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Due to the wet conditions and recent rain, we abbreviated our planned route a bit to skip the Session Woods trails and Devil's Kitchen. The rest of the route is riding just fine.
Met up with Brian right at 7 am at Scoville. We got rolling by 7:15 and headed up past the cemetery. We then started the climb along Cornwall. We were both sucking major wind. Very humid this morning and it was zapping my energy. We hung a right at the big rock and headed towards Stone Road. Brian slipped on the big ledge up there and reopened his elbow wound. After some medical attention, we were off.
Made it to Stone Road and continued up the Tunxis. Hung a left towards the the little freeride route. Got almost to the Stone lot and then headed south again. I was psyched to clear the first climb. The second one got me. Once at the Tunxis again, we stayed straight to ride the newly raked area at the top of Wildcat Mountain. By this point I was feeling great. Hit most of the Stone Road twisties, all but the far southeast corner. Then headed for the rest of the twisties north of the Tunxis.
It was at this point Brian discovered he busted two spokes. He got them out of the way and felt he could ride on. We finished up the new section and hopped on the Tunxis just east of the rock garden. I flew through there clearing all of the hard stuff. I was getting tired and stepped out at the end of it though. I was happy I made it that far. Took the Tunxis back to Stone Road.
Crossed Stone and started the climb back up. We stayed more northwest on our way back to the big loop riding some blue trail, some of the forest access road. Once back on the Lamson loop we pressed on. I cleared the incline to the ledge at the high point and took the sketchy loose downhill with a lot more speed today so I was happy about my riding through there. Once at the merge by Cornwall, we noticed a large group of riders. I thought they were going to let the two of us pass, but the leader decided to take off. No matter, we had some exploratory to do. :lol:
After crossing Cornwall, we took a right on a hidden trail looking for a newly cleared trail system called "Dick Tickler's Notch" by the Crankfire guys. Well...we found it. And yep, we walked it more than we rode it. Brian said it best, "this trail is not ready for me and I'm not ready for it!" :lol: Lots of tight technical riding with huge rollers and drops; many of them with some tricky access and tight landing areas. We walked them all. This trail needs some major traffic. It ain't going to be me though as this stuff is well beyond me. Cool to see though. The final natural stunt is a massive, probably 15+ foot roller which ends as a 4-ish foot drop, you then need to ride up another small roller. Crazy ass terrain and it makes the Devil's kitchen look pretty tame. Brian and I were glad when we hooked back in to the standard loop.
Once at 69, I contemplated hitting the road back since I wanted to get home for 11:30 or so. At this point it was 11 am and I told Brian I'll do the stretch parallel to 69, but we have to book. We cranked indeed and got through there in a bit over 20 minutes. Well, 12.61 miles and a bit over 4 hours later, we were back at Scoville. It felt more like 20 miles, not that I really know what 20 miles feels like. Let's just say this was a pretty intense ride, mostly all singletrack trail riding and my longest ride so far. I was tired at the end of it, but feel pretty good this afternoon. I don't know how those Crankfire guys do 30+ miles through Nassahegan.
Fun riding with you Brian! Here is the trail record and map.
Met up with Brian right at 7 am at Scoville. We got rolling by 7:15 and headed up past the cemetery. We then started the climb along Cornwall. We were both sucking major wind. Very humid this morning and it was zapping my energy. We hung a right at the big rock and headed towards Stone Road. Brian slipped on the big ledge up there and reopened his elbow wound. After some medical attention, we were off.
Made it to Stone Road and continued up the Tunxis. Hung a left towards the the little freeride route. Got almost to the Stone lot and then headed south again. I was psyched to clear the first climb. The second one got me. Once at the Tunxis again, we stayed straight to ride the newly raked area at the top of Wildcat Mountain. By this point I was feeling great. Hit most of the Stone Road twisties, all but the far southeast corner. Then headed for the rest of the twisties north of the Tunxis.
It was at this point Brian discovered he busted two spokes. He got them out of the way and felt he could ride on. We finished up the new section and hopped on the Tunxis just east of the rock garden. I flew through there clearing all of the hard stuff. I was getting tired and stepped out at the end of it though. I was happy I made it that far. Took the Tunxis back to Stone Road.
Crossed Stone and started the climb back up. We stayed more northwest on our way back to the big loop riding some blue trail, some of the forest access road. Once back on the Lamson loop we pressed on. I cleared the incline to the ledge at the high point and took the sketchy loose downhill with a lot more speed today so I was happy about my riding through there. Once at the merge by Cornwall, we noticed a large group of riders. I thought they were going to let the two of us pass, but the leader decided to take off. No matter, we had some exploratory to do. :lol:
After crossing Cornwall, we took a right on a hidden trail looking for a newly cleared trail system called "Dick Tickler's Notch" by the Crankfire guys. Well...we found it. And yep, we walked it more than we rode it. Brian said it best, "this trail is not ready for me and I'm not ready for it!" :lol: Lots of tight technical riding with huge rollers and drops; many of them with some tricky access and tight landing areas. We walked them all. This trail needs some major traffic. It ain't going to be me though as this stuff is well beyond me. Cool to see though. The final natural stunt is a massive, probably 15+ foot roller which ends as a 4-ish foot drop, you then need to ride up another small roller. Crazy ass terrain and it makes the Devil's kitchen look pretty tame. Brian and I were glad when we hooked back in to the standard loop.
Once at 69, I contemplated hitting the road back since I wanted to get home for 11:30 or so. At this point it was 11 am and I told Brian I'll do the stretch parallel to 69, but we have to book. We cranked indeed and got through there in a bit over 20 minutes. Well, 12.61 miles and a bit over 4 hours later, we were back at Scoville. It felt more like 20 miles, not that I really know what 20 miles feels like. Let's just say this was a pretty intense ride, mostly all singletrack trail riding and my longest ride so far. I was tired at the end of it, but feel pretty good this afternoon. I don't know how those Crankfire guys do 30+ miles through Nassahegan.
Fun riding with you Brian! Here is the trail record and map.
