A Sunset stroll with Fat Amy

Initially, the Newtown Lunartics were going to make a late morning spin to Ovens of France (aka OOF), however by 10 AM it was still 15 degrees out and everyone, including myself bailed. After our midday guests took off I hopped on Fat Amy and headed down to the Pond Brook Boat Ramp.  I headed up the connector trail and instead of taking the blue trail to the Mulikin Trail, I decided to try my snowshoe trail.

The snowshoe trail is more of a bushwhack that uses some old trails that I found between the blue trail and the Poly Brody Forest Road.  One of the trails is probably an old skidder path, it comes from where the Mulikin Trail turns east and runs past the Flight Simulator, a natural rock ramp that makes a four foot drop.  I lost the path a few times but eventually made my way down to the blue trail.  It wasn't pretty.

I then jumped on the Mulikin and was enjoying the trail up until it turns east off the old cart road and begins it's fall line ascent.  That section of the trail tends to get muddy during the spring thaw and it appears some mountain bikers didn't really consider what happens when it warms up because it was pretty rutted out. I wish people would stay off this part of the trail when it gets warm.

After the Mulikin, I jumped straight into the Unmarked and Unsanctioned Trail and was surprised at how smooth the trail was and how it seems to be getting better and better every time I ride it.  It still needs a few tweaks here and there, and a major reroute to by pass a wet area.

By the time I hit the Brew Crew Roller it was dark enough to warrant turning on the light.  The rustling off in the woods further motivated me to do so, too.

I finished off the Gussy and took the Reach Around to the Jeep Trail and then out to Sanford Road.  By this point the Garmin 705 said I had gone 4 miles and it was already on low battery.  I guess the battery has finally gone out on it.  I think I want to get a 520 and use my 800 as a back up.  Before I do that though, I think I going to have the 705 refurbished unless it's too expensive and just get the 520.  Instead of just riding home, I cut back through the forest on the Poly Brody and finished the ride down the Mulikin and out the connector to Pond Brook.

Cannondale Cujo 1: I stand corrected, it's a Midfat Bike

My Facebook Friends (reminds me of the Prejudice Commercials on Sunday mornings back in the 1970s) pointed out that what I am riding is a MID FAT bike and not a FAT BIKE.  Well, EXCUSE MEEEEeeee! I don't care if there is a difference, it still has fatter tires and therefore it's a fat bike for all I care. Semantics aside, this was the first Saturday in three months that I wasn't skinning up and telemark skiing down Windham Mountain in the Catskills because my son was still recovering from the flu. So I took Fat Amy across the river to play Where's Waldo.

It must have been somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees when I started out and probably colder with the wind.  Wearing my Lake MXZ303 boots, blaze orange Columbia hunting jacket, and lobster gloves I couldn't fee the cold.  In fact, mid ride I had to open my jacket because I was getting pretty hot.  

I think it's been almost two years since I last rode here and a lot has changed.  All the new trails on the north side of park are finished, there are new features, including a nice boardwalk with some up and overs in the middle of it that reminded me of the Moose Alley trail at Kingdom Trails, and some nice bridges.  I rode down to the lake and then started climbing up the main Waldo Trail.

The one thing that I noticed off the bat is when I get up to speed and turning through corners, Fat Amy turns like my old 29" mountain bikes which always had a tendency to swing out wider.

For the most part, the trails at Waldo were frozen but there were still some frost heaves that I crunched through.  On today's ride I remembered to unlock the fork and the ride was totally plush.  In fact, I would just point the bike on a line through a rock garden and just blaze through it.  A 29er tire never felt like this.  Looking forward to more rides in the near future.

Cannondale Cujo 1: It's 10 PM, do you know where your children are?

From the first time I saw a fat bike on a Route 66 bike race series almost 10 years ago, I have always wanted a fat bike but couldn't justify getting one because I don't want further competition of my wintry activities.  However, in a 1 to 3 inch snowfall, I will still ride my mountain bike and having a wider tire makes a lot of sense.

With the introduction of the 27+ wheel size or what we came to learn after the post 29" craze, 650b wheel rim, a whole new market of making fat bikes a lot more feasible for year round riding came to being.  Rolling a 3 inch tire at 20 to 30 psi not only will give you an extra grippy tire, but just enough cushion to make the ride a little smoother.

I decided to thin my herd by selling the Spot and Surly and depending upon the proceeds from those two sales purchase a Mid Fat bike.  Originally, I was targeting a Bad Habit but that was just too far out of my price range so I spent some time with Shawn at the Bicycle Center to get his opinion on what I should get and he recommended the Cannondale Cujo 1.  It comes as a 1x11 with a Rockshox air fork and a decent component group, Hayes disc brakes and Sram XG rear derailleur.  Since it comes tubeless ready I had Shawn make the conversion.

After adding pedals and a carbon seatpost, removing the reflectors and adding my Brooks saddle it was 9:30 PM and figured, lets throw some lights on and go for a test ride.

Headed out to Upper Paugussett for the basic loop which consists of riding up the Poly Brody Forest Road to the Upper Gussy trail head and then down the Upper Gussy and then out on Jeep road to Sanford Road.  It was really windy earlier that day there were a few blow downs here and there but no trail blockages, that is until I came upon this one right after the Snowtober Reroute.

I took this opportunity to get a good side view shot of the Cujo when I discovered that I left the wheel reflectors on the bike - DOH!  

Further down the trail I found more blow downs but nothing really impeding the trail until that is one at this stream crossing.  A tree came down parallel to the trail but knocked a sapling down perpendicular to the trail.  Fortunately, the root structure came up with it and it was easy to move out of the way.

First ride impressions:

The 1x11 gearing is perfect for trail riding.  I never felt like there wasn't enough gear for any of the climbs and on the descents and flats I was able to keep up a good pace with what I had.  

I might have ridden the Gussy with the fork locked out but with the lower tire pressure I never felt like I needed more squish.  In fact, I blasted through the rock gardens like they weren't even there.

I am still getting used to the cornering.  It's like riding a 29er tire only the tread is stuck to the trail like a gastropod on a leaf.  

I can't wait to ride more!