TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date of Activity:09-30-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry despite all the recent percipitation

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador Email: eatsleepfish@gmail.com
Town: Newtown
Location: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Trails Ridden: Poly Brody, Upper Gussy
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 12:00PM
Duration (Hours): 1
Distance (Miles): 7

Observations: Lost of signs of hunting, from pickup trucks in the parking lot with big Cabela's stickers on the back, to targets placed on trees (don't they know it's still bow season). Someone is marking trails with Pink Engineering tape. Checked with DEP and they don't use Pink and they haven't been in there marking trails, either. Cleared a big oak branch blocking the Gussy Trail. Equestriennes seem to be managing their road apples better, too.

TA Report: WIlton Woods

Date of Activity:09-28-09
Condition of Trails(s): Damp


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: Most
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 2:30
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 5.5
Observations: Gave directions to some lost hikers on how to get back to the car. New walkway on blue really coming in handle on the wet days, no more riding through 4+ inches of mud in that section....

TA Report: Bradley Park

Date of Activity:09-28-09
Condition of Trails(s): Damp


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Bradley Park
Trail(s) Ridden: All
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 1:00PM
Duration (Hours): 1
Distance (Miles): 4.5
Observations: Went through riding all the work we did the day before, park is shaping up. Ran across a dog walker who wanted to assist with park maintenance and I handed him a Wilton Conservation Commission card and gave him my info so I can contact him for the next TM day.

Trail Report: WIlton Woods

Date of Activity:09-26-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: All
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 1:00PM
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): 7.5
Observations: Dry, can not believe how many leaves have fallen already, trails were really covered up. Handed out some Wilton Conservation Commission info cards to hikers. Gave 2 sets of families new to the park directions for a nice short fall loop along the river.

Trail Report: Bradley Park

Date of Activity:09-26-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Bradley Park
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 8AM
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: First official approved trail maintenance day at the park, Chris and local ride and resident assisted and myself were the TM crew for the day. We chatted with a local residents on the street who also want to assist in future work events. The park is not large 88 acres with about 5 miles of trails and only gets dog walkers. We basically walked every trail in the park cutting back overgrowth, repaired a series of bridges strung together that had many loose boards that we renailed down. Also made it easier to get on the bridge with built-up rock. We spent most of the time in the park cutting down fallen trees hung up over the trail or right in the middle of the trail. You can see from the pictures that was the typically size we had to deal with. We also came across a 20+ foot bridge that seemed to be seriously sagging and very bouncy. Upon looking at the structure we found the problem, it was not construct correctly at all. The span was too great to span with one piece so they overlapped multiple pieces, unfortunately they only overlapped the wood by 2 feet and on a span that long it can not support the weight. It is ready to collapse so I am going to bring in a floor jack and lift the center and put additional support columns in the middle all the way to the ground.

Future projects include repairing the underlying structure on most of the foot bridges, 200+ foot section of trail on the fall line and is now a 2-3 foot deep trench and really dangerous just to walk down, reblazing the trails.

Trail Ambassador Report for Shelton Lakes

Date of Activity: 9/24/2009
Condition of Trail(s): Bone Dry, smooth, and fast!

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Town: Shelton
Location: Shelton
Trail(s) Ridden: White & Orange
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: Afternoon
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 7.5

Observations & Encounters: First time riding here and the trails are really nice. A Full Suspension bike is overkill. Tried to ride as much as possible to see what's going on with these trails and frankly they are in pretty good shape. I found two locations that should use some armoring but what struck me was when the trail hit a slope most times it went straight up the fall line. In the map below I have identified three sections of trails that could use re-routing.

