West Hartford Res 3/19

I couldn't take the warm weather any more so I decided to get out on whatever I could rent.

I called tons of shops in the area (and even visited most) but in the end, only found one that was renting bikes. An old Trek 4200. Nothing great but enough to get me riding.

Got to the dirt lot across from the paved entrance to the #6 reservoir at 3:00. Only two other cars in the lot at that time. Both of them were guys with pretty nice set-ups. I am sure the two guys unloading their gear were looking at my clunker thinking..."oh christ".

On the bike at 3:30. Not sure of any real trail names. Just followed the route to the right, and climbed up the power lines until I couldn't cross any more. (I didn't trust portaging over the small stream)

Rode the trail up to the right until I hit the "No trespassing sign" and turned around. It was clear there was more riding past that but I didn't know if it was cool to continue.

Turned around, followed the double track until I hit another section of the stream. Crossed it and kept riding.

The conditions were pretty alright. Found a few spots that were muddy so I carried the bike over and walked around. I would say it was 70 - 30 on the dry to wet scale.

Ended up with almost 9 miles and 1100' of climbing. Nice place. I am sure that there is interesting stuff in there...it was just damn hard to find. Only found one or two spots of single track and it was great. Clearly I missed something. Well...several somethings I am sure. Stuff just hadn't been cleared up so since I didn't know the area, it was like a blind man at a strip - club.

A couple quick notes to all you CT guys -

1) Not sure if you are fans of Benidorm bikes or not. I met a guy in the repair shop there when I was doing some research who was awesome. Super friendly and had tons of useful advice. Very helpful. I wish I could have hit up Biker's Edge. I heard good things about them as well.

2) I passed Nass a few times in my travels. Looks awesome. You guys live in a MTB mecca. I am super jealous and you can bet I will be down with my bike later this summer to check more of it out.

I will post pics from my ride in the A.M. I am exhausted

Pics...





The stream:


You can see the mud. Walked the bike around:


The stream later in the ride:


More of the ride:


The view of Hartford from some random spot. Gorgeous panorama:


Pretty sweet rock wall:

The next time you are in the area give us some warning and we can give you a tour of or local spots. I work in Hartford and would be more than happy to show you the Rez, Penwood St Park, Case Mt on a week day evening. I even have a spare bike.

Glad you were able to get out for a ride! There's a lot of terrain at the Rez, it helps to go with someone who knows their way around.

MR. evil said:

The next time you are in the area give us some warning and we can give you a tour of or local spots. I work in Hartford and would be more than happy to show you the Rez, Penwood St Park, Case Mt on a week day evening. I even have a spare bike.

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Yeah, I will post something with definite details the next time I am in town. Originally, I didn't know what I was going to be able to do, bike or ski. As it turns out, three kids plus my own stuff is too much for my car. I didn't have enough room for any of my ski gear. Biking was a last minute call.

bvibert said:

Glad you were able to get out for a ride! There's a lot of terrain at the Rez, it helps to go with someone who knows their way around.

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I agree. All the data on Crankfire and pics around the net showed it to be a ripping good time but I had no idea where to go. Still, a nice way to spend an afternoon for sure.

It looks like I will be down for sure in June and maybe again in August. Relatives are hosting a massive graduation party for my cousin so I figure I can come down a day or two early and do some riding I will keep you guys posted.

Finally got a chance to heck out the pic you attached. I don't recognize any of those areas in the pics. All the stuff I know at the Rez is alot more rocky than what's in those pics. Did you make it up on the ridge at all?

Looks like a bunch of shots from the interior sections. He must have gotten up towards the ridge at some point to get that shot of Hartford in the distance.

Yeah, I was just tooling around without much direction. I parked at the small lot across from Res #6, followed the trail to the right, then up the powerlines for a bit until I came to a small stream. From there it was to the left and around the interior. I was looking at someones GPS loop on Crankfire the night before and tried to follow it a bit but clearly missed a turn somewhere.

I've been the the Rez a few times, and I even get confused still.