Minus Ten Review 2009-42

The leaves of ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog I was chatting about Fall weather and riding some of the biggest, baddest tires for 29"ers yet made. The WTB Dissent was, if anything, a harbinger of things to come. But at the time, it was the outlier. A tire with no where to really use it, or a bike to use it on.

Ten years ago, trail riding was still dominated by 26" wheels. That's amazing when you think about that. The longest travel, mainstream suspension fork for a 29"er had 4" of travel. There were oddball efforts with longer travel, but these were rare. In fact, I was using a 120mm travel Reba, which at the time was the long end of suspension fork travel for any 29"er.

My.....how times have changed! Now days anything with two wheels going off road is available with 29"er wheels. 26"?

(crickets)

Ask anyone ten years ago if 26" wheels wouldn't be available for trail, much less DH, in the near future and you would have been run outta town. Just ask Chris Sugai of Niner Bikes. He could tell you.....

The image used today was from a mid-week ride ten years ago on Camp Ingawanis' North Side. These trails are largely unused by cyclists today, and as far as I can tell, it will remain so unless there is some movement by the Boy Scouts to invite cyclists back again. That's really a shame for the locals here. Of course, Ingawanis Woodland, the trails formerly known as "The South Side", when the BSA owned that parcel of land, is a fantastic resource, but those old North side trails were technically more challenging, faster, went "cross country", and had far more variety than anything on the South Side. Just one trail, the old "Broken Finger" section, was ten times more challenging than anything on the South Side. But, yeah...... I could talk for days. Only those who were on those trails can really understand what it is I am trying to convey here.

Obviously, I miss riding there. It was my choice to always do the North Side trails and then maybe do the South Side if I had the time. If you did all the North Side you were pretty tuckered out. There was more mileage there, (even considering today's Ingy trails which didn't exist back then), and the efforts required to do all the North Side were more taxing too. It was just all-around more fun.

Anyway....

At least I had the opportunity to taste what that was like a lot ten years ago. I am very grateful that I did get that chance.

Minus Ten Review 2009-42

The leaves of ten years ago.

Ten years ago on the blog I was chatting about Fall weather and riding some of the biggest, baddest tires for 29"ers yet made. The WTB Dissent was, if anything, a harbinger of things to come. But at the time, it was the outlier. A tire with no where to really use it, or a bike to use it on.

Ten years ago, trail riding was still dominated by 26" wheels. That's amazing when you think about that. The longest travel, mainstream suspension fork for a 29"er had 4" of travel. There were oddball efforts with longer travel, but these were rare. In fact, I was using a 120mm travel Reba, which at the time was the long end of suspension fork travel for any 29"er.

My.....how times have changed! Now days anything with two wheels going off road is available with 29"er wheels. 26"?

(crickets)

Ask anyone ten years ago if 26" wheels wouldn't be available for trail, much less DH, in the near future and you would have been run outta town. Just ask Chris Sugai of Niner Bikes. He could tell you.....

The image used today was from a mid-week ride ten years ago on Camp Ingawanis' North Side. These trails are largely unused by cyclists today, and as far as I can tell, it will remain so unless there is some movement by the Boy Scouts to invite cyclists back again. That's really a shame for the locals here. Of course, Ingawanis Woodland, the trails formerly known as "The South Side", when the BSA owned that parcel of land, is a fantastic resource, but those old North side trails were technically more challenging, faster, went "cross country", and had far more variety than anything on the South Side. Just one trail, the old "Broken Finger" section, was ten times more challenging than anything on the South Side. But, yeah...... I could talk for days. Only those who were on those trails can really understand what it is I am trying to convey here.

Obviously, I miss riding there. It was my choice to always do the North Side trails and then maybe do the South Side if I had the time. If you did all the North Side you were pretty tuckered out. There was more mileage there, (even considering today's Ingy trails which didn't exist back then), and the efforts required to do all the North Side were more taxing too. It was just all-around more fun.

Anyway....

At least I had the opportunity to taste what that was like a lot ten years ago. I am very grateful that I did get that chance.

Loose Ends

I was reminded once again why off-roading in Northeast Iowa in the Summer is often a bad idea.

This is Monday......right? Not sure. It's been a weird six or seven days what with my schedule, a holiday, and a weekend all running together to make it so I wasn't sure what day it was several times throughout the period.

