[rockman]

On tap this fall were a cousin reunion, a wedding, a visit with daughter #2, and a visit with dear old mom. All timed closely together which was enough excuse to turn it into a massive mtb road trip. 3 weeks, 20 states crossed, 150 miles of riding in 8 states with 15,000' of climbing.

This is mainly a pixel dump but if anyone's curious about any of these rides post up. Part of the goal was to see what other trail orgs are doing and what types of trails are getting built.

Technically west of the Great Divide but there's great riding in Eagle, CO right off I70. The ice rink trail is a must-do if your in the area.

The Horsetooth trail network just west of Fort Collins offers diverse trails along the hogbacks that separate the Great Plains from the Rocky Mountains. The Overland Mountain Bike Association is the biking advocacy org here and also at Curt Gowdy.

Yes, there's riding in South Dakota. Storm Mountain trail is a sweet 10 mile loop near Rockerville in the Black Hills. The Black Hills Mountain Bike Association has been busy.

Cousin Fest involved 27 first cousins on wifey's side at a lake in upper Wisconsin. The Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association has been building some sweet trails in the tortured glacial terrain. The Ojibwe Trail is a 12 mile trail that twists in and around glacial drumlins and eskers.

After two days of frivolity we headed up to the Michigan UP to see what all the fuss is about in Copper Harbor. Rock Solid alongside the Copper Harbor Trails Club has quietly been building a world class trail system on the bluffs overlooking Lake Superior.

To be continued.....

 

[rockychrysler]

Wow! Just wow (your goat is getting so grey)! Cool trip!

 

[mrpizza]

Cousinfest sounds like something that would happen in Alabama

 

[LVLBTY]

Amazing trip !! I'm from NJ, small group of us are headed out to Moab UT to explore the area next spring. That will be my first of many more mtb trips to come.

 

[prj71]

Nice pics!!

How do you get 3 weeks off of work?!

 

[rockman]

Cousinfest sounds like something that would happen in Alabama

Ha, or could be Utah. Or anywhere but in this case its a large Catholic family. There were 5 sisters that each had 6 or 7+ kids.

Nice pics!!

How do you get 3 weeks off of work?!

I retired July 1st. Highly recommended.

 

[k2rider1964]

I retired July 1st. Highly recommended.

I'm a month away from 7 years away from the workforce and completely agree....other than I'm constantly having to be reminded what day, month or year it is. It's especially obvious when I'm signing/dating some sort of paperwork.

 

[dbflg]

I retired July 1st. Highly recommended.

Congratulations! And great photos. I really love the midwest scenery with changing colors of the leaves.

-db-

 

[rockman]

After two days in Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula we headed to Marquette where the Noquemanon Trail Network (NTN) has built an outstanding network of trails with the help of Flowtrack Design. The drive from there along the Lake Superior shoreline is fantastic.

After a travel day we found ourselves at Mohican State Park in Ohio. The trail network is an IMBA epic but I'm not exactly sure how it got built. The land manager is Ohio State Parks which might not bode well for mtn bikes but it's surprisingly good. Check it if your in the area. There's also pretty good camping along the Clear Fork of the Mohican River.

Time to make it to the wedding. We took the scenic route through Amish Country in eastern Ohio. Pretty cool to stop for horses and buggies but I was surprised to see the Amish riding ebikes. Go figure? We then spent a couple of hours in the Bicycle Heaven Bike Shop and Museum in Pittsburgh. This is a must do if your in the area. If anything to see Peewee Herman's bike, the Bowden Spacelander, or the Cook Brothers prototype.

 

[rockman]

After 3 days of wedding shenanigans in Maryland we turned south down I81. Broke up the travel day with a stop in Roanoke which is now apparently an IMBA silver level ride center. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/local...-guide-to-riding-in-virginias-blue-ridge.html
When I was in school at Va Tech mtn bikes were barely on the scene so I was curious to see what was brewing in SW Virginia. The local advocacy org is Blue Ridge Off-Road Cyclists and they've been building a ton of trails. Anyhow, with limited time and an impending storm coming we hit the Mill-Mountain loop in the middle of town and finished right before the rain hit. Good stuff and hopefully will get back some day to check out the new trails in Blacksburg.

The plan was to head directly to western North Carolina and hit Pisgah and Dupont. Unfortunately the rain didn't stop and the forecast was for a cutoff low to park over the area for several days so we deviated to Knoxville, TN where it had rained hard the day before but the forecast looked better than further east. The Baker Creek Preserve has some really fun trails built by the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club. Baker Creek Preserve . I also got my ass handed to me on the 50' vertical wall ride on the Devil's Racetrack. Access denied but the trails are extremely well built

From Knoxville we headed NW to the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in the western Appalachian Mountains on the Cumberland Plateau. There's a trail network that parallels the a steep-walled gorge. There's also really nice camping nearby.

 

[evdog]

Good stuff Rockman! Ive still got a trip of my own in progress. TR may come at some point. I was in the Black Hills a few weeks ago but hit Foster Gulch across the way from Storm Mtn. Finally hit Mt St Helens as well earlier in the trip!

 

[rockman]

Good stuff Rockman! Ive still got a trip of my own in progress. TR may come at some point. I was in the Black Hills a few weeks ago but hit Foster Gulch across the way from Storm Mtn. Finally hit Mt St Helens as well earlier in the trip!

Heck yeah! Did you loop it with Smith Creek? That's a top 5 ride in my book.

 

[rockman]

After a brief stop in SE Missouri to visit family we headed on to Arkansas. Having ridden Bentonville before I wanted to see some other riding areas and Mount Nebo has been getting a lot of hype. Mt Nebo is a 1,750ft butte in the Ouachita Mtns rising above the Arkansas River. Rock Solid from Copper Harbor has been hard at work here and there is a lot you can do with Walton Family Foundation funding as evidenced elsewhere in Arkansas. The hype is real.

After 2 days at Nebo we decided to pass on Bentonville altogether and check out the new stuff Rock Solid has been building at Devils Den State Park. This is a mountain biker's playground with trails that traverse a bluff line with lots of alternate lines.

And then it was off to Tulsa, OK to visit dear old mom. We were going to check out the riding in Palo Duro, TX but smelling the barn we headed directly back to Flag. You wouldn't know there is a supply chain issue with the truck traffic on I40.

 

[rockman]

Just a pitch here to support your local volunteer trail organization. On this trip I donated $.25/mile to the trail orgs participating in the program. An easy way to support your local trail group is to go to www.trail.care and link your Strava account for per-mile donations. Happy trails!

 

[evdog]

Heck yeah! Did you loop it with Smith Creek? That's a top 5 ride in my book.

I did loop it with Smith. Smith was a one and done for me though, mostly old logging road. It was pretty but dropping back down Ape Canyon would be a way better ride IMO.