Trail(er) Trash

Today was surprisingly perfect in central Ohio. Lyd and I were out late last night enjoying the Grandview nightlife for a couple of hours...and returned home failry hammered. It was balmy and nice, and I was hoping for a good day today so I could run to Alum and throw down a couple laps. Inspired by the thirty pounds I seem to have dropped since coming here (home cookin'), I wanted to see how long a double lap of Phase 1 would take me. Not having ridden since the Camp-N-Ride on the 11th, I wasn't expecting too much.
The first lap was not at race pace by any means, since I don't know this trail very well (only the 4th time I have ridden it). Still turned a decent time of 33 minutes, having ridden all the obstacles and some of the off trail stuff just out of spite. The second lap was a bit faster, only because I had a better idea of where the shifts were and what was around each turn. I stopped a couple of times on lap 1 to grab some frikkin' GARBAGE from the trail and haul it out in the Hydrapak.




It was very clearly garbage left by cyclists, which is very sad. This trail is never more than a few minute walk from a road, so to leave crap on the trail is unforgiveable. Inner tubes, water bottles, gu-packs (on a six mile lap at sea level, do you REALLY need that GU?)etc. were everywhere. There was a crap-ass, beat-down Team Murray that someone had broken in half and hung from tree...in plain sight of Africa Road's paved surface. I was unprepared to haul that out, and being VERY new to the area, this may be some local guy's trademark or something. I'll ask around, and if it's still there Sunday when I return, I'll haul it out. Why would you hang a busted Murray from a tree? Are you really a bad-ass mountain biker because you snapped a fifty dollar Wal-Mart bike in half on Alum Creek's phase 1 trail? Idiot...that's a great way to advertise that we aren't responsible enough to have access to trails.






COMBO has been out preparing for the oncoming winter, working hard on a very long and fun section of elevated platform. It runs over a swampy section of bowled-out trail that HAS to fill with slop after a rain. It's fun and rolly, and will be a hundred yards or so when completed! I am going to get Lyd a demo TREK Fuel 8 for Sunday from the shop, so I can ride my Tomac (Titus). I will be sure to bring a dumptruck to pick up the garbage left by these shit-asses who think it's "too heavy" to "drag out" that inner tube they hung from a tree. Nice work, you pickle-smoochers.....