When I was a little kid, there was nothing more entertaining than bike riding. Although I was only allowed to go for a few blocks, it seemed like the whole world to me. I could spend hours and hours driving around the block repeatedly, feeling the wind go by as I flew on my bicycle. When I get a little older, my mom let me drive around the whole subdivision. I was ecstatic. It took very little to keep me happy.
Now that I’m older, however, I realize the limits of bike riding. Bicycle riding where I live is a pain. There are cars everywhere, and many of them are very un-responsive to bike riders. I couldn’t even count the number of times I have almost been hit by ornery drivers trying to get home from work. This is why bike trails are such a popular thing in the Midwest. Without the Michigan bike trails that I go to on the weekends, I don’t know how I’d survive.
My favorite ones are the mountain bike trails. A lot of people are surprised to hear, but there is actually some good mountain biking in Michigan. The elevation changes aren’t dramatic, but they make up for it with A lot of quick, steep hills. Bike trail riding is somewhat of a passion among Metro Detroiters. With everything so heavily based around cars in this area, a lot of people need an escape. Without bike paths, I think a lot of us would go crazy.
I actually became involved in the local bike club last year because I was getting so passionate about riding. I had never bought a trail bike, and I didn’t really realize that I was missing out on anything by using my old beater, but one of my new friends let me try his out. I was amazed. The bike trails fly by when you are on a decent vehicle. It really changed my perspective on things – I couldn’t go back to the hunk of junk that I was using. It was great to belong to a bike club because there were so many people who knew how to set up their own bicycles. All I had to do was get the bike frame and the bike parts and the rest was history. Soon, I was sitting pretty and doing some of the very best riding of my life.