I should note that I had planned on doing the NUE MTB Series this year, which includes four 100 mile mountain bike races, but due to various reasons (I was in Portland while the first race, the Cohutta 100, happened in TN and I was just not motivated enough to get to Ohio this weekend for the Mohican 100) I really wanted to get in a 9-10 hour ride this weekend anyway as training for the Lumberjack 100 which I am definately doing in June.
So I left home on the singlespeed at 9:15 Friday morning with a plan to ride west to Walled Lake, then down the Huron Valley Trail to South Lyon, across 9 Mile Road which turns into D-36 past US23 and into Hamburg where I was going to jump onto the Lakelands Trail (an abandoned rail line) and take that over to Stockbridge where I planned to have some lunch before turning around and heading back the way I came.
Well, that plan worked out for the first 50 miles till I got through Pickney... where surprisingly as you head west, the Lakelands Trail turns from pavement east of Pickney, to crushed gravel for the next few miles, and ultimately to a clay surfaced unimproved horse path just west of Pinckney. After about 3 miles of that miserable horse trail, and realizing that if I rode the rest of the way to Stockbridge (another 10 miles) I was going to have to turn around and ride that miserable section of trail all the way back into Pinckney again, for a total of about 25 or more miles on that horrible section of trai. Rather than endure that suffering I decided to turn around with 52 miles on the computer, and headed back to Pinckney for lunch and to figure out where to go from there.
Since I discovered 9-Mile/D-36 isnt really very bike friendly, on the way out I decided that I really didnt want to take that way back to South Lyon, so I decided to take the Lakelands Trail back to the start, then head north on Hamburg Road to Maltby Road then Lee Road across US23 and jump onto the Island Lake trail for a little singletrack before heading back to Royal Oak. Fortunately I knew of a back way to the trail from the back of the Lee Crossing (I think) shopping center and took a short connector trail into Island Lake. Once I made it to Island Lake, I was so happy to be riding singletrack and off the busy roads I did a full lap of Blue and Yellow and then finished up the Blue trail again.
At about 4:45pm and with 90 miles under my belt I finally wrapped up at Island Lake and began the 35 mile ride back to my house. I arrived home at a little after 7pm, thanks to the 20 mph wind I had at my back the entire way.
All told, I left home at 9:15am and got back home again at 7:05pm for just under a 10 hour day. I think I managed about 25 miles of singletrack, 40 miles of path/rail trail, and 60 miles on the roads.
Mileage: 125.03
Ride Time: 8:22
Avg. Speed: 14.9
I didnt try to follow the trails in ILRA, just tried to get the mileage correct.... must've over calculated in there, but anyway here's the map.
What a great day!
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