Missed encounter

I was supposed to go ride with a friend and his two year old at Yellow River Sunday. I had feeling he might not show so I headed out there by myself around lunch. I took my phone with me while I did some laps in case he called. Around 4 pm or so I decided he wasn't going to call and headed home.

I am glad I went though. It would have been depressing sitting around the house all day and not doing anything.

My last post on Yellow River was pretty negative. I was a little PO-ed that the trails were changed. The original trails were the first trail I had ever ridden and maybe I am a little too sentimental.

The trails are in better shape than the last time I rode. There are still a million rogue trails on the creek side. Someone has taken the time though to spray white X's or white NOT signs on all the illegal trails. In addition the legal trails are marked with a blue blaze. Using this system I was finally able to figure out where you are supposed to ride. I rode every trail in every configuration until I got it in my head how the trails are laid out.

The river side is also looking better. The 10 foot wide logging roads are getting taken over by nature. You can still see where they were bulldozed but the actual riding surface is getting reduced back to a thin ribbon. The river side has very little rogue trails and the legal trails got the same blue blaze treatment as the creek side. There are still a ton of intersections with confusing signs but the blazes make things pretty simple to figure out which way to go. After an hour or so I rode everything twice on the river side and I think I know which trails go where.

All in all it was good day. A little lonely without my friend's company but better than sitting on the couch. My legs had a nice hurt this morning when I tried to climb up my driveway on my morning commute. That put a nice smile on my face.