This little Piggy went to market and this Pig has been sold!

The seller updated his post on Crankfire.com that it was sold but there are no further details. I wonder who the new lucky owner is. When you think about it, it's basically an economical entry into downhilling. Something that I sort of tried on my first time out with the Pig and almost dislocated my shoulder. Scroll down to read about the Pig, or simply click here.

The Pig is for sale and other interesting items on the CList!

Found this on the Hartford CList and I think it's my bike that I sold in 2006. Looks like it's new owner kept it in really good shape. That's a pretty good price for a full suspension, down hill rig that is basically bomb proof.

Here is my AC on the 14 mile Cockaponset Ride I did back in 2005.



Price Drop! I saw this add last week and I think it was going for $375. That is very tempting but I really don't need another singlespeed.

OTB and other discoveries

I have gotten into a patter now of alternating every other ride with my two bikes. Last Friday, at noon, I rode Upper Paugussett on the AC and I am finding that I really like riding it now despite the weight. It could be that the single speed is just building up my endurance so that riding the AC is now becoming easier because I now have the power the climb stuff that I was unable to in the past.

Friday, last, I was I took the white trail from the Polly Brody and instead of hanging a right and going up to Kissing Oak, I went straight, in search of the continuation of the logging road, for that matter the original road that traversed this property. Before the forest road, there was a much narrower road that accessed the property that was probably improved through the years until the State bought the land and created the current forest road. You can still see some remnants of this older road off of the forest road.

So, following this track in past the turn off, its gets lost about 100 yards in. Probably becasue of the fresh leaf fall. Need to wait till winter and try it again because the snow will compress things and I think the trail will open show itself better. Found a nice rock in this one area to roll. I picked up the road again after a little stream crossing and followed it till I couldn't follow it due to the overgrowth. Ended up bushwacking until I hit the Mulikin trail. I think if I come at from the other direction I will be able to define it better.

I did have one other success, though, I cleaned my up and over on the Mulikin for the first time. I just hit it at the right speed and rolled it nicely.

On Tuesday, Halloween, I rode Huntington with a guy from Danbury. We started the ride on Rock and Roll and about a quarter of the way into the trail (from the south) I endo'd for the first time on my 29er. Ouch! Both knees got it good and I got a nice bash to my left elbow. Chain popped off, too. Figures, the first time I decide to ride something really technical, I ride without protection and I get banged up.

The rest of the ride was great, though, despite the initial wounds. Took a trail that isn't on www.crankfire.com and found a connection to what Alan and I first thought might be Aunt Patty's Road but upon checking another map I found that it was the other side of Old Dodgingtown Road, I guess you could call it the Bethel section.

From there, we rode back up the hill to the trail intersection that I have come to on past rides and have always wondered if you went right, where would you end up. Of course coming up from the other section of Old Dodgingtown Road was a huge climb that I was able to do most of! Man, can I climb with a light bike.

Riding the AC clipless

Took the AC out for a workout and what a difference riding geary vs singlespeed. It felt smaller, too, but it sure is plush with 6 inch travel all around. Barely felt a bump! I also noticed an improvement in my ability to climb hills after riding singlespeed because I can climb! I don't need to drop down to the lowest granny gear and crawl up the hill because now I hammer! I did, however, at the start of the ride have a little equipment failure. I have been playing around with seat heights on the AC for riding on different types of trails and the seatpost clamp level snapped on me today. I was still able to close it, though and go for my ride, although the seat was pretty high. Going to have to get me another Salsa Flip Lock.

Rode in Upper Paugussett and took another shot at the new trail, trying to find a better entry from the Polly Brody to the Blue Blaze and I think I found it. Below is a blow up of the above map with some points of reference. The new trail will follow the start where the original equestrian trail comes out, only few yards more to the east and climb to west of that little knoll where it picks up an old logging track (because there is a break in the stone wall), wraps around, dips through a little saddle and then gradually climbs up the back side of the hill where it picks up yet another logging track and connects into the Blue Blaze.

It's funny, DEP wants us to use Blue Blaze, but CFPA does not - go figure. If we can't get CFPA to play nice, then we just bisect the Blue Blaze twice to link up with the rest of the proposed trail. Now that the leaves are almost down its time to mark this trail and get the ball rolling on making it an official trail.

October Edition of Mountain Bike Action

Here I am featured in the October 2006 edition of the Mountain Bike Action.

