INTRODUCTION
This story began with an email message from Neal O’Brien [2big4akdx] to me [Nestrick] a couple of weeks ago … seems that I had mentioned to Neal on a previous ride up in Atlanta that I was dreaming about riding some of the UP trails … this seed must have been planted well as Neal remembered and decided to use some of his two weeks off for change-over at Delphi to ride the UP. So, in his email, Neal says to get my stuff ready and we’ll take off on Thursday morning … head up to the UP and ride until Sunday afternoon when we have to return to meet some of his previously scheduled obligations. Man, I was so excited I felt like a kid … and to top things off, just before we left, I received a telephone call from Woodsy who gabbed with me for well over an hour … during our rambling discussions the subject of this ride came up and Woodsy mentioned that he had not ridden any trails in the UP and he as very interested in whatever comparisons we might be able to make regarding the LP trails versus the UP trails. I laughed and responded that while my memory is reasonably good, my trail experiences are relatively poor having only been riding for three seasons … however, we both agreed that Neal would be a vast resource of trail experiences upon which exacting comparisons in excruciating detail could be founded … well, that’s what Woodsy and I concluded anyway … it’s really amazing how clear our visions can be and yet fail so miserably! More on this fiasco later …
I spent the better part of a day and a half getting my bike ready, maintenance done, extra gear, chemicals, tools, and miscellaneous travel stuff ready so there would be no delays when Neal arrived at my home in Midland pick me up. The night before we left, Neal called and said that he would be here between eight and ten in the morning … BE READY! At about 8 AM I get a call from Neal … seems that he had developed a flat tire on his truck and because the tires were not in real good shape he wanted to stop off in Midland to pick up a new set on the way up north. After about an hour’s drive up to Midland from south of Saginaw where Neal lives, then about 1.5 hours at Sears getting tires installed and the front end aligned, then another 45 minutes or so loading up the bikes on the trailer, and rearranging and loading gear into the truck, we are finally on our way!
[See photo: Left]
Note the nice new tires on the truck and those near virgin 756s on my CRF-450 … that’s me [Nestrick] on the right and Neal [2big4akdx] kind of obscured by the KDX200 on the left. Even though I had pulled preventative maintenance on the trailer tail lights the week before and had replaced all of the bulbs … I had Neal test them before we started … amazing, the right one failed to light when the brake was depressed. I quickly took the lens off and checked the filament and fiddled with the bulb … then it started working again … at this point the number of screw-ups was beginning to gnaw at my subconscious … more on the tail light tests to come!
FOREMAN LAKE
Because we got a late start, we opted to change our original plans which entailed beginning with the trails near Newberry [i.e., potentially: Pine Ridge, Two Heart, Silver Creek] and instead catch a couple of the shorter trails on the east side of the UP that Neal had yet to ride completely … namely, Foreman Lake and Kinross … as fate would have it, this change became the catalyst for our meeting a couple of riders in need! We intended to ride one today, stay overnight and ride the other tomorrow … remember folks, at best I ride at a pace that is about half that of Neal … so when you’re reading this dialog [diatribe?] you can stop wondering why we seemed to ride so little compared to yourself in the same situation. Also … I made it a top priority for myself to avoid all forms of catastrophic injury which might result in Neal leaving me in the woods, or potentially on the steps of a local hospital … you see, when it comes to riding, Neal is very serious and frowns on multitasking.
[See photo: Middle]
We started with Foreman Lake which is located northeast of Cedarville on M-134 … the trailhead is a couple of miles south on Springer Road off M-48. This trail is only 13 miles in length and is rated a Difficulty Grade 4 in the GLTR listing. On the road leading into the trail Neal noticed a WARNING sign on the DNR marker … we pulled over and got this picture.
[See photo: Right]
The warning sign mysteriously bore this poetic note … again I began to feel a gnawing on my subconscious … I was positive Woodsy said he had never been up here riding?
This story began with an email message from Neal O’Brien [2big4akdx] to me [Nestrick] a couple of weeks ago … seems that I had mentioned to Neal on a previous ride up in Atlanta that I was dreaming about riding some of the UP trails … this seed must have been planted well as Neal remembered and decided to use some of his two weeks off for change-over at Delphi to ride the UP. So, in his email, Neal says to get my stuff ready and we’ll take off on Thursday morning … head up to the UP and ride until Sunday afternoon when we have to return to meet some of his previously scheduled obligations. Man, I was so excited I felt like a kid … and to top things off, just before we left, I received a telephone call from Woodsy who gabbed with me for well over an hour … during our rambling discussions the subject of this ride came up and Woodsy mentioned that he had not ridden any trails in the UP and he as very interested in whatever comparisons we might be able to make regarding the LP trails versus the UP trails. I laughed and responded that while my memory is reasonably good, my trail experiences are relatively poor having only been riding for three seasons … however, we both agreed that Neal would be a vast resource of trail experiences upon which exacting comparisons in excruciating detail could be founded … well, that’s what Woodsy and I concluded anyway … it’s really amazing how clear our visions can be and yet fail so miserably! More on this fiasco later …
I spent the better part of a day and a half getting my bike ready, maintenance done, extra gear, chemicals, tools, and miscellaneous travel stuff ready so there would be no delays when Neal arrived at my home in Midland pick me up. The night before we left, Neal called and said that he would be here between eight and ten in the morning … BE READY! At about 8 AM I get a call from Neal … seems that he had developed a flat tire on his truck and because the tires were not in real good shape he wanted to stop off in Midland to pick up a new set on the way up north. After about an hour’s drive up to Midland from south of Saginaw where Neal lives, then about 1.5 hours at Sears getting tires installed and the front end aligned, then another 45 minutes or so loading up the bikes on the trailer, and rearranging and loading gear into the truck, we are finally on our way!
[See photo: Left]
Note the nice new tires on the truck and those near virgin 756s on my CRF-450 … that’s me [Nestrick] on the right and Neal [2big4akdx] kind of obscured by the KDX200 on the left. Even though I had pulled preventative maintenance on the trailer tail lights the week before and had replaced all of the bulbs … I had Neal test them before we started … amazing, the right one failed to light when the brake was depressed. I quickly took the lens off and checked the filament and fiddled with the bulb … then it started working again … at this point the number of screw-ups was beginning to gnaw at my subconscious … more on the tail light tests to come!
FOREMAN LAKE
Because we got a late start, we opted to change our original plans which entailed beginning with the trails near Newberry [i.e., potentially: Pine Ridge, Two Heart, Silver Creek] and instead catch a couple of the shorter trails on the east side of the UP that Neal had yet to ride completely … namely, Foreman Lake and Kinross … as fate would have it, this change became the catalyst for our meeting a couple of riders in need! We intended to ride one today, stay overnight and ride the other tomorrow … remember folks, at best I ride at a pace that is about half that of Neal … so when you’re reading this dialog [diatribe?] you can stop wondering why we seemed to ride so little compared to yourself in the same situation. Also … I made it a top priority for myself to avoid all forms of catastrophic injury which might result in Neal leaving me in the woods, or potentially on the steps of a local hospital … you see, when it comes to riding, Neal is very serious and frowns on multitasking.
[See photo: Middle]
We started with Foreman Lake which is located northeast of Cedarville on M-134 … the trailhead is a couple of miles south on Springer Road off M-48. This trail is only 13 miles in length and is rated a Difficulty Grade 4 in the GLTR listing. On the road leading into the trail Neal noticed a WARNING sign on the DNR marker … we pulled over and got this picture.
[See photo: Right]
The warning sign mysteriously bore this poetic note … again I began to feel a gnawing on my subconscious … I was positive Woodsy said he had never been up here riding?