Selling the Sex Machine

After purchasing the Waltly I found myself in a bit of conundrum - do I need three gravel bikes?  With the CAADx now my most favorite gravel bike since giving it a makeover and the Waltly being an any road bike, did I need my REI Adv 3.1 anymore? 

So, does this mean Anne-Margaret is not coming?

I had to drive to Newton, MA on Friday to pick up my daughter from a friend's house so I asked a friend who lives in the area if he wanted to meet in Milford and do some mountain biking at Vietnam.  Joe posted the ride on Facebook and a few others in the area said they would join us. Also, John Goeller, whom I have met in the past on various Route 66 mountain bike races was also there. He happens to live less than a mile away from the trails and knows them like the back of his hand.

The guys on the real fat bikes tore off and we were playing catch up, mainly because, as I discovered a 3 inch wide tire doesn't have the same float as a 4.6 or 5 inch wide tire. Also, I started out with too much pressure in my tires and had to stop a few times to let it out. John, Joe, and I broke off from them because Joe and I, on our 3 inch wide tires were still having a hell of a time, even with the tires adjusted. Since the trails weren't broken in really well it was a Napoleon's Death March three quarters of the ride. 

yêu em thời gian dài (Love you long time)

Day three of my of Labor Day Mountain Biking weekend I headed up to Milford Town Forest in Milford, MA, the home of New England Mountain Bike Association's Vietnam Mountain Biking Park. Due to the holiday weekend I couldn't find a guide so I decided to do a self guided tour with a little help from the ViewRanger App.

I was so excited that I was finally riding the Milford Town Forest that I didn't think to turn on route recording after 10 minutes in.  This isn't a paid endorsement for ViewRanger, but let me tell you, that the accuracy of the software and the map was spectacular and I was able to ride mostly self guided.  There is even an Apple Watch App, too, so I was able to check where I was without having to look at my iPhone.  The only downside to the Watch App, however, is that it doesn't orient in your direction of travel, and with the map oriented to the north and you are heading south you are looking at the map upside down.

On the Spot at the Bluff Point Experience

It doesn't get any better than this!  Bluff Point is an awesome place to ride a mountain bike!

There was a great turn out for NEMBA's 2nd Annual Bluff Point Experience on Sunday.

A few local bike shops were there with plenty of demo bikes!

But the highlight of the event was the ride!

There were so many people out on the trails and those trails were outstanding!

On my ride, unbelievably, there were no flats!

At the big skinny we ran into this guy, Kevin from Oxford, who road the skinny all the way to the end.  One other guy was able to do it, too.  Apparently, it was a popular attraction!

At some point we lost the main group so Kevin, his friend and I just started following the trail signs.

We picked up this guy from Massachusetts riding alone but lost him, too.

If you are going to ride Bluff Point, you have to visit it's namesake and enjoy the view!

I don't know what it is but I love riding my Spot.

 

After the bluff, Kevin and his friend headed back to the venue and I continued to ride another 4 miles finishing the with a 9 mile mountain bike ride!

Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial Mountain Bike Ride

Paula Burton came up with the idea to do a Teddy Bear ride at Huntington for the survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre but I suggested that we do a cash donation because I had heard last week that there were already thousands of Teddy Bears headed our way.  So we decided to put on the New England Mountain Bike Association Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial ride and if people wanted to donate, we would do so to one of the town charities.

 

I took out the mechanical stragglers this time around.  Jason, on the left had a flat and Cory (below) could get his shock pump to work but he eventually did.

We rode the Glacial Erratic, my new trail (aka South Park) and then hit Rock and Roll, the Big Burn, then looped back to the Sunset Hill lot.  There, we had hot chocolate and Cory brought a smoked Turkey that was out of this world!  I think we had 70 to 80 people show up for the ride and it was a smashing success.  The donations were unbelievable!

We all signed a card that will be placed at one of the Memorials in town.  I am really impressed how Mountain Bikers in our community came out to support event and make the lives of those that experienced this great tragedy a little better.

