It all started with a few high school kids looking for something better to do on the Friday before Memorial Day than sit and listen to their Intro to Psychology teacher crack sneering jokes and talk about everything but psychology. Talk had spread throughout the school about Senior Skip Day, and while I was never the rebellious type in school, I was sensing more and more as college and my "real life" approached that sometimes you needed to override expectations and do something different.
About a week or so before Memorial Day, Sammi said something to me during aforementioned psych class about the fact that she and Lisa had been thinking about doing a group bike trip for the day of skippage. I asked if I could come, and once in on the gig and understanding that concrete plans for the route were not laid down yet, I found a trail map at the library and after a short study, came up with what seemed like the best way of getting to ride the most we could of the trails in a circular route that could be completed in a day. I showed my idea to Sammi and a few others who were planning on going with us and they seemed pretty receptive to the plan. Once a general consensus formed that we would go with the route I came up with, we more or less had a party and started giving more and more people the scoop, encouraging them to come along.
The route had us starting at the beginning of the Paint Creek Trail and riding it to its end in Rochester, then taking the Macomb-Orchard Trail for a bit before heading north on some roads that would ultimately get us to Stony Creek Metropark. We would then get a fun bout of mountain biking in at the metropark, then continue northwest to meet up somewhere in Oakland Township with the Polly Ann Trail, which we would follow back to Oxford, home of our ultimate reward, Casa Real, a tasty Mexican restaurant.
By the time Friday morning rolled around, our group size had gone up to 12 people, and in the morning most of us met at CJ's Cafe in Lake Orion (a local breakfast classic!) to fuel our bodies before the journey, most of us getting dropped off by our parents with bikes. After breakfast, we pedaled over to the head of the Paint Creek Trail. After a bit of basically cluelessly acting as an obstruction to other bikers seeking to begin their own rides while waiting for someone to show up (Dane!), we were on our way!
Of course, as would naturally be the case for a bunch of kids used to being cooped up in school, the first stretch of the ride was as nice as a gentle breeze. The weather was perfect. We stopped at one of the giant hills along the trail and climbed it for fun...oh, how the energy must have been plentiful, and how short-sighted we must have been, ha ha! I love the picture of us at the top of the hill where Doug is peeking up from the bottom...
This story to be continued...