Anyway, back to the regular grind, right? I will find my feet in a hurry, I am sure. So, a few things to clean up on that have happened of late that didn't make the blog in the last several days. I guess it could almost have been a "Randomonium" post, but there actually is a common thread, so, no....... Just some loose ends here this time to cover.

First off, it is not only the height of "green" here in the Mid-West, but it is also the traditional time of year that I abandon mountain biking in the local area. It's been that way for years, and thanks to Ingawanis Woodlands, or otherwise I'd never have gotten much done in Summertime back in the old "Twenty Nine Inches" days. Well, there and Cedar Bend Park. Those were mainstays back in the day. That said, I almost never went anywhere in the local area due to the height of "jungle season". The time of year here when our river bottom oriented trails are water-logged, overgrown with vegetation, and rife with mosquitoes. In other words, absolutely no fun at all.

We have a local group here that for the last ten years, well.....around that long....have been busting their butts trying to fight with the regular seasons. They've had some successes for sure, but this year is quintessential "jungle season" conditions, and, well...... The results have been predictable. No one is having much fun with the soft trails locally and everyone that can goes to Ingawanis Woodlands.

Yep. Same song, second verse.

Testing the Spank Vibrocore handle bar has been challenging.

So, gravel travel has been the ticket around these parts. It's interesting hearing the tales of roadies this year. More close calls. More crashes in group rides leading to broken bikes and bones. Bah! Like Jeff Kerkove used to say, "The Road is the devil!", when he spoke of road riding. Now, admittedly, I am not a roadie. I ride gravel, and I like mountain biking a lot. Take that for what it's worth. But you can have road riding. I don't have any interest in it at all right now.

At any rate, I have enough to get done with "Riding Gravel" to keep me gravel riding for the rest of the year. One of the latest review items is the Spank Vibrocore drop bar I am reviewing for the site. It's not an easy product to talk about, by the way.

First of all, even Spank says this bar "changes the vibrations" from harmful ones to a rider to less harmful ones. Note- they do not claim that vibrations will be absent. This makes talking about this bar difficult, because what are harmful vibrations for you, and what are they for me? See where I am coming from? It's an odd world of marketing claims and products out there, and we all have to navigate it when considering products. That said, I like the bar fine. It's got a great flare and drop shape, and that 31.8mm top section is brilliant. I just have to do some more riding to suss out the rest.

Not that I mind. Riding the gravel roads is fun and, obviously, I enjoy it. But with July running on, and August staring at me from a few weeks away, I already feel like time is running short, and it seems like Summer just got rolling here. Plus I have the GTDRI and Gravel Worlds to get ready for. Sheesh! It's daunting. Lots to do- little time to get it done.

Loose Ends

I was reminded once again why off-roading in Northeast Iowa in the Summer is often a bad idea.

This is Monday......right? Not sure. It's been a weird six or seven days what with my schedule, a holiday, and a weekend all running together to make it so I wasn't sure what day it was several times throughout the period.

Anyway, back to the regular grind, right? I will find my feet in a hurry, I am sure. So, a few things to clean up on that have happened of late that didn't make the blog in the last several days. I guess it could almost have been a "Randomonium" post, but there actually is a common thread, so, no....... Just some loose ends here this time to cover.

First off, it is not only the height of "green" here in the Mid-West, but it is also the traditional time of year that I abandon mountain biking in the local area. It's been that way for years, and thanks to Ingawanis Woodlands, or otherwise I'd never have gotten much done in Summertime back in the old "Twenty Nine Inches" days. Well, there and Cedar Bend Park. Those were mainstays back in the day. That said, I almost never went anywhere in the local area due to the height of "jungle season". The time of year here when our river bottom oriented trails are water-logged, overgrown with vegetation, and rife with mosquitoes. In other words, absolutely no fun at all.

We have a local group here that for the last ten years, well.....around that long....have been busting their butts trying to fight with the regular seasons. They've had some successes for sure, but this year is quintessential "jungle season" conditions, and, well...... The results have been predictable. No one is having much fun with the soft trails locally and everyone that can goes to Ingawanis Woodlands.

Yep. Same song, second verse.

Testing the Spank Vibrocore handle bar has been challenging.

