Mastication

So, I wasn't lying in my last post about going to Massachusetts for Johanna's brother's wedding in Lenox, MA. I really went and I brought my bike. I did everything that I set out to do in that post. Since Johanna is family and I'm just a glorified +1, she was busy and I had some free time. On Friday, I rode down the street and ended up on this cute little ribbon of singletrack about a mile from downtown named after some guy named Dan. I returned from my little sojourn and learned that I still had like two and half more hours until the rehearsal dinner. This would allow me to fulfill my dream of riding at October Mountain State Forest.

Well, October Mountain sucked, or at least I only found the shitty trails. I was also besieged by heavy gunfire. Maybe it's because I live in a city with gun violence, but even when I'm wearing orange, gunfire kind worries me when I'm in a forest. I guess in Lee, unlike in Hartford, "shots fired" means recreation instead of a reason to call the police. The trails were also totally eroded to the point of being marginally to totally unridable by ATVs and dirtbikes. And, I kept bottoming out my car. As much as I pretend, my Passat is not yet ready for the WRC.

At least my car isn't painted as garishly. (photo credit to rallybuzz.com for Loeb's car)

So anyway, not being able to do awesome mountain biking while attending a wedding is ok. I'm not that selfish and/or self-centered. Johanna and I went for a walk around Lenox & I bought some really good cheese and Miller Lite. I still had some more time, so I decided to explore Kennedy Park, which is like 500 yards up the hill from the center of Lenox, by bike.

And the day was saved! Kennedy Park has several miles of awesome singletrack and the bad memory of October Mountain was erased. Kennedy Park is like a hillier Keney Park with more letters in its name, however, someone took some time to put in some sweet and swoopy singletrack. I even rode down this steep thing and off of a wall, which I didn't see, and didn't kill myself. The wall a big surprise.

the picture makes me look like a liar (or a wimp), but I swear that it's really steep and that's a death wall!

Then, due to the improvement in the mountain biking, the wedding was a great success for all to remember for years to come! Seriously, it was a really awesome wedding.

ornamental cannon