Thirsty Thursday: More Packies carrying BBC in Sub-rural-urbia

After riding yesterday morning I realized that I needed some beer but knew I would have to wait till after work.  On my way home I took a chance and stopped off at Taunton Wine & Liquor on Rte 6 in Newtown and to my surprise they are now carrying Berkshire Brewing Company!  The last time I was in there, I had inquired about it and apparently others had has asked for it, too!  Guess the inquiry paid off.

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I knew about Cork & Keg already from the last time I got take-out at the neighboring Pan-Asian resturant.  That is where I found they carry Growlers!  Those 64 oz bottles flanking the bombers (22 oz bottles) in the link.  

Nice to see you can also get it at Heritage Village, too.

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Election Day Ride

After performing my civic duty this morning at Oh Dark Thirty, I rushed home, oranged up, jumped on the 'Horse and headed out to Upper Paugussett State Forest. The weather on Tuesday morning was a balmy 39 degrees and 85 percent humidy which seems to make things a lot warmer.

My friend Rob said he was riding at Upper Paugussett Sunday afternoon and spotted three ATVs coming out of the white trail onto the fire road. He said he found their tracks on the other side of the forest coming from the West Side Blue Blaze trail .

Further up the trail you can see they are they are creating their own stream crossing by tearing through the mud. If this keeps up this way, this could easily become like some of the trails at Lower Paugussett State Forest that have been ravaged by ATVs.

Hoping to atleast slow them down, I tried to block the entrance somewhat. Hopefully this will slow them down long enough so when the cops show up, they'll get busted for riding unregistered motorized vehicles on town roads. I have also asked the DEP to put up some signs at this entrance that say no motorized vehicles. Unlikely that will deter them but at least if they were not aware of it, maybe, just maybe it might do some good.

Otherwise, I had a great ride. I think I have to remind myself that if I am riding in temps below 40 degrees to either a thicker pair of wool socks or two pair of thin socks if I am going to wear my non-insulated riding shoes. Otherwise, a wicking shirt and a blaze orange henly kept me moderately warm during the ride to the trail head. I probably could have worn shorts but opted for BDU trousers instead.

There was one car in the lot at Echo Valley but I didn't see any hunters. I could tell that the Gussy trail is seeing primarily bikes. Didn't see any rustled leaves that would indicate that someone walked on the trail. In fact, besides Rick and I riding the trail on Sunday, along with Rob later in the afternoon. Rob said he passed a couple riding up the trail. Which reminds me that I have to start riding the trail that way again to once again experience the trail from the other direction. There might be things I am missing.

Election Day ... please do your civic duty!

And once your done, head over to Knuckletattoos.com and show everybody what you did today!

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

Motobecan 29er up for grabs locally

I always find it funny to see a brand new bike immediately being sold on Craigslist after just one ride. I would think that if you wanted try the Koolaid, one ride won't make you a believer. Of course, there could be other circumstances, like Liam is getting deployed to Iraq. Not sure if that is the same guy but it could be.

Below is the image of this bike from Bikesdirect.com. Click on it and it will take you to the website where this bike is offered. It's definitely priced competitively but it has quite a few limitations for example, there is no rear hanger so if you wanted to go geary you would need an after market solution and there are no disc brake mounts. I am also curious about the size. The add says 27" and but I think the seller really meant to say 17." That would be a little small for someone who is 6 feet tall.

Then again, it could be the seller, being 6 feet tall bought a bike too small and want's something different. You would think, however, that he would try to discount the bike less than almost 40%. My only other concern would be the ride. This is an aluminum bike and the ride is going to be really harsh. I know from personal experience by riding my Fetish Fixation rigid offroad.

Still, at that price, or if you could get it for a little less than the asking price it would be a low cost koolaid taste test. If it wasn't for you and this indeed came from Bikesdirect.com, then it ships with a flipflop hub, so you could get some nice 700x40 or 45c cross tires and ride this as a fixie!

In fact, if you look at the specs what you will see that the front chain ring is a 42T?  This configuration is not for mountain biking unless all you are going to use it for is carriage roads and rail trails.  No, Motobecan missed the boat on this bike entirely.  Yeah, you could ride it off road but unless you have 22T as the back cog you are going to pushing this bike up most hills.

The End of Daylight Savings

I met Rick, a fellow Newtowner and Mountain Biker, at the Echo Valley Lot for a chilly loop at Upper Paugussett Sunday morning. With the change in time it was much lighter at 7:15 AM but it wasn't any warmer. Still, it was nice to be out on the bike on a beautiful fall morning.

I threw on the winter ride boots, only this time with a thin pair of wool socks which kept my feet toasty warm the whole ride. Rode again with my APFU Pants which were perfect for the temperature. I had a wicking jersey, long sleeve T-shirt, and my riding jacket and I never got cold.

We started off at the Echo Valley lot and headed up the Fire Road. Took that all the way to the Mulkin Trail and went down it. The up and over was solid as ever and the clearing that I did this summer was a big help. Still needs a little work though. The rock armouring line that I did earlier this year on the one stream crossing was fine, too. By the drepression in the leaves, looks like people are still riding this trail.

We hooked back up the lower section of the Gussy to the fire road. Rick took a really good picture of the old jalopy. Riding from here there are three climbs that get progressively steeper the farther you go. The first climb is the Girlfriend. It's a non-committal climb and that's pretty easy. The next climb isn't as steep, but it's long and technical, kind of like a Fiancee. Unless you are going to Vegas, this section is great. The last climb is the wife. It's short and steep and once you think you are done it hits you with another steep clmb. So, once you are done with the dishes, she comes back and asks you to take out the garbage.

Rick took a few pictures on this ride. Here I am at the top of the second climb. I did all three climbs again without calling upon Granny for help. The 'Horse, as usual, performed impeccably.

Now that we were really warmed up, it was time to hit the Gussy. It took me four tries to get up this one rock section that I have tried in the past but was never successful. Rick did it on the first shot. Took me three tries to find the right line and found it on the fourth try. The other option was to take the Pussy Path/Horse Go Around that I have been riding for quite some time.

We both hit the Short Log Ride. It was Rick's first time and he cleaned it on the first shot. First time for me on the 'Horse and it was fun. Much different from the Qball. Rick got a shot of me on the roller at the Blue Trail intersection. This loop: Fire Road/Mulikin/Gussy is approximately 5 miles long.

Here is Rick's new bike. A Special-Ed XC. Nice, light bike!