Single Track Again

It was a Monday, a day like any other day. I left the small town for the Apple in decay. Oh wait that’s not what we did, but it was Monday and we did leave the small town of Auburn to head to the slightly bigger town of Huntington Indiana.

FGB’s MTB bike had been recently tuned up and he and I were itching to ride some single track again. I looked online and although Fort Wayne, which is closer, does have a few trails they were described as intermediate to advanced trails. FGB doesn’t have much experience on Single-Track and I wasn’t sure what advanced riding entailed I decided to take the hour and five minute drive to Huntington as the trail there was described as beginner to intermediate. The trail was also described as being fast, twelve miles long, and circling Lake Huntington. The whole thing is located in the J Edward Roush State Park.

We loaded up Gatorade, bananas, our water packs, bikes, shoes and other gear and headed out. AS we approached the state park we crossed a dam, which afforded us a good look at the lake we would be circling. It was a largish oblong lake. The two longer sides were bordered with trees while the two shorter side were bordered by fields and roads. The excitement to ride a new trail began to mount and soon we were pulling into the park.

In no time we had donned our riding gear and were ready to start out. The trailhead was clearly marked and only a mere 50 feet from the parking lot. The beginning of the trail wove through the trees and then out along the edge of a cornfield. The ground was packed hard and worn smooth so the trail was fast. After riding along the cornfield for a bit the trail turned back into the woods and picked up speed. The fact that we were picking up speed should have been a warning. As I rounded a bend I saw in front of me a rock filled ravine and about a two-foot drop, our first intermediate encounter. I have had some experience dropping into ravines and handled it with ease unfortunately it all happened so fast I had no time to warn FGB. From behind me I heard the cry of surprise and terror as FGB dropped the two feet into the ravine. I shouted, “You okay?” what I heard was the adrenaline-charged “yea that was cool.” FGB is definitely hooked on single track and biking in general.

There was another ravine that caught us off guard and neither of us made it up the other side, as we were traveling quite fast and had no time to shift. We were not in the proper gears for the steep tree-rooted climb. The rest of the trail twisted and turned through the woods occasionally following old fire roads and finally popping out on the damn we had crossed on the way in.

I think before we attempt one of the intermediate to advanced trails we will ride this trail a few more times. Next time we’re down at the J Edward Roush Trail we will take some pictures of the ravines. It may be a while before go again since FGB fell off a four-foot high truck bed onto the cement and bruised his elbow quite severely. I don’t thinks it’s broken but if it gets worse not better then it’s off to the E-room. He insists that he is fine I think mostly because we having a fishing trip planned for later today.