First thing, thanks for the trails!!! Though Im far from ready for alot of it, I have seen your guys hard work. It turned my riding to loose weight and for fun up here in Fulton/Clinton area into a freaking addiction!!! YOU GUYS ARE FREAKING AWESOME, jsut too bad cant get trails closer to home, but drive is well worth it.

Quick me: 31 married, 6yr old son from ex (shes crazy, but she lives in davenport so gives me even more times to hit the trails there)

At the risk of a " TL;DR" moment, Im going to cut out alot of the details of the last 5ish months. But basically I bought a used huffy for $20 cause I let myself get to 360lbs I learned in May. Im already built stout naturally. I saved money after buying wife a used schwinn trike for $200 (she cant ride a reg bike, never learned) just enough to hit walmart for something more than the $88 POS's. Got a Genesis 26" fs. Now upgraded with Ario R air shock and Suntour XCM V3 LO forks (plus other odds and ends, found driveline on it is same is on sport grade treks ranging around $500). Ride GRT around Fulton area mostly, ride to thompson and back regularly (16 miles) and plenty of 4-5 mile ride around the area on this bike. Found island in clinton that had some trails made by campers and ppl fishing, realized how much fun it is. Talked to trek shop here as I went in to check it out (was only using Thompson bike shop cause other one in clinton bugs me) ended up getting my forks there, gloves and.... well keep readin and youll find the last part out. Awesome guy, so much help on everything.

Hiked Longrove loop at Scocop for very first scout run to see what I was up against. CHose sylvan for my first ride to minimize any hills for first run. Hit Sunder last sunday...rode up the paved hill (I made it barely, **** my legs BURNED!!!) the went left instead of right on the green trail. Scared the hell outta me after the first switchback cause **** thats narrow, kinda steep and plenty of trees on the way down. Fingers hurt like hell from trying to crush bars and I could smell my brakes by the end. Only to realize my bike being wild was cause I was retarded, left forks locked and tires were at 60+ psi from my ride to thompson 2 days prior. Still dont feel ready for that hill just yet. And dont worry, my bike aint crap, its well maintianed and I went trough everything with proper grease etc (tore bike to bare frame day I bought it) so very sound and solid.

WHich is why Im here. Meet ppl that are addicted as me, cause Sylvan turned a little flame into a full blown, I have withdrawals, type addiction. Ppl I can ride with and LEARN how to ride. I have no desire for big jumps and drops, or anything crazy, just have fun and be healthy. Plus id be more than happy to help with trails as my time and resources allow next season (winter is crazy busy with work for me and wife both)

If you were nice enough to bother reading all that, then you deserve to here this hehe. First off as of a few hours before this post, weight is now 301 lbs since im making dietary changes and such gradually (ride like hell, but make sure im eating enough, got sick when i wasnt, took me off riding for over a week), but in 10X better shape than when I started. the 16mile round trip Thompson ride on that 26" FS Wal-bike is now seeing how fast I can ride it cause 3 fr and 5-6 rear is about normal pace gears for that ride now.

And the best part, cause of my conviction and success, my wife let me put a Trek Marlin 29er on lawaway at the Trek shop in Clinton (Ben's) this week. Trade off is quitting smoking but I was already well on my way with that too. Wont have it paid off before winter but gives me time to upgrade brakes and tires before next season.

Oh and wth, proof of my scare at sunder, i took a pic when I stopped to get feeling back in my hands. Jokes are cool, but dont dis the bike hehe, it holds my fat ass well, performed great IMO at sylvan :