So, gravel travel has been the ticket around these parts. It's interesting hearing the tales of roadies this year. More close calls. More crashes in group rides leading to broken bikes and bones. Bah! Like Jeff Kerkove used to say, "The Road is the devil!", when he spoke of road riding. Now, admittedly, I am not a roadie. I ride gravel, and I like mountain biking a lot. Take that for what it's worth. But you can have road riding. I don't have any interest in it at all right now.

At any rate, I have enough to get done with "Riding Gravel" to keep me gravel riding for the rest of the year. One of the latest review items is the Spank Vibrocore drop bar I am reviewing for the site. It's not an easy product to talk about, by the way.

First of all, even Spank says this bar "changes the vibrations" from harmful ones to a rider to less harmful ones. Note- they do not claim that vibrations will be absent. This makes talking about this bar difficult, because what are harmful vibrations for you, and what are they for me? See where I am coming from? It's an odd world of marketing claims and products out there, and we all have to navigate it when considering products. That said, I like the bar fine. It's got a great flare and drop shape, and that 31.8mm top section is brilliant. I just have to do some more riding to suss out the rest.

Not that I mind. Riding the gravel roads is fun and, obviously, I enjoy it. But with July running on, and August staring at me from a few weeks away, I already feel like time is running short, and it seems like Summer just got rolling here. Plus I have the GTDRI and Gravel Worlds to get ready for. Sheesh! It's daunting. Lots to do- little time to get it done.

Minus Ten Review 2009-21

One of my favorite bikes I ever had.

Ten years ago here on the blog I was talking "Gravel Grinder News" stuff. Mostly covering the races that I knew about at that time. There weren't many either. Think about that for a minute. Just ten years ago, there were maybe 20 races. Now there are close to 600. That is some amazing growth.

Part of that was the running of the third Dirty Kanza 200 which was going to happen in a couple of weeks back then. Those early years of that race were crazy.

Then I was also yakking about Memorial Day weekend, which, ironically, was a bit earlier than it is this year. I also was talking about riding on the North Side of Camp Ingawanis. This was back when there was "two sided camp" riding going on. The best trails were on the North side, by far. They were tougher, had more elevation changes, and the system was one that covered more ground than that of even today's South side trail system. Another big difference, in my view, was the experience you got riding the North vs. the South side. The South side trails fold in on themselves to maximize trail distance in a smaller space while the North side had about the same mileage as today's South side, but you had the distinct feeling that you had gone over a LOT more ground. You weren't just folding in around the same hillside. You were going somewhere. It's just different. I happened to enjoy the North side trails before several things happened.

First there was the logging. That happened at about this time ten years ago. They eventually went and logged the South side a year or so after this. Both time periods were ones of massive upheaval. The trails were disrupted, and while the South side recovered, the North side trails never were quite the same again. Then came the horses. The horse owners had a LOT more money, so they had a LOT more influence over what went down out there. Basically, the Camp stewards would look the other way when complaints about horse caused damage was lodged with them. They were getting big bucks for group rides, and other equestrian oriented activities which took place out there. The Boy Scouts were severely cash strapped, and poor mountain bikers lost their voice with the stewards of the land, despite mountain bikers being the ones that did all the trail maintenance. Over the next several years, mountain biking activities were severely curtailed and it was decided that in order to settle disputes between mountain bikers and equestrian interests that the North side would be for horses and the South would be for human powered activities. Anyway, the point being that 2009 was the end of the salad days of mountain biking on the North side trails.

I sure am glad I got to experience those days.

Minus Ten Review 2009-21

One of my favorite bikes I ever had.

Ten years ago here on the blog I was talking "Gravel Grinder News" stuff. Mostly covering the races that I knew about at that time. There weren't many either. Think about that for a minute. Just ten years ago, there were maybe 20 races. Now there are close to 600. That is some amazing growth.

Part of that was the running of the third Dirty Kanza 200 which was going to happen in a couple of weeks back then. Those early years of that race were crazy.

Then I was also yakking about Memorial Day weekend, which, ironically, was a bit earlier than it is this year. I also was talking about riding on the North Side of Camp Ingawanis. This was back when there was "two sided camp" riding going on. The best trails were on the North side, by far. They were tougher, had more elevation changes, and the system was one that covered more ground than that of even today's South side trail system. Another big difference, in my view, was the experience you got riding the North vs. the South side. The South side trails fold in on themselves to maximize trail distance in a smaller space while the North side had about the same mileage as today's South side, but you had the distinct feeling that you had gone over a LOT more ground. You weren't just folding in around the same hillside. You were going somewhere. It's just different. I happened to enjoy the North side trails before several things happened.

