Pooping on the Greenway

Riding with young children is tough. Keeping them happy is half the battle. I have to always work in a break with a playground, bring plenty of water and snacks, and most importantly ride somewhere with adequate restrooms. When I took the boys to Hamden for ride up the New Haven - Northhampton Rail Trail, aka the Faminington Canal Trail never did I expect Brodie to say, "I have to poop!"

Fortunately there is a public bathroom at Brooksvale that is open from May to September. The last ride we did at Middlebury was the same. In fact, now that I think about it, our previous ride at Monroe required poop break, too!

What does that mean for all you fathers and mothers who want to take their kids riding? Make sure you plan on a trail with adequate restroom facilities. Housatonic RR Monroe section, Middlebury, and the Farmington Canal are the three Greenways in my area that meet all the requirements. As for the Trumbull section of the Housatonic RR Greenway, there is no playground and I don't recall whether there are facilities at Old Mine Park. Otherwise you need to prepare by bringing a plastic bag and some wipes.

Here is the view from the restrooms. That red barn you see off in the distance is the approximate location of the jungle gym. We rode back to the play area, had more snacks and played on the various apparatuses. Brodie wanted to see the rabbits.

There was one rabbit that wanted attention. Brodie wanted to get into the cage and snuggle with him.

Trying for a good spot on the bike for a Brodie Cam but that darn Trail-a-Bike get's in the way. I need to see what he is doing while we are riding. What I might try to do is put a little rack on the trail-a-bike and then mount the camera there.

Fat, Dumb, and Happy

Saw this at Brooksvale Park in Hamden on my ride with the boys this past weekend. This is an electric bike where the motor is upfront. That big, thick rack in the back is the battery that powers it. Not only did it have a front shock but a shock post as well.

We passed the guy who owns this bike on the Greenway and he clearly relied on the electric motor too much. You know, this is technically a motorized vehicle and they aren't allowed on the Greenway.

CT NEMBA Board Of Directors Ride

Tuesday, June 5th, the Board of Directors for the CT Chapter of the New England Mountain Biking association met at Brooksvale Park in Hamden and rode in the Naugatuck State Forest. Of course getting to the State Forest meant having to ride through Brooksvale Park, on the way in, which is implicitly not allowed but it seems the land manager turns a blind eye to this activity along with the equestriennes.

It's ironic that Brooksvale's two biggest users groups are Horses and Bikes and it is implied that they are not included as a permissible activity. Ironically, however, when you look on the Brooksvale Website or read the trail map, there is also no mention that biking and horseback riding is not allowed but they do have 7 miles of hiking trails. Does one imply that only hiking is allowed on a hiking trail?

Anyway, we were a small group, totaling five riders, two FS rigs and the other three on single speeds. In fact, I think this was the largest assembly of single speeders that I have ridden with since making the conversion! The climb to the State Forest, for the most part, was attainable. Being a weaker rider, in comparison to the other two single speeders who train for this kind of stuff, I only had to walk one or two spots. The other two were animals!

Once in the forest, it was almost surreal. First of all, the state has been doing quite a bit of logging there so it nearly resembled a war zone but the trails were still there and they were sweet! We hit almost every trail and it was a great ride, especially for single speeding.