Bald Mountain Failure

Several months ago, I endeavored to ride a difficult ride. It was to be in Vermont and go up Bald Mountain (in Westmore). Bald Mountain is taller than Burke, but shorter than Gore and an East Mountain that is somewhere in Essex County. I thought it was the tallest one around, but it looks like it's only the tallest one in Orleans County and the third highest in the Northeast Kingdom. I snowshoed up it this winter and it was enjoyable. I even wrote about it on this very blog, sort of. The icy window is the observation tower. There are two trails that go up to the summit, so an out and back isn't required. This led me to the conclusion that I should ride my bike up it. There'd only be like a mile or two of hike-a-bike. So, in May I attempted that, but got lost because I couldn't find the eastern trail head and wandered down some moose trail for a while and cut my legs up pretty bad. Two days ago, I did it and didn't get lost. There was a bunch of hiking, but it wasn't all hiking and the descent was fun. Hikers were perplexed.

It just goes to show that there's much more to the Northeast Kingdom than Kingdom Trails. Not that I have anything against Kingdom Trails.

I also put a sweet grocery basket on the Pueblo and rode it with flip flops on.

The spring in Sutton quotes Auden now.

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What a difference an inch makes

That's what she said!

Sorry. Our blog is usually lacking in terrible humor (always lacking in good humor). Anyway, I took the ferry over to the Meshomasic State Forest the other day and went mountain biking. It was very enjoyable. I was thinking, while going down some rocky, washed out descent (as they are there), I'm not crashing and generally out of control like I have been lately. I realized that it's probably because my tires are about an inch wider than they are on my 'cross bike. It's realizations like this that make people think I'm not too bright and they're totally correct.

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Mon Goo Se

I rebuilt my dad's old Mongoose Alta and rode out to Case the other day. While 34:16 is not too bad along the way, with flat pedals it's pretty hard to climb stuff. That's ok. Walking makes you a better mountain biker.

The 1995 Alta was the ne plus ultra of Altas. For some reason, my dad's came slightly better than stock, because it was full STX. Although, in making it a single speed, not much of the STX remains. I made it sort of a singlespeed like five or six years ago, when one of the shifter pods broke. It never worked that great, because while I'm a bad bike mechanic now, I was a really terrible one then.

I returned by cutting through the green spots on Google maps along the Manchester/Glastonbury boarder and ended up in the Glen Lochen mall. I love the Glen Lochen mall. I also found that new Glastonbury bike path, which led me to some turtles.

I stopped under the route three bridge, too.

Yesterday, I went to the Reservoir and found another copperhead.

Also, if anyone has the "MON GOO SE" tshirt from a long time ago, you can give it to me.

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BJ and the bear

There aren't any bears in BJ and the Bear, but I saw a bear yesterday at the Reservoir. It was awesome. I was coming down the fence line on the east side. Right near the house where the asshole throws all his stuff over the fence and into the trail I startled this bear that was in someone's back yard. It took off running along side me and then climbed right up a tree. It was undoubtedly one of the cooler things that I've seen while mountain biking. I'm also quite thankful that a fence separated us and I was traveling downhill.

I encountered two guys who riding in the opposite direction. I told them about the bear, about which they didn't believe me at first. I guess West Hartford doesn't really feel like a bear place.

When I was flipping my wheel to leave. A nice fellow who probably rode through five or ten minutes behind also saw the bear. He also helped me find the wing nuts I dropped that attach my silly bottle opener wrench to the frame.

Apart from the bear, the ride wasn't really all that great. my rhythm was all off and I kept tripping over things.

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Mountain bike movie

Surprisingly, the genre "mountain biking" is not that big in cinema. None the less, they still make a few of those movie with guys dressed for motorcross on springy bikes. Readers of pinkbike are way into it. Me? I like those Danny MacAskill and Chriss Akrigg videos and bmx videos. The downhill videos have too much erosion and slow motion usually. But, maybe 45 minutes of it will change my mind.

Anyway, the Wadsworth, which house lots of awesome art, will be showing Strength in Numbers on Friday at 7pm. It's only $5 and perhaps it'll strengthen the numbers of the mountain biking community in greater Hartford. You should go.

If you were good at knowing where things are in Hartford, you could have got free tickets. Read more!

