Trail Maintenance Hale

It finally happened, I got out with Paul and raked half of the north trail at Nathan Hale. I met up with him on trail since he got a head start and got raking by 6:30. It was very warm out and got to sweating quite quick. But the raking was pretty easy and straight forward. It got a little tricky in the roots and tight spots. We came upon a possible feature which we moved some rocks around and got it done. It worked on the first try and that was it. More raking as we got into the open it became much much easier. I looked down and found 4 ticks crawling on me, stupid little buggers. We found another feature this one was built most the way and just needed some love so it got it. It was now two hours in the woods drenched in sweat and one long day so I had to call quits after 2 hours. On the way back I got to admire the handywork that we had done and let me tell you it was amazing!

Big Hurt At Bigelow

Another great sunday ride for the most part. Set off at 9:30 with a few of the regualrs for a full pull at Bigelow. In the begining things were going ok, but they soon turned into a vicious cycle of un coordination and shitty bike riding. I spent the first hour of the trail trying to keep up, but being sent to my pedals way more than I ever have in this park it made a tough day. Not to mention the legs were never really there in the first place but I trucked on. By the time we made it around breakneck I was getting over most of my frustration but it soon came back. I walked so much and was hating my 32-21 gearing. But i continued on despite the day I was having and when we finally took a long enough brake for me to sit down and get some water into my system I felt like I regained some steam but that was only to be taken from me when we began to climb Mashpaug overlook. One beating hill after another, stepping off, walking I had it with myself and was looking forward to the car. It was a beautiful day for sure, while alot warmer than i would have liked, being around 80 degrees in mid october was strange but it was an annoyance with my bacteria stank filled hemlet. We did eventually hit the car where I packed up and headed the heck home to try to get some relaxation before work came monday morning. Would I do it again.....yes.....

Bigelow ass woop

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Salmon River Morning

Got Paul to follow me into Salmon River to ride some of their great trail network on saturday morning. It was an early morning with my alarm going off no earlier than a work day but I was pumped to ride. We met at the Air Line trailhead at 8:30 and set off with bentley leading. We quickly hopped onto trail and began uphill on some good trail that quickly broke into doubletrack atv stuff. Nothing fancy on the way up, but when we arrived at the top I couldn't wait to get to heading down. These trails are built by a mountain biker and I had the privilage of meeting the main guy who also happens to build belltown bikes, a very custom fabricated sweet 29er.......We had his group of three set off in front of us, and then we descended. Everything was so nice and smooth and twisty and Paul was enjoying it quite alot as well. We caught up with the guys where they wanted us to ride a new trail that needed some traffic so we agreed and rode. It was alot like the other trails and as expected antoher good trail to the network. Set off on our own again we continued down until we were back at the rail trail and we headed further downhill to get into Day Pond park which is a solid ride day in there alone. I was short on time but commited to making my way into a part of the park anyway. Everything after what we just rode was bonus miles. We got onto blue and began a steep ascent which ended in me walking most of it. Got to ride just a little bit more before we had to turn around and head down which was a sweet quick downhill some road and then back uphill through the pines to the rail trail and then the car. A very very good ride that left my bike beat up but so far nothing major is broken.

Salmon river goodies

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Happy Almost Birthday

As a Mountain Biking nut you can imagine there is quite a bit of mountain biking schtuff I want. With my birthday around the corner my wife could hardly contain herself with my gift so last night she gave in. My wife who is most awesome, decided to make a great investment in one of only two spots my body makes contact with this mechanical device called a bike. I had not even thought of making an heavy investment into this area but like all areas of the bike it all adds up in the end. She bought me these amazing and when I was amazing I am not exaggerating one single bit, these 510 Impact shoes are nothing but a work of art. From its construction it is very very impressive. I have been getting by the last few years with various skate shoes that have been successful and some have failed but now my future looks bright with these shoes. I am sad to put such a beauty to such hard work but I guess that's what they are for. Thank you hotty you are amazing!

