Trail Report - 6/30/10 - Town Forest - Swansea, MA

- Trailhead: Library
- Riders: T, Anna, Mark, OMMB
- Distance: 4.2 miles
- Weather: 70's and nice
- Trail Conditions: good and dry
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: Holy Sheet (beyond Oh Sheet) for Mark who decided that a log bridge just wasn't cool enough to traverse at Mach 5.  So he went airborne somewhere off the middle of the bridge, clearing the water and landing flat in the mud after what appeared to be some sort of Backside 360, Corkscrew 720, and McTwist enddo!  Mark gets mud and bruise points.  Also adding a new category for Sound Effects due to his "aaaaaa, oooooooooo, uuuuug" sounds.

Notes: Although spoiled by the great trails in Vermont, we joined up for a ride in Swansea (what's with the briars everywhere?).  All went well until Mark's Freestyle mud crossing.

Happy Trails,
OMMB

Trail report - 6/27/10 - Kingdom Trails VT - Day 2

"Epic Kingdom"

Trailhead: Mountain View Farm (field at top of East Darling Hill Rd)

Riders: T, OMMB

Miles: 15 plus miles

Temp: 73

Trails we rode: (map)

Morning Ride: 4.5 miles

- Loop north to Cupcake

- Coronary to Coronary Bypass down to Pastor’s Loop

- Around Pastor’s Loop to Pastor’s Point (really enjoyable technical single track, many ups and downs with roots)

- up Coronary (enough said) back to Loop South

- Loop up to the field "parking lot" for lunch

Fueled up with peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches, Cliff bars, and Grandma T's Special Trail Mix…oh and can’t forget the BBQ kettle chips!  Quite an all day tailgate party going on at the parking field...good fun.

Afternoon Ride: 10.5 miles

- Headed back out (south) on Loop to Bemis

- Jumped onto the recommended Tap and Die…awesome, hilarious, fun trail

- South down River Run

- Onto Webs (highly recommend all trails named Webs) through real nice pine forest and back to River Run

- Stopped at a sandpit clearing and saw what looked to be a coyote massacre!  Turns out it was some very young coyote pups sound asleep for their afternoon nap.  Blowing a whistle got them to stir, so it appeared all was well.  Another couple told us there were more coyotes that went into the woods, guessing it was the adults keeping watch. 

- Out to Dry Feet then Violets Outback

- Took the 2nd Hog Back right (there is two) and quick left up hill to find Sidewinder

- Sidewinder (only one way allowed, down) was worth the climb. HUGE half-pipe sized switchbacks that made for a roller coaster ride without the safety requirements!!!! CRAZY awesome trail.

- What goes down, must go up

- Switchbacks up West Branch for the climb back to Violet’s Outback worked out pretty well (we stopped for a food break along the way)

- Got to a crazy intersection with lots of trails,  we decided on Old Webs (south side) up to the Chapel…amazing views

- Headed down to Darling Hill Road and crossed to Jaw

- Headed north on Jaw…FREAKY bridges most of the way… one was 390 feet and got thinner as you traveled it….somebody’s idea of a very sick joke! (or did they run short on wood during construction?)

- Starting feeling pretty kicked so we found most direct trail north, up Maxilla to Sugar Hill and VAST

- Once we climbed Bill Magill we decided it was quitting time…kicked!

- Took Bill Magill out the gate towards The Wildflower Inn and trucked north on the beautifully scenic road back to the parking lot

Many, many, many more trails to cover here…so we WILL be back!!! There are HUGE sections of trails we did not touch!  Not to mention the whole Burke Mountain side of the Kingdom. Could take at LEAST three more full days of riding!

Download the Google Earth File for the whole weekend of epic riding.

Back at the campsite we had the best tasting pasta and bottle of wine a biking couple could have! (followed by an Ibuprofen Parfait)

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Scenes from our campsite...

And... the movie...

Trail Report - 6/26/10 - Kingdom Trails VT - Day 1

"Enter the Kingdom"

- Trailhead: Darling Hill Road, Inn at Mountain View Parking Lot (UP East Darling Hill from East Burke)

- Riders: T, Anna, Mark, OMMB

- Distance: 9.31 miles

- Temp: 68

- Weather: Cool and Cloudy, some rain

- Trail Conditions: Real nice single track and double track. Well trodden with only the occasional roots to watch out for.

- Technical Level: Some beginner but mostly intermediate

- Wildlife: just horses scattered throughout the fields we crossed

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: some minor root slips and tree bumps...nothing fun

Trails we took: (marked with green marker on map)

Up East Darling Hill Road, north on Loop, south on Bemis, up to Heavens Bench, down Ridge, north on Vast, to Bill Magill, down Pines to Riverwood, north on Sugar House Run (pictured above) to Kitchel, out Herbs back to East Burke Village.

