Feb99

Saturday 2/6: This week has been pretty much a washout, with rain falling on both Tuesday and Thursday, making any off road riding impossible. Actually this whole winter has been quite a soggy, slushy mess, really not much use for anyone.
With that in mind, I decided to schedule a ride for today at 1:00. The sky was threatening,but nothing was falling when Ken and Pat Heider, Alex, Jesse and I left the shop for a trip to the Coke Plant. We rode down High St to Gill Rd. and crossed Rt. 2 on foot, due to the soft snow that was impossible to ride on. After we got on the trails again we found the riding difficult but doable. For the most part we were able to ride on top of the snow, but every so often we would hit a patch of soft snow and would crash through and come to a stop. We rode through the swamp trails to Five Points. Ken and I sent the kids to try to ride up the hill since they had the best chance of riding on top and not breaking through. As Ken and I watched, Alex, Pat and Jesse made their way up the hill and then one by one they started to break through the snow. Ken called them back down and then we made our way down the mud road. We rode with varying degrees of success up the Messed Up Trail, which now is a brook, to the Red Rock Rd. We rode up Red Rock Road to the water tower and then down the power lines to Red Rock. The trail down the hill was in pretty good shape most of the way towards the mud road. We rode through deep mud and large puddles as we headed for Five Points, and then back out to the rear of the Coke Plant. After re-grouping we headed out to Lillian St. and then back to the shop. It was a good warm up for the Vietnam trip tomorrow.
hey bob,
just wanted to send you my version of the ride report for Feb. 6.
As everyone was riding along the trail (jesse beating everyone else) bob stopped deciding which way to go. Everyone looked at bob, and noticed he had forgotten something. Bob had forgotten his hydration pack!!!! He made excuses about Mary-ellen forgetting it, but everyone knew the truth. The conditions were pretty good, and Jesse did the best out of everyone.
there you go bob, the truth is out!

Sunday 2/07: We had quite a large group gathered at the shop for our trip to the Vietnam Trails in Medway Ma. Along for the ride was Joe, Sam, Kevin Neville, Matt P. Neal L., Matt C., Alex, MPM, Lenny and myself. Joining us en route was Miss May, Ms Sheri, and Miss Lynn. The Bikes Unlimited van and two cars left the shop at 9:30 and just as we were passing the exit in Deerfield, Miss May pulled onto the highway behind us. We were all together in a caravan as we got onto the Mass Pike, when Neal had to pull into the service area for gas. Miss May headed off to meet with Jon at the exit in Medway, while the rest of us waited for Neal to get gas. As soon as we were back on the road I proceeded to try to catch Miss May. It was a high speed chase for a while, but we reeled her in and followed her to the exit. I led our group to Chris Harvey's house and we we soon out of our vehicles and getting ready to ride. Joining us there was three friends of Chris's as well as my old riding pal Allen Koenig. We headed off in a large group and after a short road ride we entered the trail system in Holliston, Ma. We headed up the first hill and the group quickly split into three. I stayed behind and rode with Al and the three women. (Hopefully I will get some ride reports from the other groups) We rode at a steady pace and I really enjoyed the terrain as we made our way along the marked trails. We got turned around a few times but after an hour or so we found ourselves at the starting point. Al had to head home so he decided to leave us there. The three girls and I headed off in the direction of the power lines and soon I caught a glimpse of Jon's jacket across a ridge and I hollered over to them to wait for us. Well, I found out that the reason they were standing there, was that they had two flat tires in their group. After everyone got inflated, we were on our way. Joe and Neal were missing from the bunch and we also had not seen Chris in while, so we headed off in the direction of the pink marked trail. After a short ride I spotted Chris standing near Harvey's Rock, and we were soon all back together. As we gathered at the base of Harvey's Rock many of the group made attempts at riding up it. This rock is about 25 to 30 feet high and smooth all the way to the top. MPM, Matt P, Neal as well as several others made it up and over. Joe made it as well but he and Lynn had the most spectacular crashes trying. After a few minutes of this kind of revelry Miss May and the other women had to go back home, so Chris got them back on the trail to the road and back to the cars. After saying goodbye to them, we headed off towards the single track on the other side of the power lines. Not very far into the trail was a sharp upturn that most of us were walking as it was a narrow rocky piece that was really tricky to do. I looked back to see if anyone was going to make it, and I noticed Joe heading into the section, and I thought that surely he would do it. But just as he headed into it he gave a tug on his handlebar, and as he did, it snapped in half. He had a look of disbelief on his face at first and then you could see a little anger, as he then realized that the ride was pretty much over. Joe and I jammed a stick into the broken pieces and with the aid of some tape we were able to rig a fix. This however left Joe, running up most of the hills and riding down with one hand on the stem and the other on the good handlebar. By this time I noticed that some of our group was starting to fade, so I suggested that we start back towards Chris's house. We traveled down the same trail that got us into the area, and we were back in about 25 minutes. Chris and his wife provided us with refreshments and we all headed back home at about 4:30. It was a great ride!!

