TA Report: Rocky Neck State Park

Mark on the cliff's edge

Date: June 28, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: decent, few moist spots in the usual places

Thom uses a special sawless technique to break the tree

Observations/Information: Took mark for a quick tour around Rocky Neck, trails were good but the two normal wet spots that take for ever to dry out. Trails are a little over grown in many places so watch your eyes and the rest of your head.  We came across a downed tree that was too high to ride over so we made an up and over.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie, Thom Lamourine

West Hartford Reservoir

Date: 6-26-2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: West Hartford Reservoir
Town: West Hartford
Trail Conditions: Terrible
Observations/Information: Thought we'd get a ride in on Sunday. Knowing the trails would be wet, we were going to just ride Fire Roads and logging trails. Even those still had RUNNING water on them. Rode 3 miles, starting and ending on Rt. 44.

Give the trails a few days to dry up.
Trail Ambassador Name: Daren Casey

Trout Brook

Date: 6/27/11
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Trout Brook
Town: Easton
Trail Conditions: Basically dry, rocky, some mud puddles
Observations/Information: Woods were basically dry, it appeared that the heavy rains have washed away soil leaving much erosion, rocky areas. Otherwise, park is in good shape.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

TA Report: Haley Farm/Bluff Point State Park

Gang Green at the Bluff

Date: June 27, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Bluff Point State Park
Town: Groton
Trail Conditions: good, few minor wet spots in the usual places

Robert Gagne, manager of the Highland Hardware and Bike Shop
in Holoyoke, MA vacationing in Groton.

Observations/Information: Mark is down on Vaca and wanted to ride Bluff Point. Actually started out in Haley Farm and road over to bluff x-ing the train tracks. kinda just tooled around the fire roads at first and got to Bluff's parking lot. then headed off into the trails from there taking the snap left just at the 2 toilets and heading off and up to the little play ground next to the train tracks, crossed the fire road and blasted up onto the ridge and rode out on the main run to the bluff. Hung there for a bit then cruised one of the Mumford cove side trails and out back to Haley Farm where were did a quick loop around the field and up to the split rock.

Haley Farm - Split Rock

Trails were all in good shape and dry except for the very bottom road on the edge of Mumford where it's always muddy.

Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie, Thom Lamourine

TM Report: Trumbull-Pequonnock

Date: 6-26-11

Trail Name: Trumbull
Condition of Trails: Damp, still muddy in various spots
Location: Pequonnock Valley State Forest
Our visit to the Valley today was two fold: (1) clear the blowdowns and (2) meet the Freeriders for a quick Pow Wow.

BlowdownMap.jpg

Dave and I met Steve in the north Whitney lot and took turns carrying Dave's chainsaw. As I mentioned in my previous Trumbull report, there were a lot of blowdowns in the Park ever since the storm rocked southwestern CT a few weeks ago.

bridgeBlowdown.jpg

We first cleared the blowdown right by the Northbridge and then hiked up to another one Steve spotted during the week up on the Red on the North Ridge. (No photo taken here)

rt-blowdown.jpg

   We then hiked south to clear the two big ones on the Red Trail just south of the Rusty Stream. They were really big and we only got a bit done. We were scheduled to meet a few Freeriders in the south part of the park so we hustled all the way over to the Red Trail descent to the rocky streambed in the south part of the Park.
    To straighten the animosity that erupted last year, these long time veterans of the Park we're asked to spearhead a redo to a section rerouted last year. We chatted and paced the area really thoroughly and came up with a surprisingly simple solution for a faster flowing downhill line. They agreed to build the rock-armored span to traverse the gully and will be taking care of that on their own (unscheduled time).    We be returning on a scheduled TTC session to work with them finishing up and benching a long stretch to create a fast-flowing wide-curved solution.
   They shared some of the same frustrations re Meet Up groups and local "young-uns" creating braids, carving up fall lines and wrecking trails. Sadly, iI seems to be a universal theme these days at every Park.

rimBlowdown.jpg

   We exchanged info with the Big Bike guys on all the known blowdown spots, said farewell and hiked back u to the start of the Rim trail to clear another one. This one was a doosie! It was hung up on a couple of trees and tricky to bring down. Dave sawed a bit and--using another 8 ft deadfall as a lever/fulcrum--we were able to eventually bring it down and clear the trail.

   Our last scheduled stop was to return to the big ones we started clearing near the Rusty Stream but the chainsaw wouldn't start up again. BUMMER >> OUT OF GAS!
5-skinny
Need I say it ?-- there's a serious Skinny in the making here

Trail Ambassador Name: Rich C, Dave Francefort

TA Report: Hop River State Rail Trail

Date: June 26, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Hop River State Rail Trail
Town: Vernon, Bolton, Andover, Columbia, Willimantic
Trail Conditions: Excellent
Observations/Information: The trail was extremely busy with large packs of mountain bikers this afternoon. CTNEMBA TA Matt Viara ( also a member of Leisure Trail Riders Association) hosted a "40 Mile ride to Willimantic Brewery" beginning at 4:00. Another mountain biking group, "TCC" used the Hop River for some distance training. Assistance was given to a cyclist with a flat tire. In the Andover area, the Andover Gun Club was firing off some heavy rounds. This made for some tentative travel along this section. An outstanding day to ride, wonderful to see and talk to people along the way.
Trail Ambassador Name: Peter Blume

