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Had my camera battery not died in the 24.4°F weather (confirmed by my bike computer while leaving the trail) I would have a better photo than this.
This place is exactly where Nick, Erik, and I spent the bulk of our time on Sunday clearing the trail, and there’s now another fallen tree there. Thankfully this one can be ridden under. It appears that this area had a number of ash trees all of which fell victim to Emerald Ash Borer, and this autumn is the time they are all falling. As they are still very solid internally, I hope that we’ll be able to chop them up in the spring and use them to build a few log piles.
Tonight’s ride was quite wonderful. While it was cold outside I was appropriately (and perhaps over) dressed, and this was only a problem when I stopped to use nature as my toilet. Due to recent rains before the cold the trail was packed hard and as grippy as brushed concrete (or slickrock?) which made riding quite fun. Road traffic was surprisingly light, and I had no problems with cars either on the (residential) roads or at intersections.
I’m really looking forward to being able to ride these trails in the winter. I’ll just have to go get that tree sorted out before it actually falls and keep an eye out for others in this area. I suspect that this trail will be outstanding with studded tires once the snow falls and ice is making everything slick. I can’t wait.
(Total ride time today 1:40:37, 18.71 miles, 11.16 MPH average, 21.76 MPH max. Rode up from home, 1x full single track, two-track as return trail, 1x regular loop, 1x backward regular loop, then back home with a loop around the neighborhood.)