 

Cory (left) with his smoked turkey and Paula (above, green jacket) taking pictures

 

Bethel Cycle was well represented and So was Ridgefield Bicycle Co.

Bill Lake (r) wasn't riding due to a broken collar bone but came out anyway

Kirsten, aka @cyclocrossgal came out and rode her single speed

Jason daughter was the star of the show!

Cape Cod Mountain Biking: Tears of the Sun

Riding with Dirt Rag's Old Coot and NEMBA Legend Bill Boles
at the Trail of Tears in West Barnstable, MA

Cape Cod Mountain Biking: Tears of Joy

Riding with NEMBA legend Billy Boles and his friend Steve
at the Trail of Tears in West Barnstable, MA

The Bluff Point Adventure

All I can say is the The Bluff Point Adventure
was a smashing success!

 

Set up started bright and early!

 

And people just kept coming and coming!

People from all over the state showed up and quite a few from out of state including Washington DC, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts!

 

I ended up working registration and did not get on the bike until 11:30!  It didn't leave me a lot of time to ride since lunch due to arrive at noon.  I wasn't feeling it either, mainly due to the exhausting ride setting up the course and the lack of sleep at the campground due to the weather.  I went out and did a quick 4 miles on the carriage roads on the Kona since my tubeless tires were still failing.  I was wishing for the fixie but took what I could get.

 

  

 

 

  

 

And talk about swag!  Everyone walked away happy!

On the Spot at the Bluff Point Adventure

The CT Chapter of New England Mountain Bike Association scheduled it's first Mountain Bike Adventure Series for 2012 at Bluff Point State Park.  There was a joint event with the Fairfield County Chapter at Collis P Huntington State Park called the Happening at Huntington but this one was put on solely by the CT Chapter.  Hundreds of hours were put into getting the park ready for what could be an onslaught of mountain bikers due to it being summer and the many beaches that are accessible from Bluff Point, that you don't have to pay to get into!

A small core of individuals that ride Bluff regularly assisted by the CT Chapter's board spent the last month clearing trails and posted regular Trail Maintenance reports on the Chapter's Blog.  Saturday's plan was to mark the main trail for the adventure ride and then the family trail would be marked on Sunday morning consisting of carriage trails.

After driving through a few rain showers the weather at Bluff Point was remarkably different.  Partly cloudy and sunny, with a slight breeze out of the west.

The slight breeze didn't help much in the woods because it was still hot.  Paula, Stephen and I rode cleanup, following Cory, Margie, and Karina as they laid out the markers.  We were still doing some clipping here and there, as well as ensuring the intersections were clear so that people wouldn't get confused and going down the wrong route.

Stephen

On the Spot On the Bluff

We got out on the park's namesake, The Bluff and the wind was a huge relief!  On my way up to the Bluff I stopped off and had my tubeless tires recharged at Pedal Power.  Never new tubeless was so much work because I am more of a fire-and-forget rider that tries to keep my bikes always ready to ride so that I can just grab one and go!  Might have to rethink this.  The Spot was running really nice and riding tubeless was a big plus because of all the thorns and prickers on the trails.

 

On the Bluff!

It took us almost 4 hours to mark all the trails and then we all got into the water to cool off!  What a benefit of Bluff Point!  Afterwards, we convoyed up to North Stonington where the CT Chapter reserved some camp grounds for the volunteers that were coming from other parts of the state and Massachusetts to stay over.

After getting our tents set up we all gathered at a picnic table to eat

drink beer and of course talk about mountain biking!

The morning after was not so pleasant because it rained from 3 to 6 AM and my tent leaked.  I didn't have the window frames in, which I had to do at 3 AM and while one worked the pole for the other one was broken and I had to pull the picnic table next to my tent to tie off the guide line in order to make it work somewhat.  Still, I didn't have the fly on right and quite a bit of water got through making sleeping hard.  I am done with tent camping!