Thursday 2/09: As is our custom this time of year, I left the ride location up in the air. This is because it is hard to know what route is rideable and it is hard to predict the weather too far in the future. All that said, I was joined by Kevin, Lenny, MPM, John and Lynn, for a ride on the Montague Plains. We left the center of town for the Telephone Pole Trail and the Plains. The snow covered trails were firmly packed by snowmobile traffic and we found the going to be easy. Once we got up to the power lines however, things changed. The trail was a glistening sheet of ice that was pretty much un-rideable and though I was able to ride on the edge of the trail, even that was hard when I hit the soft snow. After we got to Northfield Rd. we decided to try the trail through the woods that lead to Willis Hill. I stayed behind and rode with Lynn as we made the left turn towards the hill and we could see that everyone else had missed the turn and went straight. Lynn and I continued on and the rest of the group soon caught us and we all headed towards the hill trying to stay off the ice as much as possible. When we got to the hill, Lynn said that she wanted to turn around, I sent Kevin ahead and told him to have the rest of the bunch meet us at Red Rock. Lynn and I had a great ride through the woods to Red Rock. The snow was hard enough to ride on and even the places it wasn't there was bare ground nearby to ride on. We joined the rest of the group at the appointed place and then we headed out towards the road. it was a perfect night for a ride. The sky was clear and the warm air made it feel more like spring than winter. This is what it is all about.

Hello Robert,
    Here's what you missed as you were busy filling Miss Lynn in on the subtle nuances of winter riding. The four of us; Kevin, Lenny, John and I screamed out to the bottom of Willis Hill (completely unaware we missed a turn!). It's amazing how much skill and courage you can muster when you see the person in front of you just glide across that frightening expanse of shimmering ice, "if they can make it so can I! ) you say. Needless to say it resulted in many instances of the old "how did I end up here flat on my back?". We then attacked Willis via the usual right side route. This unfortunately proved too icy. We then turned our efforts towards the usually unrideable(in summer) left side route. While not icy, the slope proved to be a little too much to tackle cleanly. One overly persistent rider did manage to ride the whole hill, albeit with four "dabs".(he has a ponytail!)
    We then waited atop Willis for a bit to be sure Bob and Lynn were proceeding well. As their lights came into view, we pointed the bikes downhill for the descent to the "boneyard" our meeting point. What transpired then was one of the most enjoyable rips in my recent memory. Combine speed with variable surfaces and you have the makings of a real thrill ride. There were even portions of the forest where you could ride right off the trail and wind your way through the trees atop the crust! A rare treat indeed, though I did find a hidden stream, very cold water when you're lying in it!
    Then, as if by magic, as we approached the meeting point we could see the lights of our other two riders in the distance. Boy can that Bob plan!! We then headed to the road and eventually our cars, ending a very fine ride indeed! Special note must be made, "Lidless" Kevin pulled of some of the most remarkable bike handling by candlelight(he was only using a very low wattage Petzyl light) I have ever seen. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
                                                                                   Ride On!!

