Miller Ice

For those of you that have decided to take the winter off from riding you are missing some choice opportunities! The CT Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association held it's first annual Winter Social called Middletown Madness and I organized the advanced ride at Millers Pond State Park. There was an excellent turnout, 18 people and one dog showed to ride in 23 degree weather. There were three singlespeeds and three 29ers, too.

Tren and I got there a bit early so we got ready and knocked out a quick 0.7 mile loop on down along the water and then cut back in towards the red trail. Snow was simply perfect! Four inches and still a little powdery. I noticed when I stood out of the saddle that something was creaking, it sounded like something grinding. First I thought it might be pedals but then later I figured it must be the bottom bracket.

Once back at the lot, people started showing up. Sign in went smooth and by 1:15 we rolled out. Having only ridden here twice before I found someone who rides here frequently and asked if he wouldn't mind leading the ride. I did however have both tracks from my two previous rides loaded onto my GPS so there was no way we could have gotten lost.

Mike Hartford on the 10th Commandment

(John Isch Photography)

Despite the creaking bottom bracket riding the technical, stuntry trail was a blast. The quick ups and rollers were a lot of fun and I felt great being able to keep up with the majority of the geared riders. Of course there were a few sections that were pretty sketchy or steep and I walked them but I was still in front of the main body so who cares?

The first mile or so was on some rocking technical trail that I had never been on before and I was eating up on the Dillinger. Somewhere along the way we got on a section that I was familiar with but then last that ended and we were again another unfamiliar section. When I was shooting some video of Mike doing a drop we looked at my GPS and Mike said we must be on the outer loop which is something I have never ridden before.

After the 10 Commandments I knew were close to split off that would take us back to the cars but I was really itching to ride the XC trail. The first section of the XC trail is so fast and flowy, and the perfect trail for my bike. About half way through, though, you could feel the temperature dropping and that is when I noticed that my toes were starting go numb. I started walking more of the hills just to get circulation back in the toes. For more pictures and some video, click on over to the CT NEMBA blog.

Now that the 'Horse is laid up, shock went back to Marzocchi for a rebuild and I probably need a new BB for Dillinger, looks like I am riding the Qball Monster - probably have to grind some more gravel.

Why bother?

Headed into NYC for work on Thursday and when I got off the highway in Bridgeport I got stopped at a light at the bottom of the ramp. It was lightly snowing but just a dusting on the ground at this point. Unlike the more rural area farther to the north in which I live in, there seems to be more people in the Park City that depend on bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. Out of the corner of my eye I see someone pushing a bicycle and it's flat, then they hop on and ride through the intersection and then hop off. Guess that person got their exercise for the day.

This Schwin cruiser is a real beaut! Classic Station Commuter bike with a rusty chain and broken seatpost. I guess if the tires still have air and the cranks turn it's perfect.

I have seen this bike before, a Diamondback Topanga. I love the stamped triple ring crankset and comfort stem. All it needs are fenders and it would be a perfect winter commuter.

My new lunch time ritual is to head down to 148 East 46th Street to Joy Curry & Tandoori for the Curry Goat Special and of course check out some of the commuter and delivery bikes along the route I walk. Take this Kona Kahanna which given the type of locking situation and the sloping saddle this bike is used for delivery rather than commuting.

This guy on the Fuji track bike turned out to be rare siting however, I think he was running a freewheel in the back. His chain is way too slack for horizontal drops - what a travesty! I wouldn't want to be caught dead with a chain that slack.

Here's fine example of city commuter. It's a Trek that I have seen before that is usually locked to a parking meeter on Park Ave. Guess that spot was taken and the rider had to settle for something closer to Lexington Ave.

Another bike I have seen before on 49th. Rattle can black so that it's not appetizing to a potential bike thief but looks like it's built for speed.

Thawing and Freezing, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

Got out for a quick mid week ride on the Gussy trail. Poly Brody was horrible, still soft in a alot of places and many frost heaves. Looked like someone got out before me on Monday or Tuesday, which must have been even worse. The Gussy is truly a sustainable trail, not one spot on the trail was soggy or muddy, with one exception, the third stream crossing (if heading north) but there are plans for a reroute there this spring. Now, the Wet Spot (below) was the wettest I have ever seen it but then nice thing is that it never get's muddy!

Deconstructing Lambert

Last night I started stripping the Death Fork. It was amazing the range of tools, all standard, I had to use to take this bike apart. Every part looks like it was hand crafted. All the knobs have custom L for Lambert on the them.

The 52t chain wheel is the only part that mounts to the cranks so I had to take of the 42t and 22t chain wheels. There were a ton of spacers and hex bolts, again, all standard size rather than metric.

Interesting that the bottom bracket is open like this. It appears that when the previous owner went had the bike registered with some law enforcement agency, the owner had his social security number etched into the BB for identification purposes. I don't think you would do that these days.

I ran into two snags: (1) can't get the stem out and thus I can't take the death fork off; and (2) the seatpost appears stuck in the seat tube. I might have to take out the spindle in the BB and see I can get at it from below.

First Monster Cross Gravel Grinder of 2010

Mud season has returned to Southern New England and to respect the trails and stay out of the mud I opted for a 20 mile ride from Newtown, through Monroe, to Route 127 in Trumbull and back on the rail trail. I rode the Newtown section for the first time, partly out of curiosity and because the Newtown Trails Committee, which I am a member of, was assessing the rail trail for some up coming projects. We are going to build the Rail Trail to no where.

The reason being is the town owns 1600 feet from the Monroe line to where the Housatonic Rail Road spur line ends. There is a trail that continues from where the town's property ends but it goes through the edge of a superfund site that probably won't be cleaned up anytime soon. The only hope for this trail is if something could get worked out with the Railroad to swamp road.

Paula Burton (picture above), who is on the CT NEMBA and Newtown Resident is also a member of the Trails Committee. She rode her bike to this walk through. And then she rode with me to Pepper Street. I continued down through Monroe and into Trumbull, all the way to Rte 127 and then back. The Monroe section between the top part of Pepper Street and the lower part of Pepper Street was the worst because it doesn't get nearly as much traffic as the section between Pepper Street and Wolfe Park, so there was a lot more snow and ice on the trail which made it sketchy at time.

Good thing I decided to keep the fenders on. It was still below freezing when I started down the trail but there were sections that were in full sun that got soupy really quickly. While I have dressing for cold weather mountain biking pretty well figured out, this kind of riding is still a big unknown for me. Lobsters and over booties were a must but up top was a crap shoot. I opted for my orange, windstopper fleece and my wind vest. I had to ride with the zippers mostly open otherwise I would have overheated.

The Newtown section is about 3 feet wide and looks more like an ATV track. When you get further up the trail there are still rails on the ground.

Gearing on the Qball is still not working properly. I couldn't get into the outer ring when I thought I had that fixed. Looks like I need to do more work and testing. The 29er tires were the best in the wetter areas. Skinnier tires would have been nearly impossible to ride the trail in some sections. Can't wait to get the Salsa Wood Chippers. The drops aren't too bad but I need more width for more leverage. When I get the new bars, I am going to upgrade the levers to disc pull levers for Cane Creek or Tektro and I am going to try and do inline brake levers, too.

Hopefully in the next six months to a year this will be the first official Newtown Rail Trail. Too bad we can't do the the same with the Shepaug section through the Pond Brook River Valley and the section that cuts through North Newtown and goes over to Sandy Hook. This former rail line eventually turns into the Larkin Bridal Trail in Southbury. Below is a map of today's ride. 20+ miles.