Palos Pictures

Since the last time I wrote about the Palos Forest Preserve, I have ventured out and biked the trails twice. Last week, I brought a camera so I could post some pictures. So, here you are - some pictures of the most popular mountain biking in the Chicago area (the text below the pictures add a little insight):

This is the general lay of the single track (and probably one of the largest hills on the ride). The forest really is pretty.

As I have discovered, this area is covered in thorns. I have no proof, but I think small leaks in my two tires can be traced to these guys.

There are some areas that are a little more open.

This is the most westerly ravine of the Three Ravines trail. Nothing technical, but it's not flat, so that's nice.

The trail does get pretty crowded with trees and shrubs, which makes it difficult to see riders coming around the turns.

This is probably one of my favorite sections of the trail - Gravity Cavity. This is the biggest of four back-to-back banked turns on this sad excuse of a hill. It's not big, but it's fun.

 More trail - this is on Out and Back.

What the trail lacks in technical challenge, it makes up for in size and beauty. The route I created, nicknamed The Regular Route, takes about an hour of hard riding to complete and covers about 12 miles.

After a successful Palos ride on the Regular Route.