"Nope" - 12/28/10 - Swansea, MA

Okay, maybe I was just hoping to keep up the recent rate of rides per week.  Or maybe since I did so well in the snow last week, I could do it again.  Or maybe it was the feeling of being shut-in after so many good rides with the temperatures never reaching 30 degrees.  Whatever it was that made me think I could do a ride in 8 inches of snow on a 21 degree windy day...was wrong.  I couldn't peddle an inch.  I hiked further into the woods hoping the snow was not so deep, but nope.  I did manage to find tracks made by a quad.  It enabled me to ride for short distances by balancing within one of the tracks. One mile was enough.  I'd hate to resort to the gym, but after all, it is Winter and this is New England.  We don't get to ride trails all year long like my friends out West.  Hmmmm....I'm tempted to try riding the bike path, it seems to be flattened by walkers...I'm not ready to give in just yet.  Good riddens to the Blizzard of 2010! 

Happy New Year Trails,
OMMB

"Winter Wonderland" - 12/23/10 - Big River - RI

- Trailhead: exit 6 parking
- Riders: OMMB plus thirteen (ages 24 to 66)
- Miles: over 10
- Weather: light snow
- Temp: 31
- Trail Conditions: nice hardpack...slippery leaves on the uphills
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: only witnessed a sweet slide out with a soft landing (luckily) into some pine needles by Al.

Notes: Bikeworks four grouped with others for a kick-ass ride through the Wintery woods of Big River.  Steady snow, but not too heavy, made for a nice Wintery scene.  Only a dusting on the trails, so the ride was the usual very fast paced.  The group we rode with offered hot cider, hot cocoa, chunks of ham, cheese, trail mix, dried fruits, and nuts in the parking lot after the ride.  EXCELLENT treat!!!

Tidbits: Both the 24 year old and the 66 year old rode in the lead pack...hope I can still ride that fast at 66 (or even 56)!!

Happy Holiday Trails,
OMMB

"Slip slidin' away..." - 12/21/10 - Massasoit State Park - Taunton, MA

HAPPY WINTER FIRST!!!

"...You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away"

- Trailhead: Parking lot

- Riders: Al, Bob, Matt, OMMB

- Miles: not sure...5 or so

- Weather: snowing
- Temp: 30
- Trail Conditions: 3-4 inches of Snow
- Technical Level: treacherous
- Wildlife: bunny footprints, deer footprints, doggy...oh wait a minute, more likely coyote footprints
- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: one slip here, another slide there, all over the place

Notes: A freaky snowstorm double-backed on Southeastern Mass dropping a foot of Snow on the Cape.  Only a dusting at home in Warren, so I ventured out to meet the gang figuring they wouldn't cancel plans.  Got in the parking lot at Massasoit to find 3 to 4 inches of Snow already on the ground!  It was light fluffy stuff so peddling through wasn't a problem...but damn slippery!  It's probably the ONLY time I'll ever hear Matt say... "Al, please take a route with no hills, this is tough!".  I honestly didn't find it too bad.  Slippery roots were the biggest problem, but with a little air out of the rear tire, I had a blast!  (although I did unwillingly clear a few small pines trees of their snow)...good times.

Tidbits: Kona likes the snow...who knew?

Happy Trails,
OMMB

 

Lucky we finished in time, "Snowpeople United Against Global Warming" were
holding a protest at the park!



"15 for 10" - 12/18/10 - Big River - RI

- Trailhead: Exit 7 Commuter Parking Lot

- Riders: 15 of -em 

- Miles: GPS says 9.5, Bob's ODO says 10.2, we'll call it 10

- Weather: clear

- Temp: 21 at the start, a balmy 29 at the end

- Trail Conditions: excellent, nice smooth hard single track, some rock gardens

- Technical Level: the usual fast paced, glad I was on the Kona 29

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: Couple fellas went down in different spots. Some ice wipe outs, some hairpin turn between tree crashes, and one classic "oh sheet"...Greg on a single speed managed to hang up his front wheel on a rock wall crossing and balanced (more like, got stuck) with one foot down and the tail end of the bike in the air.  He balanced there for a good 30 seconds before someone helped him off his perch...wish I had the video camera!

Notes: Joined a Bikeworks group who I think may have merged with a NEMBA group for an early morning ride.  Jim, assumed to be from NEMBA, lead the 15 person group on an excellent long single track.  The trails were in REALLY good shape (no motorcycles eating them up in this very cold late Fall weather).  Overall, a pretty challenging ride, felt more like 15 miles!

