Time to start bicycling again!  I rode my first 25 miles of the year
yesterday.

I just bought myself a mountain bike, too, and I'm looking forward to
doing some of the dirt roads around Ann Arbor.  Anybody up for a ride
through Lima Center or Fishville?

If you enjoy cycling, you really should be a member of the Ann Arbor
Bicycle Touring Society.  Dues are only $10/year.  The address for the
AABTS is PO Box 1585, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

25 responses total.

Great on the mountain bike Dan!  I have found dirt road riding very
enjoyable and plane to lead at least one 35 mile dirt road ride this
summer.  Some of the better ways to get out of town on a mountain bike
from our neck of the city is to head down miller to S. on Wagner to
W on Prat.  Take that to Zeeb and head N to that  road just S of Dex.
A^2... Can't remember the name!  That'll take you all the way out to
Parker where you can head S for 1/4 mile and pick up a dirt road heading
W.  Now you'r out far enough so the 90% of the roads a are dirt.

You can also head N on Maple and pick up all kids of dirt roadnorth
of town.

Thanks for the tips.  Do you know where the Potawotami Trail is, and
if it's feasible to ride there?

I'm surprised scg hasn't responded yet.

The PT is in the Pinkney rec area.  I've hiked it, but not biked it.
They send bikers one direction and hikers another, so that the pedestrians
can see the bikers coming.  The trains where bikes are allowed are well 
marked.

I'm sure there is a back way of getting there.  About a mile west on
Dexter Town Hall Rd. from N. Teritorial.  I can get about 75% of the
way there on dirt without looking at a map.  You can pick it up at 
several places but I've always done it from Silver Lake or Half Moon.
I don't really like riding it.  I'm not one of those who thinks mtn.
bikes destroy trails any more than foot traffic but on a mtn. bike one
can do the whole thing in under two hours.  For this reason there has
been a 50X to 100X increase in trail usage since the advent of the mtn.
bike.  It's said to be one of the best trails in the country for mtn.
biking.  I have done it a few times and enjoyed it and will
let others ride it in my place.  I have also ridden "rabbit" on those trails
for runners during triathelons.  It's easy to get lost on that trail system!

Mtn bikes are more destructive of trails than foot traffic (depending on
the trail somewhat). The bike and rider is heavier than a walker, impact
pressures are higher due to the higher velocity, the local trail pressure
is higher due to the smaller "footprint", and, probably most important,
the "traffic density" can become higher. (I read your message as saying
"mtn bikes destroy trails....in under two hours" - which I don't think you
intended ;>). 

Ok Rane.  What about a hiker with a 20 or 30 pound pack?  Weight becomes
about the same.  What about a hiking boot swinging forward and coming to
stop every time it hits the ground with every step. The velocity of said
boot is higher than the velocity of the hiker.  A wheel rolls across the
ground with little or no change in velocity.  The weight of the bike and
rider, etc., acceleration, breaking, and higher tire pressure all dislodge
earth.  When one walks, one is not always on two feet.  Usually only one
is contacting the ground.  as the foot rolls forward, the area contacting
the ground decreases even further, at the same time as the force vector
towards the back of the hiker peaks:  Reduced surface area causes the boot
to dig in deeper while the force back breaks loose earth.  Since, in most
cases, the sole of the boot is not on the same plane as the lugs that
contact the ground, the lugs move relative to one-another, dislodging
ground, every time the sole flexes!  Hikers don't wear moccisins.  The
indians did.  They are much nicer to the environment than even sneekers.

What about energy expended per distance traveled?  I am much more exhausted
doing one and less exhausted doing the other.  Even by the end of the day
when distance traveled and hours awake are the same.  Why did one mode of
transport require more energy expendature than the other?  Where did that
extra energy expendature go?

I still feel the issue is really trail ussage.  Hikers/Bikeres can battle
out the minute differances if they like.  I do a significant amount of
both but feel the overwelming problem causing trail erosion is over usage!
It would also help if all the users treated the trails as though made of
rice paper, which, if torn, would send them straight to hell!

We hikers might have an argument if we hiked barefoot.

Clearly, a worthy subject for research. And argument. At least on one
point - I think the "extra energy expenditure" went into contracting
and relaxing muscle, creating heat, which was released to the air.

