Shelton Lakes Monster Cross

Finally got the chance to ride the Shelton Lakes B2B trail, one of the few Greenway trails in Connecticut not on an old railroad bed, however, I think there is a section that might utilize an old Trolley route.  I wanted to take the Qball Monster Cross out with the new gearing, 32:18, and it was righteous!  As I get stronger, I will start gearing further down.

I have ridden here a few times, on the Single Track, but this was the first time that I rode the B2B trail, or should I say actually found it.  I think I have ridden sections in the past but there has been a tremendous amount of work put into the trail that now you can't miss it.

The trail is about 8 to 10 feet wide and is mainly process, gravel or even ground asphalt, perfect Monster Cross conditions!

The Qball rides much better with the Qstick fork, too.  Of course it's made for it but it was worth trying the Soul Cycles fork to see what it was like.  The Qstick is much more solid and perfect for this kind of riding..

New section of trail built this summer.

On the return from Huntington I found some single track, very narrow single track, and freshly cut that parallels Oak Valley Road, the section of the B2B that uses a road.  The trail was soft, really tight in places and much more enjoyable with a little squish, however, it was better than riding on a road.

When I have more time, rather than ride this section, I would cut behind the Ekland Garden and ride the single track that hooks up to the power line trail that B2B also utilizes.

There was one casualty from riding that narrow trail.  I must have scraped a tree and lost my bar end plug holding my bar tape in.  I was able to tie it off, thankfully, otherwise I would have looked like a schmuck riding down the trail with bar tape flailing off my bike.  Granted, I only saw a couple of dog walkers because of the cold but that stuff has to be kept tight!

Single in Shelton

I said this last year when I rode the Shelton Lakes Trail System, this is a the perfect place to ride on a single speed and today's ride was certainly confirmation. There was only one section in which I had to climb because it was a serious hike-a-bike. It appears however, that someone in Shelton took my advice and decided to put in a go around. Too bad it's taking for ever to build. Great board walks, fun climbs, and some areas have a lot of Cross Stuntry potential.

Trail Maintainers

Blue Trail under the power lines - real blue trail?

Hike-a-bike

What is the taking so long?

RAW: Shelton Lakes

Had the opportunity to Ride After Work at Shelton Lakes on Thursday and it was interesting to the say the least. My expectation was your typical up and down New England trails but as you can see from the profile below it was pretty flat. Not sure what that dip means but if you look on the map above it's in a section of the trail that was sloping downwards but that not that much. Maybe because I was moving so fast that the GPS just couldn't record keep up.
The night before I put a new chain on the 'Horse. I had meant to pick one up this week but I was working down in Shelton and never got to the LBS so I pulled one of your chain drawer that I thought was a 9 speed chain. I think it was an 8 speed chain because in most of the gears the chain wouldn't hold. I guess I should have figured it out the night before when I tried using a 9 speed master link but it wouldn't work. I was still able to ride and that was all that mattered.

I think I hit the majority of the Trail System. Except for a section of the Turkey Trot Loop I stayed away from the B2B or Bridge-2-Bridge Trail. Don't ride here without a map if you are riding here for the first time and if you are alone. I downloaded the GIF files to my Blackberry and thought I might have to use that but I also had a printed map that really helped.

Trails are either really buff or rooty and rocky. There is very little climbing and the biggest climbs of course go right up fall lines.

Lots of board walks crossing over streams and wet areas. Except for one on the orange trail past the Eklund Garden all were really solid.

Definitely have to return and try some of the trails that I missed. Of course, the next time I am bringing a rigid bike. Full suspension is overkill on these trails.