Decided to finally take my bike out and get it dirty and get in some intermediate trail riding . I was super excited as [MENTION=4838]1MEANGT[/MENTION] and I loaded up our bikes in his super comfy couch on wheels and headed off for Michigan. We arrived and unloaded our gear and bikes at the cabin and quickly got settled in for the first morning of riding awaited me....
Woke up and we were greeted by a thin layer of frost on the bikes and the cool, crisp air made me that much more excited to get out there . A quick stop to buy my ORV passes and we were off. To my dismay, the first few hundred yards of the " little o" trail we rode was washed out sand and not much hard pack. I was completely out of my element as the bike shot left , right and just totally unpredictable. I pushed through it knowing once we got further into the woods , the damn deep sand had to diminish , and it did.
That's where it happened.... I got hooked the minute the dirt came on and I was able to shoot the bike up and through the whoops and high bermed turns. Such a blast !! The Drz held its own even though it's reasonably heavy , I felt confident and planted most of the time and was getting faster and cleaner lines.
What I didn't account for is the physical fatigue. I was so tense from the sand and the fear of falling , I was death gripping the bars and was really rigid over the constant whoops that my forearms and quads were spent about 20 miles into the trail . It's when I was getting mentally and physically sloppy that I dropped the bike twice at less than 5 mph in sandy turns. We called it a day for day one and headed back to the cabin for some homemade burgers .
Day two we decided to hit the little manistee trail as it was longer and a bit easier to travel due to my fatigue from day 1. Upon arrival we were faced with an ORV entrance road that was apx 10 feet wide and contained at least 8-10 inches of sand. Both of us were aired down but still just skated through this road until we both got buried and decided to get the hell out of there and just hit an intermediate/ expert trail about 15 miles up the road.
Enter Tin cup. This trail was badass but really lived up to its difficulty rating. It was a directional dedicated bike trail and was no wider than a foot at times. We tackled this trail for a few miles and then came upon the elevation changes. Man these were tough as you were looking at high grades , more lovely sand, and about 50-75 feet in length. Mike shot up the first one , full throttle in 1st gear just roosting the whole way up. I muttered yolo in my helmet and tractored up the same line he did. I made it about 80% of the way until I bounced off a tree root , halting any momentum I had. He pushed me up as I throttled out but man what a rush and accomplishment. Zero falls the whole day ! We hit a little more and decided to move on to the third and final trail " BIG O"
Big O was accessible through the little O system so we re-rode a decent section of the little and eventually hit the Big section and hit that hard. It was an easier trail but offered some interesting sized puddles the size of small ponds we had to cross.
All in all these Michigan trail systems were awesome because in 48 hours of riding, you encounter sand, dirt, mud, baby head sized rock , elevation changes, roots, high bowl berms, and mild to wild whoops. The weather was a constant 74 and beautiful once noon came around and you couldn't ask for a better weekend to ride trails. I learned SO much this being my first time and super excited to hit more trail systems in Moab next year.
Obviously special thanks to Mike as he taught me a lot and took us up in the awesome Ecoboost. I'm hoping others will get the itch and join next time ! You know who you are....
Woke up and we were greeted by a thin layer of frost on the bikes and the cool, crisp air made me that much more excited to get out there . A quick stop to buy my ORV passes and we were off. To my dismay, the first few hundred yards of the " little o" trail we rode was washed out sand and not much hard pack. I was completely out of my element as the bike shot left , right and just totally unpredictable. I pushed through it knowing once we got further into the woods , the damn deep sand had to diminish , and it did.
That's where it happened.... I got hooked the minute the dirt came on and I was able to shoot the bike up and through the whoops and high bermed turns. Such a blast !! The Drz held its own even though it's reasonably heavy , I felt confident and planted most of the time and was getting faster and cleaner lines.
What I didn't account for is the physical fatigue. I was so tense from the sand and the fear of falling , I was death gripping the bars and was really rigid over the constant whoops that my forearms and quads were spent about 20 miles into the trail . It's when I was getting mentally and physically sloppy that I dropped the bike twice at less than 5 mph in sandy turns. We called it a day for day one and headed back to the cabin for some homemade burgers .
Day two we decided to hit the little manistee trail as it was longer and a bit easier to travel due to my fatigue from day 1. Upon arrival we were faced with an ORV entrance road that was apx 10 feet wide and contained at least 8-10 inches of sand. Both of us were aired down but still just skated through this road until we both got buried and decided to get the hell out of there and just hit an intermediate/ expert trail about 15 miles up the road.
Enter Tin cup. This trail was badass but really lived up to its difficulty rating. It was a directional dedicated bike trail and was no wider than a foot at times. We tackled this trail for a few miles and then came upon the elevation changes. Man these were tough as you were looking at high grades , more lovely sand, and about 50-75 feet in length. Mike shot up the first one , full throttle in 1st gear just roosting the whole way up. I muttered yolo in my helmet and tractored up the same line he did. I made it about 80% of the way until I bounced off a tree root , halting any momentum I had. He pushed me up as I throttled out but man what a rush and accomplishment. Zero falls the whole day ! We hit a little more and decided to move on to the third and final trail " BIG O"
Big O was accessible through the little O system so we re-rode a decent section of the little and eventually hit the Big section and hit that hard. It was an easier trail but offered some interesting sized puddles the size of small ponds we had to cross.
All in all these Michigan trail systems were awesome because in 48 hours of riding, you encounter sand, dirt, mud, baby head sized rock , elevation changes, roots, high bowl berms, and mild to wild whoops. The weather was a constant 74 and beautiful once noon came around and you couldn't ask for a better weekend to ride trails. I learned SO much this being my first time and super excited to hit more trail systems in Moab next year.
Obviously special thanks to Mike as he taught me a lot and took us up in the awesome Ecoboost. I'm hoping others will get the itch and join next time ! You know who you are....