Do you fancy being a Lumber Jack?

CT NEMB's Sawyer's Course is now on for Saturday, March 7th! You too can be be a lumber jack just like this guy:

We are currently planning on doing this course with Logger Rescue up in Mansfield CT on the morning of March 7th. We will be covering the same material we were planning to do earlier this winter and the agenda will be basically the same.

Make plans to get to 242 Puddin La. Mansfield Center, CT 06250 a few minutes before 10am.


View Larger Map

Realizing things are coming together last minute here and as it stands right now, we have two openings. If you would like to attend, please contact Eric Mayhew. Assuming we don't get another blizzard this course will be on regardless of weather, so please dress accordingly. Including any safety footwear like steel-toe boots, jeans, jackets, hats & gloves, and all else. If you have a favorite eye/ear protection please bring them along. Following the training there will be a BOD meeting.

When you have completed the course, you will look like this guy, the beard is optional of course. And it's up to if you want to put women's clothing and hang around in bars.

Trail Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date of Activity: 2/21/2008

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador Email: eatsleepfish[at]gmail[dot]com 
Town: Newtown

Location: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Trail(s) Ridden: Poly Brody Fire Road and Upper Gussy
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: Early Morning
Duration (Hours)?: 2 Hours
Distance (Miles): 6+

Condition of Trail: Good, still some snow in places but rideable. Really icy on the Brody Road near the split. If it warms up, then it will be too sloppy to ride. Only ride if temps are below 32* F right now.

Encounters & Observations: Encountered a lot of blown down twigs and branches that I cleared. The new benching next to the Log Ride Short (YouTube Video) had been purposely blocked by a hiker/hunter. The individual actually broke a sapling to block the trail. Using my collapsible saw I made short work of the blockage and reopened the trail. Also, there have been no new ATV incursions on the Gussy Trail. Also, there was another tree down, atop another, in the back part of the Gussy which required a little more up-and-over work. Now it is much more rideable.

Trail Recon: Racebrook Tract

CT NEMBA Trail Ambassadors Paula Burton, Ed Perten (pictured left), and Mark Lurie met at the parking area for Racebrook Tract on Saturday morning (2/14) to take inventory of the existing trails and to assess the feasibility of introducing new single track. It was still pretty cold, probably around 25 degrees and everyone came prepared for a cold ride.

You may recall Paula was the recent recipient of a new bike that was won through NEMBA's trail care series raffle, however, today she brought her hard tail with studded tires. Later in the ride she gave us a demonstration of how to ride the ice. She made it look very easy. As for Ed and I, we had to stay in the snow on the sides of the trail which made pedaling alot of work, especially for me riding my single speed. Here is a little video I made of Paula riding on ice.

The Racebrook Tract is open space owned by the towns of Orange and Woodbridge. It lies between four roads, Routes 34 & 114, the Wilbur Cross Parkway, and Johnson Rd (Woodbridge) and Dogburn Road (Orange). Entrance to the parking area is off Rte 114 just north of the Rte 34 intersection. Permitted activities include: include hiking, cross country skiing, bicycling, horse back riding, and fishing in Race Brook and Colburn Brook. Special rules for the latter two activities are posted at the Ox Shed near the trail entrance. Only the Ox Shed has since fallen in disrepair, so if there is any limitations to activities it is unknown at this time.


It is a unique park, just minutes from New Haven and the Wilbur Cross Parkway. All the existing marked trails are all dual track trails, which are primarily graveled over the past years for various other uses as in the construction of powerlines through the park. With the exception of the red trail, none of the existing marked trails are very challenging, which is perfect if you have young kids that you would like to introduce to mountain biking.

The Red Trail in the Woodbridge section of the park is in the worst condition and is the only trail with a any kind of challenging climb because it's very long.

(looking downhill)

(Looking uphill)

There are a lot of hikers and dog walkers using this park so if you do venture out to it, please be courteous of them. Here is the map of the ride. We explored a few of the off shoots that don't appear on the map. Most these unmarked trails seem to be for logging. There is an access road that ends at a gate just short of the Parkway. The area east of the Purple Trail (P) is reserved for logging and is quite torn up from these operations.

We found an unmarked road that connects the Red and Green Trails west of the powerlines. Clearly, this trail/road was used in construction of the powerlines. Between the Red and White trails there is the start of the loan single track trail that has a pretty good climb at the end of the trail. It looks like the back entrance to what was an old camping area with a rotten picnic table and an old, rusted out hand water pump 50 yards further towards the white Trail.

From the brochure there was a tunnel build between the Wepawaug Reservoir and Maltby Lakes to divert water for the City of New Haven back in the early 1900s. My guess is that this might have been an operations area for the workers in the past. The pump, pictured, below is an area that looks like it might have supported some sort of work area.

Not pictured, although I took quite a few pictures of was a raised bed of shale tailings that came from the contstruction of the tunnel. The bed extends from the intersection of the White and Red Trails to Race Brook. On the other side of the stream the bed continues which leads me to believe that this tunnel actually crossed over, rather than under the stream in some sort of pipe.

