WNR # 11

Attendance: Myself, Benson, Charlie, Kevin, Secret Steve, Doug, Damon, Sarah, Cheryl, Amber, Bobbie, Sherri, Rob, Hugh and Denise (on the tandem).

Weather: Sunny and Hot, about 85 degrees at the start of the ride.

Trail Conditions: Sandy as all get out. More logging apparently as well, a couple of new trail closures.

It was a good ride all the same in spite of the heat and sand. Thanks to Chris and Amber for hosting the after party. The grilled chicken was most excellent. I'm most likely out for any pre-scheduled riding this weekend due to the holiday weekend at work. Benson and Kevin were talking about doing an early morning ride on the NCT Monday though if anyone is interested. Next week's WNR at the HQ. I'm pretty sure Sarah handed down food assignments last night, but if not get in touch if you want to contribute. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

One Speed Weekend

I got out for rides on Saturday and Sunday, both on the dirt with the singlespeed. Saturday: I rode the Loop/Pond Hill. Sandy, but I rode the creek for the first time in a long time, and it's rideable for the most part with the exception of one big tree that requires a quick dismount. I don't know who cleaned it up, but thanks. Sunday: Matt said he wanted to do a long ride, somewhere in the three hour range. That was fine by me. We rode two-tracks and dirt roads all the way up Cross Village, and then we headed back south via the NCT and Middle Village Rd. In the end it was a little more than three hours, more like three hours and forty minutes. We ended up with just over 40 miles. It was 85 degrees by the time we wrapped it up, and I made a bee line for the lake courtesy of Hugh and Denise's stairs. The water is still really fu**ing cold, but it felt so good. WNR is @ Boyne this week. Hope to see you there. Over and out.

WNR # 10 (Ride of Silence)

Benson's partially reassembled wrecked (courtesy of the stupid bi**h that ran him over) road bike.


Benson giving over the ride information.

Attendance: 63 confirmed riders.

Weather: Absolutely perfect. Sunny and 75 degrees.

Trail (road) Conditions: Since the city has been tearing up a ton of the streets this spring, there were a few detours and patches of dirt. Other than that things were peachy.

I felt it was definitely a better ride this year. We had a great turnout, and everybody seemed to be more on the same page compared to last year. The police escort in both the front and the rear also helped things tremendously. The new route was a welcome change as well. Thanks again to Benson for organizing everything and getting all the logistics dialed in. Next weeks WNR is back on the dirt at Boyne. I just rode there last weekend and the trails are in great shape. Come on out and give them a ride. Have a good weekend and pedal safely.

Singlespeed Around Town by wpeterg at Garmin Connect - Details

Got out for a good long ride on the singlespeed with Hugh and Matt yesterday. Matt and I rode up from his house and met Hugh at Boyne. We rode almost all the singeltrack and then hit the downhill run to the Bartley house. They've changed that trail a little, and it should be better once it gets ridden in more. From there, Matt took off for home. Hugh and I rode over to Brutus Rd. and up to the North Country Trail. We headed south to Kipp, and then we cut through to the backside of Hideaway Valley. After a quick trip through the new Offield Nature Preserve (some nice new singletrack in the bottom half), I took Hugh on my urban singletrack loop through town. From the bottom of Bull Moose Hill, Hugh headed home and I headed back to Matt's for my car. A good day indeed.



Singlespeed Around Town by wpeterg at Garmin Connect - Details

WNR # 9

Attendance: Myself, Benson, Matt, Damon, Sarah, and Jess. Charlie, Cheryl, and Bobbi rode at a later start time as well.

Weather: Picture perfect. Sunny with temps. in the high 50's.

Trail Conditions: It was the first time riding at Avalanche Mountain for everyone in our group. Upon completion of the ride, it was unanimously agreed upon that the trails there are awesome. Great flowing singletrack with lots of elevation changes. An awesome view of Lake Charlevoix at the top. About the only complaint is that there isn't more trail to ride. Luckily they seem to be in the process of expanding.

