My favorite part of the trip though was giving my dad his new wheels. Thanks to some craigslist action I was able to score him some new 29er wheels with Chris King hubs and he was very surprised and excited. Now he can roll his OEM rims with cross tires for commuting and real MTB tires for offroad.
After we got his new rims on we hit up the frozen trails at SIUE for a bit. The trails there are super twisty and fun.
Flashy new rims and TwinSix water bottle.
My little brother came along as well. He was sporting my dad's old bike with gears. We still have to get him to come to the dark side and start training from MTBing.
Yesterday my dad, Marni and I headed down to the Berryman trail which I'd been wanting to ride for a while. It started out chilly but warmed up to be a nice day.
The opening climb and creek crossing.
The trail was easy to follow IMO. Stay on the singletrack at trail intersections and look for white or BT blazes.
A little colder and a little bigger and we could go ice climbing! :)
Marni having fun.
Dad ripping around on the leaf covered trail. There were lots of leaves. In fact most of the day was like ridding through piles of leaves that someone raked up and finding all kinds of surprises underneath. I also did some trailwork clearing branches and new deadfall along the way.
Through the trees, up and down all day with no climb ever greater than 300 vertical feet.
Soon the sun was beginning to set and we kept on trucking.
Through the second campsite and back towards the car.
Here is the one picture of me for the day.
I'm going to look up the Ozark Trail as well. If it's bike legal it looks cool.
Follow the white blazes.
Monday's mud.
Marni and dad wrapping up our 24 mile adventure.
Berryman was fun and I'm looking forward to riding it again in the spring or summer, sans leaves. Tonight I got out on the road a bit post morning rainstorm and ripped around all the hills I could find. My legs are feeling really good and the sea level air is strange. Tomorrow back home and back to my snow bike until camp Lynda.P.S. I got to ride a 29er. Judgment withheld for now but interesting things are finally underway. Fingers crossed this time!
3 comments:
I must say my helmet looks extraordinarily awesome with my many head layers.
The Ozark trail is great and bike legal to my understanding (at least it was when I rode it 5 years a go). At that time, it wasn't nearly as well marked as Berryman. You can take the Ozark Trail all the way to Council Bluffs Lake, where another good trail awaits. Lots of fun stuff down there, most of it perfect for SS, too.
~dave
Don't have any clue where these trails are. My parents lived for a while in Chesterfield out in the western 'burbs. The only riding I did much much out along the (Missouri?) river on the flood plain on my first "real" road bike. Peace in '08.
Post a Comment