Hallowell Reservior - RBW 9/23

RBW = Ride between work.

Wednesdays are pretty terrible for me. I do my teaching from 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. then go back to do some rehearsals from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. I am wasted by the time I get home. It's a bummer because apparently a lot of the local guys get together for a ride around 5:30 on Wednesdays which I will never be able to make.

I got out today for a quick solo tour of the Hallowell Res. as suggested by PowPig2002 and another guy I know.

I had never heard of this place until Monday. I have a few shots I will post when I get back home but the ride was real fun. Compared to Bond Brook (the other real riding in the area) there is a ton more flow and the riding can be fast. The singletrack borders the reservoir and is wedged between some double track. Looks like there haven't been many riders in the past few days. Stuff is pretty well covered up but easy to follow. There are a few spots I lost the trail all together and had to double back. It would help to ride it with someone who really knows the area.

On one side of the double is a pretty tech-y climb with some rocks placed in such a way that I had to portage the old bike over them. It was either that or eat granite. After you finally crest the hill, you come down a very quick, narrow set of switchbacks. Fun, but just difficult enough to really keep me on my toes.

Trails are not marked and there is no map that I am aware of. Just a cool place that is maintained by the local NEMBA chapter. I think they are working on resolving that. I did get myself lost at one point. Ended up following the double looking for more singletrack and ended up in the middle of a quarry. Was totally lost for a good 5 minutes. Followed the main road out and it dumped me 5 seconds from the parking area. A sphincter clenching moment to be sure.

All in all, great ride. No GPS data for this one but I will take my ladies Garmin back out there later this week. Was out for 1.5 hours. Weather held out fine. Was just humid enough to making some of the breathing difficult.

glad you found it. from your description sounds like you rode it all. just the one loop. wicked pissah riding. you told it like it is. great for rehabing the old ticker

Here are some pics from the ride:















Never did figure out how to get to the other side.


Gorgeous afternoon:

Pow...sorry I missed you Friday. Tomorrow is supposed to be gross in terms of weather but I will definitely be out and about this week. I'll let you know when. On another note, I had a terrible ride today at the Messalonskee Stream Trails in Oakland. Will post on that later. It was the kind of ride that made me feel like I had no business on a bike. :evil:

Nice pictures, looks like a fun place to ride.

Yeah, it is pretty great. A lot of fun, nice flow and some sections that are just tough enough to make you sweat. My only gripe is that I wish there were a few more trails. You can ride most of it in under an hour so I usually loop it a couple times. Overall, so much fun. I didnt take any pictures of some of the harder stuff. There is a section covered in loose rock that I almost took a massive header off the other day. Saved by a tree. Looking forward to riding it again this week.

after brian and crew built the trails some of the citizens of the peoples republic of hollowell decided they wanted them as hiking paths. it never happened , but the mtbers decided not to build any more. so all energy was put into bond brook. thing about the rez is it is dry. earlier this summer when every place else was hub deep in mud the rez was high and dry.

That's too bad. It has a ton of potential and there is plenty of land there to be worked. I am sure once bond brook is done, it will be just as good. Apparently there is a trail at the base of the bowl switchbacks Brian just cut. I haven't ridden it yet but one of these days I'm going to head back there and try it out.