Zig Zagging a Track

• Place: Village Park
• Trailhead: Library
• Riders: OMMB and Jesse Dog
• Miles: 9.3
• Weather: wow nice
• Temp: five oh up to five six (uuumm it's almost February, gees)
• Trail Conditions: good, still some lousy mud at the end of Graveyard before the bridge. The usual large muck collection at the beginning of Up and Over. Still mud and roots at the south end of Fox Hole.   
• GPS Track: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1500203

Notes: My goal, yes I had a goal, was to attempt a ride that included all the trails, well majority of the trails, by zig zagging through the Park.  It was an interesting goal, but not too successful, quite a few backtracks required. 



Ghost of Abram



Chutes and...

...Ladders

Jesse rockin the Boulder Loop

Happy Trails,

OMMB

RRRAAARRRR

• Place: Village Park 
• Trailhead: Library
• Riders: OMMB
• Miles: 5
• Weather: clear, windy 
• Temp: 42, but a chilly wind
• Trail Conditions: very good
• GPS Track: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1498138

Notes:  Felt a little pent up today, so off I went late in the day for a ride (before stopping at Home Depot of course).  Since time was limited, wanted more bang for the buck, so attempted to hit all climbs I could think of.  Also tracked the new Elf trail (project "Buddy") shown in blue on map below (.25 miles).  I felt pretty strong and attacked everything I could...good ride.

Nice 5 mile route for future reference...

• Went out Roots
• Up Men's Room
• Bouderdash to The Downhill, split to Buddy Trail
• Pine Needles to Kennedy Plaza
• Thing 1 to up Chutes and Ladders (not a bad climb)
• Clockwise around Wildcat Rock to Fire Road DH
• Rusty Car across field to Pine Needles towards Bull Bridge
• Up The Downhill to Boulderdash
• Two Guys then up Abram's Rock Eastside
• Graveyard (reverse direction around Teeter trail) and out

Tidbits: Climbs I missed...AR Westside, Up and Over, Ladies Room, and Thing 2

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Whew...

...I feel better now.  The other sluggish day was just a bad day.  Huffed out about 6 or 7 miles in "The Park", not sure because no GPS signal today....random.  Wanted to tool around and check out the new Elf stuff, since the weather was way too nice to stay inside.  Clear and upper 40's.  The newest of new trails has a couple of nice whoop dee doos...love it.

Tidbits: When Elves get tired from working sooo hard, they grab a seat...

Official Elf Seat

Happy Trails,

OMMB

"I Sucked"

• Place: Village Park
• Trailhead: Library
• Riders: OMMB
• Miles: 6.6
• Weather: cloudy, light rain
• Temp: 42
• Trail Conditions: soft and slow





Notes: What did Tom Brady say after the AFC Championship game?  "I sucked...but the defense came through and we won the game".    Well today, I sucked...but I stuck it out and got in a ride.  Not sure why I sucked...trail real soft, still wiped from sickies, too many days off for an old dude, or wait...was it the fact that my legs were jelly after the first real jog I've done in 2 years???  Yeah that's it, jogged an embarrassing mile or so yesterday.  THAT'S how bad the biking conditions have been, I resorted to jogging...ew.

Tidbits: Rode the newest again, Chutes and Ladders.  Although still soft, keep riding it!   No, Master Elf, I have not gone UP it yet!  (you show me how it's done! :) )   Also note that the Bull Bridge "skinny split" is done.

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Recent Ride Equations - Warren, RI

1. 8 to 10 inches of snow Friday and Saturday + flu = no ride
2. 50 degrees on Monday + deep slush = no ride
3. 56 degrees on Tuesday + slop = hit the East Bay Bike Path...

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Snow Day!

Notes: So what do you do when you're down with the flu and missed the first good snow bike ride of the season?   Well....you film your faithful trail dog having fun in the snow WITHOUT you! 

In Jesse's head, there was a clear blue sky...

...and that was filmed BEFORE the additional 8 inches of snow!! 

Oh the other thing you do while sitting around drinking Gatoraid and sipping chicken noodle soup...you update (again) your first attempt at a useful trail map.   Here's the latest for Village Park...

Tidbits: http://www.rinemba.org/abrums-rock/

Happy Snow,

OMMB

Oh Chute, a new trail!

