With no ride plan in mind I just went. Picking a starting point was the worst, I had deliberated each different and odd starting point that I could think of to try and make the ride different and in the end I came up with starting at Mill Creek.
Yes, Mill Creek, otherwise known as 'Ye Old Parking Spot' where years of riding had started at that point. The people and characters I have seen in that spot are quite memorable. I've seen full blown affair meet ups happen there, Countless mis-behaved dogs, legions of grumpy old men and women and in two thousand and seven a murder happened right there.
It is the best spot in the valley to start. That is my biased views on the Mill Creek parking spot. It's central and opens you up to Mill Creek ravine which eventually spits you out where countless other trails snake their way through the valley along the river. It's why almost everyone I know who rides has lived or wants to live in Mill Creek.
I took it downtown and rode the homeless route eastward and eventually found myself on the CN Rail main line riding alongside the tracks. Eventually I was in another new and boring Edmonton neighbourhood where the houses all have the same uninteresting look.
Not gonna lie. That neighbourhood depressed me and I was glad to have finally found the entrance to Hermitage park.
Finally, trees and no more shitty houses. Fuck ya.
The valley was ridden and I suffered on the southside valley climbs and finally left the valley for the final time and rode paved and scared back to Mill Creeks ye Old Parking Spot on Edmonton's still incompetent bike lanes. They came a long way but there are still some pretty big holes.
dickheads will be dickheads |
i remember this fondly being a trail and not a home for a giant dickhead |