TR – Batchlor Street, Granby MA (AKA Murphy’s ride)

[MR. evil]

Randi and I decided to ride Batchlor street this afternoon, it was a very interesting ride to say the least. The trail system is part of the Mt. Holyoke State Park located in between Mt. Holyoke College and Hampshire College in Granby / Amherst MA. In total there are about 60 miles of sweet trails in this area.

I was a little worried that the trails would be a soupy mess after all of this rain, but a friend that rides there a lot told me not to worry because the trails all drain very well. So while there was no mud or standing water the trails were slippery as sh#t. Most of the trails of covered in roots, rock and ledge and nothing is flat. All the trails are up and down, many parts were completely un-ride able and had to be hiked. We tried a few rocky DH’s that were just too slick, our rear tires were slipping all over the place. From there on out we hiked down anything covered on rock, which was pretty much everything. I think we may have hiked more than we rode. A little less than half way through the ride Randi was having some issues with her fork, there was a bit too much air in it and it was feeling a little harsh. I should have known better, but I decided to let a little air out of the fork with a small branch. I let a little too much air out and I didn’t have a shock pump with me. So for the rest of the ride / hike Randi’s 130mm fork was riding more like a 50mm fork.

One of the great things about this area is that it is a very popular hiking and MTB spot. The entire area has been mapped and laid out with trail markers and way finding points. What I mean is that you will come up to a tree with a sign that reads ‘219’, you look for ‘219’ on the map to find where you are. This is great if you can actually read a map. So after a long hike a bike on a trail called Serpentine (Image the Nass twisty’s only with steep ups and downs covered in slippery rock) we came to a trail intersection to find marker ‘219’. Now I must have been reading the map upside down or something because instead of heading right to the parking area I went left. This turned out to be a bad call. This was the fire road from hell. Actually there is no way it was a fire road, only the most serious off road vehicles could make it up this thing. We hiked / biked about 2 miles uphill on this trail. Under better conditions we could have ridden much more of it, but the entire thing was rock and ledge and was just way to slick. Well after about 30 minutes of hiking and riding we came to marker ‘230’. I found the marker on the map to realize we had been heading the wrong way for the last half an hour. The only good thing about this was that the rest of the ride back was all down hill. I am not sure how, but Randi was able to ride the entire DH with only 50mm of travel on her fork. I was having a tough time in the rocky mess with 145mm of travel and rear suspension. We made it back to marker ‘219’ very quickly (the spot I made the wrong turn) and headed in the right direction. Turns out the parking area was only about 5 minutes away

[o3jeff]

You should of posted this in the hiking forum I shouldn't talk since you got out riding, with all the rain we have had here since yesterday I am very reluctant to head over to Nass tonight.

[MR. evil]

Originally Posted by o3jeff

You should of posted this in the hiking forum I shouldn't talk since you got out riding, with all the rain we have had here since yesterday I am very reluctant to head over to Nass tonight.

I imagine that Nass will be pretty nasty in spots. The cemetary twisty's and the ridge always seem pretty dry the times I have been there. Its the stuff on either side of Scoville that is always muddy.

[MRGisevil]

How did I manage? That would be thanks to my cat like balance and enviable agility. K thx.

But really. I told Tim to call this the Ride That Shall Not Be Named. Holy crap. Bachelor Street is nothing to chuckle at and with all the slick mother conditions it made all the rides we did this week look like F-ing Candyland. Yeah, and Tim forgot to mention that this place is the LAND THAT TIME FORGOT. Crazy ass rocks covered in moss everywhere, plants I've never seen...and the mushrooms! There were translucent mushrooms. Insert banjo music. I was waiting for a hillbilly to pop out of the woods and drag us home for dinner (his dinner).

I do have to say that a lot of the stuff we walked looked like it'd make for a killer ride. Tons of stair like roots and massive rocks- shame our tires were getting tossed around like a drunken hippy at a Korn concert...would have been a thrill to actually RIDE. Oh, and If it could go wrong, it did, INDEED. Not only was I having major bike malfunctions (parading around on slippery rock edges with a bike that is suddenly several inches lower to the ground than normal can mess with your balance- I was smashing my cranks against all kindsa crap) but my right contact lense got all gunked up and I put way too much pressure on my injured leg because it was killing me halfway through the ride. So, for half of this fantastically trecherous endevour, that easily could have resulted in doom or something eerily similar to doom, I could barely see, was bashing my bike into anything that got in my way and could hardly put weight on my left leg. Awesome.

Yet somehow, through all the travesty, it turned out to be a haphazardly fun (yes, I did just say fun) experience. Pleased with how I handled myself (meaning I didn't try to take off my shoe and beat Timmy with the metal bit for getting us lost), happy to check out some new terrain, and we managed to have a good laugh at it on the way back. Certainly was still better than sitting on the couch eating skittles all afternoon. Had to crawl up the stairs when we got home, but hey. All part of the adventure...

[severine]

I love reading your TRs, Marge. You have such style.

In spite of it all, sounds like you did have fun. And you're right. Beats sitting on the couch all day eating Skittles. WTG!

[Trekchick]

No pics?

[MR. evil]

Originally Posted by Trekchick

No pics?

No pics...we realized we forgot a camera a few minutes after we left the house

[Trekchick]

Originally Posted by MR. evil

No pics...we realized we forgot a camera a few minutes after we left the house

If you check the teeter totter thread, I posted a few pics of Daniels home obstacles.
He no longer has the skinny or rock garden but the little teeter totter I posted is kind of a good place to start.

Hope you have fun with it.

[bvibert]

Sounds like a character building trip. I hope to make it up there sometime this year.

How did the new shock work out Tim?

[MR. evil]

Originally Posted by bvibert

Sounds like a character building trip. I hope to make it up there sometime this year.

How did the new shock work out Tim?

The shock seemed ok.....didn't really get to ride enough to test it out. All of the rocky gnar that would really test the shock out was un-ride able. Next time....