Notes: T and I arrived at East Burke which is about 30 miles south of where we were staying (Brighton State Park campground). We parked at East Burke Sports.  We were told that the Kingdom Trails office was across the street so we went over to get the scoop.  The kid working the counter was a great help and mapped out our requested 8-10 mile / 2 hour ride on recreational intermediate trails.  Mark and Anna had checked out of the Trapp Lodge and were on their way, so T and I decided to eat lunch and gawk at the Canadian French riders lingering around the parking lot. Being so close to the border, apparently lots of Canadians come down to ride the Northeast Kingdom, hey.   We headed up to the recommended trailhead at the top of East Darling Hill road...kind of a rude way to start.  It's a mega climb up a tar road but once on the trails it was well worth it.  This trailhead starts on a farm that is now a wildlife sanctuary.  The trails are extremely manageable so covering lots of miles is possible...no rock gardens to be found.  The pictures and movie pretty much tell the tale.  Favorite trails were Bemis, Ridge, Pines and Riverwood.  Kitchel at the end of the ride was the icing on the cake...this machine made trail offered huge banked switchbacks and whoop-dee-doos all the way back down to East Burke...simply a blast!

Tidbits: only 15 miles to Canada, next time we are bringing passports!

Trail Quotes:
Anna: "Oh look, a hill"
Teri: "I made it up that hill, by the way"
OMMB: "Hey you got hay in your gears"

Happy Trails,

OMMB

This is a farm, trailhead is where?

Fueling up before the ride...

Refueling after the ride...

Great trails make for a smiling Swede...there was even time to stop and smell the flowers (or pick some)!

“von Trapped with the Dirt Divas” - 06/25/10 - Stowe, VT

- Trailhead: Behind The Trapp Family Lodge (can you hear the music, the sound of music?  “the hills are alive with the sound of music”) Google Earth File (some GPS issues, so not a full track)

- Riders: T (Blue Dirt Diva), Anna (Pink Dirt Diva), Mark, OMMB

- Distance: 8.1 miles

- Temp: 77
- Weather: clear, dry
- Trail Conditions: perfectly groomed trails, the type of trail that can only be found where trails are privately maintained
- Technical Level: mostly intermediate single track with one MF climb (by choice) attempt to the cabin, lots of cool switchbacks and whoop-dee-doos
- Wildlife: one huge turkey (no not OMMB) and a deer (related to the Hosta thief in our yard)

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: an early whoops by Mark who decided to exit his bike rounding a turn, somersaulting for a perfect 10!  Then a late (maybe 50 yards from the end of the trail) Yikes by T who cut a switchback too tight and nailed a large rock and log…catapulting (or possibly trying a cartwheel) off her bike…another perfect 10!  Thankfully both had no major damage, but T’s front brake lever mount got wasted!  Bike shop at the lodge had a replacement…good to go for Kingdom Trails tomorrow!

Notes: T and I decided to detour from our plans by leaving a day early to surprise Mark and Anna at the Trapp Family Lodge.  They suspected we might do this, but it was fun to sneak up on them anyway.  The Trapp Family brews their own beer so we stopped in for a sampler of 4 beers and a cheese plate (all delicious).  It made for a great excuse to call them up and clue them in on our visit.  After celebrations at the condo and the lodge, OMMB was a bit shabby in the morning.  Hitting the trails sounded like a good way to fix things up.  The Trapp’s actually hire professional trail planners (yes there is such a thing) to develop the trails all around the mountain.  Nice long singletrack...and challenging climbs if you choose to ride to the cabin at the top.

Tidbits:

- Thanks to Mark for leading the way, it was a relief for OMMB to nurse his hangover without needing to know where to ride. Mark's Swedish guide (aka Sherpa “hop hop”) took over for him when the need for beer became too great! Thanks Anna! She took us on some more fun single track that unfortunately ended with Teri’s thrashing over rock and log.