It's kind of ironic that the article is about riding in New England, specifically difficult riding in New England which is kind of like skiing in New England, in that if you can ski here you can ski anywhere. Of course the irony is that where this picture is taken, most of the trails are from being difficult. The Ed (the guy behind me) are on is called the Rock and Roll Trail at Huntington State Park and it was designed and developed by Paula Burton who is a CT NEMBA chapter president and from the area.

On top of that, though, I am wearing all my armor which may tell the reader that this area is actually tougher than it looks but I am doing so because I like to try anything, drops, rollers, log rides, and while I might not do them as expertly as others and often fall off them, the armor at least keeps me from getting bloody. Even the write up on Huntington is kind of out of porportion with the article. If the editor was a little more forthcoming in the gist of the article maybe we could have gone somewhere in the state that is more fitting to article, like Middlesex.

Oh well.

XGruntry, now that's a new one!

I came across an interesting Ride Recap (or Recrap) on Bikerag.com that I thought was really fitting to the way I ride right now with my 40 pounder (Giant AC) in which the rider describes his style of riding with a heavier bike as XGruntry. Feel free to read the whole recrap but simply stated:

XGruntry riding (XG is when you have an XStuntry bike but you suck at riding it and don't have the quads yet for real XC on a flearide 40 lb. bike, so it's XGruntry)

I think the describes exactly the way I ride with my bike. I am no hammer god, more like an XCountry wannabe and every once-in-while, I will willing fling myself off some sort of natural stunt. So, I am changing my own vernacular from XStuntry to XGruntry.

Thanks Mr. Pink!

7 Stings and 2 Endos

Returned to West Rocks for another ride. There were a mixed bag of riders from both Bikerag.com and Crankfire.com. The Big Game, Sarahbean, 9.8 m/s/s, and yours truly. Plan was to get to the ridge and meet up with 9.8. So about a quarter mile in we come to a hornet's nest hanging low over the trail. TBG aggravates the next and I try to ride past only to find that I am now the object of the wasps affection . After two or three stings I was OTB. Jumped back on and tried to get away but they kept coming after me. Got a total of 7 stings. Ouch. Then, further down the trail, I tried to ride a plank over a stream and I cleared it, only I should have went to the left but ended up going right and my front tire got stuck in some roots and once again, OTB!
The true irony however was in the fact that I had such a great ride on Wednesday without armour that I was pretty cocky and decided not ride with the armour as well. That was a bad move. Knees, shins, and forearms got pretty scraped up.
Despite the scratches and bumps it was a great ride. I was able to clear the rock pile on the first go that I choked on last time. Didn't get over the log jam, this time, but I was close - again. Rode some new trail, including 9.8's private stock down hill which really wasn't a downhill where you can fly rather a series of rollers and drops along the way to steep stuff. Overall, a great ride and can't wait to return to this place again.

CT NEMBA and Mountain Bike Action

We had a member's meeting and ride on June 6th at Wadsworth SP. Besides the BOD, there were two members. Wadsworth is a nice little place if you are a beginner. Some tight single track and many carriarge roads. Little falls and Big falls are worth looking at. I posted some pics at CTNEMBA.org. After the ride we had Pizza, conducted our board meeting, and then I officially became a trail ambassador. Got a couple of Jerseys, a folding saw, and a Topeak multi-tool. Now when I ride, I can log my hours and report on any problems on the trails that I might come across.

The following Monday, I showed a photographer for Mountain Biking Action around Huntington SP. Spent the weekend trying to coordinate some other CT NEMBA members to show up and was about to get Ed Perten and a riding buddy of his to come out. We ended doing a mile of Rock and Role and the photographer probably shot 100 or more pics at about 5 different spots. You had to ride through the "kill zone" (where the camera would take the picture and the flashes would go off) 10 or 15 times, each of us and then in groups. "Posing" for the camera while riding is tough work.

On Thursday of that week, I led my first CT NEMBA RAW (Ride After Work) ride at Mianus. A friend from work, Paul F, was there and there were two more NEMBA members. One guy that I only know as Marc F., who I don't think is an active member or I just couldn't find him in the membership database, and then a guy by the name of Dave M., who I happen to know from www.bikerag.com. It was good ride, we basically recreated the ride that Paul and I did with Alex F last month. Dave had to bail half way through due to back problems. It was great ride.