Tidbits:  Have you ever wondered what all my recent Big River tracks look like on one map?  Yeah, me too....see below (click-on to enlarge).

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"Yoohoo" - 12/16/10 - Swansea Village Forest

Went for a ride before dark today (travel comp time...very nice).  Sunny, not too cold, 29 degrees.  Did a few loops in Swansea for a couple of hours on the Kona Kahuna 29.  Getting real comfortable on that bike, but still would prefer rear suspension.  Mid ride I heard someone calling... "yoohoo, yoohoo, over here, hey, yoohoo...did you lose some glasses?"   ummmm....yes I did, a week ago, they jumped out of my pocket on a Thursday night ride.  I thanked the lady and her little dog too.  Her dog's name was "Lucky" and he likes to bite on your socks.  Must have a bike sock fetish.  I told her to keep the Jack Russell close by...coyotes have a small dog fetish.  Wouldn't be so lucky for Lucky.

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"Two Legged Dog Slow" - 12/14/10 - Swansea Forest, MA

Another early morning frosty ride today.  Did over 8 miles with Al, Bob, and Matt.  Temps started at 29 degrees but actually dropped as time went on.  Throw in a few snowflakes and frozen fingers were had. Left my damn ski gloves in the truck thinking it wouldn't be that cold (spoiled after 2 days of 50 degree temps)...wrong again Batman.   Anyway, had a good ride...well most of us did.  Felt like I was riding a kid's bike trying to keep up with them today.  For some reason I was as slow as a two legged dog (because I know a three legged dog would have been faster).  The pros are convinced that I ride much faster on the 29er.  I knew I felt a little faster on it, but apparently the difference is very noticeable by others.  I was asked to bring the Kona next time...a not so subtle hint (waaaaa).  :)

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"Breakfast Club" - twelve/eleven/ten - Massasoit State Park - Taunton, MA

- Trailhead: Parking Lot
- Riders: OMMB plus 7
- Miles: 10.2
- Weather: sunny, calm
- Temp: a balmy 25
- Trail Conditions: frozen sand and gravel helped keep traction going up / some sketchy downhills
- Technical Level: fast 

Notes: Tracked a good ride with the Bikeworks Beasts this morning.  Damn those guys kill me...7:30am start, fast and furious from the get go, and all the hills they can squeeze into a ride.  Suffering aside, a good time was had.  Managed to track most of route but had to add the leg that was missing...see thin yellow line from top to right on the map ("click on" to enlarge).   Most of the group were riding high end carbon 29er bikes, so I thought that would be a good excuse for me not keeping up on the Kona 29er.  That was until I found that a 5 foot 6 dude was riding a metal 26er, and tearing it up as good as the rest of them...drats.

Tidbits: The lakes all had a thin layer of ice all the way across.  Heat wave tomorrow...up to 50 degrees.

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"UFO-a-thon" - 12/9/10 - Swansea Village Forest

Okay I said it was cold Tuesday morning, right?  Weeeeeell....it really wasn't that cold, because tonight's ride was REALLY cold!  Temp was around 22 when we met at 6:15. Seven night riders flying through the woods...I'm sure if anyone saw us, the Swansea Police would have received calls reporting UFO sightings!  Biggest problem most of us had was cold hands.  Didn't warm up until 3/4 of the way through the ride...that's when the blood flow returned to our fingers, firing the pain signals. Yowch. It was a surprisingly clean ride with no major crashes (not by OMMB anyway).  Out of the 7 riders I did see at least 4 hit the ground in various places.  Matt lead a great ride, I'm guessing we did 8 to 10 miles.

Tidbits: This was Bob's birthday ride...but he couldn't make it.  We rode in his honor anyway.  Another tidbit...when you eat dinner before you ride, the raccoons, skunks, and opossums reap the benefits of your mid-ride chirp (yes it happened, wasn't me!).

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"Crunch Crunch" - 12/7/10 - Swansea, MA

It was sooo cold this Tuesday morning when I went riding.  How cold was it?  It was 28 degrees cold.  No really, how cold was it?   It was so cold that the trail was crunchy, frozen crunchy!  Although I did not run into any other riders (hmmm, wonder why), I had a good time tooling around on Gold Member and getting the spare Kona seat adjusted just right.  Spare Kona seat?  Where would I have found that?  Ohhhh...Patrick knows...hahaha!!!   After crunching around for over an hour, it was time to try "the hill".  I felt I had a good chance to conquer it on this bike.  Well I did!  Stood up, pounded in granny, and the wheels held grip long enough to allow me to climb it. 

