RAW: The Haute Librarian Route

I met Steven, Mike and Gavin at the Easton Library for a RAW (ride after work) and as I was getting ready realized that I brought the wrong gloves. My hands were freezing the whole time but still managed to have a great ride.

Relive 'RAW: Haute Librarian Route'

Afterwards, we went to the Red Rooster for beer and dinner.  

 

RAW: Gabby's Good Friday Gaelic Club Loop

Gavin and I were going to ride to work in the morning but the weather wasn't cooperating so we decided to meet after work at his office, which happens to be right next to the Fairfield Gaelic American Club. The day turned out to be a lot warmer than I expected and I was over dressed for the ride.

We rode inland through Fairfield and then down through Westport ensuring that we weren't riding with the majority of commuters trying to get home.  Our first stop was the Inn at Longshore.  Then it was over to Compo Beach.

RAW: Another Easton Loop

I got to the Easton Library earlier this time by changing a lot earlier and forcing myself out the door by 4:45 PM.  I am going to have to try wearing my lighter thermals under my clothes next time. Today, however, seemed a lot colder than last week and that too was right before a storm.  The first climb, up Flat Rock Road, took care of that.  

This route has a few nice climbs in it as well as riding WILSON! in the other direction. When ever I ride WILSON! Road, I try and do my Tom Hanks impression of yelling WILSON! The only down side of this route is that you do have to ride 200 yards on Rte 136 with the traffic to get from WILSON! Road to Staples Road.  On the way back you have to take 59 going south, which isn't that bad but then getting over to Everrett Road can be a little hairy.

I needed that ... Beer Stop!

My week in Tennessee put a bit of a damper on my training schedule.  To make up for it, when I got back to Connecticut on Friday and wrapped up a few loose ends with work, I headed out on a little Ride After Work.  It was 56 degrees so figured warm enough for shorts but I would definitely need something on my arms.

I headed down to the Steel Bridge in Sandy Hook thinking that if it was still closed then I would do some ride through Newtown but if it was open I would ride through Southbury and Woodbury. As I was sprinting along the flat part of Walnut Tree Hill I caught a glimpse of the bridge and saw a car driving across it. It reminded me of that scene in "A Bridge too Far" when the Germans couldn't blow up the bridge and the American Sherman Tanks started rolling across.

RAW: Ein sehr guten Freitag

Got out of work early on the Friday of the Easter Weekend and with the weather being so so nice I got home as quick as possible and headed out for a ride.

CT NEMBA Wednesday RAW @ Wadsworth

Wadsworth Falls SP is the perfect location for a quick 5 to 7 mile
after work ride.  There is some really great singletrack in there.

Al Tinti (r) rolling a Ti Carver 69er

This past Wednesday was CT NEMBA's monthly chapter meeting and we always ride before the meeting.  Al Tinti combined his weekly RAW (Ride after Work) event with our meeting ride. Wadsworth is so close to where we meet that it's only natural that we wide there.

After all the road riding I have done this week, 75K at the Bloomin Metric on Sunday and a 25 mile singlespeed commute on Tuesday I found that I had no climbing legs and was only able to ride half way up the Yellow Trail Climb, which is a dual track section littered with baby heads.

Art Roti

 Once bad thing about Wadsworth right now is there is a lot of poison ivy so when the group decided to head up to the nearby grammar school I passed and waited for them to return so I could get a few pix of them riding through.

Peter Finch

Al Tinti

This was the first time we rode the Taco Bell trail in the other direction and to be honest I think it's much better this way and going to have to do it again next time.

Didn't get his name but this is one of Al's RAW riders

 

While we overlapped some of the trails a few times we hit most of everything that Wadsworth has to offer.

Monday RAW in Shorts!

I couldn't pass up getting back into the forest Monday after work because local temperatures were in the upper 50s and after Sunday's fiasco I needed a real ride. I got up Poly Brody's Backside pretty quickly and what really surprised me was that I was barely winded climbing the fire road.  At one point there was a blur in front of me and a crashing through woods immediately off to the right that I can only fathom was a deer.  Based on the droppings I have been seeing along this part of the trail there seems to be deer frequenting.  Closer to the water crossings something with a really big wingspan took flight in front of me, too, which was really cool. 

Reaching around the end of the Gussy I went back up and did a reversal on the roller near the blue trail crossing and then took my wavy gravy side dish route.  Bailing out after riding through cleavage I headed home via Poly Brody's Frontside and further up the forest road I found another empty Michelob Ultra in the stonewall.  I drained it and left it there for the next time I ride through.  By the time I got home it was really dark and temperatures were back in the low 40s once again.  

