MTB Ride

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="005b85a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Big Ring Adventure Team</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Ring Adventure Team"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mnr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="MNR">MNR</A>   |   <A HREF="wnr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="WNR">WNR</A>   |   <A HREF="road_ride.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Road Ride">Road Ride</A>   |   <B>MTB Ride</B>   |   <A HREF="other_events.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Other Events">Other Events</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="006d2b83.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="23eafa00.gif" border=0 width="175" height="160" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I><B>Serious cyclists having serious fun!</B></I></div> <div> Big Ring Adventure Team</div> <div> A Division of 53T, Inc.</div> <div> P.O. Box 622</div> <div> Madison, IN 47250-0622</div> <div> Office: 812-265-4203</div> <div> Mobile: 812-292-0700</div> <div> Fax: 812-418-3368</div> <div> E-mail: <A HREF="mailto:info@bigringadventure.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@bigringadventure.com">info@bigringadventure.com</A></div> <bR> <div> We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click <A HREF="http://www.networkadvertising.org/pdfs/NAI_principles.pdf" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.networkadvertising.org/pdfs/N">here</A>.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>MTB Ride</I></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="697" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 144 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="http://www.bigringwriting.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.bigringwriting.com"><IMG SRC="0ea6a640.jpg" border=0 width="106" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.bigringwriting.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.bigringwriting.com">It's your story. Tell it well.</A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> <A HREF="http://www.honeystinger.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.honeystinger.com"><IMG SRC="0eb92640.jpg" border=0 width="146" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.honeystinger.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.honeystinger.com">Sting or bee stung</A>.</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="166"><div> <A HREF="http://www.neuvationcycling.com/" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.neuvationcycling.com/"><IMG SRC="0ee97640.jpg" border=0 width="151" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.neuvationcycling.com/" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.neuvationcycling.com/">High value, not high dollar.</A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="166"><div> <A HREF="http://www.weber-sports.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.weber-sports.com"><IMG SRC="0ec78640.gif" border=0 width="120" height="100" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.weber-sports.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.weber-sports.com">Bringing the outdoors to you.</A></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=4 HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="673"><div> Advertise on this site - send us an <A HREF="mailto:sales@bigringadventure.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:sales@bigringadventure.com">e-mail</A> for more info.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script>  </div> <div>   <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#ffffff"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25wht.gif" border="0" alt="Google" align="middle"></img></a> </td> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.bigringadventure.com"></input> <label for="sbi" style="display: none">Enter your search terms</label> <input type="text" name="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value="" id="sbi"></input> <label for="sbb" style="display: none">Submit search form</label> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" id="sbb"></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" checked id="ss0"></input> <label for="ss0" title="Search the Web"><font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font></label></td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.bigringadventure.com" id="ss1"></input> <label for="ss1" title="Search www.bigringadventure.com"><font size="-1" color="#000000">www.bigringadventure.com</font></label></td> </tr> </table> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-7176479705988926"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>   </div> <div> Event: Mountain bike ride.</div> <div> Date(s): Saturday, July 12, 2008.</div> <div> Location: Versailles State Park.</div> <div> Miles: 12.9.</div> <div> Total Elevation Gain: Not recorded.</div> <div> Reporting: Rich Ries.</div> <div> Photos: Rich Ries.</div> <div> Attendees: Byron Nagel and Rich Ries. Julie Ries hiked while we rode.</div> <div> <B>It wanted to rain, and it did.</B> But never hard enough to get past the canopy. We heard a few drops in the treetops and that was it. We were more worried about lightning. We never saw any, but we heard the thunder. It grew closer and then withdrew to the north. The overcast kept the sun at bay and the temperatures were comfortable. Byron's spiffy new `puter has a thermometer; it never got above 76 degrees and was just over 70 most of the time. So it turned out to be a near-perfect day for a ride.</div> <div> Greg Gardner called as we were driving to the park and said he was dropping off his daughter and would likely join us after that. I told him where we'd be riding and figured we'd meet him on the trail, but that never happened. I tried calling him at one point but had to leave a voice mail. Someone else was out on the trail right behind us. On our second lap I saw fresh prints. But they were bigger tread blocks than Greg's Nevegals, so it must have been someone else. We did encounter a rider from Columbus (IN) but the tire prints weren't his, either. Life is one big mystery, ain't it?</div> <div> There are parts of the VSP trail system that I really loathe. I avoid the western side of the Center Loop and the bottom part of the Grandview Loop, the part that runs down in Henderson Bend. They're needlessly tight and tedious; it seems to take days to get done with the Henderson Bend section. I imagine other riders have other interests and I'm sure my views are not universal. (I know not everyone shares my fondness for the rocky Creekside Trail, either.) The problem has been that omitting these two segments left little mileage.</div> <div> With the new section of the Grandview Loop open and packed down, that's no longer a problem. We rode that new part down and then later in the ride rode it both directions. We also rode the descent to Henderson Bend and turned around and rode back up. That section of the Grandview Loop rides well both directions, as does the new part. Basically we rode parts of Grandview two or three times while completely avoiding other parts. I wish the whole trail were composed of flowing singletrack. I'm eager to see what the next round of trailbuilding delivers.</div> <div> <B>Photos</B> - Just two, both of Byron riding.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="686e88a0.jpg" border=0 width="488" height="650" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="688e88a0.jpg" border=0 width="488" height="650" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> </tr></table></body>