January 2007 Ride Report Page          
Here you will find the reports of our exploits for the month January 2007 more or less as they happened. Please note that the ride reports are the results experienced by the writer and not necessarily a reflection of all the rides that went out on that particular day. We have rides for all abilities but I only publish the reports that I receive. This means that if no one from the beginner rides send me a report, then you will not see that ride listed here. I will publish any ride reports or digital photos that I receive. Editors notes are in pink. Please send them to  bikebob@crocker.com and you too can get yourself published on the web! Go to the Ride Schedule link; there you will find information about ride schedules and how the rides are run. A new feature has been added to these pages, "The Facebook Page" is a photo gallery of people who have been written up in the reports. Click on the above link to see a photo of the riders. Thanks to Karen Moore for the idea.

Tuesday 1/30: I'm back from my Florida trip and what better way to get re-adjusted to the cold than to do a ride in 25 degree temperatures. Joining me tonight was birthday boys Mike Levin (40 on Monday) and Walters (somewhat older than that today) as well as Mark Newton, Parrott and Matt Ballard. We decided on a ride to the Coke Plant and after getting ourselves ready I led the group over to Gill Road. We rode across the highway and over the, now frozen, Stinkhole to the trails. Mark Newton led us from the Stinkhole over to the Lillian Street Trails and from there to the Swamp Trail. Mark kept a steady pace through the frozen tundra of the swamp and most of the group was able to make it across the brook on their bikes. I had taken a route to the left of the usual path and got all the way to the brook before I hit some "hoar frost" at the edge of the brook. After dismounting I walked over the frozen brook and hopped back on my bike to chase down the group. I caught up with the boys when they couldn't find the trail and after we got going again I followed Mike and Walters up the hill to the balustrade. Mike had to stop to get a stick out of his derailleur and I then ended up leading him and Walters over to the Ridge Trail. We decided to climb up Luke and head over to the power lines because there is usually water on Luke and we did not want to be flying down the hill and hit an ice patch. I had a problem with my handlebar light and after I got the light squared away I followed the boys up the hill on Luke. The trail was easy to ride on until we got to the swampy section where there was lots of hoar frost and most of us had to dismount and walk across it. (I might mention that hoar frost can be very dangerous. Hoar frost occurs when there is a freeze/thaw cycle that allows for voids underneath the surface to form. When you hit the frost, your front wheel will disappear and you usually get vaulted over the bars.) At the top of the hill I made some adjustments to the lights before we headed off to the power lines. Now here is where I was a little concerned about the ice. There is always some water on this trail and usually it is across the entire trail, which would mean that when you got to the normally wet sections, you were going to be on ice. Only Walters and Parrott had studded tires on their bikes so the rest of us had to watch out for ice. I might mention that there was a light dusting of snow on the ground which made the task a little bit harder because it is difficult to discern between snow covered dirt and snow covered ice. When we got to Red Rock we decided to go down the Chute to Deer Run and take that over to the Secret Trail. The ride down the hill went OK, but there was a little argy-bargy at the turn with Parrott crashing while Mike and Matt rode off into the woods to avoid him. After they got back on their bikes, we all headed off to catch up with Mark. Mark waited at the intersection with the Water Tank Trail and when everyone was set, we all headed off towards the Secret Trail. Everyone but me made it to the trail on their bikes. I got bogged down in the frozen mud when I took the turn off Deer Run too sharply. I had to get off and it was impossible to get started in the muck on the trail. I did manage to catch up on the climb up the Secret Trail and followed the boys from the top over to Red Rock Road. We took Red Rock Road to Jack's Pond and I was surprised that this road was in such good condition. Usually those morons who drive four wheel drive trucks rip up the trail whenever it gets muddy but they must have found somewhere else to reek their havoc. After passing Jack's Pond we took the Orchard Trail all the way to Five Points. From Five points we headed back to the Fenceline Trail where we rode back to Gill Road via the Truck Turnout route. All in all I thought that the trails were in great shape.  It is so unusual to have these kinds of conditions so late into the winter, if it were not for the cold temps you would think it was late fall or early spring. When we got back to Gill Road, Parrott was freezing so we decided to head back to the shop via the road instead of the Canada Hill route.

Saturday 1/27: Today was my last day to ride down in Florida and so I was eager to go out with the boys one more time. MaryEllen joined me for the ride over to Santiago Recreation Center and we were greeted by a small group of riders getting ready for today's trip. As the ride time approached we were joined by dozens of other riders. MaryEllen hooked up with some of the people she has ridden with in the past and I got with my usual crew. It was a cool day, mid 40's, and some of the regulars did not ride. I ended up going out with a group that included Bud Stout, Paul Guertin, Bob Kraus, and Mike Rose. (It should be noted that most of these guys are riders who have moved here from Western Mass in the last 10 years or so.) My group headed out of The Villages to the south and we took the route down to the Doggie Doo Park. After we made the turn onto CR 104 we picked up the speed behind Mike. I was the second in line and rode behind Mike for several miles. This is a very familiar route for me and when Mike pulled off I took over the lead. I rode along at a steady 22 or so mph for a while but Paul started to fade in the crosswind. I dialed it back a bit and Paul got back on just fine. I led the boys south to one of my favorites roads on this route. It is a beautiful stretch of roadway that is lined with huge Live Oak trees. These enormous trees make a complete canopy over the road and with the Spanish Moss hanging down it is a very surreal experience. After leaving this road we had to head out on a major highway for about a mile or so before we got back onto some more rural roads. The next part of the ride has lots of rolling hills. Nothing of consequence for the most part, but just a lot of ups and downs. This part of the ride was a lot of fun for me because we had a nice tailwind (as opposed to last weeks vicious crosswinds) and I really cranked along on this part. We rode back to the last series of hills where Bob and I hammered off the front to sprint to the top of the hill before we got back to The Villages. After the sprint, Bob and I were quite a ways ahead of the rest of our group. Bob said he had to get back home so he sped off and I waited up for the rest of the guys to catch up. We rode back into The Villages where we took a detour to go see this very unusual bike that some guy had made in his garage. It was a huge quad-cycle that looked like he cobbled together from a motorcycle and golf cart parts. Pretty interesting what you can do when you don't have to work! Anyway, after that we pedaled over to Panera's where we met up with the rest of the riders from the other groups for lunch. MaryEllen and I enjoyed sitting out on the patio in 70 degree weather chatting with the very interesting group of people who live here.

Friday 1/26: I went down to the bike shop this morning to see if anyone was going out for a ride. When I arrived there was only Windy (the shop owners wife) and Dan (who just started at the shop and has no bike repair experience.) I waited a couple of minutes for them to wait on their customers, but as I was waiting a whole bunch more customers came in. It was pretty clear that they were overwhelmed, so I pitched in. I waited on a few customers, fitting a helmet, getting a rack for a lady and selling a pair of pedals. When I was done with that a lady came in and wanted to get a flat fixed so I went to the repair area and started to fix that. This went on for a few hours. When there was a quiet moment, by now it was early afternoon, I asked if they knew of anyone going out for a ride. Windy said that a couple of the regulars sometimes go out and gave me their phone numbers. I went back to Joannie's and called those guys up, but they said that they were going to go out tomorrow. At this point I just said the heck with it and started beer:30 a little early.

Thursday 1/25: We were supposed to go out for a long ride up to Ocala, but when I got up this morning it was pouring rain. I had called a couple of the riders and they said that they were not going to go out, so I went down to the bike shop and gave them a hand with some bike builds and a couple of repairs. After lunch the sun came out and it warmed up nicely, so MaryEllen and I decided to go out for a ride. We rode over to Sumter's Landing where we did a little shopping (well I watched as MaryEllen and Joannie did the actual shopping) and after that Mare and I went out for a ride around the Villages. We rode for several miles on a very busy highway (similar to RT. 91) and although there were lots of cars going by, we were not as worried about them as we were about the little old ladies driving their golf carts. (This is what they use when they lose their drivers license!!) Anyway we made it off the highway and onto the back roads where we headed back to the house. All in all we did about 15 or so miles.

Wednesday: It was a bright sunny day today, a little cooler than the last few days, with temps in the middle 60's. There were no rides scheduled for today so MaryEllen and I went  down to the Villages Cycles bikeshop and picked out a bike for her. When we got back to her sister's house she went out to do some shopping while I took a short ride around the area. I did a loop to the north of the town square and then came back after 15 or so miles.