Single and Stoopid, once again!

Today's ride after work at Upper Paugussett was a new high in the mileage department, 9+ miles!  That came largely from doing repeats on the Reach Around, which is a way that you can loop around and head back up the Gussy.  It's a loose collection of skidder tracks, hunters trails, and the last section which is an old cart road coming off Blue Blaze/Horse Trail about 100 yards north of where the Gussy intersects with the same trail.  Parts of the Gussy and Mulikin Trail utilize pieces of cart roads I found many years ago.  They are quite impressive with engineered sections that are graded and cut into the sides of hills but not wide enough for an early 20th Century vehicle.  These roads were made for horse drawn wagons.

Riding up the Mulikin on a singlespeed was tough, I guess it's been awhile since I have ridden the Raleigh XXIX.  I would have ridden the Dream Machine again but the rear tire has a torn sidewall so I will probably be switching out the rear wheel until I get it a new T-U-B-E-L-E-S-S replacement tire.  Basically, have to figure out what tire to get and some more Stans to fix it.  In the mean time, I will be riding tubed.  

 

There was a lot less creaking on the Bushnell Bottom Bracket on this ride.  It still creaks but not as much show.  I set the chain pretty tight and noticed halfway through the ride that it had loosened just a little bit which was about the same time that I noticed that creaking had started.  The other thing I noticed is that the Manitou Tower is really stiff compared to my Reba on the Spot.  It's almost like riding rigid again and I think I might have to go back to the medium spring.

By 6 PM it had started to get dark and while I had lights with me, they weren't needed.  Back at the ranch I cracked open a Gansett Fest, I got the last six pack from Trader Joes the other day and set about making a few tweaks on the Raleigh XXIX.  I am going to do one more ride and see if I get any more slippage on the EBB.  If I do, I might try some green locktite that was recommended to me.

Naughty Nurse Ride and the Raleigh XXIX

Rode the Naughty Nurse ... I mean ... the Raleigh at XXIX at Wadsworth State Park for the CT NEMBA Chapter Meeting RAW.  Got there early and went out to see how I could do on a Strava Segment that I created, called the 4 Corners Climb, but blew it on the final climb.  The rocks were just too much for me on the rigid.

I actually got almost a good 2 mile ride in before meeting up with Glen and Al to start the main ride.  We hit just about all the Single Track that Wadsworth has to offer and created some new Strava Segments along the way, like Alex's Trail Up and Alex's Trail Down, and of course our favorite trail, Taco Bell!  Al brought up an interesting point about Strava in that people are cheating to best everyone else on these segments by trying to take shortcuts and are making trail braids to shave time.  The other negative outcome is it identifies people who are riding illegal trails.  This got me thinking about that new trail braid on the Gussy that I discovered the other day ... I think you know what I will be doing this weekend!

Starting out, the Raleigh was performing really well but at about mile 3 the EBB started creaking.  On the way back from Taco Bell I dropped the chain.  So I took it easy for the rest of the ride.  I am going to try getting new pinch bolts, preferably titanium, otherwise I might have to get a replacement EBB, such as the Carver or the Bushnell.

After the ride I was introduced to the Naughty Nurse and she was delicious!  Can't wait to try the Blonde on Blonde next time around!  

So many mountain bikers at Upper Paugussett!

While the rest of the country is suffering from extreme drought conditions, the northeastern part of the US has transformed into the Land of Liquid Sunshine as it was once described to me when I was cadet at Fort Lewis undergoing Advanced Camp training.  Finally, an evening with no rain gave me the opportunity to head out to Upper Paugussett and hopefully set some Strava Segment achievements!  I got King of the Mountain (KOM) on Poly Brody's Frontside which was pretty easy considering it is all fire road.  I am also the leader on the Upper Gussy Loop, too.

There were so many people riding the Gussy Trail this evening I should have had a bell!  I caught up with Shawn and his wife Lisa riding Cannondale 29ers demo bikes they have at the Bicycle Center.  She was on a full suspension rig that looked really sweet!  Further down the Gussy I ran into Rob who I met last month on a ride here.  He was riding up the Gussy.  Stopped off and cut that low lying tree by the new tunnel of love near the 3 sisters roller.  Then I came across three guys taking a frosty break on the Blue Cross Roller.

