West Thompson Lake 5-23

[drjeff]

Got out for my 5th trail ride of the season late AM. Wasn't sure what to expect from the ride as I've really been pushing my running/riding training the last few weeks, and during my Saturday PM 4 mile run, to say that I was sporting a pair of cement filled legs was putting it mildly.

Did my favorite Orange all the way out to Red Bridge Road, then since the park rangers haved determined the old red bridge to be structurally unsafe, and barricaded it off, I did some mid ride road work via some of the roads arounf North Grosvenordale, and then accessed the Yellow on the East side of the lake. Took the yellow to the blue, and then rode the blue up the hill and around the campground area and then back down the hill to the yellow. The unfortunate side of the bridge closure is instead of then being able to take the Yellow back to the bridge and then on over to the West side of the Lake, I had to ride my least favorite part of the trail network, the portion of the yellow on the East side of the Lake between where the Blue joins in and the boat launch - nasty rock garden central (If I didn't like the decent on the blue so much, I don't think that I'd bother with the East side of the trail network until the bridge is fixed)

Anyway, it turned out to be a good ride, with the successfull negotiation of a couple of stone walling crossings that up until today were causing me a mental block.

At the end of things, the Garmin registered 10.03 miles, just over 1600 calories burned, just over 2300 feet of climbing/descending and an hour and 40 minutes of saddle time.

 

[drjeff]

Oh yah, forgot to add that I gave blood for the 1st (and 2nd) time this year That was the bit that put me over the top in my criteria of a good ride

 

[Marc]

That part of the yellow trail is where I developed a lot of my technical riding skill during the formative years of my mountain biking in '99-'00

Although last time I was there in April there was a big pine bough across a part where dismounting means walking for a bit because it's hard to remount. Has that been cleared yet?

 

[drjeff]

That part of the yellow trail is where I developed a lot of my technical riding skill during the formative years of my mountain biking in '99-'00

Although last time I was there in April there was a big pine bough across a part where dismounting means walking for a bit because it's hard to remount. Has that been cleared yet?

Not sure if it's the same one or not Marc, but there was a "Y" shaped, large limb down across the Yellow in the rock garden area yesterday On a good note, there was a scout group out working/cleaning the Orange in it's 1st section near the parking lot by the dam yesterday! Still though throughout the entire trail network there's 8 to 10 sizeable trees across and uncleared from the trail network - tempted to lug my chain saw out there one of these day just to make things a bit more rideable and less luggable out there!

 

[Marc]

Yeah, that's the one I'm thinking off. Too big to move, too high to ride... especially with the Y in it. I feel like the Army Corps employs a fair number of people down there, I wonder what they do all day?

 

[o3jeff]

Build an A-frame or a ramp over it.

 

[Marc]

Build an A-frame or a ramp over it.

Army Corps doesn't have much of a sense of humor about independent trail building. The trail was probably too technical in that spot anyway. Basketball size rocks.

 

[drjeff]

Army Corps doesn't have much of a sense of humor about independent trail building. The trail was probably too technical in that spot anyway. Basketball size rocks.

And those are the small ones in that section :lol:

I think the next time I see one of the park rangers driving around one of their pick-ups, that I'm going to inquire about their receptiveness (or lack of it) to having some of the mountain bikers from my local cycling club (Quinnebaug Valley Velo) hit the trails for a day of trail cleanup/maintenance. 99% of the trail network is is good shape, but there are a few spots where the clearing of a downed, LARGE tree or some slight work on the entrance/exits of some of the stream or rock wall crossings would be beneficial. It does though appear that in the last couple of weeks that they went through a decent amount of atleast the trails on the West side of the lake with something akin to a big field mower/chipper. Plus they've definately done some bigtime clean up since the high water mark of the late March/early April rains!

Kind of wild yesterday though as I was riding along the base of the dam, and looking up to where the water/debris line reached, probably a good 3 to 4 feet over my 6' 3" body riding a 22" frame bike, and then looking down the bank at where the water llevel currently is, which is essentially the regular pool height of the lake, and a good 12+ feet below my tires!