First there was the logging. That happened at about this time ten years ago. They eventually went and logged the South side a year or so after this. Both time periods were ones of massive upheaval. The trails were disrupted, and while the South side recovered, the North side trails never were quite the same again. Then came the horses. The horse owners had a LOT more money, so they had a LOT more influence over what went down out there. Basically, the Camp stewards would look the other way when complaints about horse caused damage was lodged with them. They were getting big bucks for group rides, and other equestrian oriented activities which took place out there. The Boy Scouts were severely cash strapped, and poor mountain bikers lost their voice with the stewards of the land, despite mountain bikers being the ones that did all the trail maintenance. Over the next several years, mountain biking activities were severely curtailed and it was decided that in order to settle disputes between mountain bikers and equestrian interests that the North side would be for horses and the South would be for human powered activities. Anyway, the point being that 2009 was the end of the salad days of mountain biking on the North side trails.

I sure am glad I got to experience those days.

Minus Ten Review -32

I miss both the bike and the trail in this image.

Ten years ago on the blog I was really busy testing forks, tires, and other stuff for my gigs online. I spent a LOT of time running back and forth to Cedar Bend Park and Camp Ingawanis every Wednesday and weekend. What is odd is that while the mountain biking was excellent, hardly anyone would drive up from Waterloo or Cedar Falls to partake. 

Most times I rode up there I never saw anyone. No other bikers and no walkers. Now a day doesn't go by when someone on social media asks about riding up there. I guess that's what it took to get the ball moving with trail use. Well, things are a lot different now then they once were. While the South Side trails, now called Ingawanis Woodlands, are awesome, the old North Side/Boy Scout Camp trails were far more fun, technical, and covered a wider area of land. If you did the "big loop" on the North Side, you weren't simply folding back in on the same hill over and over again. No.....you were riding somewhere. Covering ground. It was more like trails are in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or elsewhere. Not that what we have now is bad, but the Scout Camp wasn't like anything else anywhere near here. I could go on.....

The bike,the old, battered Superior Blue El Mariachi, was the last of its kind. Salsa tuned the compliance right out of the El Mar after 2008 and it never was the bike it had been before. It was a sweet, decent little mountain bike in the old school mode where you just rode for the experience of being in the woods. Not to shred or be some bike that was "playful". It handled quickly, didn't steer like a truck, and you could go up and down within reason. The only modern day bike like it is the current Krampus. Only the Krampus is a 29+ bike. But anyway, I ruined that bike when I had it repainted and re-purposed as a single speed. That was the dumbest thing I ever did with a bike within recent memory.

A very legendary visitor from Colorado was here to see me back then....

I was graced by the visitation of a somewhat legendary individual from Colorado named Mike Curiak back then. He had gotten a hold of me and asked about stopping by for a ride. What got into this man to come and cruise some humble, ordinary wooded single track in Iowa, I'll never know.

We rode in the afternoon and went to down town Cedar Falls for a cuppa then he split town and went back to Colorado, and onward to much more exciting things.

I was very grateful for his stop, and to this day, I owe Mr. Curiak a debt of thanks for helping Jeff Kerkove and I to formulate the foundations of Trans Iowa. Mike had a heavy influence on the initial rules, format, and ethos of Trans Iowa, and on some early tweaks I made to the event. It could be said that much of what became gravel racing and riding was influenced through Mike Curiak directly and by his friends who started the Great Divide Race and other Western ultra-mtb events.

If you ever read the following here: "If you don't like that, then maybe this event isn't for you.", that is a direct quote from Mike. There's more to this, but maybe I'll get around to that another time.

Trans Iowa v5 was announced ten years ago this week. It was a big deal since we moved the event out of Decorah due to the desires of a certain irritated cycling luminary from Decorah that asked me not to consider Decorah for any future cycling events I had planned. This stemming from the failed Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. Here's a snippet from ten years ago concerning this.....

"The next thing you noticed is probably the location change. We have felt all along that Trans Iowa should be about showing folks that Iowa is something more than "flat", corn fields, and pigs. There is a lot more to Iowa than that. We have endeavored to move the event around since last year when d.p, (David Pals) and I started talking about doing T.I.V4, so this move to Williamsburg fits in with our plans and our philosophy."