I decided to take another crack at the Frontside of Poly Brody again and then hit the Mulikin Trail on the way out.  This is a lot better than what I have been doing because it adds an additional mile or two to my basic route.  And seeing how I was able to do it in under an hour I think it will become my new workout route.  On the second go around on the Poly Brody I passed another group of riders.  One guy was even riding a Pugsley!

Some changes On the Spot, new saddle because the Terry Saddle bit the dust and I have my tubeless tires back from Pedal Power.  That was an ordeal!  Turns out I need a new valve stem and rim strip, which was a little costly but it's nice to have them back because they roll so nicely!

 

Laps at Upper Paugussett SF - RAW

Day 4 of the 30 days of Biking Challenge and I was jonesin' all day to get on the mountain bike.  With my first mountain bike race of the season less than two weeks away, I need to get ready.  Of course, the diSSent is still not built due to issues stemming from a hydraulic brake caliper issue not fitting properly but fortunately I recently got a nice little gift cert to Amazon and just ordered some 2011 G2 Avid BB7s, Graphite Speed Dial 7 levers, and Clarkes Cables.  Hopefully, the diSSent will see some dirt this weekend and then all next week I will be riding it.

So it appears, based on my harried work schedule and the demands of the family my knobbies are going to be seeing a lot of the Upper Paugussett State Forest.  Monday's ride consisted of two laps on the Upper Gussy trail for a total of 8.5 miles.  Once again, having a sustainable trail which is the Upper Gussy after this winter is paying off in spades.  There is not a hint of mud on the whole trail.  There is a little mud on the forest road in which we call the Poly Brody but that is par for the course.

For race training, I think I am going to have to start at the intersection of Tamarack and Sanford Roads and work in laps going both up and down the Gussy.  Monday evening, all I had time for was two loops on the Gussy but to train harder and ride longer I really need to lap from the start point.  On my second helping of Gussy I did a half superman with a good quick recovery on the log up-and-over that leads into a little , little technical descent in which I just got careless.  In fact, everything else on that second run was better than the first go.

That annoying creaking sound is back

It was quite for Sunday's race but today it was creaking again while riding in CT NEMBA's Monday Ride After Work (RAW) series. I think what I am going to do is pop out the cups later this week, see if there is any cracking, and if not lube them and reset them onto the headtube.

Despite the creaking noise we had a pretty good ride Monday evening with some more participants. Besides Vin, Paula showed up but bailed after riding the Big Burn and there were two teenagers Randy and Chris. We did a warm up on Rock & Roll, the boys had fun climbing up and rolling down this rock in the middle of trail. From there we hooked around to the Lower Dodgingtown Lot rode around the Big Burn including hitting what I call the Saddle Roller (in the video below).

From there we rode the singletrack that connects with the trail from Little Vomit and headed into the northern section of the park. Right before the start of the big downhill trail that connects to the trail that leads to that deadend road in Newtown we took an offshoot trail that loops back on the trail we just rode. Looping around again we took the right branch of this trail and it took us to the Mica Mine. Funny, for some reason I always thought it was further to the south but then I recognized the descent that you ride if you were coming from Big Vomit. It's funny how the old miners went in two different directions but still left a section separating the two digs, so naturally someone put a trail over it.

From there, we were on the blue trail once again but broke off and took the white section which is a steep downhill that crosses over a stream and then climbs up to the downhill trail from where we previously turned off for the Mica Mine, which looks daunting but is truly a no brainer, even on a singlespeed. The downhill section of the trail has a few nice hucks in it that are always fun to hit and soon enough we are back on the blue trail. That leads you up through the Tornado Trail, that is where the Tornado touched down two years ago, knocking a tree down and blocking the trail. The smaller stuff was cleared but not the big stuff so the trail now goes around it.

Then you turn back and start climbing again. If you were to go straight you would run into the dead end section of Codfish Hill.By this point it was 7:30 PM so we rode back to the parking lot, making sure to hit as much singletrack on the way back as possible.

Chris rolling down

Randy climbing up

Everyone Riding the Saddle Roller

Dropped chain?

The only time I have ever dropped a chain while riding singlespeed was because I didn't have enough chain tension and that appears to have what happened while riding at Huntington on Monday. I had just hammered up the climb from Hopewell Road and heading up to the intersection with the white trail is when the chain dropped. I went a little further down the trail but I could tell it just wasn't right so I stopped to put more tension on it.