Trail Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-22-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry, Fast


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: Blue, Black, Orange and White
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 6PM
Duration (Hours): 2.5
Distance (Miles): 7
Observations: Solo ride and met 3 other night riders from Georgetown, they were searching for the Black Trail. Gave them a complete tour of the park including all stuntery. We came across an equestrian rider with a dog in complete darkness, we chatted for a few minutes and she was on her way, a bit strange because I do not know how she was seeing where she was going. All blocked trails braids are holding, park is in excellent condition. Waiting for the first cold snap to re-route the Blue trail, as we have a major underground yellow jacket nest to contend with.

TA Report: George C Waldo State Park

Date of Activity:09-21-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry

Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton
Trail Ambassador Email: peburton@aol.com
Town: Southbury
Location: Waldo SP
How did you use the trail?: Hiking
What was the time of day?: late afternoon
Duration (Hours): 2
Distance (Miles): 2
Observations: I am still working on the Where's Waldo Trail. Today I finished a cribbing project which is a landing of sorts for a dirt jump or roller. I also cleared a path on another natural dirt jump next to the trail further up. I still have several small reroutes to do inlcuding some rock work and more benching. I saw some hikers on the trail for the first time, and they were thankful for the new trail.

TA Report: Bradley Park

Date of Activity:09-21-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Bradley Park
Trail(s) Ridden: All
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 3:00
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 4
Observations: In process of getting TA program established at this park, managed by Wilton Conservation Commission, who I work with regarding the TA program at Wilton Woods. Went through all trails of 60 acres in the park taking pictures relating to any issues (trees down, trail braids, overgrowth on trails, poor blazes, etc). Hoping to get the TA program going this week, the Wilton Commission overseas 36 parcel of land, I am interest in getting a TA program establish at all parcels that allow mountain biking which I believe is 6.

TA Report: WIlton Woods

Date of Activity:09-12-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: Blue, Black, Orange Yellow, White
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 1:00
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 6
Observations: All blocked trail braids remain blocked.

Wilton Woods Trail Maintenance

Date of Activity:09-12-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 7:30
Duration (Hours): 2
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: Complete walkway project including placing knicks along the walkway for drainage, transplanting some ferns, and adding large choke stones. Also installed the new armoring on the first stream crossing on the left blue trail.

2009 Fall Fiesta - Ad Hoc Ride Leader Report

I became the Ad Hoc Intermediate Ride Leader for the second intermediate ride at CT NEMBA's Fall Fiesta at Gay City State Park on Saturday, September 19th. The ride started out with a mix of abilities led by Al Tiniti, CT NEMBA Secretary and local Glastonbury/Hebron riding legend. At one point the less experienced riders in the group decided to head off on their own with Al to show them some interesting local trails which put me in charge of the rest of the ride.

The planned route for the Fall Fiesta was marked with blue trail markers which was intended as a mixed ability route. Interspersed were Hero loops to give the more advanced riders a little more challenge on what I would consider a pretty challenging trail. One such loop shown at the top of the map above was really cool and he rode it twice, too.

There was really cool technical decent on the trail that led to an armored, raised stream crossing.

Those were some really big rocks that were maneuvered into place. Below is a little video of two of the guys in our ride group going over this rock bridge. The first rider's name is Mark and he is riding an orange IF (Independent Fabrications) steel hard tail. The next rider is all the way from Beacon, NY and is riding a GF Cake.

After the second loop on this Hero course, we continued up the Red Trail and at the first climb, we lost the first person in our group, Joan pictured up above on a sweet, personally autographed by Gary Fisher, full suspension 29er. Of course, it wouldn't be a NEMBA ride without a mechanical. In this case one of my quick links broke so I replaced it with another and hoped that it would hold. I know I have said this before but it's time to get a new chain!

At one point we diverted off the signed route and started heading south. I remembered riding this way a few years ago and wanted to try it again. At the gas line, we lost another member of the group, Tom who rides a Green Voodo Canzo 29er. After crossing under the a power lines we ventured into Black Bridge Park. I thought there might be a trail that would keep us from having to go out onto Rt 94 but it turned out it was a fisherman's trail that led to the dam. So we back tracked, got out onto Rt 94, and rode the hardball for 50 yards to the next trail head.