Tuesday 1/23: I usually do at least one MTB ride when I come down to Florida and today was a good day for Paul and Mike who were my hosts for the ride. I borrowed Mark's (he owns the Village Bike Shop) Santa Cruz Extralight for the trip. Paul came and picked me up at 8:00 am for the drive to the Santos state park where the rest of guys were meeting us. We were the first to arrive so we got our bikes ready and as we did Mike, Bud and Gary came along. We waited for a few minutes for Dave (he works at the shop) to arrive but he did not show, so we headed off to the trails. The trailhead was adjacent to the parking spot and the trails were clearly marked with bright yellow posts at each intersection. On each post was a sticker telling you what the trail usage was i.e. equestrian, hikers or bikers. Also on the posts were green or yellow or red arrows to let you know the direction that you should be going. This is due to the fact that the trails here do not give you much visibility ahead due to the thick foliage near the ground. I suppose that some folks have had collisions with speedy riders coming around the blind corners, so this is a good idea. The trails are in excellent condition and the Orlando Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) maintains them. This group monitors the trails and when a trail starts to get too badly beaten up, they make a new on. We headed out on one of these. Mike told me that this trail was made just three weeks ago, but it rode like it had been there forever. Mike also pointed out where the old trail was and I was amazed that it was barely visible due to the rapid re-growth of the vegetation on the trail. We rode on this new trail for a mile or so and then we got onto one of the older trails that I have been on before. As we made the turn onto the trail, Gary said that he was going to take another route as he had to get back earlier than we would be, so we said good bye to him and continued on. The trail we were on is about 8 miles long and takes us out to the Land Bridge that crosses RT. 75. I must admit that this trail reminds me of the Banked Trails on the Montague Plains. It has some nice features and riding through the forest of Live Oaks and Swamp Oak, with the Spanish Moss hanging down, is pretty surreal at times. The trail also has a couple of sections of open fields and some pine forest but it is mostly oak. When we got out to the Land Bridge we stopped to get some water and GU (I forgot to bring my water pack and so I was drinking from a bottle). It is not easy to hydrate with a bottle out here as the trails are very narrow and with the many turns, you do not want to take your hands off the bars for any reason. As we were getting ready to get back on our bikes, Dave came  riding along. It seems that he got a late start and just followed our path. With Dave joining us, Paul and Bud said that they would take it easy on the way back and meet us back at the start, but we convinced them to stay with us. Our group headed back on a trail that I have also ridden before. We stayed on this trail for a while until we came to a new trail that Mike wanted to show me. He said that this trail had some unusual features that I had probably not seen before. We rode along for a while and when we got to the "feature" he wanted me to see, I just smiled. It was a white porcelain commode sitting next to the trail. I then told him about our own "Toilet Bowl Trail" and we all had a good chuckle when I remarked that maybe it was the same people that had left our "landmark" and they must have retired down here. We continued on down this trail until we got to a main junction (A Five Points, if you will) and our group split up. The trails were pretty mellow up to this point with not much of a challenge except for the turns and twists in the trail and a occasional tight spot through some trees or a log pile on the trail. The reason we split up was; Mike wanted to do some of the Red Trails, which are more challenging than the Green and Blue Trails that we have been on. Dave had to head home while Paul and Bud did not want to ride the more difficult terrain. I followed Mike onto the trail and we did some pretty nice single track though the wood near an abandoned quarry. I must admit that although the "hills" were not much; there were lots of them. The hills were mostly short, very steep climbs that you suddenly came upon along the way. It was helpful to have Mike ahead of me as he would tell me where a hill was before I got there. I managed to ride up most of the climbs but some of them were pretty tricky; with sharp turns or drop off's that caught me off guard. After a while we came to this huge quarry that had an amazing "ride park" built into it. There were some very impressive jumps and ramps that were built with pressure treated lumber as well as some dirt jumps. I had forgotten my camera today and I was really bummed that I missed taking some shots of this area. The trails going into and out of the quarry also had bridges and big tricks built into them. There were many rock piles and ramps that were incorporated into the trails and they were all very expertly done. Mike said that the group that maintains this area has several pieces of heavy earth moving equipment at their disposal and they use them to do most of the work. Mike and I rode for about two miles on these trails before we ended up on a trail that took us back to the start. Altogether Mike and I did about 23 miles of trail riding and although the trails are for the most part not as technical as Wendell or Hawley, the ride was a good workout for me.
Here is my take on the bike that I borrowed: I have to say that the Santa Cruz was a very nice bike and it rode somewhat similar to my Apache, but if I had to choose, I would take the Apache for sure over the Santa Cruz. I thought that the Santa Cruz was a little sluggish on the tight technical stuff and not as plush out on the regular trails. The cable routing was not the best and there were several times that the suspension caused the rear derailleur to start to shift. I cut my leg on the brake cable stops when I was riding through the tighter portions of the trail. This was partially my fault, but I would think that a careful look by the designer of the frame would have shown him/her a much better route for the brake wire. The bike was pretty nicely spec's but it came with V-Brakes that I thought were a little under what this bike should have come with. The bike sells for about $2000.00, which is a bit more than the similarly equipped Apache 5.0.

Tuesday 1-23-07; ODE TO MASTER BUILDER HAROLD HAMMERHEAD GREEN!:
Last night-even with Bob's lamentable absence, Bike's Unlimited mountain riders had not one, but 2 (!) fine rides to Choose from. Most folks (I suspect anyway) probably went with the fine winter trails of Conway topped off by the incomparable company and hospitality of Walter Goodridge!! There's probably a ride report on that coming! A little more pressed for time and hankering for a return to the place I call home, I opted for Ride #2: A Racin' J led ride at the Mighty Wendell SF!.
I pulled into the parking lot at Wendell @ 6:00 and Found Racin' J all suited up and on his 'Big Lots' hard tail, also joining us was the ''Coach'-Amherst College's own Matt Ballard (bane to the Athletic programs of Williams College, Swarthmore and all them other sissy schools--bring it on you Oberlin Punks!). It was a cold night (mid 20's) but without wind or driving precipitation, it was not altogether unpleasant or brutally raw. After the usual quick set up and trail deliberation the three intrepid riders hit the XC Trail. You know, I want to say a quick word about conditions: This may sound strange But I think my new favorite trail condition is a light (1/4 to 1/2 inch) coating of uber--dry, soft snow atop a hard, frozen dirt surface. It has a bizarre sensation of softness, yet great grip and speed. And it's eerily quiet. Even further enhancing it's appeal (for me) is that it's rather lovely, a thin strip of unbroken, unearthly white guides your wheels playfully through the cold forest at night. It actually makes night riding navigation way easier too! Just wonderful. At a fairly moderate pace we made it out to the Brook Road where tonight we decided to ride past the Ruggles Pond Trail in search of a new adventure. We were searching for Harold's brand new (and somewhat temporarily secret) trail. The delightfully and aptly named "Hammerhead's Hiatus." This trail lies directly across from the entrance to the old (west) Wickett Pond Trail on Carrolton Road. It's a hidden walk-in and we needed a few hints from Harold (as told to Jason earlier) to divine it's entrance. But we quickly found it and began our journey on this new trail; now here's the thing, I figured this would be a rough and unready, unpolished trail. Man, was I wrong!! This is a fully buffed and polished single track cruiser-complete with tiny reflectors and paint marks on the trees. It was as easy and enjoyable to ride as any single track in the park!! Honestly, this one of the nicest enhancements to the trails system at Wendell to date--and a necessary one at that. I dunno about that one, Liam. I would  have to say it is a tie with J's work on the Ruggles Pond Loop. It's meanders pleasantly up and down some modest hills all the way over to Dirth Rd, just a little way down from the Carrolton-Dirth Trail. It will give everyone (low intermediate and up) and fun single track way to get from the Carrolton Dirth Trail to the Wickett Pond trail (or vice versa) without the drag of fire roads! This is a fantastic piece of trail making all 100 percent crafted by the hands of Harold! Yea Harold, the only caveat is that we'd love to see the trail continued all the way to the Carrolton-Dirth trail and around the other-side of the road as well. As we spun down Dirth Road towards the Carrolton-Dirth Trail we decided to turn about-face and re-ride Hammerhead's Hiatus in Reverse. One because we liked it so much and two we wanted to also ride the now completed and easy to find Wickett Pond Escape Trail. We headed onto the old Wickett Pond Trail and pedaled along noting the copious recent chainsaw work (more Harold, more goodness) until we got to the new trail; which we promptly turned onto and began to ascend. Dang, but this rode great as well-Harold has really cleaned up and smoothed out the climbing lines on this trail and soon we were all atop Brook Road marveling at the handiwork of Harold. Bravo, Hammerhead!
From Here we dropped down to the last stretch of The Maple Leaf Trail and rode through the laurel and up the hill to the Nipmuck trail. Again the cold earth and snow cover conspired to make this often boggy trail a very pleasant ride tonight. At the Nipmuck, we followed Jason all the way to Baker Road, and let me say, the three of us kept a great, tight group, moving along with skill and speed on these virgin tracks all the way down the hill. Pure bliss and it doesn't get better than this in the world of mountain biking. We had resolved to not take a break and started immediately up the dreaded Baker Road climb. Again making short work of the long hill. Once on top we decided to take the road to the Pine Tree Trail/Pond Loop Trail (as there were some ailing cold toes and backs tonight!). As we rode toward the Pond Loop, Jason showed us his new proposed "Little Slice of Moab Trail". We'll keep you posted but when we build it it'll be cool. We also had a chance to ride the new re-route around the dangerous bog bridges of the mid pond loop trail. Man, not having to dismount and tip-toe around the crap makes a huge difference!!!. Soon we were happily zipping up the road back to the Ranger station. A great ride with no mishaps, only solid riding, new adventures and some pretty lovely wintry forest scenery. It was a real good one.

Wendell, 1/23/07
The thermometer registered 18 degrees last night as I headed up to Wendell HQ to meet up with Liam and Matt B. for a Tuesday night ride. While Bob was busy looking for a nice trailer park for he and Grasshopper to retire to in sunny Florida, we were about to tackle the frozen tundra of one of Western Mass's primo MTB trail networks. After gearing up, we decided to take the old XC ski trail over to Dirth Road and search for an alleged new trail that has popped up. After hammering up the fire road climb, we pretty easily found the new trail, "Hammerhead's Hiatus" and headed into the woods. This trail was really well laid out and rode well for what is likely one of the first times tires had rolled along its meandering path. We all had nothing but positive things to say about the work that had been done here. In fact, we liked it so much, when we dumped on Carlton Road, we turned around and rode it back in the other direction.
We crossed Carlton Road and pedaled out on the old Wicket Pond Trail in search of the new trail that would take us to Brook Road and the Maple Leaf-Nipmuck run. I had only heard of this new trail, but was familiar with the terrain it would tackle and was pretty psyched to check it out. Again, nothing but kudos to the trail builders on this one. Yeah, there were a couple sticks and some undergrowth that will need to get cleaned up, but the line was great and there are lots of cool things to ride over or around. After a brief discussion on Brook Road, we decided to catch the climb on the Maple Leaf and bomb down the Nipmuck. The Maple Leaf Trail rode as good as possible last night as all of the muddy sections are frozen and there was not any slogging around. In no time, we were headed down the Nipmuck Trail. I was on the brakes a little more than usual tonight as the coating of snow made the cornering a bit slippery but the descent was its usual fun self and we were climbing Baker Rd. before long. Liam must have been possessed by the spirit of Grasshopper as he climbed Baker Road because he opened up a gap on Matt and I by the time we got to the Hannah crossing. (This particular version of the spirit of Grasshopper refers only to that one ride when he broke his chain and had to ride single speed and was more fired up than Eddie is when he finds Subway wrappers in the shop's trash.) My back was acting funny so I wanted to skip any more abuse on the singletrack and we compromised by taking the fire road to the Pine Tree Trail and then riding out the Loop Trail to the beach. Whoever put in that rock reinforced reroute around those crappy bridges on this trail should be treated to beer:30 because it makes this section 100% bike friendly. In case you were wondering: that would be J!! A quick climb up to HQ was all we had left and the three of us made quick work of that.
All in all, this was a pretty good ride on various levels. As Wendell is pretty much the place I ride, I was totally stoked to actually ride trails there that I had never ridden before and am equally excited about the variety of ride route options that are developing in the park. These new trails are pretty friendly to riders that aren't necessarily looking to tackle Hannah or the M&M and their variety of obstacles. However, that is not to say that they are in any way shape or form lesser trails. The ride was also good because we were all riding at about the same pace and were able to keep the ride moving.
I'm going to take a moment here once again to appeal to all of you folks that ride Wendell either with the shop or on your own. There are going to be some trail work days coming up and as Mark, Harold, Liam and myself will tell you, the work that we get done either solo or in pairs would go much quicker if we had a few more hands to help out. So when you see the email, try and pencil in an hour or two (or four) into your weekend to come on out.

