Rec Trails

How fortunate are we?

Back in 2004—my first year as a cyclist, not just someone riding a bike—I discovered that I really enjoy rec trails.  Compared to today, I was neither as fit nor as comfortable sharing the road with motor vehicles, so rec trails made for easy days in the saddle.  The Bugline Trail, the Ozaukee Interurban, the Wild Goose and the Old Plank Road Trail were among my first rec trail rides.  I rode the Des Plaines River Trail and the Stone Bridge and Long Prairie trails in Illinois and, while on vacation, the Perkiomen Trail near Philadelphia.

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.”