This trail started out as an old cart path and then turned into some awesome single track. About halfway down the trail is when Steve's chain broke. Two broken chains on one ride!

I was all out of quick links, having used my last one on this ride and gave Paula two on the ride at Millers Pond two weeks ago so Steve pulled out his CT NEMBA Trail Ambassador multi tool and fixed his chain lickety split!

We hooked back up with the main trail at Gay City, ran into the Epic Ride that was returning from Case Mountain. Glen was riding sweep on his rigid, Redline SSer 29er.

Bill Lake and this other guy were on the tail end of the epic ride, too. The guy in foreground is riding Ventanna 29er, geared, with a rigid fork!

The Garmin Edge reported that the length of the ride was 10 miles!

TA Report: Mianus River Park 9-5-09

TA Report: Mianus River Park Saturday, Sept. 5th, 2009 Condition of Trails: Dry Trail Ambassador Name: Rich C Trail Ambassador Email: mtnbikerdad[at]yahoo[dot]com Town: Stamford/Greenwich Location: Mianus Park Trails Ridden: Various How did you use the trail?: TM, Mountain Biking What was the time of day? Morning Duration (Hours): 3 Observations: Fixed the mud hole at the south end of the "New Trail." Our crew rerouted a high-use trail around a constant mud problem -- a flat area/basin where water has had nowhere to drain. We added a few big rock choke points to keep traffic on the reroute and covered/hid the muddy area with brush and logs. In addition, some of the crew added a rolling grade dip in the section below where potential erosion could harm the trail at the streambed crossing. Photography courtesy of Pete Sofman

TA Report: Sunny Valley, Bridgewater, CT

Date of Activity:09-15-09
Condition of Trails(s): For the most part Bone Dry, with the usual wet spots.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Trail Ambassador Email: eatsleepfish@gmail.com
Town: Bridgewater
Location: Sunny Valley Preserve
Trail(s) Ridden: Blue, Red, White, Blue, Red
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: After Work
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 4

Observations: Trails are really nice. One area on the Blue Trail between Iron Ore Hill and Rock Hill Road could use a bit or re-armoring, other than that these trails are schweet! Not to mention free of hunters. No Hunting at Sunny Valley.

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-13-09
Condition of Trails(s): Damp, some mud


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Biking
What was the time of day?: 2
Duration (Hours): 2
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: New walkway is perfect, makes that section of trail, finally got some riding in after all the TM these days. Ran into some new hikers to the prk and I stop and gave them directions for a nice short loop.

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-13-09
Condition of Trails(s): Wet


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 7:30AM
Duration (Hours): 4
Distance (Miles): N/A

Observations: Wilton Conservation Commission approved a low wooden walkway for the blue trail, today I picked up the wood at one of their sheds located on a few miles from Wilton Woods, parked on a street that had an old yellow trail into the park cutting my walk in from 1/2 mile to about 500 feet, not bad considering I had 10 trips of wood to haul in. Brought it all in and began a simple walkway through a very muddy area.

You can see on the before pictures the extent of the mud, it never dries out as this area is the base of a ravine and gets run off all year round. All PT wood was use and as much of it as possible was kept of the ground. A large boulder was in the way so I made it part of the walkway to give a more natural feel. To finish, I will be coming back to transplant some firns and add some large choke stone to keep everyone in check and on the walkway.

TA Report: Mianus Park

Date of Activity:08-22-09
Condition of Trails(s): Humid, very Humid

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 9AM
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: Ryan and Kyaiera Tucker and myself decided to head out to fix the drainage pipe for once and for all. Someone pulled up the drainage pipe on the new trail (4th time) and tossed it along side the trail. This time we buried it so the top of the pipe is 6 inces below grade.