 So we were already thinking about getting out of Decorah, but we weren't going to do that until v6 at the earliest. The disgruntled shot fired at us in the Summer of '08 changed all that though. While leaving Decorah as our base for TI was a bummer, it wasn't without future benefits of which we had no idea about at the time.

Minus Ten Review -32

I miss both the bike and the trail in this image.

Ten years ago on the blog I was really busy testing forks, tires, and other stuff for my gigs online. I spent a LOT of time running back and forth to Cedar Bend Park and Camp Ingawanis every Wednesday and weekend. What is odd is that while the mountain biking was excellent, hardly anyone would drive up from Waterloo or Cedar Falls to partake. 

Most times I rode up there I never saw anyone. No other bikers and no walkers. Now a day doesn't go by when someone on social media asks about riding up there. I guess that's what it took to get the ball moving with trail use. Well, things are a lot different now then they once were. While the South Side trails, now called Ingawanis Woodlands, are awesome, the old North Side/Boy Scout Camp trails were far more fun, technical, and covered a wider area of land. If you did the "big loop" on the North Side, you weren't simply folding back in on the same hill over and over again. No.....you were riding somewhere. Covering ground. It was more like trails are in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or elsewhere. Not that what we have now is bad, but the Scout Camp wasn't like anything else anywhere near here. I could go on.....

The bike,the old, battered Superior Blue El Mariachi, was the last of its kind. Salsa tuned the compliance right out of the El Mar after 2008 and it never was the bike it had been before. It was a sweet, decent little mountain bike in the old school mode where you just rode for the experience of being in the woods. Not to shred or be some bike that was "playful". It handled quickly, didn't steer like a truck, and you could go up and down within reason. The only modern day bike like it is the current Krampus. Only the Krampus is a 29+ bike. But anyway, I ruined that bike when I had it repainted and re-purposed as a single speed. That was the dumbest thing I ever did with a bike within recent memory.

A very legendary visitor from Colorado was here to see me back then....

I was graced by the visitation of a somewhat legendary individual from Colorado named Mike Curiak back then. He had gotten a hold of me and asked about stopping by for a ride. What got into this man to come and cruise some humble, ordinary wooded single track in Iowa, I'll never know.

We rode in the afternoon and went to down town Cedar Falls for a cuppa then he split town and went back to Colorado, and onward to much more exciting things.

I was very grateful for his stop, and to this day, I owe Mr. Curiak a debt of thanks for helping Jeff Kerkove and I to formulate the foundations of Trans Iowa. Mike had a heavy influence on the initial rules, format, and ethos of Trans Iowa, and on some early tweaks I made to the event. It could be said that much of what became gravel racing and riding was influenced through Mike Curiak directly and by his friends who started the Great Divide Race and other Western ultra-mtb events.

If you ever read the following here: "If you don't like that, then maybe this event isn't for you.", that is a direct quote from Mike. There's more to this, but maybe I'll get around to that another time.

Trans Iowa v5 was announced ten years ago this week. It was a big deal since we moved the event out of Decorah due to the desires of a certain irritated cycling luminary from Decorah that asked me not to consider Decorah for any future cycling events I had planned. This stemming from the failed Big Wheeled Ballyhoo. Here's a snippet from ten years ago concerning this.....

"The next thing you noticed is probably the location change. We have felt all along that Trans Iowa should be about showing folks that Iowa is something more than "flat", corn fields, and pigs. There is a lot more to Iowa than that. We have endeavored to move the event around since last year when d.p, (David Pals) and I started talking about doing T.I.V4, so this move to Williamsburg fits in with our plans and our philosophy."

 So we were already thinking about getting out of Decorah, but we weren't going to do that until v6 at the earliest. The disgruntled shot fired at us in the Summer of '08 changed all that though. While leaving Decorah as our base for TI was a bummer, it wasn't without future benefits of which we had no idea about at the time.

Minus Ten Review- 31

Blackbuck single speed. Still one of my favorite bicycles.

Ten years ago on the blog I was spending a lot of time testing eight different forks on my Blackbuck single speed rig.  I was doing a series to show how different fork axle to crowns and offsets all could be used on the same bicycle and how that affected handling.

It was quite an eye opener for me. In essence, I found none of the varied combinations unrideable. Unlikable? That's a different story. Of course, there were a few choices I wouldn't make, but I tried them all.