MPM

Thursday 2/11: I was pretty skeptical about tonight's ride as the temperatures today were in the 50's and the snow is already pretty punky. Alex, Pat H., Matt and I left the shop and headed for the ridge. We no sooner left High St. than Matt and Alex slid out on some ice on the roadside. We rode up the Stone Farm Lane as far as we could and then tried to ride on the trails but we didn't get very far. The snow was too soft to ride on and too deep to ride through, so we turned around and headed for the trails behind Stop&Shop. We found the conditions to be the same there so we rode/slid down to the highway and headed over to the Coke Plant. Again we tried to ride on the trails, but only could ride a few feet before we crashed through. We made our way over to Lillian St. and then back to the shop. We will have to wait until the conditions improve, and until they do we may have to do road rides.

Sunday 2/14: Today is a national holiday. No, not Valentines Day, it's Bob and MaryEllen's anniversary. Although not widely accepted at this time you will remember that I was the first to inform you.
Today's ride was a last minute thing, as the conditions have been pretty unpredictable. I met Alex, Matt and Dan Boisclair at Uncle Mic's house in South Deerfield at 9:30 for a trip up to the Pocomtuck ridge. I had somewhat of a time constraint as I was expected at a brunch at Noon. I had conferred with Uncle Mic and he told me that North Sugarloaf was unrideable so I decided to ride the Pocumtuck Ridge Trail instead. We drove up to Stage Rd to park and then rode up to the trail. The temperature was 22 degrees as we began and we found the snow to be hard packed and very firm. I rode at the back with Dan because he was riding on a new bike and I wanted to make sure that he didn't have any problems. We made our way up the first few climbs having to stop for several rather large holes in the snow that were to large to ride through. After we got to the power lines we found the going to be the best that I have seen in quite a while. We fairly flew down the perfectly smooth trails all the way to the red rock, where we took a breather. After that we headed down the hill to Pine Nook Rd., where we came upon Dave Phillips who was running his dog. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then headed down the hill to the road. As we got to the bottom of the hill Dan was a ways back and I wondered if there was a problem. Sure enough, as he rolled around the corner, he hollered that he had a flat. I quickly changed the tube and we were again on our way. We rode along the base of the mountain and then past the Motocross track and out to Hillside Rd. We rode up the hill to the van and then headed back to Uncle Mic's house. It was a really good ride on a perfect winter day!
Hi Bob,
Just figured I'd drop you a note. While you were out biking in S.Deerfield on Sunday I found I had some free time in the afternoon and tried to ride up on Catamount. Although it was a little windy in the open it was really nice up in the woods. Earlier I had tried riding in the fields closer to my house to make sure the conditions would be okay. I went by myself and drove up to the fields in back of my house to start the ride. The snowmobiles hadn't been on this end of Catamount for some time but I could still ride on the crust without too much difficulty. I kept to the road past the fields and rode out past the caves to the 4 corners by the north end of the lake where I decided to take a left and go on down to the lake. It was pretty nice down there, protected from the wind and the sun shining onto the rock. I didn't go onto the lake because it looked pretty slippery and I didn't know how safe the ice really was. Along the edge the ice had melted and there was open water. After a few minutes I climbed up from the lake back to the 4 corners. It was here that I had originally planned to retrace my route back to the car. It was such a nice day that I said the heck with it and took a left and headed toward the swamp and the schoolhouse monument. I couldn't ride the road through the swamp due to all the water so I had to make my way around walking my bike. Once on the other side it was back to riding. Once I hit the trail that goes up to the chimney I saw that the snowmobiles had been using it and I was able to go right along. The only problem was that since it was so packed down there were ice patches that I weren't always expecting. It made things interesting. I ended up coming out by Maloneys, where we parked last year, and headed out by the dump and then home on 112. The hardest, and coldest, part of the ride was on 112 against a good head wind. When I got home my lovely wife took me back up to the fields to get my car. Altogether a good ride. I was surprised at the amount of open water that there was. It was a little over a year since we last rode over Catamount. Also just wanted to mention that Steve S. and Bob U. from at work rode the Pocumtuck ridge on Monday from work and came out by the new pool by Eaglebrook and came back the same way you guys did on Sunday. They said it was a really good ride.
See you sometime,
Kevin
The above was submitted by Kevin Gilbert