I rode with my GPS mounted to my top tube and surprisingly, that is a very accurate position because we were in some dense tree cover and I never lost signal. I took a extra cell phone belt clip and zip tied it to the top tube and handlebars and I can see the screen for the most part.

Rear Derailleur finally bit the dust!

My rear derailleur finally died. I think I have to stop riding the game trails in the Upper Paugussett SF because I think that is part of my problem with breaking the rear hanger for the second time. This time I was half way through my ride and had to choose between going back by way of Sanford Road or continue up the back of the hill in the forest and cost down the Polly Brody. I chose the coasting ride.

Took the AC in to the shop and decided to have a Shimano LX rear derailleur put on because its supposed to beefier and more forgiving in the abuse department. Also decided to go with a medium cage in order to get more clearance.

Derailleur works great.

Tour de Trumbull

GPS Visualizer doesn't seem to be working so no map for right now.

Picked up Mike (Bad Lee Driven from Crankfire) on my way to Trumbull today to run a few errans, drop off Katie with the inlaws, the usual.

Parked off of Whitney Avenue. Ended up riding down the rail trail for a couple of hundred yards before dropping down to the river, crossing over a bridge and then following a trail that paralleled the river. It had blue blazes - does CFPA maintain a trail here? Super techy and gnarly.

Followed this all the way down to the log rides by end of the park. There is a new ride, with a nice ladder up to it. Mike rode it perfectly.

Rode the red/yellow up along the blufs over looking Route 25. Found Ford's Drop, a sick 25 footer in the Indian Caves section.

Rode by the picnic tables. Went over by that nice drop where Meatman had his picture taken doing hi sign off the drop, when we ran into a few dudes, one of which was Tommy Church from Westchester Mountain Biking Association. One guy, busted his seat and I was able to help it out with a few zip ties that I always keep in my pack. Two of the dudes riding with Tommy worked for C'dale and they confirmed the C'dale 29'er is coming soon. Hardtail and a lefty. Hmmmm, gonna have to check this out.

Rode back to Whitney avenue and then headed home. 5.8 mile ride today which capped off the month with 67 total miles!

Yesterday, took the AC in to have the rear deraileur looked at again. I think I need a new one. Shawn at Brookfield Bicycle Center said not only was the cage bent but it was twisted. He did his best to bend it back into shape and today it performed rather well. Still, a new one is my future. Just not sure which. Shawn suggested a Saint and I had read up on these and sound like the way to go with all the bushwacking I am doing.

Happy Bikeversary!

So, here it is. One year later.
Some stats:
1. 316 miles ridden to date and this month I have topped out the most miles I have ridden in a single month, which is 61 miles. Of course, if you subtract the 15 miles from the Cockaponset ride it still works out to be a net increase in riding by 118%!
2. Dropped 15 pounds and consitently keeping my weight around the 200 to 205 mark. Pants fit much better and I gained another hole on the belt!
3. Two and a half bikes. The Trek 3700 was fun and still has a purpose in life - trailer biking and riding with the kids. Once Katie can ride on her own I am getting a rear seat for Elliot. Not sure if I am going to get the kid trailer. I can just imagine Elliot squeezing Brodie's hand too hard, Brodie crying, and me not going any where. The half bike is Katie's trailer bike. And then there is the brute, weighing in at around 37 pounds, the Giant AC. This bike has performed beyond my expectations.
4. Established a presence in the Connecticut Mountain Biking community, with some spillage into Westchester County. Joined NEMBA and am now on the Board of Directors.

So where do we go from here? More miles, more riding, more Cross Stuntry, within reason of course - don't need anymore Boomer-itis statistics for the medical community, and definitely want to start racing. I think I want to get the 29'er for that. That will be my venture into realm of clipless peddles and who knows, maybe I will convert the AC to clipless as time goes on.

Recap of today's ride in the Upper Paugussett State forest (map above). I decided to follow a notion that the current layout for the Polly Brody Forest Road wouldn't make any sense a hundred or so years ago so I decided to follow the connector on the White trail and found that there is a road, approximately the same width that continues on into the forest heading towards the lake. I followed the trail about 100 yards in to where there were a lot of trees down and it seems to continue on.

Below is my approximation (blue) of where this road would have continued if my theory is correct because where I pick it up on the dropzone leg (red track line), it appears to head into the forest, in the approximate same direction. My guess is that it follows the contours and climbs as little as possible, curves around the hill to meet up with the section near the white trail.