1/23 at the Conway Clubhouse: I was expecting it to be cold for the ride at Walter's tonight. I guess my body is finally getting used to the chillier temperatures. As I was thinking this was not bad weather at all for a night ride, I glanced at Walter's thermometer to see that it was barely 25 (and dropping). We had a small crew tonight consisting of myself, Walters, Mike Levin, Gary Cole, Mark Newton, Dusty and Jon Parrott. As we were getting ready, we noticed that JP had his studs on. Did he know something we didn't? (yes, this is foreshadowing...)
    We started out from the house doing the only thing you can really do at the beginning of a ride from the Conway Clubhouse... climbing. We took it easy, though, so got warmed up slowly. My troubles for the night started simply when my chain dropped the first time I tried to downshift for the climb. Once at the top of the first climb, we regrouped (to put it another way "Everybody waited for Curt"). This was something that happened a lot, since I was by no means at the top of my game tonight Before getting back on the bikes, I noticed that my cleats were already packed with ice and snow that was as hard as cement. Just one more 'challenge' to overcome.
    There were two features of the trails tonight that made things a bit more interesting. First was the frost. Quite a bit of what had recently been mud was now frozen, yet at the same time soft with ice crystals so your wheels would have to plow through it like deep sand. Along with that was the ice. LOTS of ice. The trials were slick in places with hard frozen smooth ice hidden under 1/4 inch of fresh soft snow. The first time you realized you were on ice sometimes was when the bike started to go out from under you! This is just what took me down. I was at the back of the group on a fast descent when suddenly my wheels were no longer under me. The bike slipped to the right as the rest of me went left. I had just enough time to think "Damn, this is gunna hurt!" before I hit the bank of the trail with my shoulder, then head, before sliding along for several feet. I took a second to check the bike before remounting. By then the group was out of sight so I set out to catch them. No more than 50' further down the trail I was trying to avoid another puddle when my front wheel dove into a soft section of frozen mud and I was launched directly over the bars. After I got up from this second spill, I had the distinct feeling that something was different on my bike. It just didn't feel right, though I couldn't find anything loose or bent. This pretty much put an end to any aggressive riding for me for the evening. I spent the rest of the ride picking my way along the trails flinching at every sign of black ice.
The few times that I felt good and time to make up ground, I would drop my chain again and have to stop to yank it out from where it had wedged itself. The ride from here was mostly on doubletrack and old roads. We ended up at Gary Fentin's house to say 'Hi' before heading back into the woods for the trip home. Was it a good ride? Of course it was. Any ride that doesn't end with blood, broken bones or a mangled bike is a good ride. Back at Walters', Mark showed us how easy it was to download the data from my GPS into his laptop and create a Computrainer course from it. Now he can repeat this ride, warm and dry in his house, whenever he wants to!
    Walter and Katherine treated us to a great meal, with extra snacks provided my Mark and Gary. There were comments throughout the evening that it was a great bit QUIETER than it usually was for some reason...You couldn't possibly be implying that I might be over the top sometimes. and the food went a lot further than it usually did. There were even leftovers of both food and beer. I certainly would never have let that happen!!


Monday 1/22: It was very warm this morning when I was getting ready to go out for the ride at the Bridgeport Recreation center. The temps were in the upper 60's and it was somewhat humid as I rode over to the start of the ride. When I got to the start there was a big group of riders assembled and I hung around for a few minutes until the "leader" announced the ride groups. I went over to where the "fast" group was gathered and soon a woman named Galinda said that we would be doing a 35 mile loop (this would make it a 47 mile ride for me because I had a 6 mile commute each way). Our group of 8 riders got underway and I was the third in line as we left the center. I was half expecting that we would be poking along until we got out of The Villages, but to my surprise Galinda took off at 19 mph and we rode quickly out to the highway. Everyone seemed to know what to do in a paceline and some of the guys were telling me that Galinda was the winner of the Florida Senior road race. I was impressed; this girl seemed to be a very good rider and I thought that this group would do a similar ride to what the Santiago group does. But when we got out on the open roads outside of The Villages, things changed. I had offered to do a pull since Galinda had been at the front for the first few miles. When I got onto the front I kept the pace the same as what we were doing but after a mile or so I noticed that everyone was way behind me. It seems that Galinda was not good at keeping a wheel and everyone else was just staying behind her. I waited up for the bunch to catch up and I offered to slow the pace, but everyone said that wasn't necessary. I then picked the pace up again only to quickly have a gap open. At this point I was either going to ride alone or get back into the group. I decided to get back into the pack and ride behind whoever wanted to lead. Galinda was the leader again and she then set a 19 mph pace (this seemed to be both the minimum and maximum speed for this group). This only lasted for a mile or so because we came upon a couple of "hills" that caused her to slow down to 15 mph. At this point I asked for directions from some of the guys and told them that I would just push on by myself. A fellow named Dick, with whom I had ridden with last year, volunteered to go with me as did a couple of others. The road we were on was not very busy and my companions and I went right around the rest of our group. We set off at a 20 mph pace and soon we were quite a bit ahead of Galinda and the rest of the riders. Our route had several stops to cross various highways and that gave the group behind a chance to catch back up. We also stopped at a Girl Scout Camp to allow some of the people to get water. After we got going again Dick and I got a gap on the group and we stayed away for the remainder of the ride. When we got back into The Villages a rider named Don and I went over to the Veranda restaurant to get lunch. We ended the ride with an 18 mph pace which was surprising to me since we yo-yo'd so much on the trip.

Sunday 1/21: Although there is not a ride scheduled for today a couple of riders said that they would go out with me for a 45 mile ride. It was really windy, but a warm 65 degrees when I arrived at the Santiago center. I was met there by Bob Kraus and Jim Bradbury (I'm not sure of the last name) and we headed out for our ride shortly after I got there. We rode out of the Villages and got out to some road that is very similar to RT. 5&10. This road was a very smooth and fast highway but because it was Sunday we had very light traffic. Bob had done some of the earlier pulls and we were cranking along at 22 mph for the most of the way out to the country (the trouble with riding here is that there are lots of traffic lights getting out of the town). After we got out to the open road I ended up on the front and I pushed the pace up a bit. Bob and Jim were happy to stay on my wheel as we cruised down this beautiful tree lined roadway. After 10 or so miles we made a turn onto another nice road but the difference was; there were no trees. So I ended up at the front cranking for all I was worth and doing about 18 mph. I did this for a little ways before I turned around and saw that Bob and Jim were quite a way behind me. I turned around and rode back to them. It seems that Jim, who had hurt his knee in a bike accident a week ago, was having a problem with his knee. Jim said that he was done and he headed back. Bob and I then continued on by taking a right turn onto yet another nice road and I was again at the front. We rode hither and yon for another hour or so before we got back to The Villages. After the ride we stopped at Bob's house and had coffee and snacks. I ended the ride with a 19.5 mph average.

Saturday 1/20: After a very long day yesterday I got on the airplane to ride down to Florida. The flights went well and I got to Orlando right on schedule. But when we landed I had to wait almost an hour for my luggage to get off loaded from the plane. After that there was a long line at the rental car place and to make a long story short I did not get to Joannie and Paul's house until a little after 2:00 am. I went right to sleep and was up at 8:00 to get ready to go to the ride. I got my bike case opened and had my bike together in 20 minutes. I got dressed and rode over to the Santiago Center where everyone was to meet. When I arrived I was greeted by a large group of riders who were just getting there themselves. I was only able to say hi to a few riders before the ride started. I told  Bob Krause (the ride leader) that I was pretty tired so I would go on the 40 mile ride and not do the 60 mile loop. Bob said that was Ok with him and that the group would do the Harbor Hills ride. I stayed near the front of our group of maybe 15 riders as we pedaled out of the Villages at 18 mph behind Paul Guerdons. The ride went well and the group got whittled down to eight by the time we got out on the open road. Bob Gribble was the motor in this group and we were hammering along at 23 mph as we neared the hills. The pace slowed a bit on the first hill and this was a good thing as I was into the red zone on the this hill. I slogged up the hill behind Bob and we crested the hill together. The next few miles were at a little better pace as Bob and I had gotten a good gap on the rest of the group and we soft pedaled a bit so that everyone could get back on. When everyone was back we headed on towards Lake Griffin together. The pace stayed pretty reasonable and I was able to do a few pulls before we reached the RT. 27 crossover. After we crossed the highway there are a couple of really steep hills and I really was cooked by the time I got to the top. Fortunately we were only a few miles from the finish and the group did a mellow cool down spin into town were we stopped at the coffee house for lunch. I thought I did pretty well considering how tired I was and it was fun to sit around on the patio and chat in 70 degree weather. I finished the ride with a 18.8 mph average for the 40 miles.