• Place: Village Park
• Riders: OMMB and Jesse Dog
• Miles: 6.5
• Weather: clear
• Temp: 30
• Trail Conditions: mostly solid, some slight thawing slide outs

Notes: Insider info from down on Elf Street indicated that a new trail was finished.  Apparently Elf #2 blazed a new trail in record time.  The trail starts (or ends if you climb it) at the top of Thing 2 after the teeter, after going over the boulder climb, to the right.  Trail ends down on Thing 1, kind of paralleling the Fire Road DH. It's got a nice relaxing flow, great scenery through trees and boulders, kind of dreamy.  And it's name is....Chutes And Ladders!  Nice going Elf.


You can mouse over the flags on the map below, if you like that sort of thing...

Tidbits: Also from Elf Street, Elf #1 super sized the former Baby Teeter...now looking for a new home!

Happy Trails,

OMMB

PS- Elves were numbered in order of appearance, as I met them.

8

• Place: Village Park, Swansea
• Riders: OMMB, Jesse 
• Miles: 6
• Weather: clear 
• Temp: 28 or "high 20's" (makes it seem warmer)
• Trail Conditions: solid and fast
• Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: I was looking down at the water bottle (uh, ice bottle) I picked up for Bob going about 2 miles/hr, bumped into a rock, stopped dead and flopped over... "WTF" came to mind.

Notes: Well the Bikeworks crew rode this morning, but I decided to ride during the midday Sun.  It's all because of the number 8.  The number 8 should not be a temperature.  8 is okay for the time of day, 8 in the morning, 8 at night, both good.  8 is a good weight for a newborn baby, I believe the average is 7 pounds, but 8 is okay for that.  8 miles, that's a pretty good trail ride.  My friend Josh could eat 8 stuffed quahogs, if I gave him that many.  Domino's Pizza is selling a large pizza, mid week, for about 8 dollars.  That's a good number for the price of a large pizza, but not for a temperature.  After squinting at the thermometer this morning, not believing my eyes, I decided to stay home until the number seemed more reasonable... you know, like 28  ...now that's better.



THE Map!



Today's Route

 



Infamous Hunter's Perch, at the beginning of "J Lo"

 

Top of "Gentlemen's Club" (I've only seen Matt climb it clean)



Tidbits: I finally dropped over a boulder on Graveyard, cleared the mental block I had about it.

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Greasy Times

• Place: Village Park
• Riders: Bob, Jack, Jesse, OMMB
• Miles: 6
• Weather: yucky, but the rain held off
• Temp: 50
• Trail Conditions: slick greasy mud from all night rain 
• Wildlife: a deer, Jesse found it first 
• GPS Track: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1476312

Notes: Had to get a ride in, won't have much time this weekend, so I dragged the dog out into potential downpours.  Turns out the rain held off, Bob and Jack were ready to go, and Jesse brought mud jumping to a new level.  But before mud jumping, Jesse's first order of business was to chase down a pretty large deer right near the parking lot.  He got within a couple of feet of it's big white tail, but the deer smoked him in the woods.  Nice try dog.

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Manic Mechanicals

• Place: Village Park, Swansea, MA
• Riders: Bob, Jeff, Matt, OMMB and Jesse
• Miles: seven and three quarters
• Weather: very light snow left its mark before we arrived
• Temp: 30
• Trail Conditions: thin crust of snow, surprisingly grippy 
• Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: a couple of wipe outs by Jeff, tire seal issues
• GPS Track:



Notes: Other than Jeff slipping around on a hard rear tire, this was a good ride.   To keep the air in Jeff's new tubeless setup, high pressure was needed.  High pressure + crusty snow + roots = crash times three!  Once his right shifter broke, he decided that today would be best spent in the truck at the parking lot...so he sadly hiked out in hopes for better days to come.

Tidbits: Some pics of the new Elf features can be found by clicking on the icons in the map above.

Apparently Elves also keep the woods clean of human trash...

...nice elves!

