Thursday, March 18, 2010

A First and a Triple

St. Patrick's Day was our first 50 degree day! Only a light breeze from the NW. Good day for a ride.

I decided to check out the trail from Manawa to Xtreme Wheels. Well, the big snow bank was gone along the power plant railroad siding. It was replaced with lots of trucks and other equipment. Derailment just outside of the gate - loaded coal train. At least (from what I could see) no cars of coal were dumped.

Visited at the shop and started back to Manawa. Riding the trail bike, it was a good day to check out trail conditions. First stop was the Wabash Trace. Only rode a couple hundred down the trail, but the surface was solid. Verdict - ridable without damaging the trail surface.

From the Trace, I rode on over to the Lake Manawa Mountain Bike trails. As usual, I started riding West Sidewinder (this is the trail that dries quickest). That trail was completely ridable. (See Photo)

Next, I rode along the river to the log crossing. While the trail was soft, my tires only left tread marks, no half-pipes. The river is very high, but still in its banks. Wanted to check the "ditch" areas. The ditch just after the log crossing is under water. (See photo)

I think this spring we will have a early start to our riding season. With all the snow we had over the winter, the frost never penetrated the ground.

Looks like we can have another day of riding today before the bottom drops for the weekend. In the 60s today (with winds kicking up in the afternoon). Tomorrow is forecast is for rain, changing to snow and high in the 30s.

It was nice well it lasted...

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