Thursday 1-18 Greenfield Ridge: Every time, I mean every time I ride the Greenfield Ridge I marvel at this little gem. So compact yet chock full of mountain biking goodness. But how to really describe it and its uniqueness? What metaphor really explains its charms?? Hybrid Eric and his crew often talk about the numerous "Feats of Strength" on the Greenfield ridge, and I'm going to borrow (well, steal) that metaphor ('cause I never metaphor I didn't like!) The Greenfield ridge is best appreciated as a number of significant mountain biking "Feats of Strength" linked together by some dynamite single-track and rocky forest/cliffside trails. Though it's relatively short, the ridge serves up one of the most complete hour and twenty minute rides in the Valley. Side note-Curt has begun GPS mapping of the ridge and we'll be able to actually name and post the various "Feats of Strength" on the Ridge--with major bragging rights to the ones who bag them all in a single ride (and by bag I mean no stops, snafus or dabs!)!

So, after Bob and his crew departed us (see below report), we waited a while for Anthony Berner to arrive-and soon we had our power quartet of Racin' J on the Costco hardtail, Eric on the Hybrid, Berner on a zippy Single Speed, and myself (Liam) on the old plain vanilla XC dualie. Racin J had never done the shop ride version of the Ridge before and Anthony was newer to our trails up here as well. So this was going to be a real treat dragging; I mean, leading, the newbies around my favorite local haunt. We began with the greatest feat of strength of all, The Chimney Trail-Cliffside climb to Poet's seat. As Eric says: "This is the worst beginning to any ride we do". Rocky, narrow, loose, plenty of sudden unrelenting steeps finishing with a very challenging gnarly rock face climb to the benches at Poet's seat; this is the real deal, lactic acid bath from pedal stroke one to the top---we love it! I hereby dub this first Feat of Strength "The S.A.T" as it is the entrance exam to the rest of the ridge. Actually though no one cleared the belly of the root chasm climb-the whole group made surprisingly good time with Eric and myself nailing the top rock (Eric leading the way, I might add!). Next we dropped down the yellow trail and turned LEFT on the White Trail taking it North to the Junction with the Blue and Red trails. Its best stretch of singletrack in the Park, I think. Here we made the hard turn onto the Red Trail and gingerly sped along the cliff-all of us regrouping at the bottom of the next Feat of Strength. As most of you know, there is a long, steep trail that connects to low red trail straight up to the Parking lot at the entrance to Poet's Seat. The feat of strength requires clean climbing from the red trail to the parking lot (inclusive!!!) with no dabs. I have no name for this challenge yet, it's up for grabs for now, anyway. Jason attempted it first, then I had a go at it (clearing the whole thing I might add)-next was Eric who nailed it as well and last was Berner. Berner made a valiant effort but with only an 18 tooth gear on this climb, it is impossible for all but John Tomac!
 
Next we headed out on the vaunted Blue Trail--the rocky ridge runner that ultimately goes to the platform lookout atop Sachem's head (though we always make the last turn before that final climb). While challenging, this trail is not, in itself a feat of strength; however, the last double climb before the turn off on the blue dot is indeed a Feat of Strength (which everyone in my crew cleared with aplomb). From here we descended the usual way along the yellow trail to Bear's Den Road and then up to the White Trail and down to the power lines which are--yep, you guessed it, another Feat of Strength. The Powerline climb is segmented into three distinct up sections, climbing all three (to just below Joe's rock) without dabbing/ stopping is the feat of strength. Again, Eric and I pulled it off and I think Berner and J as well. Lately I've been bypassing "Joe's Rock" (which is not a feat of strength but a feat of skill) in favor of the singletrack that runs just below it over to Five Points (awesome section of trail BTW!). At Five Points we barreled down towards the Green Trail and hit the Green Trail (with obligatory howls to Marcus P. Marcus's house) and took off at warp speed. It was here that our only near mishap of the evening occurred. There hadn't been a lick of ice anywhere, and no mud either. The ground was frozen solid, and the leaves of fall were all now pounded smooth into the trails. My confidence in the trail conditions was running high and I was coming fast and furious down the green trail, but right at the bridge, as I was leaning hard into a turn I saw it.. a patch of ice. I hit it full speed lost my balance but stayed upright and rode it out. Luckily for me because that could have been a bad one and truthfully I was spooked after that episode. Next we headed up to the end of the Green Trail which is, yep, another "Feat of Strength!". This one is pretty easy a short, turning up hill grinder just before the Green Trail crosses the power lines. What make's it hard is that it comes at the end of a steady climb up from the Green Trail. From here we hit Bear's Den Road and rode down to the Red Trail, which we climbed until, the next Feat of Strength. This trail runs up to a very steep climb that has two stages. Stage 1: goes mid way up and is where we usually (tonight being no exception) turn right onto the Red Trail. Stage Two: continues up to the Blue Trail (even burlier than stage one). I was able to clean Stage 1 and promptly turned left on the Red Trail and soon we caught the back of the Bob Train. It was here that we all tried to clean the final steep rock/root section of the Red Trail as it rejoins the Blue Trail. Yep, this is the final Feat of Strength and it his hereby named "The Final Exam" (great bookend with S.A.T, huh?). At the poet's seat parking lot we joined up with the early crew, and launched down the trail to the red trail, where I had hoped to keep a leisurely but brisk pace back to the shop when all of a sudden Eric came barreling past me on the Hybrid. Dang, that whipper-snapper! Well, I gave chase and he pulled us both up the trail and back to Bob's shop at break-neck speed (with Jason and Anthony not far behind!!!. Back at the shop we all enjoyed a few frosty beverages and discussed all things bike, another good ride on the Ridge.

To recap: The Feats of Strength Are: 1. The S.A.T-Chimney Trail, Ridge Trail and exposed rock out cropping all the way to the benched at Poet seat Tower (no dabs or stops) speed is also not the requirement, just doing the climbs
2. The Steep Climb From the end of the red trail to the Parking lot at the entrance to Poet's Seat
3. The Double-Climb on the Blue Trail (Ridge on Sachem's head
side) just before the turn-off
4. The Power Lines-all three stages
5. The Climb at the end of the Green-trail to the power lines.
6. The Steep Climb-Stage 1 and Stage 2 that connects the red trail to the blue trail (on this ride we all turned right on the red
trail at the first stage of the climb
7. The Final Exam-the last climb on the red trail heading back to the poet seat side.
As you see-feats 2-6 are as yet unnamed---feel free to offer suggestions!
Oh-and there are two other Feats of Strength on the Ridge that are so great-should someone nail them on a ride along with the 7 others they get the "Hercules" award-they are-the Climb From Bear's Den Road to the base of the Hike-a-Bike Climb up to the Sachem Head Platform. And, directly across from this is the climb up the wide washout from Bear's Den
Road to the Top of the Powerlines.
Liam
 

Thursday 1/18:It was a fairly chill night tonight with the temps in the mid twenties and a slight wind. As the 6:00 ride time approached we only had three riders in the shop, but just before the clock struck 6, a slew of riders showed up to do our trip to the Greenfield Ridge. Mike Levin was one of the early arrivals who was going to be trying out a Reba fork to see if that would help improve his bike handling skills and keep him from going over the handlebars so much. In addition to Mike we had Curt, Mike Levin, Ed Hoffmeister, Jam, Eric, Berner, Racin' J and El Presidenté along for the ride. My original plan was to do the ridge the new way, which is ride down through the park and start at the southern end of the ridge. But as we were getting ready to go, Liam and J wanted to do the usual route up the steep climb. After a brief discussion we decided to do the usual route with two groups. Curt, Mike, Ed, Jam and I were going to do the route that take us around the Chimney Trail and out to the road while Burner, Liam, Eric and J were going to do the big climb. My group headed out before Liam and Co. and I led the group up the climb to the road. At the top of the hill we waited for everyone to catch up and when we got underway again I went to the back of the pack for the ride up the Blue Dot Trail. Doing this allows me to get nicely warmed up and also I can get a feel for what pace is comfortable for the group so if I am leading I can keep the group together. We rode up the Blue Dot Trail at a pretty good clip and we were very quickly at the tower. Most of us went up to the tower to admire the view but Jam decided to wait at the bottom of the hill near the Yellow Dot Trailhead. At this point I expected to see the Liam group coming along, but after a short wait at the tower we decided to continue on. The trails up to this point were in perfect shape with absolutely no ice or mud anywhere. After we got going again we headed down to where Jam was and I told her to head for the White Dot Trail. Well, Jam did not take the Yellow Dot, instead she headed off down the road. I then yelled over to her and the rest of our group to follow me and I hit the Yellow Dot. I rode down the steep hill and the 454 with the Little Albert's hooked up pretty well. I was able to ride all the switchbacks on my way down to the sharp turn to the White Dot Trail. I waited at the turn and as soon as I could see the lights coming down the hill, I headed off. I led Ed down the trail all the way to the entrance to Poet's Seat where we rode around for a few minutes waiting for Jam and her companions to arrive. When Mike got up to the road he proudly announced that up to  this point he had not fallen off his bike or gone over the handlebars once. After a brief stop we headed off to Temple Woods where we took the Blue Dot Trail to head towards Sachem's Head. I got to the back of the group for the run but I managed to pass Jam and Mike on one of the climbs and rode to the turn with Curt and Ed. After the turn we headed down the hill to Bears Den Road where Jam and I took the White Dot Trail over to the power lines while the rest of the group rode the power lines. At the top of the power lines trail we re-grouped and headed over to Five Points with Jam in the lead. After passing Five Points Jam was to lead us over to the Green Dot Trail but she missed the turn and Curt and I ended up leading the group. Curt and I were almost to the climb to the power lines when I heard the call "Bob is Fat" come from behind. It was for Ed who had flatted his rear tire. I had stopped up the hill from where Ed was and he walked up to me. I along with Curt and Ed made quick work of the repair and soon we were on our way again. It was actually somewhat fortuitous that we stopped as I was getting a little winded on this hill. After restarting I managed to ride up the steep hill and out to the road where we headed back towards the Red Dot Trail. I managed to keep the group together and we all rode down to the turn onto the Yellow Dot Trail together. After riding up the hill to the Red Dot Trail we began the trip back to Poet's Seat. Jam fell off the pace and she and I were on the last climb when Liam and crew came blowing through. All of us then rode over to the parking lot at the entrance to Poet's Seat where we then took the Red Dot Trail to ride back to the start. When we got back to the shop we enjoyed some refreshments provided by Liam and Jenn. I thought that it was a good ride for me and I was glad that I did not over do it.