Also re-rode what I called the Equestrian Trail that I rode last fall with Lame NYer and found all sorts of Newtown Open space markers, so the "Yellow" trail which is NBLA's first attempt at a trail through this part of the forest definitely crossed into the Town's openspace property and that is obviously a no-go. Even with the proposed changes that we walked (Cindy and Paula) a couple of weeks ago, the climbing is such that the trail would not lend itself to be a good mountain biking trail. So, it looks like the Multi-use trail that we were planning for the forest might have to take alternative route, especially if we can't get CFPA let us traverse their hallowed ground.

14 miler in the Cockaponset SF

CTNEMBA and the Bridal Path Coalition teamed up today and rode through many of the Cockaponset State Forest Parcels. We met at Seven Eighths Farm
and from here we staged a horse trailer at Exit 8 off of Route 9PX file and you will get a much more detailed view of this Epic Ride.

The ride began at the Webber Woods parcel of the Cockaponset SF, which unfortunately doesn't have an online map but it is a quintessential park that would be great for beginning mountain bikers. I found this description of the parcel on a Mindspeak.org:

Cockaponset State Forest is the second largest state and my vehicle off of Clark Road in Higganum. While the map on the left is a pretty good overview of the ride which I made using GPS Visualizer, check out www.crankfire.com where I uploaded the GPX file.

The forest It is named after an Indian chief who is buried in the Ponset section of Haddam. The DEP acquired the Weber parcel of 354 acres for $780,000 in 1998. Favorite activities include hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking.


On the first leg of this Epic Ride, Paula, Alex and I started at Weber Woods in Killingworth, CT. Here we are, pictured left. The weather started out funny. It was breezy and partly sunny and it was hard to tell what to start the ride with on. I settled for a t-shirt (which I took off after about 15 minutes) and long sleeve t-shirt. Weber Woods is primarily composed of rode dual track trails that are frequented by equestrians and mountain bikers. In fact, it seems that an organization called Sprock Kids, which is affiliated with NEMBA rides here and periodically does Trail Maintenance with BPC. There were some nice stream crossings and some not so nice because they appeared to be more like intermittentant streams and still muddy from the winter thaw. We met up with the rest of our party, two horseback riders from BPC and proceeded to follow them on what appeared to be seldom ridden trail that took us to State Route 80.

After crossing Route 80, we took another trail/old woodsman road that led eventually to some nice narrow dual track. This trail took us past the Chester Airport, although you couldn't see it, there were quite a few planes either landing or taking off and eventually we came out on Butter Jones Road in Chester. Followed that to Sypher Road which led us to State Route 148. We took a little break at the southern entrance to the Pattaconk Lake portion of the Cockaponset State Forest where I shared my stash of carrots with the horses.

The ride on Filey Road (decaying asphalt) includes a quite a bit of climbing as well as descending but there isn't much challenge because its just a road. Off to the left and right there were numerous trail heads for other trails, including the Cockaponset Trail, which was blazed, I think with a baby or Infantry Blue and a red dot in the middle. Paula mentioned that there was another trail through here called the Pattaconk Trail but I didn't see any special blazes. Hopefully, sometime in the future, this Epic trail will only have to use the hardball just to get into the state forest and then branch off into the woods and pick up one of the non-regulated trails.

We descended upon the Pattaconk lake parking area where we were met by Patty of BPC with snacks and water.













There was a demonstration on jumping rocks both by mountain bikes and horses. I think the horses stole the show. Kristen is jumping the rock with her horse, whose name is Simba.

And here is Brad on his Simba. Simba seems to be rage in horse naming.














And after quite a few attempts, maybe it was the size of the rock that proved daunting to Alex, he did finally make a good show of how to do it properly on a mountain bike.













After a few more snacks we took a group picture,













and then got back on the trail. From here more dual track that climbed the ridge that overlooks the Pattaconk Lake and then pretty much planed out for a few miles of easy riding. At one point, we came out onto a dirt road, on the map is called Old Country Road, where we turned due west and the horses took off galloping. After I finished marking the waypoint on GPS for the turn and climbed the hill, the horses were no where to be seen. They are fast! Picked up another trail and actually lost satellite signal for about 20 yards or so.

We followed this trail to Jericho Road, another dirt road in the State Forest, which by this time we were now in the northern section of the forest, as seen as on the DEP's map. It was pretty much down hill from there and the bikes took off first but the horses, not wanting to be left out of all the fun came galloping after us. At one point when I was bombing this one hill I could hear the thunder of hooves gaining on me. I moved as far over on the road as I could and then Brad on Simba (the big white horse from the previous pictures) came barrelling past like a freight train.