Tuesday 2/16: It was 55 degrees today so I was not optimistic about going to Deerfield or Shelburne to ride. I got a call about 4:00 from John in Deerfield and MPM in Shelburne and they said that the snow was too soft to ride on and they were not going to try. I was at the shop at 6:00 when Keith, Pat H., Alex, Dan B., and Matt arrived to go out for a rip. I decided to try the Montague Plains since there was a lot of open areas the last time we rode there. We rode over in two cars and the van, and after a few light repairs and a switch of helmet lights we were on the way. We rode up the Telephone Pole Trail, and it was in pretty good shape. When we got to the top however, we encountered a lot of ice. This was not a problem for Keith or Dan as they both had Nokian studded tires on, but the rest of us had to try to do our best not to fall on the large amount of ice that seemed to cover the entire trail. After I made the corner at the power lines I was able to ride on the snowmobile trail that ran parallel to the main trail. The snow was spotty and there wasn't any ice, but it was tough to get going and keep going. After we all got to the road we decided to try the second first left trail. The trail had a lot of ice but we were able to ride around the icy spots. We made our way through the woods to the other side of the Plains and then up to Willis Hill. Matt and Alex gave a try at riding up, but it was Keith and his Nokian's that conquered it. After watching him ride down, we headed off towards the red rock. The trail across the base of the hill was in poor shape. I had to walk quite a bit because the snow was too soft to support my massive girth. After we got over to red rock the trail was open an I was able to ride all the way down to the main trail. By this time Dan's light had gone dim and my light was fading fast, so we headed straight out to the road and then back to the cars. It was a good ride in what has to be described as marginal conditions.

Sunday 2/21: This winter has been a real beauty. I really cannot complain, since winter around here amounts to six weeks of bad mountain biking, but it is gotten so bad even I'm starting to complain. The roads are mostly narrow icy paths that the cars can barely get by on and the trails are just like a skating rink. It is only the fortunate few who have studded tires that are still riding at all on the trails, and the truly brave who ride their road bikes on the streets.
Anyway, I drove up to Keith's house this morning to go for a quick ride with him on the snowmobile trails near his house. Both Keith and I have Nokian studded tires so our trip was not as dangerous as last Tuesday's ride was. We headed out on the trail off Barton Road that was glare ice. (in fact a couple walking their dog had to turn around because they couldn't walk on the trail) Keith had his dog Sadie with him and we took off at a good clip, but the dog had to slow down because she kept on slipping on the ice. We made our way across the Eden Trail to a system of trails that go all over the western part of town. The trails are quite nice although somewhat steep in places. Keith and I had no trouble riding up the icy slopes and across the crunchy snow and soon we made a big loop to the top of West Mountain. The trail down the other side was cris-crossed with brooks and small streams. The water and mud made it somewhat more difficult to manage in places but we forged ahead and finally we made it back to West Mountain Rd. Ext. in about an hour and fifteen minutes. From there it was a five minute ride back to Keith's house. I dare say that anyone riding that trail without studded tires would have taken about two or more hours to finish and would have been rewarded with a Technicolor body to boot!