Tuesday 1/16: After getting rained out this weekend, the skies finally cleared and we are now able to hit the trails again. It was a cold night (temps in the middle twenties) with a fairly brisk wind blowing from the north as our group assembled for the ride. Matt Ballard arrived at a little before 6:00 and he was outside for quite a while before he came into the shop to ask for help getting his bike off the roof rack. It seems that the lock on his rack had frozen on the way up here and he could not get his key into the slot. I gave him some lube but that did not do the job so Curt lent a hand with his fancy new butane lighter. We heated the key and the lock, which enabled Matt to get his bike down from the rack. After everyone got ready we headed out for the Coke Plant. In addition to Matt we had Mark Newton, Steve Power, Curt, Mike Levin and Shane joining me for the trip. I led the group over to the trails behind Stop&Shop where Mark Newton took over the lead. After the group took a wrong turn I found myself back in the lead for a short time. Shane and Curt had fallen behind so I waited for them at the top of the climb. Since we were so far behind the leaders, we opted to take the short route over to Canada Hill where we re-joined the group. We then rode over to the RT. 2 crossover and after everyone got across the highway we rode onto the trail. The Stinkhole was not frozen so we all rode across on the bridge. After getting to the end of the trail we decided to head over to the Orchard Trail to begin the ride. Although it was cold no one was uncomfortable to this point. We took a jeep road over to the Orchard Trail and from there we rode over to Five Points where we then took the Mud Road to Ankle Breaker. The trials were generally in good shape and the semi-frozen ground made for perfect traction. After we rode to the top of Ankle Breaker we made a left turn onto Deer Run. I was at the back of the pack when the leaders of our group encountered a very large puddle across the entire trail. Everyone was off their bikes and walking through the woods when I approached the puddle. I knew the water was pretty shallow so I plunged right in and rode across. On the other side of the puddle I found myself behind Curt as we headed over to the turn onto The Five Points Trail. I then passed Curt and rode ahead to the top of the hill where I stopped to let the group ride through. I rode down the hill behind Shane and began the climb up Luke. On the way up Luke I passed a few riders and ended up following Curt for most of the way to the top of the hill. As I got near the last pitch I began to notice that there was something wrong with my rear derailleur. When I got to the top of the climb I looked at the derailleur and found that the lower pulley was frozen. It seems that the water crossing was not the smartest thing I could have done tonight. Well, anyway I decided to continue on over to the power lines with the hope that pedaling the bike would break the ice from the pulley. Not a chance!! As we rode over to the power lines I encountered several more little puddles that just made the problem worse, so that by the time I got to Red Rock, my chain was jumping all over the place. When Shane and I got to Red Rock I knew that I had to do something to try and free the pulley, otherwise I was surly going to break either the chain or the derailleur. Well after scratching my head for a moment, Curt came to the rescue once again. He had me get out the handy, dandy lighter and after a couple of minutes of heating the pulley we managed to get it to turn. We quickly got underway again so the pulley would not freeze up again. We headed up the hill on the Crossover Trail where Curt and Mike did a spectacular simultaneous crash on the climb. After they got going again we all rode over to the Secret Trail. The group rode down the Secret Trail to Double Death where we re-grouped at the bottom of the hill. We took Deer Run  onto the short steep climb that leads us to the Water Tank Trail. From where I was at the back of the pack it looked like most of the group walked up the steep climb. I also walked up the hill behind Shane after he spun out half way up the hill. At the top of the hill we re-mounted our bikes to head over to the Water Tank Road to join the rest of the riders. We rode down Deer Run to the Streambed Trail where we made our way across the mud hole that the four wheelers have made in the trail. We rode down the Red Rock Road to Jack's Pond and re-grouped at the entrance to the Orchard Trail. At this point I decided to have Shane head for home as he was getting cold and it was getting late. The rest of us continued on down the trail and over to Five Points. From Five points we took the Red Dot Trail out to the Coke Plant where we decided to head back to the shop. We took the usual route back to the Stinkhole and then across the highway to Gill Road. After a easy spin back to the shop we warmed ourselves inside and ate some of the brownies that Jenn had brought in earlier. Overall I would have to say that the trails, although wet in places were in pretty good shape. The cold that we have gotten recently has not really frozen the ground that deep and the rain we got last weekend has either run off or has been absorbed into the ground.

Thursday 1/11: We headed up to Wendell State Forest for the ride tonight. I left the shop at 6:00 and met up with Jab, Jan, Eric, Mike Levin, Curt, Racin' J, and Gary Cole at the ranger station. It was considerably colder tonight than the balmy Thursday night rides we have had the last month or so. I had my heavy blue jacket, a baselayer, thermal tights, my winter boots and a balaclava under my helmet as I got ready for the ride. We did a little warm-up loop while J went off to get a helmet for Eric. When J and Eric were set we headed off on the XC trail. The group got going along the singletrack at a nice pace and after a quick stop to adjust a light, we rode out to Brook Road where Eric and J were waiting. J then led us over to the Ruggles Pond Trail. Now, I must admit that I am not much of a fan of this trail. This is due to the fact that most of us walk across the rocks and mud, but J had done some re-routing so I agreed to give it a try. After walking across the bridge we made the turn onto the "new" route. I was last in line and gave wide berth to the riders ahead because I had no idea of what to expect. I rode along for the first few yards and I was really pleased at how well this rode for a new trail. As I got further and further along my pleasure turned to joy as this trail was just about a good as it gets. Yea, there were some steep pitches and some soft areas, but all in all, this is an A+ trail that everyone can now enjoy. The Rock Garden is still a nemesis for most of us but this is just a short walk if you are not up to the task. After we got to the top of the trail the group headed off to do the Maple Leaf Trail. I along with Curt, Mike, Jam and Gary opted to forgo that trail and instead we headed over to the Nipmuck Trail on Wickett Pond Road to begin the climb up the hill. We got most of the way up the hill before Jeb, J, and Eric came blazing by us. This was the last that I saw of J and Eric for this ride. I rode the rest of the Nipmuck with Mike and when we got to Baker Road we joined Curt and Gary for the climb up to the Bob is Fat Trail. At the top of the Baker Road climb, Jam and Jeb were waiting for us. We all decided to take the Bob is Fat Trail back to Wickett Pond Road. After we got onto Wickett Pond Road we headed back through the gate and down the road to the Pine Tree Trail. We rode down the trail to the mud hole and after walking across the bridges we then rode back to the ranger station. There was a light dusting of snow on the trails tonight but it had no effect on the traction and I would say that overall the conditions were excellent.

Wendell 1/11: The thermometer read 22 degrees as I headed up to Wendell HQ to meet up with Bob, Kurt, Gary, Jan, Eric, Jeb and Mike Levin for tonight's ride. This was a big change in temperature compared to the spring like conditions that we've been enjoying this winter. Viva El Nino!

After a brief trip back down to my house to grab a helmet for Eric, we headed out on the old XC trail to Carlton Rd. Eric and I waited as the rest of the crew reeled us in before we headed out and around Ruggles Pond. The trail around Ruggles, especially the new reroute was frozen solid and rode awesome. Surely this is a preview of the shape it will be in once the trail has had enough traffic to break in. The rock garden at the end was also a little more friendly due to some rock work that was done with Eric's help on Sunday.

We regrouped at the gate on Jerusalem Rd and headed toward the Maple Leaf Trail. Well, Eric, Jeb and I did at least. The rest of the pack, along with Bob, avoided the first two sections of the Maple Leaf like Grasshopper avoids work after beer:30. We didn't reel them all in until the trailhead of the Nipmuck Trail where Eric and I told Bob to sweep and that we'd likely be out on our own after we hit Baker Rd. Jan made a valiant attempt to stick with us but the frozen conditions of the trail made our descent swift and we never broke stride when we hit Baker. Bob and his crew did and alternative route from here on (see above report).

We ascended Baker Rd with no sign of the rest of the pack behind us and headed over toward Moose Trax. This trail was superb tonight as the traction was the best it has ever been due to the cold. We crested onto the M&M and headed down toward Jerusalem Rd. Eric conquered everything on the 29'er while that stupid rock staircase still was messing with my head and I had to walk a few feet. We opted for the fire road option back to HQ but decided to take the Pine Tree Trail down to the Pond Trail and back to the beach. We got back to the parking lot around 8 and within 5 or so minutes the lights from Bob's crew could be seen and soon everyone had returned.

It looks like freezing rain and other schwaggy weather is in the forecast this weekend so riding is iffy, but there may be a trail work session on Sunday morning for anyone who is interested. Shoot Bob an email, he'll forward it to me and I'll get back to you if we're going out.