Money and mouth

At some point, I was once again lamenting the problems with the trails at the West Hartford Reservoir. Unlike other times I'd done that, I said "I should be a trail ambassador!" You know, that NEMBA thing. So, I went to the training for it and paid my NEMBA dues. Now I've have a yellow jersey declaring me an ambassador.

And, I wrote a report about riding at the blow hole. At some point, perhaps today, I'll go ambassadate at the Reservoir and in a single afternoon narrow all the trails and get rid of all the trail braids. Read more!

Another Bicycling Film at the Wadsworth

May 11th @ the Wadsworth Aetna Theater.  Mountain biking documentary. Strength in Numbers.

Holy bike culture Batman!  Guess the sell out of Bicycle Dreams may have started something?

Looks like tickets are only five clams.  Betcha it sells out too.

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Whatever happened to the beat bike blog?

As we approach 1,000 posts, I guess we've decided to stop writing. It's probably because after all these posts we (I) have realized we're not that great at writing. Anyway, it is not time to shut the light off on the beat bike blog just yet, because exciting things like the detour de Connecticut is coming up and I took an extended hike-a-bike down the Metacommet trail last weekend. And, just last night I had a protracted fight with a headset. These are the kind of things that need to be written about.



Much like I had never been up Ragged Mountain, I had never been up Rattlesnake Mountain. So, I started my ride at 50 Cent's house and went south. There were a lot of nice stretches of singletrack and a lot of hiking. The climbers on Rattlesnake Mountain thought I was pretty weird clambering by with a bike on my shoulder. Additionally, while ATVs generally put me in a terrible mood and the greater Rattlesnake Mountain area seems to be replete with them, they stay off the Metacommet. Also, if you think I'm a bad guy for riding here, I assure you that there are no CFPA "NO BIKES" signs here. Here's a very incomplete Strava of the ride:

The headset story isn't very interesting. It's just indicative of how bad of a mechanic I am.

So, anyway.

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Shenipsit

Mountain biking in the Hartford area means mountain biking with sprawl. Sometimes, trails you used to ride disappear completely and sometimes you deal with encroachment. There used to be these trails across town from where I grew up in Avon in Huckleberry Hill Park. Then, some parts of the woods became a subdivision and you can't ride there anymore. It was too bad.



Yesterday I was riding at Case Mountain and instead of crossing over to Gay City and riding to Blackledge Falls, I decided to keep going down the Shenipsit. It's cool. The first couple miles before getting into the Meshomasic are weird. It's this techy, bench-cut singletrack in backyard's McMansions in a creek valley.

I must say that the areas around the Shenipsit are probably better than the areas around the Metacomet for suburban mountain biking along ridge lines. The Metacomet is pretty good, but there's something to be said for trails that were made with mountain biking in mind. Al Tinti is a pretty talented guy. I wish he had a counterpart on my side of the river. Although, the Shenipsit itself through much of the Meshomasic is a ten foot-wide ATV road.

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On why maybe I should become a NEMBA trail ambassador at the West Hartford Reservoir

I'm not much of technical rider, anybody can attest to that. Heck, I can't even ride backwards. Though like people better than I am, I enjoy a good cut of singletrack of moderate difficulty to ride. I've been riding at the West Hartford Reservoir since I was 11 and have seen trails evolve and mostly devolve and now I think that I have come to an understand of what happens to the poor trails there.

1) A stretch of cool single track comes into existence. The terrain at the Reservoir lends itself to good trails, so the trail might be pretty good.

2) Trails gets more popular, but it's hard. So, cheater lines and trail braids develop. However, sometimes a section was so difficult that a whole cheater trail develops.

3) Trail has become to decimated that it doesn't really have any good lines left and then people start adding stupid stunts to it. Why am I seeing people with chainsaws at the Reservoir now? I guess it's ok for maintenance, but I get the sense they're doing more than just that. Also, why are all these "jumps" so lumpy and misshapen?

I bring this up because there's newish trail that avoided a big mud pit (legitimately avoided it, it was wasn't one of those trail widening dealies). It had this tight hairpin that had a small ledge at the apex. I liked it, because it was difficult. Well, apparently most people who ride it found it too difficult and made this cheater trail that has become vastly more popular than the original trail. I tried blocking off the cheater line once, but my blocking was moved away.

There is one case where the trail degradation has helped. Someone attempted to make some bike park-esque thing off the the rt. 44 lot. It was terrible, all the "stunts" were really poorly constructed, to the point that they'd fall apart when ridden. The trail avoids them now for the most part. I guess it beats riding on the levee, but just barely.