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Sunday...a fun day to a T

• Riders: Teri, Jesse, OMMB
• Miles: 4.5
• Weather: real nice...not many of these during a New England January!
• Temp: upper 40s
• Trail Conditions: a little mushy due to the latest thaw, but not bad at all 

Notes: After a long layoff due to ankle surgery, I was able to convince T (aka Mrs. OMMB) that today would be a good day to tour the new stuff at The Village.  She agreed and had a blast on the new bridges. She especially liked Bull Bridge and much to my amazement, cleared the whole first skinny bridge on the Bridges Trail...very impressive!!

Tidbits: There's a new baby teeter in town...it's on Two Guys, to the left of the "T" on the large switchback (see map clip below).  Created by Elf #1, debated by Elf #2, and gets you over the log cross. BUT if you miss the line to the teeter over the logs, you could face certain and immediate death (well...a nasty tangled crash with a teeter at least).

Fun pix of the day...

Sunny Teeter

Riding the Bull!



Happy Day!



Yeah, whatever.

Let's do that teeter!

Sunny Slide Down



Go Green!  Even Kermit likes Mtn Biking.



OMMB trail reporting with a couple of lazy ass cats!

Happy Trails,
OMMB

Oh but wait... movies too...

On the Teeter...


And the Baby Teeter...


The water IS from my Camelbak!!

The Route!

• Place: Village Park
• Riders: Bob, OMMB (met up with Matt and Jim towards the end) 
• Miles: 8.7
• Weather: flurries early then clear
• Temp: 30 and rising
• Trail Conditions: solid, fast!
• GPS Track: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1466550

Notes:  Another great route by Bob...worth noting! 

1. Library to Graveyard
2. up Abrams Rock Eastside
3. North on Bridges
4. South on Two Guys to Two Guys Too
5. South on Bridges to Rock Drop
6. right at Abrams Eastside then North on Two Guys 
7. Boulderdash to The Downhill
8. Bull Bridge Westbound 
9. Boulder Loop then South to Kennedy Plaza
10. up Thing 1 to Pine Needles
11. Bull Bridge Eastbound to Foxhole
12. J Lo then South to Kennedy Plaza
13. up Thing 2
14. clockwise around Wildcat to Fireroad DH
15. through Four Corners to Neck and Neck
16. Roots then Ridge Loop clockwise
17. Lakeside to Rusty Car then up to Pine Needles clockwise 
18. down Thing 1 straight through Four Corners
19. Neck and Neck (met up with Matt and Jim)
20. Connect 1 to No One's Rock North
21. Fireroad North to Connect 2
22. Two Guys South to Abrams Rock Westside
23. Graveyard to Library

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Marked

• Place: Village Park
• Riders: OMMB and JD
• Miles: 4.5
• Weather: chilly

Notes: Went for a quick ride to store waypoints for all the bridges and man(elf)-made features in the park...all for the map in progress.  Snapped off a pic of a nice sunset on the icy pond.

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Bob Dreams Routes

• Place: Swansea Village Park
• Riders: Bob, Jeff, OMMB and Jesse
• Miles: 7 and a half-ish
• Weather: chilly, but bearable
• Temp: upper 20's
• Trail Conditions: frozen and fast, bikes were rolling nice
• GPS Track:

Notes: In case you didn't know, when Bob can't sleep at night, he thinks up different routes for the morning's ride.  This was a really good one!  (Damn I wish I could show directional arrows...oh wait, I can...)  

Happy Trails,

OMMB

Back to the Mark

• Place: Swansea Village Park
• Riders: Mark, JD, OMMB 
• Miles: 6
• Weather: nice
• Temp: 44
• Trail Conditions: good 
• GPS Track: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1461389

Notes: The first ride of the new year featured a return to the trails by Mark (not the tall skinny cyclo-cross racer, the Emma's dad).  Jesse and I gave him a tour of all the new features and trails offered in "The Village".  Lots of people, relatively speaking, out on the trails today...hikers, runners, dog walkers, and many groups of riders.  Good to see.  Trailville sure beats Farmville and Cityville!

Tidbits: Heat wave ends tomorrow.



Mark on "Bridges" Trail





Bridgis Maximus Part 1

 



Bridgis Maximus Part 2

 


Bridgis Maximus Part 3

 


Durand's Tomb Pic 1


 

Durand's Tomb Pic 2



Latest draft of our map



Happy Trails,

OMMB