Tuesday 1/9: It was somewhat colder today than it has been for most of our rides this winter. The temps were running in the lower thirties at 6:00 when people started to arrive for the trip to the Coke Plant (instead of the upper forties). Tonight we had Ed H., Jim Stevens, Steve Power, Mark Newton, Parrott, Shea and myself. I had to do a little last minute repair work so I was late getting my gear on. I had my jacket, tights and helmet on but when I went to get my shoes, they were not to be found. I looked everywhere and eventually I gave up and put my summer shoes on with booties over them. We left the shop at 6:10 to ride over to Lillian Street via Bernardston Road. Although we were out on the open roads I wasn't all that cold. I have been feeling a little under the weather the last few days and after leading the crew over to Lillian Street, I pulled off to take up the anchor position. My stomach was grumbling at the pace I had set so I just drifted off the back as we rode down the trail behind the Coke Plant. I kept in visual contact with the group over to Five Points where we paused to discuss the route. We decided that the Ridge Trail to the Secret Trail would be the driest route so Mark took off to lead us. I was suffering a bit on the way up the Ridge Trail but I was able to keep up with Ed for the most part. On the Secret Trail I managed to catch up with the group at the last climb and although I spun out near the top, I rode the entire trail. When I got out to the Water Tank Trail I told the group that I would be heading over to Red Rock via the Crossover Trail. The rest of the group then headed off to do the power lines while I spun at an easy pace down the Crossover Trail. When everyone got to Red Rock we decided to forgo the Chute and instead we took a right turn at the top of the Chute to head onto Deer Run. This was a good choice since the lower part of these trails were surly going to be very wet due to the recent rains. I was the last one to arrive at the intersection of Deer Run and the Streambed Trail where we met to discuss the route. Everyone commented on the damage that the idiots who drive their trucks on the trail had done. Mark Newton had just repaired this section so that we could ride across the Streambed Trail, but the trucks have obliterated his work with huge ruts and holes in the trail. After getting across the trail we decided that we would do Deer Run over to Ankle Breaker. Mark left with the group right behind him. Ed and I got a little off the back and by the time we got to the steep downhill section on this trail, the group was out of sight. I just assumed that they took the left onto Ankle Breaker, but when I got to the bottom of the trail I realized that the pack had continued on Deer Run instead. Ed and I rode over to Five Points where we met up with the rest of the group as they came down the yet un-named trail from Deer Run (I was thinking of calling this trail Five Points Trail for its length from Deer Run over to the Orchard Trail.), Ed and I hopped onto the back of the group and followed them out to where the trial crossed the Water Tank Trail. Mark had missed the turn so I ended up at the front of the pack and led all the way over to the Orchard Trail where I pulled off to let Shea and Mark take over. I gamely followed the group out to the road behind GBI and then trailed them as we made our way to the Stinkhole. I managed to stay out of the mud for the most part of this ride but when I went to cross the Stinkhole, I made an uncharacteristic mistake on the bridge. I got a little off to the right and ended up stepping into the muck. I quickly got my shoe out of muck and rode across the RT. 2 to rejoin the group over on Gill Road. When I got out to Gill Road I was feeling like I wanted to bail, but I decided to give the Canada Hill route a try. I told the group to continue on and not wait for me as I was going to skip the Ridge part of the ride. I followed the pack down Gill Road and across the highway to the trail head. I then got behind Ed and followed him for a little ways. By the time we got to the climb I was a fair distance behind, but I pushed on and eventually caught up with Mark and Ed. I rode up the hill ahead of them but they quickly passed me again. Mark soon sped off to rejoin the pack while Ed and I plugged along together. The group was waiting for us at Turners Falls Road and I led them over to the Ridge Trails. Mark and Ed decided to head back to the shop with me while the remaining four riders did a loop up on the Rocky Ridge. I felt OK on this ride but I was glad I did not push too hard. "Live to ride another day" was my motto for tonight! After the ride was over I realized that the last time I saw my winter shoes was last Thursday at the Wendell Ride. Since I drove back from there with Curt I gave the dear boy a call to see if he had my shoes. Sure enough, Curt had put my shoes in his bag when he unloaded the "Bus" and because he has not ridden since then he did not find them until I called. Mystery solved!!

Sunday 1/7: Today was another unseasonably warm day but not as warm as it was yesterday. We had a group of riders that included Wilber, Dougie, Malcolm, Stan, Bob Sagor, John Marcy, Bad Bob, Karen Dowd, Linda Chandler, Paul Billings, Lauren, Dave Cramer, Flyin' Brian and me. Bad Bob, Karen, Paul, Dave and Linda went out for their own ride while the rest of us started out for a trip to Conway. I led the crew down to Rt. 5&10  via the Hope Street route. After we got out onto the highway I drifted to the middle of the pack. As we rode along I reminded the group of the new law that was recently passed here in Mass. The law requires riders to ride in single file when on a state highway or on a secondary road where traffic is impeded by the cyclists. I will send out more on this in an email later on. After the law review, we rode down to Old Deerfield where we took a right onto Old Main Street. We rode down to Mill Village Road and when we got to the top of the hill we turned right onto Lee Road. After we all got to the top of the hill on Lee road we paused briefly at the stop sign before heading over to 116. The group got pretty strung out on the climb up to Conway center but we re-grouped at the grammar school. We finished the climb up the hill and as we crested Bob Sagor decided to head back home. The rest of us made the turn onto Whatley Road to begin the climb up to the swamp. As we made our way up the hill, John got spit out the back. I had the group slow up while I went back to pace him back on. When I got back to John, he was pretty cooked so I asked him if he was OK to go on by himself and he said that he was. I left John and rode back up to the group. At this point I noticed that Stan had ridden off the front and was going pretty hard. Dougie and I suspected that Stan was making a run for the town line so we picked up the pace. As we neared the town line, Dougie sprinted out of the pack and he caught Stan just at the line for the win. As soon as they were back in the fold Flyin' Brian sprinted off to take the KOM on this ride. After all that sprint stuff was over we all rolled down the hill past the reservoir and over to Haydenville Road. After riding down the steep hill Dougie suggested that we head down Westbrook Road instead of climbing up the hill on Haydenville Road. Since Malcolm, Lauren and Wilber had not been on this road before I agreed and we headed down Westbrook Road. As we rode along we took in the great views of the valley below. After getting down the hill I got my birthday gift from the group. They allowed me to win the Hatfield town line sprint. WOO-HOO!! After the town line we took Mountain Road over to 5&10 where we crossed over to Depot Street. I along with most of the riders walked across the railroad tracks (I will not help any rider who flats on this crossing after being warned not to ride across it). We then rode over to Straights Road where we took a left. The pace went up a bit here with the tail wind and we clipped along at 22 or so mph most of the way over to RT. 116. I asked some of the riders what route did they want to take. Malcolm said that he wanted to ride back up the east side of the river so that is what we did. We turned right onto 116 and headed for the blue bridge. Dougie did not hear that we were going on the east side and he along with Lauren turned onto River Road. We all yelled to them and they then turned around to re-join us on RT. 47 in Sunderland. We pedaled up 47 to Falls Road where we made the usual left turn to begin the trip back home. The group stayed together on this fairly flat section, although a gap opened a couple of times. We kept the pace in the 20mph range all the way over to the Ferry Road hill. We rode up the hill at a modest 12 mph and took the left onto Turners Falls Road. At this point I noticed that some of the riders were getting tired so I did a fairly long pull. After I pulled off we only had a short way to go before the fire house and Dougie did a good turn at the front to get us there. We decided to take the L Street route down to the river and after we crossed the bridge we rode up the Esleeck Hill at a 12 mph pace. We returned to the shop after our 45 mile ride with a 18.5 mph average. This was a good pace for me as I was needing a little rest after yesterday's ride.

Saturday 1/6: Ok, it's 75 degrees and we are doing a road ride in shorts and short sleeves (well some of us anyway; more on this later). The weather just cannot get any better than this for this time of year. The ride was set for 1:00 and we had Bad Bob, Bob Shepherd, Bob Sagor, Gary Fentin, Gary Cole, Bruce Rogers, Kathy Jaques, Mark Newton, Tom Martyn, Bentley, Steve Power, Don McCool, and me. Bad Bob, Bob Shepherd and Kathy went out on their own ride while the rest of us set off to do a long version of the Cave Hill ride. I was content to let Bentley and Steve lead the way from the parking lot over to Turners Falls. Most of the riders said that they wanted to do a mellow ride so I just sat in the middle of the pack on the climb up the Third Street Hill to get an idea of what "mellow" was. For today "mellow" was 12mph up the hill. When I got to the top of the hill, I was a little winded so I pulled off to wait for the rest of the riders behind me to pass. Although it was pretty warm the roads were still wet from this morning's downpours and this made riding in the back of the pack a soaking affair. After everyone was together the pace went up to about 19 mph for a mile or so until big Tom went to the front and we spiked it up to 21. The group cruised along over to Millers Falls where we took a right onto South Lyman Street to head over to RT, 63. At this point I had not done any of the work on the front so I started to move up the line a bit. After we got onto RT. 63 the line got a little strung out due to the wet pavement and the very strong headwind. Bentley and Tom along with help from Steve and Mark did the lions share of the pulling down to the turn onto North Leverett Road. This was actually OK with me as I was not feeling all that energetic up to that point. After we made the turn onto North Leverett Road we began the climb. Steve Power set a pretty brisk 18 mph pace up the hill and by the time we got to the Leverett town line there was only four of us at the front. As we were getting ready to ride today, I was one of the few riders who had opted for a long sleeved baselayer under my jersey. The baselayer that I chose was also a wind block and as I got going up the hill I started to par boil in my suit. I knew that I would not be able to keep going like that so I dropped off my three companions to cool down before Cave Hill. I told the others to wait at the top of the hill until everyone caught up. As we got onto the climb some of the riders were circling at the bottom but I decided to continue on. Pretty soon I got passed by four or five riders and I was slugging up the hill at 10 mph, clearly I did not have my climbing legs today. As I neared the top of the hill I realized that I was going to freeze on the descent if I changed at the top of the hill so I told the guys as I passed them that I would wait at the bottom of the hill instead. I flew down the hill at 45 mph and screeched to a stop on Montague Road. I quickly got my jersey and baselayer off, but by the time I was back on the bike, the pack was out of sight. I got going at 23 mph and after a mile or so I caught a glimpse of riders ahead of me. I then kicked it up to 25 mph and after another mile or so I caught onto the back of a group that included the two Gary's and Mark Newton. The four of us pushed on down the hill on Depot Street and out to RT. 63. At this point we still had not sighted the main pack ahead of us. Uncertain of which way they went, we opted to take Bull Hill. We pushed along at a reasonable speed and then we saw some of the riders coming back towards us. We all rode down the hill to 116 where we re-grouped to head over to Sunderland center. Tom and Bentley were at the front of the group powering the pace at 25 mph on the run through town. Tom and I discussed the route with a few of the riders and we decided to head down River Road in Whatley. Things got a little iffy at the left turn onto River Road. Some of the riders apparently did not merge into the turning lane and got separated at the turn. I had Bentley hold the pace down and when all the riders had caught on we headed south at 22 mph. Well as I came off the front from my pull, I noticed that we did not have Gary Fentin in the group. Apparently he got separated at the turn and never made it back to us. At this point we were too far ahead to wait, so we continued on. We rode down to Depot Street in Hatfield and at the top of the hill we turned right onto Straights Road. After the turn we had a nice tail wind and the speed went up to 27 mph at times. As we rode along we ran into Robert Wilson's group as they headed south and I waved as we passed them. The speed that we were going had caused our group to get a little strung out so I had Bentley wait up at the stop sign at Christian Lane. I along with a couple of others went back to pick up Tom and Bob Sagor. Once we had the group back together we headed out on Christian Lane for 5&10. We did not get too far before the "Bob is Fat" call came from up front. It was dear ole' Tom Terrific with yet another flat tire. I got to work and quickly got the tube replaced and we were underway in less than four minutes. After we all got out onto 5&10 the pace went way up again. We hammered along down the highway past the diner and onto the overpass. And who did we see going in the other direction? Well, none other than Sir Jamie, our rear guard commander. I waved and said hello as we passed to head for the home stretch. After we got through the traffic lights in So. Dee we headed north at a screaming pace. I did a couple of pulls on the front at 28 mph and we made quick time of the return to Greenfield. As we got closer to town we saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky ahead of us, which of course meant that it was raining to the north. We pedaled along at 25+ mph all the way to Greenfield and as we did I noticed that my turn on the front kept getting quicker and quicker. This was due to the fact that there was only four of us left. Mark, Steve, Bentley and I rode back to Hope Street together where we were joined by Don for the trip back to the shop. We finished the ride just as it started to rain. We did the 45 mile trip at a 20 mph pace.

