Post Irene Trail Maintenance

Rather than riding on Labor Day, I decided to hit the Gussy Trail and do some trail maintenance to clean up what came down due to Hurricane Irene. First I headed over to the Cleavage and cleaned up a blow down there. Then I went back up the Gussy raking as I went. At the double stream crossing I improved the armoring because it had been nagging me and then I continued to the blow downs past third crossing.

I chopped the branch that was sticking up and decided to leave the rest of the blow down as is and build an up-and-over on it.

I found a pretty good nearby rock mart and started dragging rocks over to it. One thing led to another and I basically built a ramp over this little log.

I wanted to tie this nearby rock into the feature and make it like a rock skinny over the log but I couldn't find the right rocks to do so.

I was amazed to find the last blow down already cut up. Who ever did this, I thank you! I thought I was going to have to re-route around it.

There are still two blow downs on the Poly Brody that I am going to try to get to later this week if the State hasn't already dealt with.

Saturday Morning Single Speed

Now that the power is back, at least in my neighborhood and our personal hell has been taken away, it's time to get some more riding in since the trails are complete crap right now.  Other people throughout my town and the State of Connecticut for that matter, including both my in-laws and my father are still without power.  I wish them a speedy re-energize.  It was high time that I take the Ross Riviera out for a real test ride, something more that an a quick jaunt up and down my road, a ride with some hills to really test the 52:20 gearing.

My goal was to the Town Line and back but I fell short of time and turned around short of it by a half mile.  Along the way there were still many signs that the post Tropical Storm Irene Apocalypse was still on going.  Frankly, I think the power company and the local municipalities got caught with their pants down in the recovery effort and could have done a better job working together in order to remedy the situation.  Hopefully, they will learn from this so that their efforts can be better coordinated and the town can provide quicker services for those in need.

Hanover Rd:  Transformers on the side of the road

Businesses still without power

Staging area for the Tree and Lineman Teams

Give these guys your thanks!

All the fire houses have drinking water.
I filled my water cans at the Hawleyville Firehouse twice this week!

This house is till out of power because their service line was taken out.

Riding in the Post Tropical Storm aftermath CL&P Apocolypse

Common sign around town

Enough was a enough, I needed to get out for a ride.  The fact that I haven't had power since Sunday has been hampering my riding activities because the thought of lounging around the house post ride still sweaty is just not that appealing.  If you have been following the events here on the east coast and it seems that the local power utility that services most of the state greatly under estimated the potential impact of this storm and has been rather slow to get people's power restored.  

Today, I figured I could set up some sort of make shift outdoor shower.  Took the usual route and found that there are two significant trees down on the Poly Brody that will need some chainsaw time to fix, but will make pretty good up and overs for the time being once I get back there with a handsaw.  Beside a lot of new sticks and medium sized branches littering the Gussy Trail there are three pretty good blockages on the trail that will take some work to deal with.

Some, like the one above were easy to deal with but the one in the picture below will take some work.

Looks like there will be many new up and overs on the Gussy Trail.

The Cleavage needs some work, too!

Now that I can shower, I think I will be riding more now!

Off the Grid

Well if you have been wondering where I have been we had a hurricane/tropical storm rip through our area on Sunday and have been out of power since.  Today, I got a generator and we now have TV and Internet!!  Still no running water but I have been hauling water up from the stream in our back yard to flush the toilets.  I also made a fire pit in the back yard and we have been roasting marshmallows with the neighbors every night.  Not being able to shower after a ride has been preventing my saddle time.  Hopefully, we'll have power soon.

Misfit Psycles diSSent 1x9

Just have to add a chain and I will be rocking! The thing that gets me is the Conti Race King (in the back) looks bigger than the Mountain King in the front. Apparently, the tire width is meaured from knob to knob so while the rear tire has a lot of volume the front tire has a lot teeth for grabbing the trail.