I ended up liking the combination shown here today the best, and I have that fork on that bike right now. It just looks "right" as well, with the black and polished silver bits.

I also noted that I was riding the South Side more. It wasn't easy back then to figure out where you were. Of course there was far less trail then. No "Bottoms", (I still think this section needs to be named after Paul, who created it), and there were no trails near the lodge or what used to be the COPE area. There was simply an "inner loop" and an "outer loop". The two were separated by a service road, only a portion of which still exists out there. That road basically almost circumnavigated the South Side and trails used to cross that road in a few spots. Keen eyes can still pick out where that was today.

Things were a LOT different looking out there ten years ago!

Another thing to point out is how different things were ten years ago in now familiar spots to those riding Ingawanis Woodlands. This image to the left shows that rocky outcropping as you come out of the "Bottoms" or right there where that short bypass to go around the Bottoms turns back toward the East.

Don't recognize it? Can't blame ya. There is no mossy covered limestone or vegetation coming through in that spot anymore. The "line" to get through those rocks is well defined now, but it was non-existent back in the day. I cannot tell you how many times I biffed it there in the past. Many, I know that much.

When I finally mastered that area I was proud. It was a tough little techy feature that I am glad still exists. (At least I think it does!) Anyway, it was one of the few things one could ride around here that gave you any chances of "getting skills".  Then there was "Captain Bob's Berm" which no longer exists. That was fun when it was in its prime. Too bad someone decided to level that corner out several years ago. Fun haters.........

Anyway, now we have twice the trail on the South Side, (Ingawanis Woodlands now) and it is great to be able to have that resource. It wasn't bad back ten years ago, but it wasn't as long either, or anywhere as easy to follow. Although, to this day Ingawanis ranks as one of the worst marked trails I've ever been to in the Mid-West. (Check out the Twin Cities or Sugar Bottom for some of the best) That goes for our city trails here as well. Too bad that cannot get figured out, but so it goes.....

Minus Ten Review- 31

Blackbuck single speed. Still one of my favorite bicycles.

Ten years ago on the blog I was spending a lot of time testing eight different forks on my Blackbuck single speed rig.  I was doing a series to show how different fork axle to crowns and offsets all could be used on the same bicycle and how that affected handling.

It was quite an eye opener for me. In essence, I found none of the varied combinations unrideable. Unlikable? That's a different story. Of course, there were a few choices I wouldn't make, but I tried them all.

I ended up liking the combination shown here today the best, and I have that fork on that bike right now. It just looks "right" as well, with the black and polished silver bits.

I also noted that I was riding the South Side more. It wasn't easy back then to figure out where you were. Of course there was far less trail then. No "Bottoms", (I still think this section needs to be named after Paul, who created it), and there were no trails near the lodge or what used to be the COPE area. There was simply an "inner loop" and an "outer loop". The two were separated by a service road, only a portion of which still exists out there. That road basically almost circumnavigated the South Side and trails used to cross that road in a few spots. Keen eyes can still pick out where that was today.

Things were a LOT different looking out there ten years ago!

Another thing to point out is how different things were ten years ago in now familiar spots to those riding Ingawanis Woodlands. This image to the left shows that rocky outcropping as you come out of the "Bottoms" or right there where that short bypass to go around the Bottoms turns back toward the East.

Don't recognize it? Can't blame ya. There is no mossy covered limestone or vegetation coming through in that spot anymore. The "line" to get through those rocks is well defined now, but it was non-existent back in the day. I cannot tell you how many times I biffed it there in the past. Many, I know that much.

When I finally mastered that area I was proud. It was a tough little techy feature that I am glad still exists. (At least I think it does!) Anyway, it was one of the few things one could ride around here that gave you any chances of "getting skills".  Then there was "Captain Bob's Berm" which no longer exists. That was fun when it was in its prime. Too bad someone decided to level that corner out several years ago. Fun haters.........

Anyway, now we have twice the trail on the South Side, (Ingawanis Woodlands now) and it is great to be able to have that resource. It wasn't bad back ten years ago, but it wasn't as long either, or anywhere as easy to follow. Although, to this day Ingawanis ranks as one of the worst marked trails I've ever been to in the Mid-West. (Check out the Twin Cities or Sugar Bottom for some of the best) That goes for our city trails here as well. Too bad that cannot get figured out, but so it goes.....