- Did we mention how good the Trapp brewed beer is? Awesome!
- After a great ride, the afternoon was complete with (you guessed it) a beer and lunch at The Shed. Then we were off to points northeast for camping at Brighton State Park, Island Pond, VT…

Happy Trails,
OMMB and T

PS-if you hum the theme to "The Sounds of Music"...a rainbow appears over the Trapp Family Lodge

"Nightrider - he who eats bugs with bats" - 6/22/10 - Swansea, MA

OMMB went out for a late ride today.  Even though it's the day after Summer First (second longest day of the year), the lights were needed half way through the ride.  Did about 4 quick miles at Swansea Forest, weather was nice and temp about 75 degrees.  The trail conditions were excellent, no mud and well trodden single track the whole route. Bike was handling surprisingly different (better) by moving my slightly larger rear tire to the front (recommended by a tech at Bike Works).  Gave me a taste of what a 29er must be like.  Anyway, I decided to extend the ride a little bit by crossing the foot bridge over to the other trailhead, whoops off to the right of the bike when hopping the steps.  No biggie, I'll attack those stairs on the way back.........not!  Still not enough momentum, and off the right side of the bridge I went, all while yelling "sonofabitch"!  Like I've mentioned before, normally I'm more conservative when riding alone...I'll be reverting back to that mentality the next time.  And the subject of wildlife?   As soon as I entered the woods there was this REALLY loud screeching sound (like someone screaming for their lost dog)...which abruptly ceased when I stopped to figure it out.  It was real close, but nothin. Never heard it again.  Then there were the thousands of mosquitoes and moths I had the pleasure of eating.  Something hit me in the face on the way out, had paper like wings and sharp "edges"....yeah..... a bat had swiped across my face during his eating frenzy.  Joy.   (glad my mouth was closed, at least I think it was)

Tidbits:
- KerrDog stopped by before my ride to drop off our traditional tide calendar just in time for quahog/clam boil season...thanks KD!
- Got home for an outdoor shower while looking at the stars and chugging a Sea Dog Blueberry beer...gotta love it!

Happy Trails,

OMMB

"Slugging on a Friday" - 6/18/10 - Big River - RI

- Trailhead: Burnt Sawmill Rd heading east
- Riders: OMMB
- Distance: 5.5 miles
- Temp: 91
- Weather: clear, dry
- Trail Conditions: great
- Wildlife: 1 youngen chipmunk, 1 baby toad, 1 teenage toad, 2 National Guardsmen carrying full gear (must have been training or being punished for something)
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: just a little flop in some rooty mud

Notes: Friday's lunch was half a burrito at Cilantro's, Friday's extended lunch was....bike.  I wanted to GPS track the cool singletrack that T and I rode last week.  But this week's Friday Big River Run did not go as well as last Friday's...I was very sluggish!  Didn't even complete the whole loop.  

Here's my excuses...

1) full - half a Cilantro's burrito is about the size of three normal burritos.

2) tired - drained from watching the Celtics, without their starting center Perkins, use up every ounce of energy they could to hold off the LA "Bryants".

3) drained - see the temperature noted above.

4) solo - no one there to push me along, I tend to be more conservative when alone...actually causing a reverse effect on the ride due to lack of momentum.

Tidbits: Looking forward to camping and riding at Northeast Kingdom Trails, East Burke Vermont next weekend!

Happy Trails,
OMMB

Trail Report - 06/11/10 - Big River Middle North - RI

- Trailhead: Burnt Sawmill Rd
- Riders: T, OMMB
- Distance: 7.6 miles
- Temp: 67
- Weather: clear, dry
- Trail Conditions: a bit wet from yesterday's rain, but not bad
- Technical Level: mostly intermediate single track with a few short climbs
- Wildlife: a chipmunk
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: one almost whoops by T, got booted off the trail and almost had an endo...made a good save!

Notes: We blew off work for a couple hours on a Friday afternoon and jumped over to Big River.  I forgot my GPS, so we started on a familiar loop but managed (I managed) to get twisted up in the trails (as does happen a lot here).  We ended up finding an awesome long winding single track that I'm sure I could find again.  Turned out to be an excellent ride with a good variety of intermediate trails.

Tidbits:
- I'm glad Teri doesn't ride as much as I do...I wouldn't be able to keep up with her!!!
- Patrick mentioned this... http://www.24hoursofgreatglen.com/  ...thanks to Cal (hmmmmmm...tempting!!)


Happy Trails,
OMMB

Trail Report - 6/8/10 - Big River Middle - East Greenwich, RI

- Trailhead: Hopkins Hill parking lot; entered trail across the street going West instead of the usual Easterly heading from this lot

- Riders: OMMB

- Distance: about 9 miles (GPS tracked 8.3 but I found the section it missed and added it up with Google Earth, cool sheet)

- Temp: 70 and dropping
- Weather: some rain, but mostly cool and dry

- Trail Conditions: nasty root infested rocky hilly trails

- Technical Level: (see Trail Conditions)

- Wildlife: heard some big stuff, but I'm sure I was at the top of the food chain (well...pretty sure)

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: all good, played it safe while solo (with a low battery on the cell)