What this meant was the 20 Nm of force that I applied initially to the pitch bolts was inadequate which also leads me to believe that ovalization of the BB shell could indeed be the source of my problems. Everything seems to start out fine but after awhile it appears to go downhill quickly. After re-tightening the EBB pedaling was very quite but then a little later that hollow sounding, thwang, came back which sounds like there is still movement with the EBB.

As for the creaking sound, I no long think that is in the drive train, rather the head tube. I mad a video to capture the sound of what I am hearing. Disregard the higher pitch sound because I think that's my brake levers but the more hollower, longer sounding rattle that comes and goes reminds me too much of the sound aluminum would make if it where cracked and rubbing on something.

RAW: Spring Riding in Winter

I rode Tuesday thinking I wouldn't be able to ride Wednesday prior to the CT NEMBA monthly chapter meeting in Middletown, only to find that my afternoon suddenly freed up so I popped smoke, swung by the house to pick up my bike and drive north! I hate having to stop by the house on my way to a ride to pick stuff up because the kids automatically think Daddy's home to play and feel so bad that I will be leaving again. I will make it up to them tonight, thought. My darling wife did hook me up and brave the desolate wasteland that is my home office and charge up the battery on my camera for me! Thanks Dear!

The other day I went to the doctor because I thought a past leg injury of mine had resurfaced after snowboarding two weeks ago but I got it all checked out Tuesday and it appears that I might have pulled a few muscles or even pinched a nerve somewhere. The doctor said to take it easy so that is why I rode the 'Horse yesterday and I was planning on riding it again on Wednesday but when I pulled it down from the rack, the back tire was flat! That is the last time I am riding that bike at Dingle Brook! So, I went with the single speed.

It was a nice little turn out for an impromptu ride before the Chapter Meeting. Barry Burke and his friend Bill (rides a blue Raleigh XXIX rigid), Paula, Glenn, and myself. We rode about four and half miles in the waning daylight. The trails at Wadsworth Falls State Park are fantastic for a fun ride with variable terrain. There is no insane climbing or and for that matter nothing terribly technical, either. So if you are just starting out, I would highly recommend to everyone to try this place! Surprisingly, there was not one mechanical during the entire ride! That is atypical for a CT NEMBA ride.

This house at the edge of the park got our attention. It looked like a Mexican Restaurant. It would have been nice for a little mid-ride pick me up with a cold Corona and few tacos. There was, however, a casualty, myself. I tried to bunny hop over a log that was on an angle and got stuck between my front wheel and bash guard, didn't unclip in time and my thigh and forearm bared the brunt of my weight on the log. Needless to say, I got a nice bump on my leg and arm but it didn't hinder my ability to ride.

Bennett's Pond RAW - Riding the Bush

Met up with my friend Nate, who is a new NEMBA member and Trail Ambassador, to ride one of my favorite places, Bennetts Pond.  In the map above, the tourquoise track is the latest ride and the dark blue track is the last time I was at Bennetts (last year).  Other tracks were subsequent rides but as I realize now, I think I visited Bennett's more than once last year.  To date, I have logged a total 60 miles at Bennetts.

Last night's ride started out on the Green Trail which is almost completely overgrown with pricker bushes and grass.  The treadway is really buff but it also has many roots which make it fun.  Part way down the trail and around a slight bend is a blowdown that Nate brought to the attention of Ridgefield Open Space Association (ROSA), the self appointed care taker for Bennett's, but either they don't have the manpower or they don't really care.  I would think it might be the latter as a way to control mountain biking.  

Unfortunately, in their short sightedness they are also excluding equestriennes who use this area quite a bit, evidenced by all the piles of road apples seen on the trails (nice examples just below the blowdown in the above picture).  I am thinking that a TM session in the future might be necessary.  A couple of bow saws and do some clipping along this trail would open things up nicely.  

This picture of Nate on the green trail gives you a pretty good idea of the Bush on the trail.  The trail itself is nice, just the edges need to be cut back.

Nate Close up

Another Blow down (white Trail).  Again, Nate conveyed this to ROSA over a month ago and nothing has happened yet.  Might make a good up and over if you cut the top log.

Looking back up the trail

This Mud wallow on the white trail, at this point, probably isn't worth armoring because of the trail braid that already exists.

Just need a little rock work on the braid and it will be zooming.

Stream Armoring for the Pond Trail.  This is a nice armoring job that's fun to ride.

Stream Armoring for the Pond Trail (from the other side)

First time on the Pond Trail and it's a really technical and challenging trail to ride.  Some sections like this one pictured above is quite close to the water.

Nate riding the Pond Trail

Swans and their cygnets