Saginaw Valley Rail Trail

Today brought sunshine, a light breeze, and perfect temperatures. I headed up to (ha ha) St. Charles with my parents and my brother. St. Charles marks a trailhead for the Saginaw Valley Rail Trail. This particular rail trail is a flat, paved, 9 ½-mile trail that runs through farmland in the Saginaw Valley (are you getting the part where this is in the Saginaw Valley?). Most of this trail is lined with thick, luscious, green trees with some parts running along open woods with nicely spaced trees that allow the sunshine to meet the ground. It is a view that is most certainly enjoyable.

The St. Charles trailhead is near a little park with swings and a slide. The rail trail starts with an old train bridge crossing a river. My family told me it was a flat trail, so I thought to myself, “Self, this is going to be an easy ride after yesterday’s hard mountain bike rides and a crash.”

Today, my shoulders are sore from climbing hills that I’m not used to. My right quadricep hurts where it had a lovely meeting with my handlebar. I walk like Dr. House. I thought it would be a good idea simply to take Jake out for a nice ride. Of course, an easy ride really is not in my nature. I decided to set a comfortable, yet moderately high intensity pace. My speed was pretty steady for the length of the trail – between 17 and 20 mph. My breathing was somewhat labored, but I was able to speak without much effort, and many people caught me smiling.

Somewhere in the middle of the trail was a little flower garden with a bench and a bike rack. The rail trail splits and encircles this little park. I chose to ride by on my way to Saginaw. On my return to St. Charles, I stopped, parked Jake, and took a few pictures. It really is a nice addition to this paved path.

The trail wasn’t crowded, but there were many people out walking, running, and riding their bikes. I was very excited to see all kinds of people riding. There were people like my parents: senior citizens out for general fitness. There were women of all ages and guys who seemed about my age. The funny part is that the women all seemed to be on social rides, talking with their riding companions. The guys were all riding solo. Some were out for a fun ride while others were more serious. Some were dressed in cycling clothing, like me, and some were wearing heart rate monitors.

There were obese people and black people (save the PC argument for another day). These are two groups I am especially happy to see on the rail trail because these are the groups that suffer most from cardiovascular disease. I take cardiovascular disease very seriously because many of my patients come to me for an ultrasound assessment of their arteries. I see how it can be debilitating and I have to accommodate these people. For this reason, I want to see everyone on a bike. This is why I like seeing these people on the rail trail. I like seeing people of all shapes and sizes. Many of them get into better shape than I. They become happy, healthy people.

One thing that I noticed about all of the people on this rail trail is that they all seemed to be very happy. Most people nodded and smiled and some just looked like they were having a great time, like me. I wasn’t the only one riding with a smile plastered on my face.

I passed over another train bridge toward the Saginaw end of the trail. A ramp and landing was built alongside it to offer the rail trail users a view of the river. It was surrounded by beautiful woods. A train track headed for the rail trail and turned to run alongside it at the end of the trail. On my return from the Saginaw trailhead, I saw a great view of the two pathways. There was even a train parked on the track.

There were tons of birds. I saw lots of robins. I even saw a tufted titmouse. I had to ask mom what kind of bird this was. I’m sure most of you have no idea. A tufted titmouse is shaped like a blue jay, is a little smaller, and is brown in color, kind of like the color of red hair.

Instead of the suicidal squirrels that are always on the trail to sabotage my mountain bike ride, I saw lots of little chipmunks. Many chippies would simply sit on the side of the rail trail and watch me go by. One decided to run from the far side of the trail and graze the front of my front tire. I felt a vibration, but decided that I didn’t run it over. Maybe I got its tail. My point is, you have to watch out for the chippies on this rail trail. They see a skinny road tire and think, “Ah ha!” You know what I’m talking about.

The total trail distance, out and back, was 19 miles. I did the whole things in an hour and a half. I decided to turn around and find my family. Five miles later, I met them. I turned around to head back to the trailhead at a nice, leisurely 15-mph pace. This was my cool down. I made it back to the trail head about ten minutes before they did, so I went over to the little park and swung. I love swings.

All-in-all, it was a good day. I had a great time doing my no-hill ride. This isn’t exactly something I have the pleasure of doing up in the Keweenaw. I found myself thinking, “Wow, I wish we had something like this in Houghton.” Even though I pushed myself, it was still a nice recovery ride after yesterday’s trail antics.