Dauset

I texted my brother and Mark Hirsch, and Mark Baldwin a while back. It had been forever since I'd ridden with any of those guys. Did they want to do something the next weekend? Turned out Mark was going to be out of town. John had something going on too. Hirsch was free. I tried to get Austin to join us, and he initially wanted to, but then realized that he miscalculated his girl's day off or something, and couldn't make it. Long story short, me, Hirsch, and Chris Hovatter rode at Dauset the following Sunday.

We had wanted to ride Bull, but it had rained the day before, and even that morning, so it was a last-minute change of plans, but it worked out really well. In fact, since Marc's place was only slightly off route between my place and Dauset, I picked him up, and he didn't have to drive, which he was pretty happy about.

Apparently there was "new" trail at Dauset. Of course, new is relative. I think the last time I rode there was with my Dad. We did a 12-hour race there, more than 10 years ago. So, this new trail was only new to me. It's actually been there a while.

Marc loves Dauset, and really knows his way around. I used to know my way around, but it's been a really long time, and I only vaguely remembered any of it.

We basically rode pretty directly to the newest of the trails - The Creeks, as it's called. Three loops north of the classic system, with a trailhead that's pretty close to downtown Jackson.

Chris led on most of the downhills, and either me or Marc on the climbs. The new trails up there are a lot like the old trails - fast, flowing, and a bit rooty. They add a lot more mileage though.

One thing my brother and I used to love about ripping in-town singletrack is that it's usually fairly twisty, and if you're following someone through fast, twisty trail, it feels like fighter jets dogfighting. Or, at least it has the same feel as POV from the cockpit in a movie that features dogfighting. Neither of us has ever been in an aerial dogfight! We used to call it "fighter jets" though. It had been a long time since I'd had that feeling, but I totally got it, all day long, following either of those guys on those trails.

We passed a few riders coming the other way as we approached The Creeks trailhead, then passed a walking out, only a few hundred yards from the lot.

We stayed there for a bit, and talked to that guy, and some other folks in the lot, while we caught our breath. It was hot though, really hot, and it honestly felt a lot better to keep moving than to stand around, even in the shade, so we didn't stand around for too long.

When we got back to the classic system, Chris split off and rode on his own. Me and Marc wanted to ride over to Indian Springs, but he'd had enough fun for one day already.

The trial to Indian Springs is more "new" trail, in that it wasn't open to bikes when I last rode there, but it's been around for a long time. It definitely wasn't purpose-built singletrack though, like The Creeks trails were. It actually reminded me of some of the trails in Louisiana and Mississippi. You're crusing along on fairly flat trail, then it dives down, crosses a little creek, and climbs steeply back up off of it. It takes a certain amount of strength to be able to keep speed, and if you have it, then the dips become rollers, you can ride the whole trail at tempo, and it's fun. But, if you don't, then you have to sit back and grind out every climb before you can get moving again, which can be a drag. Fortunately, we had it, but it was a lot of effort.

Way out at the end, it tees into a road, and Indian Springs park is to the north a bit. There's a river there too, and tons of kids were playing in the water, despite a large NO SWIMMING sign over by where they were playing.

I didn't need water, per-se, but I'd gone through a little more than 1 bottle, and it would be nice to have some. I could see shops and stuff to the south, so we rode down the sidewalk for a block or two. The first shop looked like a marked, but turned out to be an antiques store. The second was some kind of food place, but between us and it, we noticed the Whimsical Garden, with its water feature.

The water smelled good, and tasted good, so I figured it wasn't chocked full of pesticides. I did drop a couple of iodine tablets into it though, just in case.

The ride back to Dauset was just backwards on the same trail, which required the same level of effort as riding out, and I was flagging a bit when we got there. We ended up spinning a couple of loops around the rest of the park, and eventually ended up at a pavilion with a spigot. Rather than drinking the questionable Whimsical Garden water, I got it straight out of the ground at the pavilion, and I felt a little better about really guzzling it. After that, we rode some other collection of loops, for a total of just under 30 miles for the day.

It had been a while since I'd been on the gas for 30 miles on tight singletrack, but it was really satisfying to do.

We grabbed lunch at Wendy's on the way out, as ones options are limited at that particular exit. It's basically the truck stop or the attached Wendy's. Maybe there's something else, but that's all I ever remember being there.

I dropped Hirsch off at his place, crawled back to mine, and after a shower, I'll admit, crashed out for a nap on my couch for a few hours. Between the heat and the effort, I was wiped out.

It was a great day though! Definitely need to do that kind of thing more often.