January 4, 2007-Wendell: I'm going to start tonight's ride report with a little history lesson. About 5.5 years ago I moved to the Pioneer Valley and first hooked up with the Bob Crew for mountain bike riding. Truthfully, I had only been riding for a few years at this point, and was never on very many group; especially large-group rides. I remember being impressed at the local crew most of the rides has between 10-15 people on them with a good sense of community and fun among them. And it was a not only an ability mixed gang, but also gender mixed as well. There were always a few hard charging ladies to accompany the would-be Evil Kneival's into the woods. It was in this first year I was introduced to both winter riding and once I bought my tough little Turbocat helmet light (now in it's 5th season as well) night riding as well. It was a pretty good and vibrant little slice of the local valley riding scene.

But then, things changed. Mountain biking (and this is an industry fact across the nation) began to decline. Folks moved on from MTB riding and there were very few to take their places. A few years later, the Bikes Unlimited Mountain Crew was little more than myself and Big Mac Courtemanche (and later Hammerhead Harold Green) spinning our lonely wheels around the rocky trails of Franklin County. I remember distinctly Bob himself lamenting that few beginners or newbies of any sort were showing up to the rides and the mountain bike sales had bottomed out. But he also assured me that these things are really cyclical so it would come back. Mean while, this was the hay day of Lance fever and road riding was booming! We'd lost many inveterate dirt men and women to pavement riding. Bob's road bike rides were becoming Gala Affairs, along with his booming road bike sales. And, for a season or two (because he's business savvy) Bob's shop became pretty light on new mid-higher level mountain bikes and parts and full of nice road bikes (I even bought one during this era!!). However, right around this time, after a camping/ ride trip to the DAR, Mark Courtemanche and I joined NEMBA and were soon appointed regional officers. We had also started our famous (or infamous) year long sojourn into Amish riding. Wee would meet 3 weekday mornings a week (rain, snow or shine) at 5:00 am to ride for a few hours before work/ family duties. Joining us was Harold Green who would really take up the mountain biking advocacy and soon find himself atop NEMBA's Board of Directors. Anyway, soon we were embarking on a new path: trail building!! So in December of 2004 we hosted the first of our work days at Wendell. We got 10 volunteers, about double the number of riders who'd showed up for mountain rides the whole season! So now it's 2007 and this whole season we've gotten consistently 10-15 riders coming out for each ride. In addition to us, the trails are being used by lots of riders out on their own. People call or email me all the time about future trail work and what can they do to help mountain riding in the region. And Bob's shop is chock full of pretty nice mountain bikes again (and I see a lot of folks on them). With Last night's ride as a guide post, I'm feeing pretty excited about the prospects and future of this sport in this stellar riding region. So-here's to 2007!

Now the actual ride report: Joining me tonight were Harold, Racin' J, Jan, Eric, Shea, Dr. Stamm, Matt, Meg, Curt, Bob, Gary Cole, Mike Levin, Ed Hoffmeister. We all met on another creepily warm Thursday night (low 40's) at Wendell ranger station. The moon was throwing some decent ambient light through a veil of clouds and my plan  was, with the extensive help of local hero Racin' J, to show Bob the ample riding opportunities on the south side of Montague Road. There are a number of old trails, double tracks and two rather famous regional single tracks (the lovely Robert Frost and the M&M) that lace the hills between Wendell and Leverett. Recently I'd been enjoying these routes a great deal and I knew that Bob would like to see them as well. Since these trails are pointedly less rocky/bony than the Wendell State Forest trails (though there is still ample climbing) much of the crew would appreciate the change. Joining me (Liam--if you hadn't figured that out yet) was Jan (now pronounced "Yawn" as in Ulrich), Racin Jason Duncan, Eric "My Hero" Malloy, The Good Doctor Mike Stamm, Curt 'the Flying Scotsman", Matt "The Coach" Ballard, Mike" I've stolen Liam's car and bike" Levin, Ed Hoffmeister, Gary Cole, Shea "Billy" Craig (back from Michigan, folks!), Bob "Fearless leader" Perry, All the way from Easthampton-Megan Bilodeau, Hammerhead Harold Green. Anyway, I believe our sizable crowd numbered 14, to which I know the roadies among my readership are going to say; 14 riders is sizable??? A mountain ride is a very different game than a road ride. You just can't drop groups of people with a cue sheet onto a trail and expect that everyone can to stick together. Relatively speaking, at every trail head you try to regroup or at least heard the pack in the right direction because for the most part there are not street signs in the woods for a cue sheet to reference to. 14 folks with mixed abilities is a pretty big group ride and we like to finish with the same number as we started with.

Anyway we started out by crossing the road, working our way up and over Upham Road/Cross Road/Dry Hill Road, keeping the long chain of riders together as we worked our way up the cliff-strewn power lines. At the top of the hill on the power lines we followed high-speed Jason down a series of wide-open, twists, turns, mild drops and hops towards the Old M&M trail. We regrouped once again at the M&M and began another delightful decent all the way down to the power lines and from there down to West Chestnut Hill Rd in Leverett. The gang all hit the roads with the broad smiles that only a sustained downhill run can engender. After riding down West Chestnut Hill Road for a little ways we then turned right and began a steady spin up on the trail to the entrance of the Robert Frost. The trail to the Robert Frost and the Robert Frost Trail itself has two distinct stages. The first fifth of the trail in this direction is a fairly steady and sometimes abruptly steep double track climb. At the apex of this climb you will take a left which begins the long single track portion of the Robert Frost. Though it starts with a strenuous climb, the majority of it is a wonderful, sustained rolling single track...one of the best in the region in my opinion. If you ride it in the opposite direction, it's even more fun. Eric and I hit the trail with a good lead on the group. I opted to hang out at the trail head to make sure everyone found the turn and to give a few words of direction and encouragement. I sent Eric ahead with Matt Ballard in tow and they raced unseen into the dark woods on this winter's evening (yep-intentional literary appropriation, it is the Frost after all). It took about 8 minutes for everyone to get on the trail, with Bob and Jan casually bringing up the rear, chatting away. Once they were firmly on the trail and set in the right direction, I took off to catch up with My Hero and the Coach. Now a side note: I told everyone, as they hit the trail that the 'worst of the climbing" was over (which was mostly true).  But somehow, people got it in their heads that I said "It's all down hill from here"! Actually it was Hammerhead that said it was all downhill to our group at the back. This would have been a bald-faced lie as there is about 2.5 miles of steady climbing from this point on the frost before a final .75 miles high speed decent down to the top of Dry Hill Rd. I think everyone enjoyed this trail, I sure did! I would heartily agree. I hit the trail end to find only Matt and Eric (man, he can really make that Hybrid move--just wait until I get him a fat, cushy seat! Serfas, Baby!). We waited a while at the trail head and soon Megan came traipsing out of the woods having made very good time on an unfamiliar trail (with a bum knee to boot!!!--Good work!!!). Not long after she arrived, Mike Stamm found his way down (which was good because we were about to draw straws to see who had to re-climb the hill to make sure the others had taken the right route. After a few more minutes Jason and then the rest of the gang's lights could be seen barreling down the trail. After a brief regrouping we all, en masse, tore off up and then down the dirt road back to the ranger station. Jason set the breakneck pace, in fact, I believe he went so fast that by the time we regrouped at the ranger station, the rest of us were several years older while he stayed the same age (Relativity reference: speed=J on an AC²). At this point, some of the group wanted to head for home so we parted company with about 2/3's of the riders. But Matt, Myself, J, Eric, Jan and Dr Mike all took off for the rigors of the Ruggles Pond Loop. We hammered out on the XC trail (where, I believe Jan styled some biking acrobatics for Mike's and Matt's enjoyment) and then back around the ever challenging Ruggles Pond Trail, which now not only sports a tremendous new re-route ala Jason, but also some rock work enhancements as well. The trail rode well, but none of us did well on the final rock garden!! From there we spun out around the pond, to the beach and at last up the hill to the cars. What a great ride and can anyone believe this is January 4th!!
See ya all in the woods!

