Radness At Huntington

So I spend a lot of time visiting my parents down in Easton CT, not many times do I plan a ride down there since I am always busy visiting and relaxing. But this time I was down there for the whole weekend and I was desperate for a ride. So after a terrible night sleep the night before and not much of one the night before the ride, I awoke to a painful 6am alarm, walked downstairs got some eggs going and did not want to leave that couch. But I gathered myself as dedicated as I am and headed over to Huntington Park. This is a place where I have been a few time way back when I was beginning my riding. I remember it being pretty rocky and uneventful and absolutely nothing like what I got on this trip. I arrived to the lot with bike and dog and took a guess and headed into the woods. I started rolling on some wide single track that was so nice and smooth and twisty and all sorts of greatness. I quickly had to make direction choices and I decided to head to the north end of the park since I had heard from my buddy craig that his favorite trails were up there. I was riding along having a blast, there was some minimal technical stuff but mostly things were buff and scenic which was a warm welcome. I eventually managed to hit my goal which was to hit the far north of the park and found some loops up there while I was at it. I was having so much fun over there I was losing time that I wanted to be able to cover the whole park. I kept getting having to turn around and backtrack quite a few times as I tried to not ride the same trail twice. I could not believe how much I have been missing out all this time, I don't think these trails were were here 5 years ago since I had been there but I could be wrong, all I knew was I was having a good time. I had so many trail options that I was getting clueless and making guesses. There are a lot of fire roads here that connect each piece of good riding and I hit some really great trails but when I was making my way south I was forced to pass potentially awesome trails it was killing me. I had a scheduled plan for going out on the boat with LuAnn, Mom, Craig and three doggies by the way and that's why I was limited on time. I got south and hit a quick trail off the wide gravel path that brought back some great memories, it's a short piece of trail but can remember some great memories. I got all the way south as planned and headed up a narrow rocky DH trail only but it was too late to turn back as I climbed up and hit another gravel road and then down a popular trail. This is where things got technical and rocky and was a good challenge but it was at the end of the ride where I was feeling less ambitious to try to make it over more stuff without putting my foot down. Onto the paved entrance road and sadly my ride was at an end and I had to part with Huntington but I will be back! Real soon!

Huntington

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Hawt N Heavy at Case

It was one hot mother yesterday but that did not stop me from getting out there with the mosquitos and the humidity. Actually the mosquitos were far more annoying than the heat. Between the shade and the breeze I really had no problem in the Quote HEAT WAVE DANGER!!!!!!! Shot off from work a bit early and got on the trail a hair before 5:30 and as I was puting my bike together I could not help but remember a comment Alex made yesterday about how my riding style might give me a limited amount of time on my frame. Low and behold I found a crack on one for the rear chainstays.....my heart dropped and knew it was not a good thing. I pedaled into the woods cautiously but I knew that crack could have been there a long time and I wasn't in much of a need to go home and not ride. Things were nice out there, had it all to myself until I got to the reservoir where a bunch of punks were out enjoying the water. I was missing my furry friend but I am sure this kind of heat was no good for him. Legs were strong even after the two previous days of riding. Frame was definately on my mind but I didn't let it get me too much. Managed to come out of the woods sucessfully and get to the car 90 minutes later and really glad I got out to ride. Tried to get up this AM to ride but just a terrible night sleep, maybe tomorow morning....

Buggy case

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Hot N Heavy at The Mesh

no pics from the ride so enjoy our boating pics :) Heard about the ride at mesh for a wednesday which fortunately made me able to ride with those fellas which was great! A ride at Mesh with these guys never disapoints, lots of riding styles lots of trail, lots of fun. I hit traffic pretty bad an nearly missed the ride, luckily though since I planned ahead I got there 5 minutes to spare and got geared up. I was missing my furry friend since mike always has his dog and mine never seems to make it to Mesh. I was feeling charged and ready to hit the trail more than ever and when I put the wheels to the ground I was ready. We sped into the woods and hit alot of great trails. The 29er SS hadn't seen mesh in some time so I was a bit worried but it performed flawlessly. Always a good ride through there.

Hot mesh

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West Rock Roam

Been too long since I have been out ona ride and this one was much needed! I got up to the 5am alarm clock and out of the house thirty minutes later. Walking out I felt how humid and warm the air was and knew this was going to be a warm one. The sun rose on my rear view mirrow glowing tremendously like a big basketball as it slowly made it's way into the sky. I arrived to the trailhead at 6:30 and got right to pedaling, this is somewhere I have set tires on a long time ago but only for a short time. I didn't do much research into what trails to link so I went with the always safe perimeter loop. I took off on some wide gravel road that was really scenic and then shot down to the lake to ride find some singletrack which I did but was not fantastic. I then got back to the gravel road and stuck it to the shore until it climbed up a big rock pile to red white trail and followed that which got really good really quick but unfortunately ended shortly onto an old paved road. I then rode the paved road up to the ridge and kept hopping onto blue looking for some luck on a good trail but it was very very rocky and many places unridable. I proceeded to hop on and off the blue trail in hopes of hitting a good stretch but it only left me disapointed. I saw a few trails off the my right on the road but I knew they were quick downhills that would send me off mountain so I avoided them until I got to the other end of the park. When I finally did get to the end I got on blue which was yet another mistake of going on it but it did eventually put me onto red trail which was a mountain bike trail and I enjoyed the short descent off mountain. I then ripped onto red white and this was a very very welcoming trail. Fun smooth twisty and a little short but when it spit out onto the red trail it turned out to be a great trail as well. I was really glad to be off the paved road and on dirt again. The trails below the ridge that don't run up it are pretty mellow and buff. I reached the parking lot with some time left so I headed around the lake on the opposite side. Then got in the ride and off to Trumbull! Nice to be in a new location but find myself missing my local ride locations badly.

