Bike Trails 04

When I Was A Little Kid, There Was Nothing More Entertaining Than Bike Riding. Although I Was Only Allowed To Go For A Few Blocks, It Seemed Like The Whole World To Me. I Could Spend Hours And Hours Driving Around The Block Repeatedly, Feeling The Wind Go By As I Flew On My Bicycle. When I Get A Little Older, My Mom Let Me Drive Around The Whole Subdivision. I Was Ecstatic. It Took Very Little To Keep Me Happy.

Now that I'm older, however, I realize the limits of bike riding. Bicycle riding where I live is a pain. There are cars everywhere, and many of them are very un-responsive to bike riders. I couldn't even count the number of times I have almost been hit by ornery drivers trying to get home from work. This is why bike trails are such a popular thing in the Midwest. Without the Michigan bike trails that I go to on the weekends, I don't know how I'd survive.

My favorite ones are the mountain bike trails. A lot of people are surprised to hear, but there is actually some good mountain biking in Michigan. The elevation changes aren't dramatic, but they make up for it with A lot of quick, steep hills. Bike trail riding is somewhat of a passion among Metro Detroiters. With everything so heavily based around cars in this area, a lot of people need an escape.

Without bike paths, I think a lot of us would go crazy. I actually became involved in the local bike club last year because I was getting so passionate about riding. I had never bought a trail bike, and I didn't really realize that I was missing out on anything by using my old beater, but one of my new friends let me try his out. I was amazed. The bike trails fly by when you are on a decent vehicle.

It really changed my perspective on things – I couldn't go back to the hunk of junk that I was using. It was great to belong to a bike club because there were so m! any people who knew how to set up their own bicycles. All I had to do was get the bike frame and the bike parts and the rest was history. Soon, I was sitting pretty and doing some of the very best riding of my life.

Related articles from around the web:

Don't let the vocal minority kill your trail project By Scott Post, PE While it is typical to have someone who objects to a proposed trail, in most cases we see an about-face once the trail opens for public use. One property owner actually called me a couple months after the trail opened and apologized for being difficult during construction. She discovered how much she loved the trail! She said...

At Ray's, bikes for all seasons At Ray's, bikes for all seasons By Janet Sowle, Special to the Sun Posted: You would expect a store named Ray's Bike Shop to carry a lot of bikes - and they do. The store located in Downtown Clare currently has over 400 bikes and countless accessories in stock. Bikes aren't just for kids and summer anymore.

Bike the Bridge event a rare ride for Windsor-Detroit cyclists Nearly 200 cyclists rode across the Ambassador Bridge during the fourth annual Bike the Bridge event Sunday. Co-sponsored by the Windsor Bicycling Committee and the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, the event closed down a single lane of the bridge for about a half an hour Sunday morning to give participants a chance to cross the...

Novi pedaling for National Biking Month with several events three years in the making News Novi pedaling for National Biking Month with several events three years in the making Jeremy Burcham, manager of Performance Bicycle on Crescent Boulevard near Novi Road, stands next to a line of mountain bikes discounted for National Bike Month. (John Turk - The Oakland Press) By John Turk, john.turk@oakpress.

America's top mountain bike towns Last Slide Next Slide East Burke, Vt.: In the small, northern Vermont city of East Burke lies what is often called the best trail system in the country - the 100-mile Kingdom Trails. Rolling along pastures and through wooded forests during peak New England fall is an experience that rivals the most vivid flying dream you've ever had.

Related searches: Michigan Bike Trails, Bike Trails, Bike Riding, Michigan, Cycling, Detroit, Trail, Mountain bike, Midwest, United States, Sports,

Image credits:
lakefront trail, beach (Photo credit: sonofabike)
People on Bikes in Chicago - Lakefront Trail (Photo credit: W.D. Vanlue)