How fortunate are we? |
With the opening of the Eisenbahn State Trail in 2006, my affection for rec trails grew again. The Eisenbahn is a 25-mile-long playground just a few hundred feet from my home. And like the other rec trails in the immediate area, the Eisenbahn doesn’t require a state trail pass. But in 2011 my off-road rides won’t be confined to rec trails; I have mountain biking ambitions. The mountain bike trails at New Fane do require a state trail pass, and I’ve already got mine for 2011. I’ll need it at Greenbush too, and probably elsewhere. At $20, my state trail pass likely will prove the least expensive of my preparations for the upcoming season. Cheapskate that I am, I’ll try to make the most of it. I’d like to return to the Glacial Drumlin and Military Ridge trails next summer. I rode both in 2009 but missed them this year. And maybe it’s time to check out the Badger State Trail, the Sugar River Trail and others.
These days, riding a rec trail isn’t the relaxed day out that it used to be. Riding a trail in its entirety is now the minimum goal for any rec trail excursion aside from my frequent rides on the Eisenbahn, which take many forms. When I do ride the entire Eisenbahn, that’s 50 miles round-trip. On the Glacial Drumlin, it’s 100. Even without big elevation changes, all those miles add up … especially the unpaved ones. Rec trails can provide good training. Sometimes it’s the accumulation of miles and sometimes it’s speed. At least once a year I time trial the Eisenbahn from Kewaskum to Eden. Several times a year I ride the Eisenbahn from West Bend to Campbellsport and back, targeting a negative split: a trip back that’s faster than the trip out. These guys would know what I mean. Maybe I’ll dust off my Eisengoose Fat-Tire Century route next October and invite them up to West Bend for “Fall B.A.L.L.S.”
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