MMCC Trail Nearly Complete (Now Ridden)

MMCC Trail (not completed)

Enough with the rakes, loppers and axes already…we’re going ridin’!  The new trail at Mid Michigan Community College has about 2 miles left to be cut in, but we were eager to ride it. Wednesday night a great group of riders met and did exactly that.  I plotted the 8.1 mile route on my GPS to give you a visual.  The combination of the heat and hill climbing earned us a spot at Ruckle’s (in Clare) for post ride beers, burgers and laughs.

A big thanks to Vaughn Murray and Steve Hoffman for their leadership and dedication to this project.  I could almost name the many others that volunteered their time as well, but I’m sure that I would miss someone.  Thanks to all that helped!

Stay tuned for details on the next build project…a mountain bike skills park at Midland City Forest, that will include dirt jumps, skinnies, drops, teeters and a pump track.  Approvals have been granted and we are finalizing the design.  Until then…RIDE!

First Group Ride at NEW MMCC Trail

This Wednesday’s ride will be at the Mid Michigan Community College Trail in Harrison. We’ll be leaving the main parking lot at MMCC at 6pm sharp. Figure on a 45-50 minute drive from downtown Midland. The weather forecast for Wednesday is PERFECT (sunny and 80 degrees) and we’d really like to get a good turnout for the ride this week – guaranteed worth the drive!

We’re really excited about getting on this trail. It’s set in a beautiful forest with massive trees (some that we ride under) and rolling hills. This trail sports some long, gentle climbs (a few not so gentle) and is completely dry. I don’t think we’ll need a single bridge, which is really great for these recent soggy days. Once we get this trail ridden in with a few bikes it should be fast (big ring?). A nice combination of mostly fast flowing trails (like Hanson Hills) some tighter technical trails (Burns Rd), with a couple short sections of hilly two tracks (Iceman). What’s not to love?

We made great progress this past weekend thanks to a really nice turnout for the trail work session on Saturday. We’re close to having the entire loop cut in, and should be able to easily navigate around the few sections still needing work for our ride. At this point, we probably have around 7-8 miles ready for riding, with perhaps 2-3 miles to go. We’re shooting for a 10 mile loop when all is said and done.

Directions: Take US-10 west to US-127 North about 12 miles to the Mannsiding Road exit (exit 168). Turn Right on Mannsiding Rd. for approx 1/4 mile to Old Clare Avenue. Turn left (North) on Old Clare Avenue for approximately 3/4 mile to the MMCC main entrance parking lot on right.

FYI: Some of us will be working on the trail during most of Wednesday afternoon, before the ride. If you’re interested in joining us , give Steve (430-7082) or Vaughn (205-5909) a call.

Ride on!

Steve

The Biking Wino Blog

If you get a chance, check out the Biking Wino blog.  A good source for riding destinations, bike building tips and more.  BW takes the time to snap some pics along his travels and point out the highlights.

If you contact BW at bikingwino@gmail.com you can get connected with his Google group and receive notices of group rides.  BW is also helping to keep our local trails safe by volunteering as a certified Bike Patrol.

Thanks Biking Wino!