Fort Custer weekend

[sommerfliesby]

I awoke before dawn on Saturday, with the anticipation of dual forecasts of sunshine and dry trails resounding in my head.  The truck was packed in a flash, and I met Chris "Too many nicknames" Finn at my shop at the hour of 6.  We loaded his weapon of choice and gear in the bed, and rolled to the east.  Along the way, we stopped and hooked up with a lovely couple...the Androoooskiekafoaifch's....and their new bicycles.  Into the rising sun and colder-than-expected winds we drove, until we reached our goal:  the hallowed ground known as Fort Custer, just outside of Augusta, MI.  After setting up camp and getting our bikes and ourselves ready to ride, we rolled out to the staging area to meet up with the rest of the crew that would be up for the day.  As if on cue, they had just arrived and were taking the bikes off the racks.  Burak, Prison Rick, Larry, Ryan H., Matt and Stan brought our number to 10, and off we rode.

Instant satisfaction was realized.  The trails were dry, tacky and FAST.  Through the trenches, up the hills, down the hills and swooping twisty goodness we rode...with nary a spot of mud.  Stan and Marcin attempted human-lawn-dart impressions, but rolled off with smiles.  For those that have not been to this locale...I cannot recommend it enough.  There are miles to appease the cardio crowd, and much techinical riding so that those with 5 inches of travel are having just as much fun.  20 miles or so of goodness, and our original four returned to the campsite for a snack and some juice (alcohol not being legal in the park).  (Note:  "Juice" = "beer"  shhhh!  Don't tell anyone!)  The rest of the crew showed up shortly after, consumed more juice, and then we all went back to the staging area to have YET more juice and then proceed to the nearby Bell's Brewing Company in Kalamazoo...for some straight-up BEER.

[undercover]

Good times in deed. Thanks for the write up Mike.

[cemeb4dk]

We were there Sat also. Just a day trip for us. I agree with you its a great trail system with a little bit of everything. People in that area are lucky. We stopped at custers cycles just outside the entrance. What a great shop, the owner said Friday morning there was still standing water on trails. And Sat they were perfect. We did red and green loops. Took 2.75 hours from the Aurora area.

[sommerfliesby]

The beer at Bell's is quite good, and, it turns out, quite potent.  A good time was had by all.  Chris was the sober driver, and the only one to spill his beer.  We saw a Pat...not quite man, not quite woman...and we never did figure it out.  We said our goodbyes to the day-trip crew, and proceeded to call Alana's bluff about stopping at a gentlemen's establishment we had passed on the way into town.  She was not kidding.  A couple dollar-dances later (and yes, they were worth approximately a dollar), we laughed our way out the door and back to the campsite.  We could not light a fire due partly to the flame-retartant wood Chris brought, but cooked some  hot dogs on the grill and ate chocolate muffins for dinner.  At night, raccoons were having a marsupial UFC competition outside my tent.  Then they tried to get my food, so I had to get up and bring it into my tent.  Then, in the morning, we had a woodpecker as an alarm clock.  I never wanted a shotgun so badly in my life.

The morning light revealed hangovers in the Androoasodfjaovajich tent, so they packed their gear and rolled for home.  Chris and I found the race and chilled for an hour or so beforehand.  Tommy T showed up for a little Sport-class flogging, and we headed for the line.  I had signed up for Expert/Elite singlespeed, thinking if I had signed up for Beginner/Sport, I might actually do well and feel like a sandbagger.  Instead, I toed the line with a bunch of monsters.  Oh well.  Just enjoy it, I said.  About halfway through the first lap, I was peeking out of the pain cave on a steep uphill, and my vision saw the trail go left, so my arms responded without question.  

[sommerfliesby]

The upshot of this was that I went the wrong f$%ing way.  And so did the guy that was chasing me about 100 feet back.  After a couple minutes of seeing no race signs, I sat up and waited for the guy and said such.  He said he had never been there before, I said I'd been there twice in the last 10 years.  We were screwed.  Rolled back upon the race course a 1/4 mile later and jumped back in...only our class was GONE and we got stuck in a big bunch of sport riders though some tight singletrack.  It's hard enough to pass on singletrack, but doing on a singlespeed is a real PITA.  So, I just decided to enjoy the ride.  Ended up picking off a couple of the guys from my class on the second lap, so I wound up 7th out of 11 (figured I was in about 4th or 5th when I made the wrong turn)...but I had a GREAT time.  I felt like riding another lap, it was soooo good to be on dry trails once again!

Waited for Tommy and Chris to finish, then packed it up and rocked the big red truck to the west.  An awesome weekend for all...and we made no tracks.

[Sean John]

one of the coolest write-ups to date 

[CrAsHaNdBuRn]

(Awesome trails+Awesome people) x (Beer[juice]^bell's) / angel's = smiles

and hangover.

can't wait to go back.

[Burton]

Raced it Sunday instead of Iola and I agree they were in awesome shape, super fast!  Great race too!  Quick write up is on our team site pictures are currently limited but we will add more upon recept.

[Kurtis I.]

I guess Mike summed it up pretty good. I will just add that it sucked getting a flat at the beginning of the second lap then find out your co2 pump is corroded and no air so had to go to the hand pump.
It was an awesome race and great trails.
I recommend that system it is even worth a day trip to hit the system.

[TrailJumper]

I'll have to check this place out sometime. Never heard of it before this.

[skadamo]

Nice work wrapping it up at Bells. 10 bikes on great trails, juice consumption and... no pics? .