Mableton

I didn't get any photos of this ride...

A few weeks back, Dave of Siracusa's fame asked me if there was a trail up on the hill across from the pizza place, as he swore that he'd seen a guy on a bike, riding across the crest of the hill. I told him that I was not aware of such a trail, and that I regularly rode every scrap of rideable trail in the vicinity, but that I would take a look, because, you know, anything is possible. So, during my next "Local Exploration" ride, I took a look, and no doubt, there was new singletrack running all back up in there.

Ha ha! Dave was right.

I had a sneaky suspicion who created said trail, and ran into a couple of riders doing the same thing I was who confirmed it. Apparently, since North Cooper Lake Park is now under Sorba jurisdiction, he's had free time on his hands. Allegedly, he not only built that trail, but raked everything else in the area. I had to check it out. I used to ride the Creekside trails and the trails on the north side of Nickajack Creek quite a bit a few years ago, but they were always rough, and some recent storms made them a lot less fun than they used to be. Well, turns out, our friend raked them all, and they should all be totally rideable now.

Awesome.

Fast forward some number of days, and I managed a 32 mile, singletrack-heavy loop, within 5 miles of my house. Loosely this was Redbud Creek -> Providence -> Roads -> Nickajack Park -> Roads -> Jacmac -> Camp Highland -> Whitefield -> Vining Estates -> Roads -> Woodbridge -> North Nickajack/Creekside -> Silver Comet Side Trail -> North Cooper Lake -> Thompson Park -> Roads. It was a lot harder than the distance would suggest. Some of those trails are quite steep, and it was really hot. It would have been possible to get in even more singletrack if I'd headed west on the Comet, but I'd had enough. Heh, I also got a little lost in Camp Highland. I'd only been there a few times before, didn't totally remember it, and there appears to be at least one new trail. I'll have to go exploring back in there again sometime.

Man, though, it was great to be able to legitimately shred the Creekside/Nickajack stuff. I don't think I'd ever been able to ride it like I did that day. Thanks!