MTB -- Mohican State Park

It's been a while since me and my vintage steel Yeti got a healthy dose of single track medicine.  Today was bright and sunny but cool, the perfect conditions for a bike ride.  I headed out to my favorite trail located in Mochican State Park and departed from the trailhead located along OH S.R. 3

If the above photo is viewed on an ipad or similar device you can zoom in on the map and get a decent look at the park.  The trail climbs and descends and skirts ridgetops along the Clear Fork Gorge.  I rode a total of about 17 miles.  Starting at the far right side of the map on the North side I rode 8 miles of single track then descended down into the valley.  I crossed the Clear Fork River on a covered bridge (Located near the cluster of 3 red icons and 2 blue ones near the left edge of the map).  I climbed up the south side of the gorge using the paved park road then back to the single track for another 8 miles back towards the trailhead  on the South side of the river.

The first or West bound leg starts off with a beat-down 1 1/2 mile climb to the ridgetop.  After that the trail becomes a mixed bag of sweet swoopy downhills and lung busting climbs and a few short rock gardens.  The leaves are all well on their way but the foliage is not dense yet and beautiful views are plenty from the higher elevations.

As a middle aged mountain biker I'm not as fast as I once was but I feel my off road bike handling skills have developed over the years to their highest state.  Today I was spot on hitting every line through root and rock with precision and balance.  Any mountain biker knows that off road riding is a crucible of pleasure and pain and the pleasure (downhills) always seem so much shorter.  It's really sweet and almost a spiritual experience when your game is on and all goes well on a ride. 

I started the ride with 40 psi in my tires but soon let about 10 pounds out improving the ride  even more.  My bike is a chromoly Yeti from the late 1990's running a 32-20 single speed conversion.  My fork is a '05-06 Rock Shox Sid that has given me flawless service.  I run about 110-120 psi in it's +/- air chambers.  I call it my vintage Yeti complete with old school V-brakes which actually work fine for me.

When in the woods I always take time to admire the plants and wildlife I see on the way.  They are varied and plentiful here in North-Central Ohio.

Where telephone poles come from.

Eastern Yeti in it's natural habitat.

I don't have a computer on the Yeti and don't worry about ride times and statistics when I go trail riding. I simply enjoy the natural beauty around me and that unique symbiosis between me, my machine and the trail.