Dateline: Shelburne Falls 2/21/99
    Well folks, if you've got the cold weather gear the conditions are pretty good out there. Due to the fact I was helping judge a snowboard competition at Eaglebrook, I was unable to set a firm ride time. So after I was done tallying the scores(one of the Eaglebrook riders placed third against much older riders from Suffield Academy in the timed event!) I put out a call to arms.
    I arranged to meet Steve D and Jim R in Shelburne for a ride on the snowmobile trails. Now I cannot give any real detail as to where these trails go because I'm not familiar with them, Steve D was our guide. Anyways, these trails wind their way out of Shelburne Falls and up into Buckland towards Ashfield and Conway. The surface was mostly firm granular snow with some stretches of looser material which definitely gives a workout similar to riding in soft sand. This ride is almost all climbing for the first 4 to 5 miles at which point we turned around to enjoy the fruits of our labors, the ripping descent!! On the way down we enjoyed a rare kind of riding something akin to skiing. Lots of whoop-de-doos(like moguls), carved turns, muddy stream crossings, icy landings, all on snow! Who'd have thunk it? Bikes on snow! Gotta love it!
    Well, as long as it stays cold and dry we'll be out there again. See ya next time!

MPM

Tuesday 2/23: Our ride tonight was a trip to Sam Pomeroy's house in Col(d)rain. Dan Boisclair, Matt's Putnam and Sawin and myself left for a rendezvous with MPM and Joe in Colrain Center. We arrived at the appointed spot and after a fashion we all headed for Sam's house. After we got all of our bikes and gear out of the vehicles, it was very apparent that this was going to be the coldest ride of the season. Although the temperature at the time was 10 degrees it felt much colder. We left Sam's house at a pretty good clip and it wasn't very long before the group started to feel the effect of the cold. My fingers were pretty cold and The Little Puke (TLP) was really crabbing about it. Joe and a couple of others mentioned that their toes were chilly. I gave TLP a warm pair of gloves that I was carrying for just such an occasion and mentioned that the speed that we were going was certainly a contributor to the level of discomfort. We turned off the road onto a snow covered trail and immediately Dan and I started to have trouble with controlling the bikes, because we had Nokian studded tires, and they are hard to control in deep snow. We fell a ways back and the group had to wait for us to catch up, but by that time the trail had gotten pretty hard and traction for us was much better. After we regrouped we headed up some really nice singletrack and we got to watch TLP do a back flip on a really steep section. Then we got to ride on a really nice downhill sweep to a field that led to another nice downhill section at the end of which we got to see TLP slide out on a icy corner. Much fun! When we got to the bottom the trail it dumps out onto Thompson Rd. and we decided to head back. Now for those of you who have never been to Colrain, Thompson Rd. is a four mile long 10% grade, a formidable task anytime, but even more so after an hour and a half of trail riding. Joe et al took off a a pretty good clip while Dan and I took a more leisurely pace. Even at the slower pace Dan and I got pretty cold as we rode down the hill to Sam's house. We all got to go inside Sam and Danny's (his wife) house and enjoy a warm wood stove, some crackers and cheese as well as other refreshments. Many thanks for a wonderful evening from a grateful crew!

Sunday 2/28: Today I did not plan anything too special as the weather was predicted to be rain all day. I did manage to get out for a ride with MPM and Steve at 10:00 in the morning. I had heard from several people yesterday that the ridge was rideable so we headed off to give it a try. NOT!! I do not know who would or could ride there, but it was sure not us. We tried but the trails were too slushy and icy for my liking and I suggested that we turn around. We headed over to the Coke Plant to see how that was. The trails were somewhat more rideable, but it was a chore. Steve and I spent the better part of the trip walking our bikes and after we got to Red Rock, Steve had enough and headed back to the shop. MPM and I rode up the hill to the water tank and then down the streambed to Five Points. From there we rode through the trails to the bake of the Plant and then rode down to RT. 2 and then down Gill Rd. to High St and the shop. After we got there MPM and I did a mini repair clinic on his pedals, chain and wheel systems. We did all the above in three hours.