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Manitoba Part I

I've missed the woods.
It's not that I haven't been there. I have ventured into the woods and trails many a time over the past couple of years, most often on the cargo bike in the course of a necessary or whim-based route change, but I hadn't set out to specifically go riding a bike in the woods for ages until this February.

The recent E2L1 was my first time in a long time that I used a mountain bike for something resembling mountain biking. The bike, in this case, is a 1998 Nishiki Manitoba I had bought off of Salem before he went traveling. It was never a particularly high-end machine, but I like the frame for a few reasons.

1) Weird pedigree: It's a Japanese-branded chromoly frame, named after a Canadian Province and made in the USA.
2) Weird geometry: The frame is labeled 18", though it measures 17.5" max to the top of the seat tube and 15.5" C-C. It has a longish top tube compared to that-- 21" or 22+", depending on how you measure it. It's well suited to my own short-legged, torso-rich geometry. Anyway, it's sturdy, it's handy, and I like it but for one minor quibble:

I kind of hated riding it.

Here's the thing. I had picked it up a couple of years ago and did nothing to it beyond a quick pedal around the driveway to determine that it was due for a major overhaul. I set it aside and it sat, untouched, until the morning of the aforementioned Eel ride. I fished it out of a pile and went through it just long enough for a perfunctory tire inflation (they held air), brake check (they showed significant potential to reduce speed) seat swap (the supplied post was too short to raise to my height) and chain check (thoroughly worn out).

I figured I would just run what I brung for the Eel and deal with sprucing up the bike some other day. That was a reasonable plan but for the constantly skipping chain, clunky shifts, barely adequate brakes and painful saddle that increasingly detracted from what was an otherwise enjoyable ride. That said, I did like the way it handled in the woods and see potential for a nice low-budget trail machine. I'm not going to ride it again in its current state, but I will ride it again. It's worthy of a makeover. More on that soon.

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Drive train havoc

It's like the world is conspiring to turn me into one of those singlespeed evangelists. Just when I think I've fixed everything on one of my geared bikes, some other part of the drive train starts acting up.  In a race a few years ago, I knocked the rear derailleur of my Kona against a rock. The derailleur was bent beyond repair, but the hanger seemed ok. It probably wasn't though, because the shifting was always just a little off since. Finally, due to breaking the hanging last week on my other bike, I decided to go hanger buying crazy and get one for the Kona, too. It seemed to help, but a new problem of a worn out middle chain ring obviated any trouble free pedaling. Why would a new hanger make the problem of a worn out chain ring suddenly appear? That doesn't make any sense! I guess I also degreased the chain. Perhaps that's the problem.

Should I switch to a 1x9? Then I can replace the whole mess up front with a nice stainless right. Read more!

First tracks

I cannot overstate how pretty it was! 

We got a little bit of snow and it was a beautiful day. So, I went to Case and Gay City. There's about 1-2" of snow, but it's been cold, so I feared that there was ice under neath. Also, I have these studded tires that don't get nearly enough use. They may have been free, but they say "deserve them" on the sidewall. I want to live up to the sidewall slogan, so I used them. They saved me from two crashes, but not a third. Other people got out, too, mostly hikers whom I didn't see, but I saw two other mountain bikers and two other sets of tracks. I really can't stress enough how pretty it was today.

Tomorrow, hopefully there'll be a post about xc skiing. I'm still not very good at it, but I look forward to it.

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New Year's Day 2

Like liquor stores, I got a second New Year's Day yesterday. So, I went to Nassahegan for the second time since tenth grade. I've become increasingly loathe to drive to a trail. A lot of the mountain biking within riding distance isn't too bad has a pleasant route, so I don't really mind. It's 18 miles to Nassahegan, so that makes for almost 40 miles round trip minus the intended ride. That's quite a bit and I do have a car to drive, so I drove there. I guess getting dark early is an excuse?

Anyway, enough apologizing. Why don't I ride here more often? It's great. I used to drive out to Nepaug occasionally a few years ago, but most of the trails there are for people who like to spend all their time jumping off things or driving ATVs. This is all twisty, narrow and complicated. I wish the maps were slightly better because I wanted to ride further, but instead sent myself back towards my car. Despite not riding as far south as I would have liked, I still got a solid 2 1/2 hours in. Anyway, I'm going to go back despite all the car guilt. Too bad I don't know anyone who lives over there.

