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Nassahegan RAW - 10/8/08

Greg

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Man, I don't know what it was but I had an awesome ride this afternoon. Perfect weather - cool and clear, trails in perfect shape; a bit leafy but nothing that impacted travel, I felt strong, and I had a bike that was shifting beautifully. Everything was clicking.

Met up with migs 01, o3jeff, MR. evil and Grassi21. Sorry I rolled in right at 4:30 vs. being ready to ride at 4:30. Taking 6 West to 69 north is a sucky way to go IMO. I'll stick with 118 to 4 and south on 69. Anyway, I tried to get ready quickly and we headed out.

Rode the swamp twisties and found the stunts in there - an A frame, a small ladder ramp drop thing, and a flat ladder drop. I skipped the last one. The boulders on either side were messing with my head. Saving it for another day. After some brief sessioning there, we were off to hit the rest of the route.

Finished the rest of the swamp warm-up, crossed Scoville to the mudhole which rode beautifully, crossed E. Chippens, down B street to the logging area, back up to the blue, and straight back to the lot. Jeff and I pressed on after saying bye to the others and hit the cemetery twisties to the fire road and back. Less leaves on the trees really makes it easier to push fading daylight. 6.49 miles. Crankfire trail record.

I gotta say that Grassi21 really kept up really well. Really cool of migs 01 to hang back a bit and ride his rear most of the ride. I think it kept Chris moving and challenging himself. He looked pretty shot at a few points, but I think he liked the ride. In typical Grasssi fashion, he didn't need/want long breaks. Anyway, nice job pushing yourself! That was a moderately quick pace. Our overall was 4.4 MPH. Moving average was probably well over 6 MPH. More mileage than I expected. Awesome ride.
 

bvibert

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Glad you guys had a good ride, the weather was certainly nice enough.

Taking 6 West to 69 north is a sucky way to go IMO. I'll stick with 118 to 4 and south on 69. Anyway, I tried to get ready quickly and we headed out.

I told you not to take 6 all the way to 69, that way does suck, and takes way longer. You gotta turn off of 6 in Terryville, like I said in an earlier post. Geesh, some people never listen... :roll: Go ahead, keep wasting time going on your silly 118 to 4 to 69 route... ;)
 

o3jeff

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I knew if I waited long enough someone would get a TR up:lol:

Was perfect weather for riding and thanks to Greg and Tim(migs and grassi too?) for yelling back to me to finally ride through the B street rock without stopping, and that other rocky drop(the one after where Red took his spill). I also impressed myself and made it all the way through that muddy area and over the rock wall right before you get to E Chippens on the way back.

Good riding with all you again and I think the final cemetery twisties wore me out.
 

Greg

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I told you not to take 6 all the way to 69, that way does suck, and takes way longer. You gotta turn off of 6 in Terryville, like I said in an earlier post. Geesh, some people never listen... :roll: Go ahead, keep wasting time going on your silly 118 to 4 to 69 route... ;)

Actually I took 6 to Hill street to JP Casey to Peacedale to 69. Still uber sucky. Sorry.
 

Greg

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Was perfect weather for riding and thanks to Greg and Tim(migs and grassi too?) for yelling back to me to finally ride through the B street rock without stopping, and that other rocky drop(the one after where Red took his spill). I also impressed myself and made it all the way through that muddy area and over the rock wall right before you get to E Chippens on the way back.

Yes, yes. Props indeed for overcoming those silly mental blocks. Now we won't need to keep waiting up for you... :razz: ;)
 

MR. evil

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My legs are really killing me from the ride. The involentary single speed due to my rear der. issues really did a number on me. Got to give credit to Greg for hitting that ladder drop / jump after the A frame. I am still PO'd at myself for wussing out on that thing. I guess I will be building something similar in the back yard to practice on.

I am going to drop the bike off at the LBS tommorrow to have the sifting issues looked at.
 

o3jeff

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Almost forgot, great job grassi for pushing yourself tonight, your riding has really come a long way in the past month and also great job on riding the A-frame without hesitation.
 

Greg

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My legs are really killing me from the ride. The involentary single speed due to my rear der. issues really did a number on me. Got to give credit to Greg for hitting that ladder drop / jump after the A frame. I am still PO'd at myself for wussing out on that thing. I guess I will be building something similar in the back yard to practice on.

I am going to drop the bike off at the LBS tommorrow to have the sifting issues looked at.

Thanks and I knew you would be pissed at yourself. You were carrying plenty of speed the 2 or 3 times you braked into that ladder. I can't wait to sack up for the 3rd one. Those are going to be three fun ladders to tie together, migs makes it look smoooooooth.

