Pump Track Phase 2 = The Bike Park

Quinn and I gave our whole weekend to this dirty project, which I have been helping to design and plan for the last few months. We completed -- at least to the 90% point -- the next phase of the pump track at our local park. This phase focused on building a line of dirt jumps and a skills trail. We also linked them all together with the original pump track. With Phase 2 implemented, we can no longer simply call it "The Pump Track." It's officially going to be called "The Bike Park." Obviously, Quinn and I didn't do this alone -- it involved a huge volume of dirt and the machinery to move it, and a bunch of other people with shovels, rakes, and interest. It was really fun. Lots of kids, including Quinn, spent the whole weekend testing it. I'm too tired and sore to write much more about it so I'll just post a few pics. Next time we're out, I'll try to get some pictures of Quinn flying.

Here's Quinn standing on one of the table top jumps:

The skills trail coming out of the trees. These are the log skinnies, which Quinn and Abbey quickly mastered: I was a little scared of them, but was also able to ride all three.

This is the jump line -- the really big attraction for the more skilled dirt jumpers. Quinn must have run this line at least 200 times in the last 2 days. His hands are blistered despite his gloves.

Our New Frontier

After 10 good years with our Dodge Grand Caravan, we traded it on this 2008 Nissan Frontier. I hope this one proves to be as functional and reliable as the van.

Triple Double Weekend

It's late and I'm going to make this quick. On Saturday I rode the Triple Trail Challenge. I've wanted to do this ride for the last couple of years but my schedule hasn't allowed it. It starts in the same place as the Trail Half Marathon I've run a couple of times. The course covered three trails and just enough gravel road to connect them. It was a ride, not a race (although it seemed like we were racing), and was sponsored by Tree Fort Bikes and Arbor Brewing. After the ride, the beer and chili were free. Purchases of mugs, t-shirts, and other stuff support the Poto MMBA chapter. Anyway, it was a really tough ride, and it was a lot of fun. I rode with some of the guys I know through the MMBA. Here's the Garmin log.

Today, we did a two-tandem ride that covered some gravel roads not too far from us; close enough that we could ride from home without having to load the bikes into the car and drive to the trail head. It was a beautiful day for a ride. Here's the Garmin log for this one. Pictures below are focused on the MT800 with its new stuff, although you might also make note of Abbey's socks.

Once again I've stayed up too late doing this.

Traverse Weekend

We made a trip up to the Traverse City Area over Labor Day Weekend. It was really the only traveling we did this summer, despite having nice visits from both Grandpa and Grandma Nick and Bonnie and Grandma Sharon.

We camped at the Traverse City KOA in our big tent, and spent a good deal of time wishing the rain would end. Michigan is a very sandy place and wet sand sticks to everything. The rain was nice in that it kept the temperature down, and it packed the sand on the trails, making for nice riding conditions.

First we rode the Dry Hill Trail in the Arcadia Dunes west of Traverse City along the shore of Lake Michigan. The Dry Hill Trail is a loop of about 10 miles. It was built as a mountain bike trail and consequently was really fun. Really, really fun! It swooped around trees through a dense forest, occasionally popping out into open meadows like the one in the first picture below. It was among the best trails I've ridden. This was the first single-track riding Cindy and Abbey had done on the MT800 since we added a suspension fork and new brakes. Because the trail started out with a bunch of really tight switch backs, they had some trouble initially and took a few spills, but after the first mile or so, Cindy got pretty good at steering the 8-foot long beast through the switchbacks and around the trees. She wore her Garmin watch; here's a link to the Garmin Connect log where you can see the map and our ride statistics.

We also rode the VASA pathway, which is a 25 km loop near Traverse City, and is best known as a ski trail. A portion of the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race uses part of the VASA pathway. We'll be doing the Iceman later this fall, so this was a preview. The VASA pathway is wide, and except for the sand and some really steep hills, it is a pretty easy path. Cindy wore her Garmin -- here's a link to the Garmin log.

Back at the camp ground, Quinn had a blast tearing around on this three-wheeled pedal thing. Sorry, no Garmin log for this.