Liam

1/4/07 Wendell/Leverett/Montague:  It was a balmy January night tonight as 14 of us gathered at the park HQ in Wendell for an evening ride. Harold, Liam, Jan, Eric, Shea, Dr. Stamm, Matt, Meg, Curt, Bob, Gary Cole, Mike Levin, Ed Hoffmeister and myself headed out for a different kind of Wendell ride. We started off by taking Chestnut Hill Road, across from the park, to Dry Hill Road and then up the power lines and down to Burkhart Road (I called it Upham last week but it depends on what map you look at) and down the old M&M to Chestnut Hill Road again. Several cars were headed up the hill as we went down to the 4 way and veered right in search of the access road to the Robert Frost Trail. After a brief roadie, we were there.

A quick turn onto a driveway (thanks to whoever lives there for providing access to the Robert Frost!) and then a right into the woods on a logging road headed us up the lengthy climb to the Frost. The group quickly strung out with Liam, Eric, Dr. Stamm and Matt taking the lead up what turned out to be a very cardio climb. I'd only ridden this trail in the other direction and quickly realized what my rationale was. I decided to pull in the reigns a little and serve as a midpoint between the two groups. Lights approached from behind and Meg and Shea were soon on my wheel and then I was on theirs.

Shea's legs got the better of him and Meg and I both succumbed to traction issues as the trial turned to singletrack. Just then, Harold came seemingly out of nowhere and ground by us only to have unthawed ground throw his front wheel off track and end his run on the climb.

A couple of hundred yards ahead we came across Liam who was waiting on the Frost after having sent Eric, Matt and Dr. Stamm on ahead. Meg and I decided to keep going, but as she was riding just a couple weeks after dislocating her knee, she decided to ease back a bit and I found myself riding alone through the moonlit woods of either Leverett or Montague for a bit. Eventually I reeled in Dr. Stamm, but Eric and Matt were way off the front. Dr. Stamm and I rode together for a bit only to be sucked up and dropped by Liam who was flying through here. I had a wicked stitch in my side and could do nothing about keeping in contact with Liam so I just kept going until I reached the peak of the trail where it split to drop to the power lines. Here I waited for the pack climbing with Bob to make sure there was not any confusion. They all made it up and we dropped down the Frost to Dry Hill Road to find the rest of the group waiting patiently for us. We decided to just take Dry Hill back to Chestnut Hill and skip the snowmobile descent as there is a section of that that would be super muddy with the recent weather. Suddenly, as if possessed by the spirit of Grasshopper, I felt the need for speed. I jammed up into my big ring and made my way from the back of the pack up to the front, eventually cruising by none other than Liam and Jan. Back at the parking lot there was a pause for some pictures before Jan, Liam, Eric, Dr. Stamm, Matt and myself decided to take a quick jaunt around Ruggles Pond. The new "reroute" is breaking in wonderfully and has improved noticeably even compared to when Mark and I rode it on Sunday. Back at the parking lot we all agreed that the route we picked tonight was pretty sweet and I would suggest that in the past couple of weeks, riding near, but not exclusively at, Wendell St. Forest has provided some much needed variety in terms of terrain and made the area a bit more inviting to riders who are looking for a less technical, though by no means less challenging, ride.
Racin' J

January 3, 2007-Early afternoon on the Deerfield Ridge: Whoo-hoo! Let me say if this is global warming I'm in--who knew Armageddon would feel so comfortably pleasant! Yeah I love skiing-but if we're not going to get winter I'll take sunny and 50's in January instead. Anyway-it was a fantastic day for a ride-and at 12:30 I met Anthony Berner at the Eaglebrook Schwab Pool parking area. Our good friend Mark Courtemanche--aggressively back in the saddle these days---had gotten a head start on us and let me know he'd be meeting us at the cell tower. So, after suiting up (a little too warmly on my part I must admit) Anthony and I set towards the mud-mile-which due to a persistent layer of ice over embedded mud, rode pretty well. We made the first right up the hill after the mud mile entrance and working our way up to the Cell Tower over-look. This, since the mid Fall has become my preferred opening route. It gets the majority of the climbing out of the way with a hard 20-25 minute grunt and allows for quite a bit of high-speed downhill fun for much of the remainder of the ride. At the cell tower we were indeed met by "grizzly" Mark Courtemanche (he's gone ruffian mountain man with the facial hair-so roguishly handsome!). After taking in the sublime bucolic views from the tower-we dropped high speed down the old XC trail all the way to Pine Nook Road without a hitch. Mark had expressed great interest in riding the newly minted trails built by Eric, Berner, Luke and Shea--or the ERBERLUSHEA Trails as I now call them. So with an easy spin up the road we were soon at the walk in entrance to the first ERBERLUSHEA trail. Now some of you got a taste of this trail on a very slippery night ride and may not have really gotten a good sense of it. Today it was bone dry and the sun bright in the sky and we three drank up the many ridges, rollers, bumps and berms of this very fine bit of trail making. After the first stretch on the ERBERLUSHEA trail #1 we opted to also sample ERBERLUSHEA Trail #2. Although it is slightly more technical than the first, ERBERLUSHEA Trail #2 rode equally fantastic and by the time we hit the back side of Crystal Cave Trail we were all smiling! From here I lead the gang over and down Crystal Cave to Keats Road--yeah, I know riding Crystal Cave in this direction is a little wussy--but it's just so damn fun (even I don't always put suffering ahead of fun you know). Soon we were at the field on Keats Road. Instead of slogging up the mud mile we opted for more a little more riding fun. We rode up the sandy double track on the opposite (South East) corner of the field, then at the top turned right and up a little more and whooped it up hauling down the sandy-banked trail that dumps out right at the bottom of the mud mile. From here we all began the murky spin up to the top. The road out to the Schwab Pool was now soft and muddy as the Sun had melted the enduring ice cover. Back at the Pool, Anthony and I awaited Mark who was missing. Soon my cell-phone rang and it was Courtemanche. He had continued climbing up to the ski area again and then back down; he's determined to retrieve his former glory as a dominant mountain biker (and in truth, he's not all that far off). After some chat we packed it in and went home--probably the nicest January 3rd ride of my life!

Liam

Tuesday 1/2: It was a nice day today with warm temperatures (43 degrees) and bright sunny skies during the day. The ride tonight was our usual Montague Plains Ride. Joining me at the shop was Ed Ellsworth, Bruce C., Jam, and Curt. As I was leaving the shop with Bruce we saw the very large full moon rising over the hill. There was not a cloud in the sky and with calm winds it was a perfect night for a ride. When Bruce and I arrived at the common in Montague Center we quickly got our bikes out of the van. Also joining us tonight was Parrott and Walters and after Walters got his light fixed up we were on our way. Curt led the way over to the Telephone Pole Trail while I did the sweep duties. After we made the turn onto the trail Bruce and Ed had some difficulties with the sand and had to stop but they got going after a short time. They rode up the hill with me and Jam and we stopped at the fire pit for some photos. Unfortunately for me I did not charge the battery in my camera so I did not get the shot. After the stop we all headed off to the Second First Left. The temps were falling and we encountered quite a bit of ice on the trail. When we got out onto Old Northfield Road the road was quite icy, but when we got back on the trails the going was great. I rode with Bruce on the way out to the Banked Trails and we ended up quite a ways behind the group by the time we crossed the Ramblers Road. Everyone was waiting for us at the end of the trail and Bruce got a chance to catch his breath before we got going again. The next part of the ride was spent riding around the many very large puddles that covered the entire trail. We rode over to the Water Tank Trail and stopped at the bottom of Willis Hill Road for another rest. We got an astronomy lesson from Curt before we rode off to tackle Willis Hill. Walters and Curt were in the lead and I was following Ed and Bruce as we got onto the climb. As the climb steepened I passed Ed, Bruce and Jam to continue on to the top behind Curt. At the top of the hill Bruce said that he was getting a little tired so he and I decided to do a different route than the rest of the group. Parrott led (as only he can) his four riders on a route that took them up the MF Trail to the Pine Forest and eventually they were to meet up with Bruce and I at the Sand Pit. After Parrott and co. left, Bruce and I followed them through the swamp and then onto the Swamp Road. The swamp was pretty wet as was the road but we managed to get over the top of the hill and onto the descent to Red Rock with no problems. On the descent however, I was riding along side of Bruce when I suddenly came upon a log that was angled across my lane. By the time I saw the log I was right upon it. My front tire hit the log and started to slide. I knew what was going to happen so I just laid the bike down and slid with it. I was quickly on the ground but I was just as quick getting back up and back on the bike. Aside from a little mud, I endured the event without injury. After that Bruce and I headed down to Red Rock and out to the Sand Pit. I looked around and did not see Parrott or anyone else so I headed over to the Ice Flow Trail. As we got to "Jake's Junkyard" I saw some lights coming at us from the left. Sure enough, it was Parrott. He had taken a wrong turn (surprise! surprise!) and ended up out on the power lines. Curt got him back on track and soon the entire group was back together. After a brief rest we headed over to Brushy Way. Curt led with me right on his wheel and we wound our way through the forest over to the Toilet Bowl Trail. We took the Banked Trails over to the short road that connects to Old Northfield Road. Old Northfield Road was quite icy now and it was pretty slippery on the roadway itself so we all rode on the shoulder of the road which was ice free. We made the trip over to Mark's new trail which then put us out onto the Money Trail. From there we took the Telephone Pole Trail back to the hardtop road and we then rode back to the center of town. It was a beautiful night to ride and everyone seemed to have a good time.