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Kalamazoo, Michigan
Article by Matt Hollander
Photography by Rich James-Jura and Matt Hollander
We were waiting for the rain as Rich and I left work at Alfred E. Bike in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Spring thunderstorms come down hard and fast here, and we knew it would dump on us soon. Hopefully, it would wait at least until eight, like the weather report said. It was already six o’clock and we had to load up our hard tails and take a twenty-minute drive to Ft. Custer Recreation Area in Augusta before we could hit the trail.
Ft. Custer, as the name indicates, is an army training ground. My grandfather went through basic training there during World War II, and since then, the military has had thousands of soldiers run exercises on the property. Over the past several decades, the grounds have been split up and the Michigan DNR now administers a large section of the retion as a state recreation area. There is camping, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, fishing, and best of all, mountain biking. Ft. Custer has twenty-five miles of bike trails ranging from easy to expert, and Michigan Mountain Biking Association (MMBA) volunteers keep them in excellent shape. It is home to the annual Ft. Custer Stampede and other MMBA sanctioned races, along with other pro-level races such as XTERRA. Hook up a good camp spot for the weekend—the campground is only three minutes from the trailhead—and you can spend both days exploring the area’s over 3,000 acres of second-growth forest and restored prairie land.
When we pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead, Rich pulled his 2007 Felt Nine Pro off the car and I could hear his Chris King hub spinning like a fly reel as he set it down. I pulled my old 29er down and admired my brand new, bright purple Velocity Blunt rims on Shimano XT hubs. I had also just installed a full SRAM X9 group to replace my crusty old Shimano LX shifters and XT rear derailleur, and was looking forward to some crisp and quick shifting. Hopefully, we would both be able to live up to our cool bikes and not crash into any trees.
Ft. Custer is full of trees, along with deep patches of sand, rock gardens, steeps, log piles, roots, trenches, and the occasional young kid riding the wrong way along the trail. Most of the trails are singletrack with occasional fire roads, and it is all classic cross-country. The climbs are short and steep, and the descents are much the same. Technical sections require extreme precision to maintain a steady pace without knocking yourself on the head. MMBA volunteers leave occasional goodies like wood ramps and new log piles for us to play on, but most of the trail is dirt, roots, and rock. If you have the stamina, you can mix and match trail sections and ride for hours without repeating anything major.
We hit the dirt with purple clouds hovering ominously above us, and made a b-line for the Red trail—an expert level, six-mile loop broken up into named sections like Granny’s Garden and Crazy Beaver Run. I took the lead. Rich had his camera equipment in an adventure racing pack, and we decided to skip ahead to some of the more technical sections of the trail so we’d still get to the goods without soaking his pack when the inevitable drops started falling. We started out in The Trenches, a quick run of archaic foxholes that the army used to maintain for war games. Then, we headed to the Gravel Pit, a sandy but adrenaline-packed section of low dips and high peaks in the middle of an open field, almost like a BMX racetrack. We moved on from there to a sprint down my favorite section of small drop-offs. After a modest kicker at the bottom, I almost embarrassed myself by flying off trail into a bush, but I managed to straighten out in time and made it out okay. At the lake, we dropped in a few times down the biggest rock wall in the loop, and then it came.
Luckily, the rain started slowly as a sprinkle, and it turns out Rich had his camera gear packed in plastic bags. We booked it through the switchbacks up from the lake and made it to the main fire road. One of the nicest things about Ft. Custer—for either beginners or those racing the rain—is that there are tons of well-marked shortcuts back to the trailhead and it is almost impossible to get lost. We made it back to the car just in time, and threw our bikes back onto the Yakima rack. Normally after a ride, the lot has a tailgate atmosphere, with bikers scattered everywhere, telling war stories and drinking cold beverages sitting on the back of their trucks and dirty cars. But this evening it was starkly empty.
On the way home, it started to pour and we smiled. Raindrops the size of marbles pummeled my windshield as we passed through the small towns on the way back to Kalamazoo. As the rain became more intense, Rich and I exchanged a knowing look. Another great day at Ft. Custer, and a free bike wash to boot.