I was feeling for you and that rear der. Sounded like the chain gang was following me each time you tried to shift.... :lol:
 

bvibert

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Actually I took 6 to Hill street to JP Casey to Peacedale to 69. Still uber sucky. Sorry.

Going all the way to Hill st would have worked ok, except you made one crucial mistake, turning onto JP Casey. Had you stayed on Hill that would have turned into W Chippens Hill rd, which then would have turned into Scoville...

An even better route is 6 to N Main to E Plymouth to Mathews to Minor to JP Casey to Hill to etc etc..

But you've already made up your mind and that's cool, whatever...
 

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Thanks and I knew you would be pissed at yourself. You were carrying plenty of speed the 2 or 3 times you braked into that ladder. I can't wait to sack up for the 3rd one. Those are going to be three fun ladders to tie together, migs makes it look smoooooooth.

I was feeling for you and that rear der. Sounded like the chain gang was following me each time you tried to shift.... :lol:

What freaked me out about the drop is how is a sloped up like a jump. I got it into my head that is was going to throw me upwards even though I knew it wouldn't. Had it been flat It would not have been an issue onlt being about 24". The 2nd drop looks very do-able, but the rocks near the landing area looked sketchy. I WILL hit all 3 of those stunts in a row before the end of the seaon. Tommorrow I am going to re-arrange the ladders in the backyard to something similar to that first drop.
 

Greg

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Going all the way to Hill st would have worked ok, except you made one crucial mistake, turning onto JP Casey. Had you stayed on Hill that would have turned into W Chippens Hill rd, which then would have turned into Scoville...

An even better route is 6 to N Main to E Plymouth to Mathews to Minor to JP Casey to Hill to etc etc..

But you've already made up your mind and that's cool, whatever...

I rode today. Did you?
 

Grassi21

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Thanks for the kind words guys. My legs are cooked right now. On a couple of those breaks I really had to catch my wind. migs, thanks for the peer pressure. It certainly did make me pick up my pace.

I don't know the names of the areas like you guys do, but there were a couple of fast downhill sections were I was flying. Jeff, it was that section were we talked about the little rock hits that we flew over. To me that felt like mountain biking. Very fun. That A frame was cake. I should have tried it a few more times but didn't want to press my luck.

Now if I could only get on my bike more than once a week I would be in sick shape for ski season. I have definitely caught the bug.
 

o3jeff

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What was migs heckling you back there the whole ride?:lol:

That fast section was at the end of B street. You were also moving along pretty good when I got sucked into the muddy stream and you almost blasted me with a good shower.
 

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What was migs heckling you back there the whole ride?:lol:

That fast section was at the end of B street. You were also moving along pretty good when I got sucked into the muddy stream and you almost blasted me with a good shower.

no heckling. every time i encouraged him to go ahead of me he declined.

blasted from behind, we didn't ride tyler mill today did we? :lol:
 

Greg

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I don't know the names of the areas like you guys do, but there were a couple of fast downhill sections were I was flying. Jeff, it was that section were we talked about the little rock hits that we flew over. To me that felt like mountain biking. Very fun. That A frame was cake. I should have tried it a few more times but didn't want to press my luck.

The stretch leading down towards the logging area is a fun downhill. Not steep but consistently down. If you liked that, we gotta get you to the Devil's Kitchen by-pass. That's a fun smooth downhill. Or better yet the Cornwall to 69 downhill on the big loop. But sorry, brotha, to be rewarded with those DHs you gotta do the climbs. They will come easier and easier. I love climbing now. You're definitely ready for the big loop.

Oh and that's right!!! Major props on the A frame. I forgot you rode that without even hesitating. You got one up on Brian and Jeff now.
:beer:

I have definitely caught the bug.

Friggin' sweet! I told you. Big loop is next for you. Earmark a weekend morning for us. My job is done now.
 

Greg

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no heckling. every time i encouraged him to go ahead of me he declined.

Very cool. I knew exactly what he was doing. migs is good people.

blasted from behind, we didn't ride tyler mill today did we? :lol:

If that dude wasn't walking his dog, I might have thought he was in search of some pickle park action.
 

Grassi21

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Friggin' sweet! I told you. Big loop is next for you. Earmark a weekend morning for us. My job is done now.

I think my wife is starting to hate you. ;-) Actually she looks at it as me getting out and exercising which is a good thing.
 

Greg

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Actually she looks at it as me getting out and exercising which is a good thing.

That's my angle too. :lol: I can do this or hit the gym. :smash: Riding is waaaay more fun. Just don't let on exactly how techy it is. Perhaps she thinks you're riding rail trails or something... :lol:
 
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