West rock

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Back to SS

Another great thursday night ride! I was worried all week that a evening ride would not be feasible with my new job but I managed to work out a deal allowing me to get out at 4:00 on thursdays for the short time being. So it was off to Case to pedal with John and Bentley. I geared up with the Single Speed being that I have spent quite a bit of time off of it and was really looking forward to getting it back into the trail. Last week I rode it at Case and it was feeling awfully sluggish I was wondering if I tightened the crank arm down too much since I don't own a torque wrench :( But as I started pedaling up the carriage path things were feeling good, I was strong and lungs were in good shape and definately ready to hit the trail. We flew down blue which never disapoints since it feels almost all downhill and then worked our way around to slick rock and back up blue. It was so nice to feel strong and fresh on that ride and I look forward to more of that hopefully. We rode quick and gracefully and before I knew it we were at the lookout where I had to snap this pic which is really cool. I think I might have been over riding lately, not that I would change that by choice, but with the new job and commute it will make it harder to get out. That's ok because I should probably spend more time sleeping than waking up to 4:30am alarm clocks. It's crazy cause it's not like I am a racer or trying to get a certain weight I'm just a guy out there enjoying the pedal for fun. This was a great ride and as usual can't wait until the next one. Hoping for saturday ride but will probably be sunday for the next one. Enjoy

Case ss

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Blast From The Past

5am,Happy Wednesday today, I have been having trouble getting out on frequent rides lately due to a new job and eather and other stuff so today was a very welcomed morning of hitting the trails. I called this topic blast from the past since I have some very old memories back in the begining of my mountain bike adventures at the Indian Legde. It was about 7-8 years ago I bought my first Specialized Rockhopper and got my very first ride at Trumbull. I remember even my very first time climbing up the slabs of rock in the begining of the trail as I was pedaling up it once more again. The single speed was feeling slow and that pretty much how I was feeling but I was a happy guy to be on trail. I stuck to red with follows the far east side of the park along the highway with quite a few stiff tech climbs up and down the hillside. Memories were quickly brougt back and couldn't help but keep remembering those times I spent there with my tires. I found my way over to the north end of the park and shot me out to the street where I climbed the hill to see if the bmx race track still existed. To my surprise it was! So I busted in and entered the starting gates, looked down and just had to take a run. It was as I remember, I ripped down it wanting to clear the step ups and doubles but I didn't feel like ending my morning with a face full of dirt so I pumped through them happily. By the time I was finished I was making my way back up for one more run. It was so fun, I had memories there as well, raced there a few times when I was a little guy, I remember my last race, I was in 1st place and had too much speed to pump the double so I went down hard and got carried off the track and after that I called the quits. I decided after that fun it was time to get back to the trail. I headed back down where I popped off trail and took blue to the river and followed it south along it. It was very beautiful with the sun shining through hitting the quite flowing stream. I was so thankful the mosquitos were not out cause there was alot of moisture and I was in the perfect habitat to be eaten alive. Down on the river things got rooty but kept things in control. Still alot of familiarity kept popping up as I rode along the river. There were tons of trails heading up mountain that I wanted to take but I also was riding the perimeter of the entire park to get a good feel for the lay of the land so I kept as close to the water as I could. I got off blue and got sent into some narrow heavy swamp brush that sent me backtracking after getting pricked by thorns that caused instant skin irritation. Wondering where it went was beside me since I made it all the way to wht seemed a dead end. Back on track I checked out a little session area which had very few features I was comfortable doing but none the less a good spot. Hit the river and washed up and off to the car and to work I went.

Blast o past

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Back In The Saddle Again

Feels like it has been forever since I got out on a ride which was actually only 4 days of no riding which is sad.... I knew that sunday was going to be a ride day and was getting excited for it, John had posted up on Bikerag and he made the ultimate decision on riding Middlesex. This is a great location I made it out to once and was looking very forward to be getting a tour from some guys who new the stuff. It was set for an 8:30 start time which was a bit early but was the only way the ride was going to work for me, so when that alarm rang I really slacked getting out of bed but this dedicated dude pulled through. Off to the Gas station and fueled up and while I was doing that figured I would shoot John the idea of carpool and I sold him on it. So we met up at the commuter lot and off we went. Got wheels down at 8:30 as planned and had a rider join us and off we went. Started on some mellow double track and off my two fellow riders went, I was trying to spin my legs but there just was no horsepower. We wrapped around a reservoir on some tight twisty really cool and fun just struggling to keep up with the guys. Shot across the road and got to climbing slowly but surely and enjoying the great trails out there, lots of single track and rock and jungle. I wish I had time to get some pictures but as usual, I am playing catchup. We continued heading further south into some off the beaten path stuff and some hike a bike but still great stuff. Eventually after 2 hours we were back headed north and the riding was still oh so good. I was still slow and steady on my climbs but I was regaining some strength. Soon I was storming downhill on a really fun smooth flowing downhill that dumped us out at the car and off we went to head home. Another good day for the full suspension, maybe tomorrow I will get out I am unsure since I need some sleep and have boating plans.

Middlesex madness

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