Eventually, we came to the turn off onto the gold trail that would take us down to Beaver Meadow Road and on in to the commuter lot at Exit 8 from State Route 9. There we had some more snacks, Brad and Kristen loaded their horses into the trailer, we took a few more pictures and then Alex, Paula and I pushed on to the last leg of the trip. Here is my AC next to the horses grazing on some fine, State of Connecticut Commuter Parking Lot Grass! What a tasty treat after a long ride! I was amazed at how light Alex's Intense VP 5.5 was. It was a feather in my hands. Paula's new Gary Fisher Cake was even lighter, although it was a small frame. Compared to my almost 40 pounds Giant AC. Patty met us there, took a few group shots and I took this beautiful self portait with helmet head. Of course was funny is that after taking that picture, I realized that I had been riding with my shirt on backwards, DOH!

Mounting back up, we road more hard ball to get to the last leg of the trail, which was more dual track, that gave way to an intense double layered hike-a-bike on a trail that was pretty eaten up by Enduro and ATV riding. Trail eventually spit us out onto a cul-de-sac. Another 100 yards of hard ball to next trail head which was the really chewed up by ATVs, super techy, and worst type of trail to be on your last leg of endurance. Finally, we arrived at my car. Of course, what would have been really nice is to have cracked open an ice cold MGD when we got there but I left the cooler by the fridge this morning, DOH! So, we loaded up the bikes and headed bact to 7/8's to recap the ride and have a little a lunch.

Total Odometer on the GPS: 14.9 Miles!

Great Weekend!

The nice weather is finally upon us. Saturday was beeeeeautiful but then the afternoon rain front cooled things down a bit.

On Saturday morning I met Cindy and Paula and with their dogs, we walked NBLA's trail in the Upper Paugussett. Quite a walk - first time for me to be hiking in quite a long time and of course got blisters. We walked from the parking area off Echo Valley, down to Sanford Road, and picked up the trail. NBLA's trail presents quite a few problems. Primarily, quite a bit of the trail goes atop Blue Blazed trail belonging to CFPA. As you can see on the map (left), the left most track (westerly trail) is their proposed trail and what it does is breaks off and heads northeast, which doesn't really make a whole lot of sense if you are starting at Pond Brook, and according to Cindy, the stone rip-rap on the Polly Brody is not good for the horse's hoves. So it looks like some more thought has to be put into this.

Since Paula left her car at Echo Valley and was going to walk back I suggested why don't we walk back on my ROW trail. This turned out to be hit! The big advantage is that it doesn't come into any contact with Blue Blazed trail. Of course there are two wet areas that we found really nice detours around and which really acentuate the trail by giving it more variety and throwing in some degrees of difficulty for climbing.

Saturday afternoon while playing with the kids and making a feeble attempt at cleaning up the garage I discoved that my front tire was flat. So I changed tubes and then couldn't get the tire back onto the rim! I tried everything and in the process broke a tire level. Finally, I got it back on. Later, after examining the innertube, I found the hole, and decided to check the tire to ensure there was nothing in it that could hurt the next tube. Ugggghhh, that meant taking the tire off. Well, I did and found nothing, and another broken tire level later and an hour of frustration, I finally succeeded.

Sunday, I met two guys from work at 8:30 AM (which was really 7:30 AM without Daylight Savings) for a ride a Huntington State Park. Last two rides this year at Huntington originated at Dodgingtown Road and today we met at Sunset Hill. These two guys were atleast 10 and 20 years older than me and they could hammer. The younger of the two, still older than me by 10 years never quit and hammered just about every hill. I was able to keep up with the older guy. The irony of course is when I ride with the guys from Crankfire.com, I am of course one of the oldest and SLOWEST. For this ride, I was the youngest and slowest.

Also, you will notice that the track to the left is all back, that is because I had a signal break and had to use USAPhotoMaps to connect the dots. Overall, it was a good ride, 6.45 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. Did a few rollers and got some nice air on one of the wide open trails where we were hammering down a slight incline and I launched off a rock protruding out from the middle of the trail. It was the same feeling as skiing!


