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Bike Log 2014

BackLoafRiver

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Lately, my riding has been more about the number of smiles than the number of miles. Today, I did manage to do almost 10 miles of MTB followed by 32 of road with the club.

I also got dropped on the Fast Ride for the first time. It was humbling, embarrassing, and pissed me off. I dropped out of the lead so someone else could pull for a bit and the new guy just shot out. Picked up the tempo instantly and I had no chance. I spun as fast as my legs could but the wind was too much. I felt like a sally.

EDIT - Forgot to mention I took a hella digger at Bradbury. The end result is a bunged up middle finger and my gut kills from where the end of my handlebars dug in.
 

mlctvt

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My wife and I Just finished our first 500 mile week on the tandem in the Adirondacks.(edit: it was actually 8 days of riding) Great weather, nice roads and no issues with traffic / bad drivers. We'd sometimes rode 5-10 miles without a single car passing us.
We rode from Saranac Lake up to Potsdam , Malone and the Saint Lawrence River then back. I was amazed at how flat northern NY is, it felt like we were in the west, just farms as far as you could see. Saw a few Amish wagons and farms there too.

Also had our first encounter with two large German Shepards attacking from two sides, luckily we didn't get bit. They ran back with both of us yelling "go home" plus the owner yelling too. He didn't lock them though, riders behind us had the same experience with these dogs. Time to buy some Halt or pepper spray for these rural rides near farms.
 

BackLoafRiver

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Today, what should have been a nice, solo ride turned into a rescue mission. While at Bradbury, I came upon two bikers who had just made it half way up the mountain. They asked if I had seen an elderly man with a cane and a five year old girl. I hadn't. Apparently they had been gone for quite some time and their party was getting worried. The two bikers I came upon were not familiar with the hill so I divided us up into three groups, each one trying a different trail to the summit. There were still 2 main arteries that hadn't been covered but the Park Rangers were also on the hunt. We reconvened at the summit with no luck. After a minute, a cell phone went off and the person on the other end said they were found on the Summit trail (perhaps the least friendly uphill bike trail on the West Side) on their way down. They had, indeed, gotten lost and turned around.

Makes me feel thankful that I knew where I was and, at the same time, scared to explore Falmouth tomorrow.

All in all, I ended the day with 11.5 miles. Tacky dirt, beautiful weather...Maine at its finest.

Here are a few obligatory "lean" pictures.

This is on the Corridor Trail that is connecting Bradbury to the CMP Powerlines.
IMG_1122.jpg

IMG_1123.jpg

This is a pretty sweet little step down that is actually much more tech-y than it looks:
IMG_1143.jpg

Also in the "this is harder than it looks" category, this root system is luckily perpendicular to the trail but the angle up is rough. I can clear it each time now but at first it was damned tricky.

I tried to get a shot showing pitch. It didn't work out so well. (but I like bike pictures so, whatever)
IMG_1141.jpg
 

BackLoafRiver

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Solo ride at Blackstrap Preserve in Falmouth today. (here's a map if you're interested: http://falmouthlandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Blackstrap-Hill-Preserve.pdf)

I have only been here once before and it was a total a$$ kick then too. I stopped by Allspeed Cycle in Portland to get the skinny. Chris (the owner) gave me a solid set of directions and I drove to the trailhead.

The Falmouth Land Trust is actually a set of multiple areas, most of which are multi-use and allow biking. (there are a handful that don't) Blackstrap is the area that the Greater Portland Nemba chapter and Allspeed have been working on for the past few years.

The hard work has really paid off.

I won't bore you with the "which loop I rode" talk, but I will say this place is legit. The climb from the lot can be either hellacious (via the yellow loop) or more moderate. I started with the moderate climb and it still was a workout. All of the climbing is well worth the payoff which is some SWEET downhill!!! To be truthful, I found myself hugging the brakes a bit since I wasn't familiar and didn't feel like walking. I only managed around 8 miles but my legs are feeling it.

Here are a few shots:
The view from the top. To make total use of this area, you need to come back here a couple of times.
IMG_1147.jpg

IMG_1151.jpg

I didn't know the line here...most people huck the drop. I am not most people
IMG_1154.jpg

One of the many stream crossings on the White trail.
IMG_1156.jpg

A RAD rock berm:
IMG_1158.jpg
 

BackLoafRiver

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A couple more:

The Rock berm from the top
IMG_1160.jpg

The yellow trail is a super tech climb/suckfest but it has this one spot that is pretty:
IMG_1162.jpg
And in the other direction:
IMG_1169.jpg
 

MR. evil

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Those trails looks sweet! Right up my alley with all the rocks and chunk. The 3 rd picture in your first post that you said you didn't know the line. There seems to be many lines on that feature, but if your not into drops you could easily roll that bad boy from the looks of it. Using your bike in the picture as a reference I would say the entry to the roll is the rocky point around your handle bar grip and the exit is at your crank....I could session that rock feature for 30 plus minutes before I got bored...good stuff!

if your ever in Western Ma let me know and I would love to give you a tour of the famous Batchelor Street trails. Or if your ever in the hartford area I could show you around Case Mt or Millers Pond.
 

ScottySkis

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Sat. July 5 i rode the herrtiage trail from Goshen, NY to Monroe. 10 mikes each way beatful used to be rail road now it cment over and awssome. perfect day in summer to be outside.
 

bvibert

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I passed the 300 mile mark for the year on my MTB last night, now at 307.

