckleberry Loop trail. The Huckleberry loop is a nice easy loop for hikers & bikers both, but we wanted to try out the mountain bike single track that branches off the huckleberry loop. So at the appropriate little brown bicycle sign, we headed off.
Almost immediately we hit a steep rocky section that I almost was able to ride. Gordy blasted up with no problem, and we both stopped to breath on the more level section. Suddenly we were swarmed by mosquito's! Argg! Must keep riding! Single track, is of course, just that... a narrow, single track. This one weaves in between trees, over roots, up rocks, etc. It was fun and challenging. The hardest part was not sucking in mosquito's when I stopped to catch my breath. At some point the trail comes out onto the road to the Payette Lake overlook, which is a great spot to stop and enjoy the breeze before cruising back to the day use beach. 4 miles round trip, and sorry, no pictures. Here is a link for the park: http://www.idahoparks.org/parks/ponderosa.html
We parked at the Day Use beach area, and headed down the gravel road to the Lily Marsh parking area, where we caught the Huckleberry Loop trail. The Huckleberry loop is a nice easy loop for hikers & bikers both, but we wanted to try out the mountain bike single track that branches off the huckleberry loop. So at the appropriate little brown bicycle sign, we headed off.
Almost immediately we hit a steep rocky section that I almost was able to ride. Gordy blasted up with no problem, and we both stopped to breath on the more level section. Suddenly we were swarmed by mosquito's! Argg! Must keep riding! Single track, is of course, just that... a narrow, single track. This one weaves in between trees, over roots, up rocks, etc. It was fun and challenging. The hardest part was not sucking in mosquito's when I stopped to catch my breath. At some point the trail comes out onto the road to the Payette Lake overlook, which is a great spot to stop and enjoy the breeze before cruising back to the day use beach. 4 miles round trip, and sorry, no pictures. Here is a link for the park: http://www.idahoparks.org/parks/ponderosa.html
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Rainbow Lake Ride - July 3, 2007
This was our biggest gang yet for a Tuesday ride. There were six of us. There were me, Jenni and Nina. Nina brought her two friends Linda and Lynn (probably spelling her name incorrectly). This ride was a blast and it is hard to remember all the funny and cool things that happened. I will try my usual routine of story-telling and see where that gets me. I'll start with riders and their bikes.
Linda was riding her (I believe it is a Specialized) hybrid with 700c wheels. Lynn was riding an 80's vintage Specialized Rockhopper (I think it was a Rockhopper). These two women rocked. Their bikes were of excellent quality but neither were really appropriate for the rough trail we rode. It didn't matter a bit. They ruled.
Randy is a physicist visiting from Oregon determined to ride as much as humanly possible during his ten days in Idaho. He was rocking his Marin Wolf Ridge. Go Randy go!
Here's the gang at the lake. The weather was fantastic.
I must say that this trail was no smooth easy ride. There were very steep sections. There long sections of deep powdery dust. There were plenty of downed trees across the trail. There were rocks and roots and stream crossings. Not to say it was a grueling hell ride, but it was challenging for any novice mountain bike rider. It was also very fun, and there were lovely picture perfect bits of trail like this one:
It was while riding through one of these gorgeous meadows Nina burst into song, ala Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. "The hills are alive with the sound of music!"
Jenni nearly fell off her bike laughing. Nina rocks.
Randy rode the most powerful steed among us and drove it with impressive abandon. He mounted up and attacked terrain the rest of us hiked. Occasionally he would crash with spectacular impacts audible from great distances. He was definitely the most skilled, experienced and courageous of the group, and I never saw a scratch on him.
Jenni rode with great skill and excellent judgement. Everyone handled themselves very well, except me. I made an idiotic decision that plagued my ride.
I decided to install my brand new clipless pedals on my mountain bike right before the ride. I removed the flats/clipless pedals that had served me very well on the 18 mile Little Ski Hill Loop ride. Turns out the springs on these new pedals are much tighter than on my other pedals.
Even adjusted to the loosest setting, it was hard to click my shoes on, and once on they wouldn't release! So I fell over and scratched my elbow (said some words rather loudly too). I fell over three or four times until my little brain became frightened of my pedals. I rode with nervous feet, scared a cleat would lock down and not release. When you make stupid mistakes and suffer miserably as a result, people will often tell you that it was "a good learning experience". Yeah, I learned alright.
When I find the washer that disappeared when I took off my old pedals, I am putting BACK ON my old pedals. I am going to break in my new pedals on next Tuesdays road ride!
Linda was riding her (I believe it is a Specialized) hybrid with 700c wheels. Lynn was riding an 80's vintage Specialized Rockhopper (I think it was a Rockhopper). These two women rocked. Their bikes were of excellent quality but neither were really appropriate for the rough trail we rode. It didn't matter a bit. They ruled.
Randy is a physicist visiting from Oregon determined to ride as much as humanly possible during his ten days in Idaho. He was rocking his Marin Wolf Ridge. Go Randy go!
Here's the gang at the lake. The weather was fantastic.
I must say that this trail was no smooth easy ride. There were very steep sections. There long sections of deep powdery dust. There were plenty of downed trees across the trail. There were rocks and roots and stream crossings. Not to say it was a grueling hell ride, but it was challenging for any novice mountain bike rider. It was also very fun, and there were lovely picture perfect bits of trail like this one:It was while riding through one of these gorgeous meadows Nina burst into song, ala Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music. "The hills are alive with the sound of music!"
Jenni nearly fell off her bike laughing. Nina rocks.
Randy rode the most powerful steed among us and drove it with impressive abandon. He mounted up and attacked terrain the rest of us hiked. Occasionally he would crash with spectacular impacts audible from great distances. He was definitely the most skilled, experienced and courageous of the group, and I never saw a scratch on him.
Jenni rode with great skill and excellent judgement. Everyone handled themselves very well, except me. I made an idiotic decision that plagued my ride.
I decided to install my brand new clipless pedals on my mountain bike right before the ride. I removed the flats/clipless pedals that had served me very well on the 18 mile Little Ski Hill Loop ride. Turns out the springs on these new pedals are much tighter than on my other pedals.
Even adjusted to the loosest setting, it was hard to click my shoes on, and once on they wouldn't release! So I fell over and scratched my elbow (said some words rather loudly too). I fell over three or four times until my little brain became frightened of my pedals. I rode with nervous feet, scared a cleat would lock down and not release. When you make stupid mistakes and suffer miserably as a result, people will often tell you that it was "a good learning experience". Yeah, I learned alright.
When I find the washer that disappeared when I took off my old pedals, I am putting BACK ON my old pedals. I am going to break in my new pedals on next Tuesdays road ride!
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