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!

Winter Riding in the Catskills

A mid January thaw afforded me to break with the routine of Saturday uphill skiing at Windham and go riding instead. I set off on my Cyclocross bike for a quick loop around the ski area, only to find that I might have bit off more than I could chew or pedal for that matter because I had to be back in time to meet my son for lunch.

My morning route took me west on Route 23 out of Windham to down towards Red Falls and then turning south onto Route 23A.  I really had no clue of what to expect and when I turned off the main road onto Airport Road I encountered my first serious climb on Airport Road.

Airport Road is a monster, almost 1000 foot climb.  The first part has a max grade of 12% and the steepest section is upwards of 18%! 

Once you get to the airport, if you call it that, the road continues to climb.  On the middle climb I had to stop 3 times for fear of passing out and a clear indication that I am grossly out of shape.

Not much going on at the Maben Airport

Right be the road starts the last major descent there is a great view of Hunter Mountain and the Round Top.

By the time I got to Jewett I knew I had to head back so I cut back through the Jewett Pass and then rode through the heart of Windham back to the Adaptive Sports Foundation lodge to meet Elliot for Lunch.

After lunch I went out on a more manageable loop with yet another killer climb.  Campbell Road has a max grade of 18% only this time I was able to ride the entire ascent without stopping.  Turning east onto Cunningham Road I was treated to spectacular views of Windham Mountain and numerous historical sites.

I found this abandoned Church in Ashland that reminded me of the Church in Roxbury, CT with the green shutters.

The further I got up the road the more spectacular the view of Windham Mountain got.

By this point it must have been 50 degrees and I was sweating profusely.

Leaving Cunningham Road and turning south back towards Windham it was literally all down hill to Route 23.

Upper Paugussett Bushwhack

I have been without a mountain bike for almost 4 months now and while in the past I rarely rode in the woods I hear them calling out to me ... YOU MUST COME BACK TO ME!  I spoke with the Mountain Bike Stork the other day and a new baby is about to be delivered, which is the impetus to getting back into the woods.  

Today's Hike (Dark Blue) Existing trail network (light blue)

The trails that we all love to ride are in need of some TLC.  To that end, my friend Pete and I are trying to assemble a coalition of trail users to work on trail projects throughout Newtown and the surrounding areas.  Today (Sunday) we met to have a look around at some of the trails at Upper Paugussett that have some significant issues to get an idea for what needs to be done.  

We met at the turn out before Pond Brook and headed into the forest on the connector trail that I built a few years back at the request of the State only to find that some new some new short cuts that must have been created by hikers.  We took the Jalopy Trail to the Snowshoe trail and then over to the Mulikin Trail.  We could see that the blue trail is getting quite a bit of bike traffic and it looks like people have cut a new line on the trail to get around the rooty section.

Mulikin Trail

Further up the Mulikin we found that a tree had come down and was blocking the trail but trail gnomes turned it into a nice up and over.  The rutted out section is just getting worse and worse.  I wish people would stay off it during mud season and other times when the ground is soft because it's just getting worse and worse.

At one point I had envisioned extending the Gussy Trail to the Mulikin Trail and fixing the rutted out section but last fall a hunter complained to the State DEEP about the Unmarked and Unsanctioned Trail. When I inquired about getting the ball rolling on my plans to extend the Gussy, the response from the State was no due to the illegal trail building that took place.  I guess we'll just have to live with what we got.

Leaving the Mulikin we followed a few hunter trails between the Mulikin and the Blue Trail by looking for reflector thumb tacks stuck in the trees.  There is one path that leads to a big blow down with a plastic chair laying near by.  We followed the Ravine south to the to the barely visible that connects to the old, old white trail which leads out to the Poly Brodie.  At the Double Roller we turned west and bush whacked, crossing over the Poly Brody, then then Unmarked and Unsanctioned Trail, and the Gussy Trail.  From the Gussy, we continued west to the Blue Blazed Trail and then picked up the old Yellow Blazed Horse trail.  Eventually, we got back to the Jalopy Trail and headed back out.