It was a great night for a ride. Matt and I got out for a little pre-ride, and mistakingly rode up and down what we later learned was the "new downhill" trail. Then Benson and Damon joined us at 6:30 and we rode up to the top from the opposite (correct) direction. From there, we took the trail Matt and I rode first back down to the parking lot. It makes for a pretty short loop, but my legs were pretty toasted still from the century on Sunday, so that was fine by me. Next weeks WNR is the Ride of Silence. Please come out to support the cause. Long ride on tap for Sunday morning, Boynish. Give me a shout if you're interested. Have a good weekend.

100 Miles of Nowhere by wpeterg at Garmin Connect - Details

So I did ride one of my bikes 100 miles yesterday. The GPS says 98.3; but since I took statistics my freshman year of college, I'm willing to put that within the margin of error and call it 100. It can't be that accurate. I ended up riding the road bike, mainly due to some time constraints. One, the weather. Even though I waited until 10:00 to start, it was still around 34 degrees out. I wanted to start earlier in order to have time to complete at least half the ride on my mountain bike, but f**k riding below 30 degrees in May. On the other end of the time constraint spectrum, we were having my sister, her husband, their two kids, my parents, and two neighbor friends over for Mother's Day dinner @ 5:30. Even riding on the road, a start time of 10:00 meant I was going to be cutting it close. The first thing I noticed on setting off on my first lap (other than it was really cold) was that it was really, really windy. It was so windy that heading down, I repeat down Stutsmanville Hill was hard work. Like heart rate just below the red zone hard work. And so it was that on two of the downhills along this loop were I can normally get a little recovery and rest, I found myself kind of working my a** off. It was going to be a long day in the saddle. I even tried going in the opposite direction. Then it just felt harder than it should have on a different stretch of road. So after 17 laps of the 4.8 mile circuit (around 80 miles) I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to be able to do 4 more laps and be done before dinner. So I rode north (into the wind) for 10 miles and turned around by the Council Tree North of Island View Road. Even still, guests were arriving as I was upstairs changing after my quick shower. 6 hours and 45 minutes of riding absolutely nowhere. The computer puts my "ride time" at 6 hours 41 minutes, which given my rough calculations means I was only off the bike for 4 minutes over three pit stops at the cooler. I'm like NASCAR pit yo. Fuel and go. The wind really fu**ed with my lap times and my head, but other than that I felt really good up until about the 84 mile mark. After that, things started to hurt just a little. But that's all part of the game. Thanks for reading.

100 Miles of Nowhere by wpeterg at Garmin Connect - Details

WNR # 8

Attendance: Myself, Benson, Matt, Charlie, Sarah, Amber, Cheryl, Jessilyn, and Lianna (former WNR regular currently residing in Colorado).

Weather: Windy with temps in the mid to high 50's.

Trail Conditions: The Loop is in pretty good shape. We also hit up the sweet little bit of singletrack over at Hugh's.

The ride/cinco de mayo celebration was very nice. Margarita's (thanks to Benson) and pulled pork enchilada pie (thanks to Sarah) were the feature attractions. Thanks to everyone else for bringing all the trimmings.





Next weeks WNR is going on the road. We'll be meeting up to ride Avalanche Mountain in Boyne City with dinner afterwards at the Red Mesa. Be there or be square. Have a good weekend and Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there.

Big A** Nature Preserve Loop

I got out for a short ride on Saturday, and I got out for a long one yesterday: 47 miles in 4 hours and 23 minutes. Benson joined me for the first half, and it sure was nice to have some company for part of the ride. I tried to upload the data to Garmin account just now so you could see the loop I rode, but I'm getting all sorts of static. This may, or may not make sense so I'll keep it brief. Surfwood/Hugh's/Lamkin/Readmond Twp. Park/Middle Village/Lone Rock/Good Hart Nature Preserve/South Beacon/Geary Rd/Pond Hill (Benson heads back to HQ)/Middle Rd/Catob/Emmett Heights/Bester/Offield Nature Preserve/Roaring Brook/Glen Drive Nature Preserve/Bull Moose Nature Preserve/119/Lower Shore/Wasson's Grade/Terpening/Sawmill/Home. Anyway, it was a good long ride, and I had fun. WNR @ HQ this week.