May 26th, Ride report and brief trail review.

Yesterday was the first day in nearly 4 days that we didn't get rain here in Southeast Kansas. I was aching to ride again. As it had been half a week since I last got to ride my rig. And by chance a friend calls me up asking me if I want to go ride. I was down from the second he asked, even though I knew it was going to be muddy as... well, you know.

We loaded up the bikes and even brought my brother along for the ride. We set our path for Wilderness Park in Pittsburg, Kansas. After about 25 minutes of travel we have arrived at our destination. Oh how I love to ride these trails. It has a little bit of everything to offer.

The Vision



Wilderness Park is located in Pittsburg, Kansas at 907 W. McKay. It was donated to the City of Pittsburg by the Casaletto family. This was for its preservation of the diverse ecosystem. Its goal is to become a recreational and cultural resource for the entire Southeast Kansas area to enjoy.

Trails

The over 4 miles of trails travel a diverse natural environment that includes wetlands, forested areas, grasslands and a portion of the Cow Creek tributary system. A major portion of the trail system is ADA accessible along with more challenging trails which rise high above on ridges created by open pit mining.



Fishing

There are 4 nice pits for some fishing enjoyment.

1. Long John
2. Little Pit
3. White Snake
4. Deep Ell Pit

Park Rules

• No alcoholic beverages
• No motorized vehicles
• No horses
• No open burning
• No hunting or trapping
• Follow Kansas fishing regulations

Park Hours

April - October: 7am to 8pm

November - March: 8am to 5pm

Alright, now that I got all the info on the place out of the way, how about I get back to the ride. So we start unloading the bikes. Giving last minute checks. I pull on my Remedy gloves that Giro sent me (review to come later), grab hold of the bars on my Airborne Marauder, and head towards the trail head. Have to ride about 1/4 of a mile to get to the singletrack. But as we start down the singletrack we come across a down tree. Completely uprooted, made for an interesting hike-a-bike around the crater.

At this point I'm kicking myself in the rear end because I failed to bring my camera. We continue our venture down the chosen line. Hauling major... butt. Over rocks, roots, hills, valleys... anything that gets in our way. Until my buddy nearly runs into a down tree limb, he avoided impact with the limb. He failed to warn me about the issue ahead. I of course try to avoid it, but failed to duck... yeah, how retarded of me right? Good thing I've got a helmet in the works.

Yeah yeah, I didn't have a helmet. Dumb, but I can't let that keep me from riding. Anyways, back to the ride. I stood there for a second to regain my happy thoughts. Then continued on. Hit up some short downhill runs that dump into some narrow trees and twisty technical stuff with lots of roots and protruding rocks. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to get my hands on a GoPro so I can share some footage with all you out there.

Surprisingly the trail was nearly perfect... minus the couple down trees obstructing some paths. Nice and tacky. Got in about 4 hours of riding total. Nobody went down. Although I had 2 or 3 close calls with my feet coming off the pedals. Really need to upgrade my pedals and get a pair of Five Ten's Karver freeride shoe. The Giro Remedy gloves were amazing, looking forward to doing more testing with them very soon. And my Airborne Marauder took everything I threw at it as always.

We load up the bikes again and start heading for home. First we had to stop off so I could pick up a Monster Energy. Roughly 30 minutes later we are back in Columbus and unloading the bikes all over again.

Alright, so that was my first ride report and/or trail review. What did you think? Feel free to leave feedback, thanks for reading.