I bet the research has been done.  The controversy has been going on for
several years and trails were being closed until biking groups started
forming to protest the closures and help maintain the trails.  I have
not seen any research on these toppics but if anyone has, I'd sure love
to read through it!  (And I'm not talking about unsupported stuff like
what I've been typing in above...)

The research has been done (I forget the name of the study, but I dug it up
during the Bird Hills fiasco a few years ago).  The study showed that the
impact is about the same for cyclists and hikers, and much greater for
horses (which are banned on the Poto).  I do quite a bit of mountain biking
on trails during the fall, and a little bit in the summer.  The Poto is one
of my favorate places to ride, but it's probably too muddy to ride this time
of year.  When I just go on dirt roads I usually take the road bike.  If it's
only a dirt road, as opposed to a trail, the road bike can handle it.

This is too much for me.

Does the AABTS (or other groups) have rides for beginners?
I just got a road bike that would do alright on groomed
trails.  Now I've just got to get used to riding again.
It's been several years since I've rode more than a few
miles.

Yep.  There are rides for all levels of riders.  One ride that I enjoy
is the Tuesday evening ride.  We meet at the church at Platt and Stony
Creek and meander the roads south of there.  In April, we meet at 5:30;
in May, we meet at 6:00.  

The reason I enjoy it is that the ride leaders, Manfred and Judy, are
really nice people, and most of the riders are laid-back kind of
folks.  Sometimes we get "real riders", but they usually get impatient
with the pace and charge off after a couple of miles.

At any rate, if you're interested in riding and need more information,
give me a call.  If you want to join the AABTS, send $10 to AABTS, PO
Box 1585, Ann Arbor,MI 48106.  For $10, you'll get the newsletter
every month as well as the ride calendar.

Hey! I just did my first dirt road ride.  It was kinda nice.

I took Miller to Delhi and rode north toward the river.  Unfortunately,
the bridge there is closed for repairs so I had to retrace my steps.
I got on Wagner and headed up to Huron River Dr, then got on Delhi Rd
north again.  I rode north to Joy and then west to Whitmore Lake Road.

Now, I'm thinking we should get more mountain bike rides on the AABTS
calendar.

I enjoyed last Tuesday evening's ride very much.  So this Tuesday I loaded
the bike back into the car and arrived at Platt and Stony Creek at about
6:20 to find cars but no bikes.  I wasn't sure what to do to catch up
to the riders, so I came back home.  Is there another ride scheduled 
for Wed evening that I might be able to keep up with?  Oh well, better
be on time next Tuesday....

On Wednesdays, the ride starts from the church parking lot just north
of the McDonald's on Zeeb Road.  This ride is a little faster than
the Tuesday night ride, though.

I just noticed this item has been sitting here without any responses for a
long time.  The season is now in full swing and I've done several races so
far this year, although I've decided to skip Nationals this year.  Of
course, the crazy/clueless/angry/impatient/bad drivers are out there.  I
even got hit by one while coming home from a ride today.  The good news is
that the Police disagreed with both her claim that she had the right of
way because she makes the same left turn three times a day and her claim
that I had suddenly materialized two feet away from her car.

Ouch!  Hope you are ok!  If there were such a thing as transporters, perhaps
her second claim might hold some water.

I would like to announce that there is now a cycling item in the sports
conference.

Would you like it linked here?

omni has expressed a preference for not having linked items in the sports
conference, which was the reason for the new item in the first place.

I was checking out the Traverse City Freenet and I found The VeloNet Gopher
i.e. GlobalCycling Network by way of 1) Special Interest Groups 2) Norhtern
Michigan Outdoors 3) Other Outdoor Sourses 4) Bicycling Gopher.  Has anyone
been there and investigated the info?

You can have your cycling organization listed ther and you can put yourself
on the many mailing lists there of the listed organizations.  there were no
organizations listed in Michigan.  A shame because there is lots of good 
biking here.

I haven't seen it.  Do you know what the name of the machine the gopher
was on is, for those of us without accounts on the Traverse City Freenet?

You can access the Traverse City Freenet through mlink by way of the Michnet.
Login as visitor.  Hope you find your way there.  I understand there are free
public access lines around the state like the one I am using in Sault Ste.
Marie MI.

If anyone can get to the Global Cycling Network, you can then go to the 
Millsaps gopher to find lots of techincal info on bikes.  I got the official
guidelines of the U.S. Cycling Federation for setting  up and sizing road/
racing bikes.  They list a whole bunch of tech support numbers.  So much info,
and so little time.

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