A season highlight for me so far was a 25+ mile ride I did on this past Saturday. I'd been wanting to do a 20 or so mile ride for the last few years, but I just never made it happen. We set out early Sat to accomplish that goal, and ended up with 25+. I was lucky enough to have a friend leading the ride who kept us at a good pace, not too fast to burn out early, but not too slow with an overabundance of breaks either. It felt great to finally meet my goal. Maybe I'll shoot for a 30 miler next...

Another highlight has been getting my kids out several times so far, including leading 2 kids/family rides for our NEMBA chapter.. My 9 year old has moved up to an extra small framed 26" wheeled bike, and my 7 year old will be on a 24" or 26" bike before too long to. It brings me great pleasure to see them having such fun on bikes, especially in the woods!
 

marcski

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I passed the 300 mile mark for the year on my MTB last night, now at 307.

A season highlight for me so far was a 25+ mile ride I did on this past Saturday. I'd been wanting to do a 20 or so mile ride for the last few years, but I just never made it happen. We set out early Sat to accomplish that goal, and ended up with 25+. I was lucky enough to have a friend leading the ride who kept us at a good pace, not too fast to burn out early, but not too slow with an overabundance of breaks either. It felt great to finally meet my goal. Maybe I'll shoot for a 30 miler next...

Another highlight has been getting my kids out several times so far, including leading 2 kids/family rides for our NEMBA chapter.. My 9 year old has moved up to an extra small framed 26" wheeled bike, and my 7 year old will be on a 24" or 26" bike before too long to. It brings me great pleasure to see them having such fun on bikes, especially in the woods!

Nice job getting your kids out on the trails like that!! And, 25 miles is an impressive mt. bike ride. Was it single track? climbing?
 

bvibert

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Nice job getting your kids out on the trails like that!! And, 25 miles is an impressive mt. bike ride. Was it single track? climbing?

Yes, it was almost all single track, and there was about as much climbing as one can find mountain biking in CT. I don't take much stock in GPS elevation gain figures, but mine said 1811 feet of elevation gain.

http://app.strava.com/activities/168034482

I was actually a little worried about the amount of climbing we did early on... It was really making me rethink my decision to go 1x9 a few weeks back. My current climbing gear is 32:32 which made some of the more drawn out climbs interesting.
 

BackLoafRiver

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Nice job getting your kids out on the trails like that!! And, 25 miles is an impressive mt. bike ride.

Agreed! Nicely done on both counts!!! Judging by the Strava map, it looks like there is some decent climbing for the first 15 or so miles.

Kudos buddy!
 

MR. evil

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Nice ride Brian! If you plan on doing any more 20 milers this fall let me know, I have also been wanting to do this on the MTB for the past couple of seasons.

Most of my time this season has been spent on the road bike and I am really starting to get into it. I actually like big long climbs On the road bike, who would of thunk. Last weekend I did a 57 Mike ride with 4200 feet of climbing from Westfield Ma out to ski sundown and back. I never realized how long and steep Ratlum road is. My original plan was to ride around the Rez but road work and back to back flat tires on 181 had me rethink that route which is how I ended up at SD.

http://www.strava.com/activities/168490367/analysis/5327/5871
 

bvibert

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Agreed! Nicely done on both counts!!! Judging by the Strava map, it looks like there is some decent climbing for the first 15 or so miles.

Kudos buddy!

We rode from the same parking lot you did when you were there earlier in the year, so you did some of the same climbs. Good stuff!
 

bvibert

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Nice ride Brian! If you plan on doing any more 20 milers this fall let me know, I have also been wanting to do this on the MTB for the past couple of seasons.

Not sure if I'll get a chance to make another long ride this year, but I'll keep you in mind.
 

mlctvt

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nice June and July for riding so the miles are up this year. A week of bike vacations in each month helped too

2011 Road miles__________ 2012 Road Miles_______ 2013 Road Miles______ 2014 Road Miles
February 24 miles_________ February 24 miles______February 0 miles______ February 24 miles
March 129 miles __________ March 248 miles_______ March 142 miles ______ March 28 miles
April 360 miles____________ April 386 miles________ April 366 miles _______ April 411 miles
ay 582 miles____________ May 457 miles ________ May 479 miles__________ May 578 miles
June 668 miles___________ June 416 miles ________ June 593 miles _______ June 876 miles
July 923 miles___________ July 673 miles _________ July 671 miles ________ July 794 miles
August 472 miles_________ August 612 miles ______ August 903 miles
Sept 572 miles___________ Sept 644 miles________ Sept 723 miles
October 239 miles________ October 242 miles______ October 361 miles
November 139 miles______ November 117 miles ____November 102 miles
December 0 miles________ December 0 Miles ______ December 38 miles
2011 total 4108 miles_____ 2012 total 3819 miles___ 2013 total 4378 miles___ 2014 total 2711 miles so far
 

mlctvt

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Jesus. I'm still under 1000. Granted, there's a lot of singletrack in there but...still.

I know what you mean- but it's all relative. My mileage looks low compared to a couple of my retired friends who are already over 5000 miles for the year. The only way I'll have that much is maybe when I retire and ride across the country.
 

skijay

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March 22, 2014 - August 3, 2014

Mountain Bike (XC trails) - 94.25 miles
Paved Rail Trails on hybrid bike - 128.55 miles
Down Hill Mountain biking (lift serviced) - 41.3 miles
 
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