PC Rob Meendering from a handful of years ago. Cheers! 🍻

Alright everyone.

I’m in the (very) early stages of planning a challenge of sorts for our sub next year.

The Challenge would be similar in sign up to how the Bike Month Challenge went last year. A user would be required to have Strava (I believe the free version would suffice) and would be required to join the challenge. I would set that all up.

Then the required amount of miles/rides/ whatever would need to be completed in the allotted timeframe. I’m unsure at this point of mileage or timeframe requirements. Again, very early planning.

Anyone who entered and completed the Challenge would be awarded an embroidered patch from Monsterologist featuring our very own Michigan cryptid, the Dogman.

What I need to know is how many people would be interested in something like this? Would it be extremely dependent on mileage/timeframe?

I’m trying to get at least a vague idea of participation interest so I can continue communicating with the person that runs the Monsterologist site on getting a price nailed down for the patches.

I had hoped to potentially get the patches custom designed with wording pertinent to our subreddit, but it’s looking like that may be a long shot.

Anyway, weigh in here on your thoughts and if you’d be interested.

Thanks.

Just a heads up everyone as we are getting to the point where we may be seeing more hunters out on the trails.

A lot of us think of hunting season as only for deer, but there are other seasons for firearm hunting and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to come across a hunter from time to time.

So just be cautious, and if you’re going to be out in the woods it may be best to wear bright colors.

I was reading today on one of the FB Groups that a gunman had been reported to State Police on DTE Green Loop.

I actually was riding Green this afternoon and there was still an MSP presence when I arrived. I passed a young man who was clearly hunting on my first lap. He was staring up into a tree. He told me as I passed he was small game hunting. About five minutes after I passed him I heard a single shot. On my next lap I came upon him again, he was walking out on the trail. He stepped aside and seemed pretty happy. He told me he had gotten his first ever squirrel. I told him I heard his shot and congratulated him. He asked if I had heard any other shots. I told him no. He said he had only taken the one and was done for the day so if I heard any more it wasn’t him. We told each other to have a nice day and I rode off.

He was very friendly, courteous, but I will say the rifle he had looked a lot more “tactical” than a typical hunting rifle would look. I’m sure if someone saw him without his orange on it may be a bit alarming. I’m not sure if he was the person that MSP was called about, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Also keep in mind that many of our linear trails run up against private farm land. I was on Falling Waters just west of Concord back in 2020, and a shot rang out right as I was passing. It was someone on the farmland firing away from the trail, but man it startled me enough that I almost swerved off the paved trail!

Anyway, hunters are out there, so just make sure you’re aware!!

I recently heard about RAGBRAI from a coworker and was wokd if anyone here has been to one or planning on going?

For those who were like me and had never heard of this.... RAGBRAI is a 7-day riding event across the state of Iowa (about 470 miles depending on the route, which changes every year) -- https://ragbrai.com/

The 2025 route has not been announced as yet but I'm planning on attending next year. Since I'm very much a "casual rider" I'll certainly have to start training for this come the spring.

For example, without fail in SE Michigan, no matter how many times I've been to Bloomer, I always get lost.

Just moved to Caledonia from Midland, MI and I’ve got to say that I miss the easy on and off to the rail trail in Midland. I live at 108 and East Paris and it’s about 3 1/2 miles to the nearest rail trail. Not a big fan of loading my bike into my vehicle to drive to some place to ride. That said; does anyone have good rail trail spots? I do plan on doing the Fred Meijer trail (not sure the proper name) at some point but right now I’m just looking for a good rail trail near me.

Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!