Currently, Ed is putting together a trail proposal to build a new single track trail here. The idea is to put in a multi-use trail that is a little more challenging than the dirt roads and dwelves into the interior and outer sections of the park.

Trail Ambassador training for CT NEMBA in the works....

CT NEMBA Trail Ambassadors: Apply directly to the trails!

CT NEMBA Trail Ambassadors: Apply directly to the trails!

CT NEMBA Trail Ambassadors: Apply directly to the trails!

In the spring of 2008 CT NEMBA trained 25 new Trail Ambassadors from areas in CT as diverse as Bethel to Bristol, and Westport to Groton. The 2008 season was a great success for CT TA's. We cleared countless trails of deadfall, developed and fostered many relationships between TA's and land managers, and assisted fellow mountain bikers in need of a spare tube or a repair. This all adds up to lots of volunteer hours contributed to CT NEMBA!

Trail Ambassadors are the eyes and ears of land managers and land owners on the trails we ride. They are also helpful folks who are always willing to lend you a tool when you've got a mechanical, or move deadfall off the trails. If you ever rode by a nice big branch at just about neck height and thought to yourself "That seems DANGEROUS!" and then went back the next day to find it cleared, it just may have been a CT NEMBA Trail Ambassador who came through with their official CT NEMBA folding saw and cleared the way for you and all other trail users!

In the short training session (about 2 hours) you will learn a little bit more about CT NEMBA, typical trail encounters and how to handle them, basic trail maintenance techniques, and what your responsibilities will be as a Trail Ambassador. The CT NEMBA TA program is not a "patrol" but a group of riders who ride their normal rides while being aware of their surroundings and are happy to help any trails or trail users who need it!

If YOU would be interested in representing CT NEMBA and the larger Connecticut mountain biking community by volunteering as a Trail Ambassador we would love to have you! It's an easy 3-step process! If you are already a NEMBA member, you're done with step 1... Step 2: Simply send me an email at mayhew.eric@gmail.com and let me know that you would like to participate. The current training dates are one Saturday morning in late March and one Sunday morning in April and this will be confirmed with all respondents. (Weather permitting we will have a short ride after the session…) And Step 3…Go ride your bike!

Eric

2009 February Board Meeting

The February 2009 CTNEMBA Board meeting began with three excellent Pizza Pies from Middletown's own Illianos.

After each of us enjoyed a few slices we got down to business.

Up coming events was the foremost discussion and they include:

1. March 7th Sawyers Training
2. Trail Ambassador Training Sessions tentatively scheduled for March 21 and April 19th that will be held at Brooksvale Park in Hamdem
3. NEMBA Trail School, May 16th & May 17th, held at Putnam Park and Huntington State Park in Bethel/Redding.
4. The thrid annual Happening at Huntington (NEMBA Mountain Bike Adventure Series) at Huntington State Park on June 14th

Also in the works are member rides that will be held on weekends. If you would like to lead a ride, please contact the chapter and let us know what date and where you would like to lead a ride. Don't forget Trail Maintenance. Look what one our members won because she participated in Trail Maintenance:

If you would like to have a chance at winning a new bike, please come out do Trail Maintenance at one of our scheduled events.

Other rides that are in the offing include another edition of the Weekly Tuesday Night Women's ride at Trumbull, Biketoberfest, and don't forget Fall Fiesta.

NEMBA Trail Care Series Winner: Paula Burton

Paula Burton, CT NEMBA Trail Boss, won an awesome new Trek Fuel EX from the NEMBA Trail Care series.  

"Wow", she says, "I didn't even know there was a raffle. Your name goes into the raffle every time you do trail work."  Paula continues," I can't wait to spring and dry trails to check out the new bike." 

She racked up many hours building a new trail at Waldo Park in Southbury and doing trail maintenance at Huntington State Park in Redding. 

Trek dealer Class Cycles of Southbury put the bike together. Shown left to right,  Scottie, bike mechanic, Paula, and Roy, owner of bike store.

Mianus River Park: Update

Hi, Friends of the Mianus River Park, Feb 4, 2009

1. Trailwork:

a. We'll be holding our regular monthly trailwork this Saturday, Feb 7th.

b. Please join us. We'll meet at the bridge on Merriebrook Lane, at 9am (work until noon).

c. Forecast is breezy and milder with some sunshine giving way to clouds, warming to 47 F.

d. We'll be doing some more armoring of wet areas on the trails, at two spots fairly close to the bridge. (Armoring means laying down flat rocks to walk on over the wet areas, without damming up the flow of water)

e. Please bring gloves.

2. We've had repeated incidents of vandalism to the Deer Fence. This fence was built for two reasons:

a. To create a deer-free area to demonstrate how the forest will rejuvenate when not subject to deer browse. The area inside the fence was cleared of invasive plants and re-planted with native plants. This spring, we'll be planting more native plants.

b. To protect the riverbank in that area from non-natural erosion.

If you should see someone cutting this fence, please explain to them why we want to maintain the integrity of the fence.

Thanks,

Pete Sofman

Communications, Friends of the MRP