TM Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Date of Activity: September 12, 2009

Trail Ambassador Names: Mark Lurie and daughter, Katie
Trail Ambassador Email: eatsleepfish@gmail.com
Town: Newtown
Location: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Trail: Upper Gussy, Pond Brook Connector
What was the time of day?: Mid afternoon
Duration (Hours): 2

My daughter helped me armor the stream crossing on the Pond Brook Connector. First we took a trolley deep into the forest where I knew there was a pretty good Rock Store. We then pulled four big flat rocks using the trolley back to the stream and then arranged them into a real good armoring.

TA & TM Report Georage C Waldo SP

TA Report: Where's Waldo Trail, Southbury

Date of activity: Saturday Sept. 12, 2009

Trail Ambassadors Names: Paula Burton and canine trail ambassador, Rufus
Trail Ambassador Email: peburton@aol.com
Location: George Waldo State Park
Trail(s): Red trail
How did you use the trail?: Hike and TM
What was the time of day?: Late afternoon
Duration (Hours): 2
Distance (Miles): couple of miles

Observations: I continued benching and worked on a section of cribbing near the end of the trail close to the river. All the flags were there, and there were no piles of brush in the trail. The last 1/2 mile is finished except for the painted blazes. Now if I could only get Rufus to dig where I want him too.

TA Report Millers Pond State Park

Date of Activity: September 9, 2009

Trail Ambassador Names: Paula Burton, Mark Lurie, Eric Mayhew, Al Tinti, Glenn Vernes
Trail Ambassador Email: glennvernes33athotmaildotcom
Town: Durham
Location: Millers Pond State Park
Trail(s) Ridden: Red trail north of the pond, aka cross country loop.
How did you use the trail?: Mountain Bike
What was the time of day?: Late afternoon
Duration (Hours): 1.5
Distance (Miles): 8ish

Condition of Trail(s): Excellent, dry, well used.

Observations: This was our monthly pre-meeting ride. We rode the cross country loop counter clockwise, from the parking lot to the bail out by the dam. We had five TAs and two other riders including Salem Mazzawy, an absolute magician on a bicycle. The trail was dry, well used, and in excellent condition. John Peterson, aka Pukemaster, did a fantastic job building this trail and the local mountain bike community owes him a debt of gratitude. The parking lot was full- two or three solo riders and one large group were also on the trail.

Despite a late start and a broken chain, we were able to finish the planned ride before dark. Everyone was happy with the route, and a good time was had by all. We arrived at the meeting, at Eli Cannon's Tap Room in Middletown, a fashionable 20 minutes late (didn't want to shock those already there by showing up on time!).

Our next event is the Fall Fiesta, the big event of the year, rescheduled to Saturday Sept. 19 at Gay City State Park in Hebron. There'll be food, swag, arrowed loops, an epic ride into Case Mountain, and a skills clinic by Salem Mazzawy. Don't miss it!

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-12-09
Condition of Trails(s): Wet, very muddy


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: Noon
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: Wilton Conservation Commission approved a low wooden walkway for the blue trail in a perpetual muddy area. The walkway will end of being aroung 40 feet in length. Headed out to their shed to pick up the first load of pre-cut wood. Found an old yellow trail that got me with 600 feet or so of the project site. Made 4 trips in carrying wood and supplies. Built the first 10 foot section of four sections. Pictures to come on 9-13-09 TM report

TA Report: West Hartford Reservoir

Date of Activity; Sunday 09/06/2009
Condition of trails; Just like 9/02, Dry and peaceful!

Trail Ambassador Name; Mike Lefevre
Trail Ambassador E-mail; lfvmi@sbcglobal.net
Town; West Hartford.
Location; MDC West Hartford reservoir
Trails ridden; Multiple!
How did you use the trail; MTB'ing!
What was the time of day; 08:30 to 11:30
Duration; 3 Hours.
Distance; Approx. 10 to 15 Miles.