Goofing at Trmbull

An old friend of mine I have not seen in quite some years I found out he was a mountain biker and we setup to ride Trumbull after work Thursday night. He was running a little late so I set off into the woods to bring back old memories. I had been here once this year in the last 6 but before that I spent some time in these woods with my first rides on my Kona Dawg and Specialized Rock Hopper. I found some rocks to play on and a few ramps and was having fun. There is a bit of features in this small park that are a lot of fun to play with. I made my way7 back to the car to meet with Lawrence and then set off. Rode some blue and yellow and stopped for sessions in between. It was really fun to not have any ride time or length goals just simply to ride and play around on the features in between. I eyed the green monster and told it I will be back very soon to conquer it. Got out of the woods just before dark and headed home. Looks like Saturday is going to be a day with my lady so maybe sneak an early morning ride out at Hale or shall I say home.

Goofing off trumbull

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Breezy cool beautiful Case

The weather has finally subsided, the heat and humidity and most the biting insects have finally took it down a notch or two. A Tuesday ride I was planning on making got rained out unfortunately so that led to me posting up a ride for Wednesday night. Sure enough Paul thankfully posted up and wanted to ride, so we set off for a dry Case with strong legs and no gears and a dog. Wanted to take a different approach as usual to the trails so I headed around connecting some variations to mix it up and worked great. We climbed up mountain and headed through the middle of the common trails. The goal was to hit behind the reservoir hillside and that was where we headed. Ripped up to the top of the hill and descended in fashion. Lifted off a little rock and came down with not enough time top spare hitting a very sharp rock that I didn't think I hit all that hard but it was enough to send me flat on both tires which took me too long to fix. Got back going and began climbing up to tinti and sure enough the back tire is going squishy....I patched two holes already on that tube and was not going hunting for yet another, so I borrowed pauls tube to assure no more delays and off we went. Got to the top of tinti and down the power lines and back home we went. A very very good ride witha good mix of trails and some 15.1 miles was a good pull, I still had plenty left in the legs but it was time to shut the engines down.

Case of flats

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Nemba Gay City to Case

I decided to join in on a event that N.ew E.ngland M.ountain B.iking A.ssociation was hosting at Gay City park called fall fiesta. I had heard from John that he was attending the expert ride at 8am this morning and it encouraged me to get there and ride. I woke 6:30 in the morning on the fiesta and looked for signs of rain since it was expected that day at some point and the roads were dry so it was on. Got the car loaded up and off we went. Shortly after getting on the road little drops were falling on my windshield and in denial I was blaming it on the dew falling from the trees but soon as I got close to the park it began to rain steady. I drove by the tent and saw only 8-10 people and was suprised how little people were there. I spotted John and went into the tent to seek refuge from the cold an rainy. It began to downpour soon and I had no hope for the ride. 20 minutes later the rain stopped and the sun was out, it then went to mostly cloudy skies on and off but the ride was on. Everyone got geared up and off we went, 10 minutes into the ride I was caked in mud and dirt which would accompany me the next three hours of riding. We were off on a loop into Case to ride whatever dry friendly trails we could find, all 7 of us. After a mechanical we lost one and the six of us contiued in the nasty conditions. I hung in the back of the pack having a terrible time with singlespeed and my new tires that weren't broken in. Going down tinti I got bit by another stupid bee, this is my third one in the last two weeks and it really really really really pissed me off. I retained my anger and pedaled on despite slick rocks and walking spots I wanted to ride. It was a really frustrating ride for me but none the less I was happy I was there and riding somehow. I think we were going to do much more miles but I think due to weather and trail conditions we ended up back at the tent after 16 miles which left me somewaht relieved from spending another hour in the mess. I hopped into the car to quickly get home and relax the rest of my sunday, I had plans do some trail raking at nearby hale but due to laziness it never happened........

Nemba gay city to case

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