Kicking Spring Training Up To The Next Level

My longest ride yet this year and it was a doozy, with an epic hill (for Michigan) thrown in for good measure.  Today's ride took me from Downtown South Lyon, north up the SL Rail Trail which becomes the Huron Valley Rail Trail.  A spur jutting off the trail about 5 and a half miles into it veers off to the west and serves as a connector to Kensington Metro Park and Island Lake State Park.  The connector is short, about 3 and a half miles but the catch is the hill that travels over the old landfill.  It's wickedly steep and long.  Travelling the hill takes up most of the connector.  Heading west it's sharp and steep, heading east from west it's a longer climb with steep sections that creep up around twists and turns.   The view from the top overlooking I-96 and all of Kensington Valley is pretty awesome.  There is a pictorial below.

Huron Valley Rail Trail with spur to the west to Kensington and Island Lake

Way in the distance on the upper left you can see the patch of trail near
the top of the hill, this portion of the trail goes parallel to I-96.

Not what you want to see on a bike path, the radiation symbol looks

similar but this one looks like it represents some kind of toxicity

and since the trail goes alongside the top of the landfill I'm certain that

there are plenty of toxins here.  I found those markings in three places

along the portion of the trail that goes right over the old landfill.

Triple juncture where the Huron Vally Rail Trail, Kensington Metro 

Park and Island Lake trails all come together.  To the right is back to 

Downtown SL heading home, shadows are getting a wee bit longer, 
and next up is contending with that hill again on the ride back.  

Looking out over the grassy hills in the 

landfill I can't help but chuckle at what

lies underneath.  Where ball diamonds

and soccor files now exist was the trash 

dump.  The remains of two homes that I 

demolished/tore down/dismantled lay 

buried under there.  If those hills could 

talk!

 o

The view from the top heading back to the car. Near the water tower

in the distance, take a right on the trail and about 5.5 miles later

is downtown South Lyon.   

Turkeys, Trails, Trees and Tires

Thankgiving with my niece and nephew

Christmas Tree up Thanksgiving weekend

On the trail at Kensington

So we have a big variety in a weeks time.  Thanksgiving with turkey and the trimmings and all the family, the long holiday weekend, an evening reserved for putting up the Christmas Tree and with the nice weather I was able to get in a two good bike rides on Friday and Saturday.  I spent Friday afternoon at Kensington and Saturday at the Huron Valley Rail Trail and boy did if feel good and invigorating to be outdoors enjoying the weather.  Of course living in Michigan where the weather can do an about face in a heartbeat, today we woke up to a winter wonderland with a fresh covering of snow.  Where I live we got about 3-4 inches (I haven't heard the official report yet).  So in a weeks time we go from outdoor riding with no jacket to snow.  One week ago today I spotted a barefoot waterskiier zipping across the lake while I was out on a bike ride.

I love it!

I do believe that outdoor riding is over but I've said that before on this blog and then we continued to have mild days enough to get out a few more times.  Likely I won't be posting my yearly totals yet in case we get that "one more nice day."   But the handwriting is on the wall and I am reserving tonight to get my trainer tire on my old bike so I can be ready for indoor training riding.  In fact I signed up for a indoor December challenge so now I am committed to a certain time spent on the bike and I intend to make good on it.

Summer is here with a heat wave

We've had extreme weather in the last few weeks and most especially in the last few days.  Since March 1st we have had over 57 days or rain.  That is about 15 days greater than our average and caused the flooding I posted about earlier.  Our temps for spring have been well below normal and we saw a small handful of 70 degree days with sunshine, in place of that we had a wildly fluctuating thermometer.  I had my heat on and warm snugly covers on Thursday and Friday.  I am running the AC at the moment.  Sunday morning I set off on a early morning bile ride with a long sleeve tee covered with a quilted vest.  Today a short sleeve tee was too much and I lost gallons in perspiration.

I set off on a ride today and learned that in the heat and humidity that early morning riding is preferred over late morning/long afternoon riding.  I started on a familiar path and immediately noticed that the heat and humidity were going to cause problems.  It came too suddenly without a chance to become acclimated, with 40 degree temp swings in a day I could see this was not going to be good.  I shrugged it off with a "that'll teach you a lesson about sticking with your plan to start out early."  Normally that route is a pleasure for it's scenic vistas, a get away from it all feeling and it has challenging hills and climbs.  It's a place to go to get your head clear and to lose yourself in the quest for challenging yourself in a totally different way than in the work world. 

Seeking additional adventure I decided to veer off at a three way intersection that I had passed many times.  I knew where it would take me because I rode the trail that it was leading to yesterday, I just never rode the connection before.  A few times on the other trail I had an inclination to see how long and what the spur looked like from that trail and also from the one I was on today.  Since the heat was beating me up I decided it would be fun to go someplace new.  I had imagined the spur to be about 2 miles, however it was closer to just over 4 and even hillier than expected with a very long climb (about 3 miles) and a couple of very steep climbs.  If not for the adventure of it the heat would have destroyed me.  What kept the ride fun was the newness of exploring the spur trail and the accomplishment of the climbs and the endurance despite the heat.  I didn't win those climbs in any conquering fashion and stopped many times along the way, about the only thing I can say is that eventually I pedaled up them.  There is a reason the trail is called the Huron Valley Trail.  All totaled I rode 11.84 miles today.  With the high heat and humidity I almost doubled my normal ride time for a ride of that length.  There are a couple of ridges that divide the valley and the views were worth the effort.

I have to say I was very glad for the water bottle today, not only did I drain it but filled it up mid way.