Ottawa-Welda-Ottawa for my first metric

This was the furthest I’d gone on the trail since the brutal heat of summer and I can attest to the VERY rough condition caused by the heat & drought. Many cracks, holes, uneven terrain, etc. Brought me some pain to see this trail that I’ve come to love in such distress. I’m considering volunteering my time to help them restore it during this winter.

We stopped for lunch in Garnett, where we ate at Tradewinds (http://www.bikeprairiespirit.com/garnett/tradewinds.php). I’ve previously submitted a review for it, but I’ll again say the food was excellent and the service fast & friendly. I was also impressed once again with the kindness of people in this town. Nearly *everyone* in the place asked me & my buddy, at some point in our stop, where we were going on the trail, where we started, how long we’d been riding today. Very friendly folks. Garnett has a special place in my heart.

The trail was a little soft in the morning from the recent rain, but by afternoon it was pretty firm; and I rode another 30 miles today (to Richmond & back) and found it back to normal. There were a total of 4 trees that we encountered which had fallen across the path; we broke down all 4 of them and rolled them clear of the trail.

I have a brief writeup including the pictures of the trees on my blog here: http://yeahthisistheone.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/new-personal-daily-best-first-metric-pv-tree-removal/.