So, I am thinking about whether I should get a different shock for my rear. I saw on MTBR.com, on an AC thread that it appears that some of the older model ACs, the rocker arm had three positions, where mine only has two, 6.6" and 5.3". I am running with 5.3" of rear travel now and I can climb, but could I climb better if I had less travel? Does it make sense to get a better shock that will automatically dampen the coil when it senses bobbing up and down or do I try to get an older model rocker arm?

Broken Deraileur Hanger

So, I am hammering down the back side of the hill in the Upper Paugussett on my on one of my logging roads on Tuesday and then there was a *CRACK* and then my chain had all this slack in it. Looking behind me I see my rear derailuer hanging an inch from the ground. Curses! Snapped the rear hanger. Of course, all I could say to myself was perfect timing. My Open Space Task Force meeting started at 4:30, I still had to get home, shower, and then drive down to Peck's Land. Had to hop, coast and run home. Of course I was in a quandry, drop my bike off at Brookfield Bicycle Center to get it fixed or go to the meeting. Hadn't been in a while, so I went to the meeting.

Dropped off the AC on Thursday to get fixed and asked to have a Bash Guard put on, too. I don't think I have ever switched into the upper gears but the teeth on that chain ring were getting worn down from the rocks that I was hitting all the time. Makes, sense. So, I get the bike home and riding around in the driveway, I notice that its not shifting right. Called them up and they said tighten the L screw, then losen the H screw, now tighten the H screw ... did that and it sort of helped.

Back out on the trail on Friday and the Grannies were slipping big time. Made it up the hill on the Polly Brody but it was close. Rode down the logging trail again and this time tried to pile some rocks on the big tree to make a roll over but I need more rocks for something decent.

When back to the bike shop on Saturday and they fixed me up right this time. Next time, always test the bike before leaving the shop. I think this was the second time this has happened.

Pushed Crankfire at the bike shop on Saturday, too. Shawn said he checked it out but didn't join. I think another guy, that I was talking to, did join up but haven't see any input from him yet.

On Sunday, I rode some Newtown open space. I rode up the hiking trail down the road from me, got about 3/4 of the way then I gave up. The road links up with an old road that eventually spits out onto Butterfield. The owner of the property on Butterfield, John, said I could ride on his property. Looking closely on the map, it almost looks like there is an old road that heads down the back side of the hill towards Pond Brook.

Rode on a trail off Butterfield on more of the Town's Open Space but the property just ended. Had to push the bike back up the hill. Rode down Georges Hill, this hill is steep! Rode a little on the old Shepaug line bed but turned around when I hit a mass of No Tresspassing signs belonging to the resident of 31 Pond Brook Road. Need to introduce myself and see if I may ride on his property. Sunday's ride was actually 6 miles.

Will post maps shortly.

Two mapping projects

So, not only am I now officially the map maker for the Upper Paugussett Trail but the deal I am working on for the Cockaponset SF is starting to take shape, too. On Crankfire, I found a cool little tool some college student is working on that is really good for sniffing maps out, check out: Satellite Photo Compare. Of course, what I really like about this already is that its like a wide screen version of terraserver. Granted, its a little slow at night.

Rode in the Paugussett again, on my new loop, which is about 3.6 miles. If I don't stop to move dead fall around I think I can run the whole course in about 45 minutes. What will be really cool is where this trail pops out is where the Multi-use trail would begin, which would give me a six plus mile loop through the forest. There are still a few loose ends in the one section before you get to the switch back that crosses over the stream. It appears that the road/trail might go further down the hill but I can't find where it would connect back up with the old road again. I recall seeing some old trails coming into Al's trail.

One thing that stinks about all the wet weather and the general thaw is the mud. Fortunately for me, riding the Polly Brody forest road doesn't contribute to any erosion and neither is there any impact at all to my other forest road that I have been riding but getting there on Sanford Road is another story. Sandford is mud city and naturally that kicks up an coats my camel, me and my bike. So, I thinking about getting fenders for the AC. Definitely going to put them on Trek but I am getting sick of the mud. They might look geeky but who cares about fashion when you are riding?

A funny thing to note, I came across the legal definition or political definition of Mountain Biking today: Off-road bicycling. It just sounds so phony and seems to make it trendy.

Peace!

This mornings ride with fellow Bikeragger, Lame Nyer, aka Jim from Danbury. The west side bridal path trail was really nice this morning. However, on the Jeep Trail, Jim's bike shat the bed and he ended up having to break the rear derailuer off. We coasted and schlepped to the top of the ridge and then bombed down the Jeep Trail towards Hanover.