Today's Ride

Mother's day was a perfect day to get out in the morning while Mom slept in. Got my longest ride of the season so far, really kind of a slow start since ski season ended late and the raw weather hung around. Got out for a nice 45 miler in the hill country near Sacandaga, was a little bit of a drive to my friends house where we met but was worth it. We rode by what was Ridge Runner, Ski Venture & Copy Cat and over near Eagle Mountain, all lost ski areas. Beautiful day to be out and start to build up the biking legs. I have my annual ski train ride coming up in a few weeks, North Creek to Saratoga and back following the rail road tracks, 85 miles - gotta get ready. 4th of July I like to ride the Teddy, Tahawus/upper works trail head to North Creek and back through Blue Mountain Lake and Long Lake another long day. Ridding in the North Country is so fine.

I don't know about your part of the world but it has been raining a lot around here. And I mean, a lot. In order to ride today, we had to figure out a destination that would not be a continuous mud bog. The answer was clear: go to the the Torrance Barrens, an unusual landscape of open rock and low vegetation, the result of glacial scoring all those years ago. While not specifically "bike trails," mountain biking is one of the recognized recreational uses and it is a really fun and beautiful place to ride.



I would classify the riding as "easy technical," with a lot of smooth rock sections, punctuated by techy bits between the ridges and the occasional steep, short climb or descent. TD is pleased with his "new" bike.



There is a lot of moss but hardly any dirt.



This beaver dam is pretty amazing, the trail is under water on the left.



All in all, a great place to start the bike season: scenic, fun, not too hard but very interesting riding. And I am really glad I noticed that stick before it snapped my rear derailleur!

Wow!  A lot more colorful than I thought!   Must be SBR's rose colored glasses..

And yes, a nice start to the off road season.  As compared to the start of "road" season a month or so ago.



TD

Here's another pic from that first road day, - (old rigid MTB's FTW!)
Bonnie is always game for a questionable ride!



Sorry for the delay in posting these, they're from early April.

TD

Being Tuesday, it was time to ride with the Tuesday Night Ride crew. It was my first group ride of the season so I kinda sucked wind at the rear of the pack. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun, and quite muddy:



The group gets a little spread out on the trail but everyone meets up at the mud bog:



What was left at the end. Three dad/son pairs, a bunch of young bucks, one young woman and a few old farts. Fatbikes, FS and hardtails all represented:

Being Hinterlandians, just because we are stuck on Maui doesn't mean Bonnie and I want to miss a Tuesday ride.  We rode at Makawao State Forest.  http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1659136

 6+ miles of IMBA certified trails. We rode 3 miles up, 3 miles down (Kahakapao Loop) And at 3000-4000 ft in elevation above sea level, it was a perfect 73F.  

We rented bikes from a great shop, http://www.krankmaui.com 
 I got to ride a brand new out of the box Kona CinderCone (27.5).  Bonnie rode a GT Avalanche.  Both hardtails were perfect for the trail, which by hinterland standards were pretty tame
- though occaisionly  slick with red clay/mud/roots.



If anyone is coming to Maui, PM me for more details.  Two thumbs up.

TD

Bit of cornering fun from yesterday's ride.

^ What is happening here? Tele turn on a bike?

Finally got out on the local snomo trail this morning. Beautiful day for a ride, but the bottom line was don't stop moving or the mozzies will attack. So, not many pictures.

One interesting feature of this route has been "improved." I guess the slednecks got tired of waiting for the beaver pond to freeze up.

Last year:


This year:


I'm sure that the beavers will plug up the culvert again and things will return their previous state. Though I was very glad that I didn't have to portage with the mozzies today. Maybe I should get around to making that anonymous donation to the snomo club.

Tele?  Maybe a reflex.

Did the BETA trails near the Lake Placid Club (Logger's/Lussi? What are we calling those?) on Sunday. Fun ride, but slammed my shin on a log feature on Lumberjack, so I had to cut it a little short. Still got 2.5 hours of good riding in:



Edit: God, I hate this forum software for pictures.

Got home last night from Maui.  It felt like friggin winter this AM...
After catching up on a bit of work, I went and rode Buffalo Soul-Jah, our local core singletrack.  
Sometimes you have to go away to appreciate home.  



TD

Edited to add:   I, like Mattchuck, am baffled and frustrated with the forums photo editing randomness.  Also hard to ride on sideways trails.  

Another pic from the other day.  This part of the trail was much easier as I could ride it upright as opposed to sideways...



TD

That looks like a sweet trail. Nice to see you got it righted TD.

^ That does look like a lovely trail. Is that is PS?

Another Tuesday Night Ride is in the books, this time to the complex maze of trails we call Rosie's. We had a slightly smaller group, several regulars were no-shows and our ride leader Al had to enforce "no parent - no ride" rule with the under-15s.

We welcomed a "new old guy" to the group, 60 year-old Dennis. He comported himself well and even drew blood with no complaining. One of the crew suffered a catastrophic stick to the derailleur on his trusty 14-year old Giant hardtail. We all told him this was a great excuse to buy a new bike! I took no pictures since it was gloomy in the woods and the mosquitoes were off the charts.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

^ That does look like a lovely trail. Is that is PS?

Yes.  About a km from my place.  Buffalo Soldier (or Buffalo SoulJah) if you ride it one way.  A few opportunities to draw blood or break something - bike or body. But for the most part, just tough fun.
Ride it backwards and it has been called "See Colours and Puke" or just "Puke".  Like the trail in Whistler.

There are still some sections that have to be rerouted and or fixed after some logging last year.  Should be ok by July or August.  I can take you there sometime, if you can pledge in blood not to share its location. (It's on private lands, various owners..).  
And no, it hasn't been Strava-outed. That would be a bad thing.

TD

Sick Bird Rider wrote

One of the crew suffered a catastrophic stick to the derailleur on his trusty 14-year old Giant hardtail. We all told him this was a great excuse to buy a new bike!

I'll have to try that with skis... Tell Bonnie that I had to buy new ones 'cause of a gouge in the base...

Right.  

TD

Telemark Dave wrote

I'll have to try that with skis... Tell Bonnie that I had to buy new ones 'cause of a gouge in the base...

Right.  

TD

Well, this individual is single but very thrifty, so he will ultimately make his own decision.

Telemark Dave and I went on a road trip today to the southern Hinterlands for some new MTB experience. We parked at my old friend Thom's house, rode 6 km (3.72823 miles) of rail trail back to town, then explored the new singletrack he and his bike club friends have been building in a local park. This is a large wooded area that has a nice network of XC ski trails and a "no motorized vehicles" policy. The local MTB club has the blessing of the town council to build trail but no money, so there is a big volunteer effort. The trail were very fun, technical and twisty. I was dead last, riding in a full-on allergic fog.

It was too hot to take pictures but here is Thom explaining the trail system. Afterwards, we rode into town and had a latte and pastry at the local bakery. Very civilized.

" riding in a full-on allergic fog. "

Ya know, doping has a long proud history in the cycling world....
You should try it.  

TD

EDITED TO ADD:  yeah I know you're probably taking "something", but like Grace Slick sings...
"..and the pills that mother gives you, don't do anything at all..."

On my last two rides i almost hit turkey that were hiding in tall grass just off the trail

I assume that they were nesting there.  One tom chased after me a bit.  I ride in the acres trail system which is less used than the beta trails but keep an eye out for turkey