Notes: I felt I needed a good ass-kickin in order to build up mileage so I figured I'd spend a couple hours at BR. I successfully kicked the crap out of myself, a little too well.  The direction I traveled leads to where I call "Big River Middle" but it's more like "Middle South".  The trails and topography in that area are simply...nasty. LOTS of climbing. I've been caught here in the past, but on much shorter rides.  I knew I was screwed about 30 minutes in but stuck with it.  Ended up finding a relatively remote cemetery with no RI Historical marker (it could have been hidden).  The waypoint is marked on the tracks shown.  I dropped onto a tar road for a bit on the southern most portion of the ride, but even that was all uphill (must be a geographical oddity, all paths lead up).  Jumped back onto single track near some familiar woods near the gun club.  On my route North, I did manage to find some new (to me) single-track that was manageable and actually pretty nice.  One section followed the border of a pond/swamp with lots of animal and bird activity (again, heard but not seen).

Tidbits:
1) I did manage to obtain my goal of finding a new loop that connects BR West and East areas, just a bit too rough for most of us.  It took most of the targeted 2 hours.
2) Just sold the '99 Joshua F3 to a friend of Patrick's, who will surely take good care of the old workhorse (I'm told there will be a reincarnation)!

Click on...Google Earth Track...for Google Earth file.

Happy Trails,
OMMB

Trail Report - 6/6/10 - Swansea, MA

T and I went out to shake some of the cobwebs off...amazing how about 2 weeks away from riding can set you back.  So a short break-in ride was needed.  Temps about 77 and very high humidity.  We did about 3.5 miles and just took it easy.  Although, it was so humid that it felt like we rode 10 miles!  Conditions were a little wet due to last night's rain...worst part was the amount of spider webs across the trail (no taste so good). 

We plan to start building some miles in prep for riding at Kingdom Trails Vermont at the end of this month.  Got some insider info from someone who just got back from KT...

"when you go to get your trail map and day pass, have the guys mark your map with directional arrows, they know what's up.
Trails not to be missed:
- Tap and Die
- Sidewinder
- Coronary bypass
- Dead Moose Alley (if open, it's on the mountain side).
- Webs
- Kitchel
- Nose Dive to White School

It's all so good, hopefully you have a couple days to work with. "

http://www.kingdomtrails.com/

Happy Trails,
OMMB

Trail Report - 5/29/10 - East Bay Bike Path - Barrington to Bristol - RI

From Patrick...

- Trailhead: My driveway
- Riders: Patrick & Ruby (when she WAS pedaling)
- Passengers: Ruby (when she WASN'T!!!) & Piper
- Distance: ?
- Weather: beautiful
- Temp: HOT
- Trail Conditions: mostly smooth pavement
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: 1 whoops for Piper when her trailer got pinned up against a curb.

Notes: I'm not sure whether my handle should be YMMB (young man of the mountain bike) or COTOB (chip off the old block), so I'll write this report in the first person...

After months of deliberation and pleading from the people who are less than 4 feet tall, I decided to make a triple whammy of the kids' bike attachments. 

It went something like this...

Kids trailer for Piper (age 4) connected to...
Tow behind bike for Ruby (age 8) connected to...
Trek single speed Cruiser Classic for me (age younger than OMMB).
So helmets strapped on the kids and water bottles filled to the brim, we started our adventure.
The ride started out uphill. OOOF!  Ruby earned her keep, pedaling just as hard as me to pull her kid sister up Cherry Lane.

The next concern was whether I had enough braking power to stop this caravan as we barreled downhill on Upland Way towards the safe pasture of the bike path. (only coaster brakes on this puppy and no brakes on either of the kids' attachments) I'm writing this report with no bumps or bruises and all children accounted for, so as you can see, the brakes worked.  Once onto the bike path, the only concern was avoiding as many bumps as possible as they transfer all the way down to the caboose. I'd yell. "BUMP!" and the next thing you'd hear was an "UGH!" from Ruby and then you had to wait for the next outburst as it would be one of two things... a "WHOA! / OW!" from Pip or an explosion of "Piper Laughter". If you've heard it before, you know exactly what I'm talking about. LOL!  After a quick stop at Grandad's house (OMMB) to snap this pic and prove that we actually made this crazy trip, we were off to spend the rest of the afternoon in the park in Bristol. Impending thunderstorms (and my burnt out legs) forced us to postpone our ride home and the caravan was dropped off at my in-laws house in Bristol. Consolation for the lack of ride home was a family dinner at Aidan's and a dry car ride home with Mrs. YMMB.  All in all, it was a great maiden voyage of the Patrick-Ruby-Piper tandem +1 (what do you call a bicycle built for THREE?!?!). We'll definitely do it again.

Patrick...