Happy Trails,
OMMB

"Blog for blogging sake" - 12/5/10 - Swansea, MA

This blog post is for the sake of posting a web log (blog) post for a ride on Sunday (yesterday).  Yesterday, Sunday, I went for a ride at Swansea Village Forest where I rode in the very cold thirty something degree weather for about 4 or 5 miles.  Along the way I met up with Tim and John, out for their usual leisurely Sunday morning ride.  We chatted for a bit.  John rode down the backside of Wildcat Rock, impressive. It's a 59 foot drop.  But he has trouble with the seesaw, not so impressive.  We decided that we would meet up some Sunday morning and add weights to the high end of the seesaw. That should make the seesaw come down faster, versus balancing up in the middle of nowhere waiting for gravity to haul you back down.  I would bring the window weights, John would bring some large tie wraps. 

That concludes this web log (blog) post.

Happy Trails,
OMMB

oh wait... tidbit... Reba turned 72 today ...okay, blog post done.

"Good golly what a Gridley" - 12/2/10 - Gridley Trail - Ojai, CA

- Trailhead: Gridley Road

- Riders: HectO, OMMB

- Miles: 12.4

- Weather: clear, cool breeze

- Temp: 60-ish (I think)

- Trail Conditions: 60% hardpack, 40% loose granular

- Technical Level: "don't look down"

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: none (good thing, one mistake and your toast) 

Notes: Hector was hell bent on getting me all the way up Gridley Trail, so this was the day.  Note that I failed miserably on the last try...well before I started blogging these reports.  It had been extremely hot and dry.  I ran out of water and tanked half way up (if that) trying to stay remotely close to Hector.  This ride resulted in much more success...although still a mega-climb for a RI rider.  6.2 miles of constant up.  The weather was much cooler and I think the bike helped a bit too, I was able to keep it mostly in the middle gear up front.  Hector pulled away about 3/4 of the way, but I made a good effort not to make him wait too long.  The view was great and with Hector's encouragement, I made it to the top of Gridley Trail.  We snapped a couple of pictures, adjusted the bikes for downhill, and off we went.  And damn what a downhill ride it was!  After hours of riding uphill, it took less than 30 minutes to get down, stopping a few times to rest the arms and hands.  But don't fret, we saved enough arm strength for chips and beer at the trailhead.

Tidbits: back to the "don't look down" comment...sheer cliffs in some places tempt you to look over the edge...don't!  (the fact that Hector kept yelling that didn't help matters...made me want to look every time he said it!  ...anyway, it's all good!)

Happy Trails,

OMMB

  

"City Lights" - 12/1/10 - Sycamore Canyon - Point Mugu, CA

- Trailhead: Sycamore Campground

- Riders: Rofo, OMMB
- Miles: 13
- Weather: crystal clear night
- Temp: cool for CA
- Trail Conditions: nice hardpack
- Wildlife: reports of Bobcats last week, nothing this week.  Some wacky night birds were flying in our lights at dusk, looked like small hawks

Notes: Met up with Ron about 5:00 and we rode the usual Sycamore route...up Backbone and down Guadalasca.  Not so "usual" at night!  The ride up was the best I've had, in part due to the recently "groomed" single track now packed to manageable condition.  I actually only stopped once on the ride up to the first overlook...typically I have to stop a dozen times on this trail!  The overlook was phenomenal, stars everywhere.  Two other riders showed up and everyone shut the lights off to take in the night sky view.  Once we got to the final overlook before the Guadalasca trailhead, Ron snapped some shots of the city lights below.  Stars and city lights everywhere, the clearest night Ron had seen here.  Just awesome!  Only downers were...Hector could not make the ride, Tim's afraid of the dark, and Scott was on a plane coming home from turkey gulping.

The downhill run was a bit freaky.  You have to have your lights just right in order to see what's ahead on the single track in time to react...crazy fun!  Once we got to the bottom of the canyon, it got DAMN cold.  It was actually warmer on the summit. 

After the ride, Ron provided the usual ever so generous fixings of trail mix, choco chip cookies, and New Belgium Brewing Company's Fat Tire Amber Ale!!  I'm convinced that this could be my new favorite micro brew.   Later on we met up with Hector for some more carb loading at BJ's Brewhouse...good times!

Happy Trails,
OMMB



(Did not track full distance, but captured all that was ridden)