These pictures kinda suck, but when I'm having a good time I guess that I just don't want to pull over and take a picture. Read more!

Chill

My torts professors, Prof. Chill, had advice for exams, which I have next week. Actually, it's Sunday, so now it's this week. His advice was to get lots of sleep and exercise. I though that was excellent advice and adhered to it closely this weekend.

On Friday, I took the quasi-singlespeed thing out into the woods. At present, it's a fixed/free rear end with one brake. The free is 32:16, to get to the trail slowly, and the fixed is 32:19, as to ride awkwardly and slowly through the woods. Upon arrival in the woods, I ran into Jeff of Central Wheel and another guy I've run into in the past with Jeff whose name I don't know. They rode away when I stopped to change gears, whereupon I realized that I had left my wrench in the basement (very zen). So, I decided to ride my over geared, single braked thing into the woods, which is where I broke my chain on the first climb. I had thought maybe this chain wasn't the best choice, since it had frozen solid with rust since the last time I rode this bike last winter. However, I'd spent considerable time, degreaser, WD-40 and chain lube trying to make it work again. And, when it snapped it was looking quite clean and moved freely. So, I walked back to the bike shop, borrowed a wrench and put the new chain on. Undeterred, I rode around in the woods for awhile overgeared and without my full stopping capabilities. It was fun.

During the race, I wasn't sure what that guy in the blue jersey was doing either.

On Saturday, the Silk City Cyclocross salvage edition happened. It was great. It was extra great that after the Halloween snowoctoberolopyse canceled it, the Expo Wheelpersons still put it on. The course was difficult, weird and very economical in its use of space. I can't recommend it highly enough for next year. Lots of off camber stuff, which just makes any race great. I even took some pictures of the 1's. See! Also, for finishing fifth, I get to take three people to a hockey game in Hartford with me. Excellent quid pro quo. That's a lawyer term about eating squid.

This means that I'm assured all F's and I'll have even more time to ride my bike in the Spring. Read more!

I was wrong

A year and a half ago or so, a nice person from the Windsor town hall contacted me about a bike path running from the Bissel bridge south to the Hartford line. I wasn't super excited about the idea because it involved paving some woods. Well, they have done much of the work on the path (minus the paving) and it's actually quite nice. It meanders next to the Connecticut River and has an exciting river crossing (of the Meadow Brook, not the Connecticut River). While I'll still hope the leave it as rolled gravel, I think it'll be a nice path.

Low bridge branch at Elizabeth Park survived! 

Also, the City of Hartford made a new path, too, that I hope stays unpaved. While it strangely seems to run next to a path that already exists near the Walmart and the Park River, this new one is better and longer. I guess the first one was practice. It's still unpaved and I approve of it. The mower deck has disappeared, so Salem can't have it.

Further, I went to the Reservoir today and magically the trails are mostly cleared. I thought I'd never be able to mountain bike again, but I was wrong. I don't know how someone rode with a chainsaw, but I thank them for it. Read more!

It's a man's, man's, man's world...

But it don't mean nothing without a cat. I think that's how that song goes.

Anyway, there's this cat living on our windowsill that needs a home better than our windowsill. He's cute, fixed and friendly. We even took him to the vet yesterday to get checked out. Email me if you'd like this nice cat.

Additionally, cats make great mountain biking partners.

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Doing my part for Vermont tourism

As you know, I like Vermont. This past weekend I was up there once more, though perhaps the last time for a little while. Courant columnist and guy who likes bikes, Rick Green, was lamenting the impact that Irene was going to have on tourism in Vermont. Don't be deterred! The leaves are changing and pretty. Most roads aren't out and even if they are that means that you should either switch to bike or your car trip is about to get much more exciting. On an interesting bike ride on Saturday, I encountered several washouts, all of which had very novel work arounds, like a temporary road right through someone's front yard. I also discovered Vertical Mile Road, which most definitely has one of the coolest names ever. I was descending it and it was really steep, but I don't believe that I started from a mile in the air. Interestingly, it seems to be the only "Vertical Mile Road" in the United States.

I also found a sweet abandoned house in the middle of the woods.

So, anyway, you should go leaf peeing or whatever it is you're supposed to do up there.

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