Observations; Many people enjoying the weekend, few inquires about what is nemba, or directions, otherwise a great time!

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-05-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 9AM
Duration (Hours): 3.5
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: After meeting with the Mike from the Wilton Conservation Commission at the park to review some projects I headed out to flag the approved trail re-route on the blue trail and begin raking the re-route to get a sense of the flow. Also began repairing the armoring at the first stream crossing. Hiked up the blue to remove a rogue dirt jump that was recently installed.

TA Report: Mianus Park

Date of Activity: 09-05-09
Condition of Trails(s): Dry


Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Stamford
Location: Mianus Park
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 9AM
Duration (Hours): 3
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: Good crew out today, we install a rolling grade dip and re-routed about 100 feet of trail in a very muddy area. The drainage pipe we buried for the 4th time has not been pulled up!

TA Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:09-4-09
Condition of Trails(s): Damp

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Wilton
Location: Wilton Woods
Trail(s) Ridden: N/A
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 9AM
Duration (Hours): 4
Distance (Miles): N/A
Observations: Hiked most trails trimming back branches, also repaired an old armoring project on the white trail. Flagged possible trail re-route as requested by the Wilton Conservation Commission on the white trail where the trail drops off steeply and is heavily eroded. Will meet with Mike from the commission to get approval for re-route

TA Report Branford Supply Ponds

Date of Activity: August 15 & 20, 2009

Trail Ambassador Name: Glenn Vernes
Trail Ambassador Email: glennvernes33athotmaildotcom
Town: Branford
Location: Branford Supply Ponds
Trail(s) Ridden: Yellow, red, silver, purple, corkscrew, switchback
How did you use the trail?: Hike/Mountain Bike
What was the time of day?: afternoon
Duration (Hours): 4.5
Distance (Miles): 20

Condition of Trail(s): Dry, dusty, well used.

Observations: This was a popular riding area in the early to mid nineties, with weekly group rides. But it fell out of favor with the freeride craze, since it doesn't offer much of that type of riding (and it's only a few miles from Westwoods in Guilford, which does). Then a threatened golf course/housing development put its future in jeopardy, but the development never happened and the place is now a nature preserve (thanks in part to NEMBA fundraising).

I hadn't been riding here in over ten years, and the 4.5 hours I spent hiking and riding the trails proved two things: most of the older trails are still there and remain much as I remember them, and there are also new trails of the same character as the old ones. One of the new ones is blazed purple and includes a boardwalk which is a little too narrow for wide bars (see picture below).

Supply Ponds is the home of fast, smooth, dry and dusty Southern California-type trails. They seem to dry out pretty quickly in most places. They are too wide to classify as singletrack but not doubletrack either- call them somewhere between. It would be a great place to learn the sport, a great place for race training (just take it easy near the ponds), and a great place for the simplified bikes (one gear, no suspension) that are becoming more and more popular. It's a stacked loop layout, with a smooth, easy trail around the pond and relatively tougher stuff as you radiate outward.

I rode the infamous Corkscrew downhill- considered a radical, steep and extreme descent back in the day but nothing too frightening by today's standards. My efforts to locate the Juice Box trail- the longest and most technically demanding trail in the park (and so named because a discarded paper juice box, with straw, was found on it) were unsuccessful.

If you live anywhere near Branford and you're looking for fast, smooth XC trails you should give this place a try.

TA Report: West Hartford Reservoir

Date of Activity; 09/02/2009
Condition of trails; Dry, Quiet, and Beautiful

Trail Ambassador Name; Mike Lefevre
Trail Ambassador E-mail; lfvmi@sbcglobal.net
Town; West Hartford
Location; MDC West Hartford Reservoir
Trails Ridden; Many!
How did you use the Trails; MTB'ing!
What was the time of day; 13:00 to 16:00
Duration; 3 Hours.
Distance; Approx. 10 to 12 miles.

Observations; Same as above with minimal individuals for a week day jaunt.