TA report: Trout Brook

Date: 6/26/11
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Trout Brook
Town: Easton
Trail Conditions: Wet and slippery, some mud puddles
Observations/Information: While I was waiting for riders to arrive for my posted ride I heard a tree fall. Now I know the answer to the question, 'If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there, does it make any noise?' Well, nobody showed for my ride, I heard the tree fall, but then again, I was there so I guess somebody was there to hear the tree fall. ENOUGH!!!
The woods were surprisingly wet and slippery, rocks, roots, and boardwalks, and this was a day after the rain. I rode through some deep mud puddles and walked around some others.
I had a good solo ride, encountered three riders coming into the park as I was leaving.
Trail Ambassador Name: Ed Perten

TA Report: Hop River State Rail Trail

Date: June 25, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Hop River State Rail Trail
Town: Manchester, Vernon, Bolton, Andover
Trail Conditions: Very Good
Observations/Information: After 3 days of rain, it was nice to get out for an early morning ride. I thought the trails would be saturated and soft. I was pleasantly surprised to see how good the trail conditions were. I stopped to remove branches along the route. Spent time cutting down a very large tree that had blown over, blocking the entire trail (200 yards from the Steele's Crossing lot). Super cool water rapids down at Burnap Brook! Many of the trail users must have slept in today, very low traffic for a Saturday morning.
Trail Ambassador Name: Peter Blume

2011 Happening at Huntington

This year's Happening at Huntington was a resounding success!  There was not just one demo truck, but two!  We originally planned on having Trek but a last minute addition to the event was Shimano who was show casing their equipment on a plethora of different bikes including 29ers and 26ers, full suspension, hard tails, and even a geared rigid bike.  If you recall last year's event we had a big let down from a neighboring bike manufacturing company who said they were going to bring their demo truck and then 5 days before the event notified us that they weren't coming. 

Photo Credit:  Dave Francefort

Well, this year's event more than made up for it, and for me after demoing two really nice bikes I think there might be a carbon fiber Fisher 29er with Shimano gears in my future!  Especially since Trek guaranty's their Carbon Fiber frames for life!  That's outstanding and definitely something worth considering for the next frame purchase.

Also, REI and the new Ridgefield Bicycle Company (formerly known as Dr Mike's Mobile Bike Shop), and Outdoor Sports of Wilton also had tents and brought demo bikes to try out.

If you didn't try a demo, I hope you got some of the free swag that was available.  There were water bottle galore and energy snacks from Powerbar that were donated, too.

Outdoor Sports had a great selection of Cannondale and Specialized bikes

Talk about rides!  There were at least 8 different led rides hitting some of the finest single track that Northern Fairfield County has to offer, including a skills ride led by ..... of the Campmor Racing Team.  I saw more people riding the trails on Sunday than I ever have during past events.  Whether or not they were out riding for our event it was amazing to see how many people were using the park.  And being Father's Day, it was especially heart warming to see Fathers with their Sons and Daughters mountain biking in the park!

I played sweep on an intermediate ride led by Javier Hernandez that hit single track trails in South Pond, the Big Burn, and the Twisties.  Of course, it wouldn't be a CT NEMBA ride without at least one mechanical.  Steve Eldridge is pictured above fixing a flat on his new 650b Full Susser from Jamis.  Unfortunately for Steve, he got another flat shortly there after so there must have been a thorn sticking through his tire that he missed.  I guess he figured out what was going on because as we were climbing back up the last hill to the event I saw him flying down the hill all smiles!

Peter Westerholm, 2010 Winner of the GT Bike Raffle

TA Report: Millers Pond State Park

Date: 6/21/2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Millers Pond State Park
Town: Haddam, CT
Trail Conditions: Some mud, mostly OK

Al & Jack

Observations/Information: Jon Peterson recommends that you stay off the XC loop due to really muddy conditions so that is what we did. We rode the practise loop which was great and then did south loop counter clockwise (mistake) and found the conditions a little less than desirable as I am sure this section gets a lot of traffic and there were quite a few chewed up soft spots.

Glenn found his visor that he lost last November

TA Report: Hop River State Rail Trail

Date: June 20, 2011
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Hop River State Rail Trail
Town: Manchester, Vernon, Bolton, Andover
Trail Conditions: Excellent
Observations/Information: Locally the school systems are just about out for summer break. I took advantage of my last 1/2 day and cruised the Hop River. I picked up some glass beer bottles just passed Valley Falls. The trails were dry and easy to ride. I have noticed the plant growth along the sides of the trail to very high, many little critters making noises! Great day for a ride under the canopy of trees!
Trail Ambassador Name: Peter Blume

TM Report: George C Waldo State Park

Date: 6/18/11,6/16/11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: George C Waldo State Park

Town: Southbury
Trail Conditions: Better
Observations/Information: Got reroutes finished, deadfall cut, and finished cutting the Daffy- it is ridable, but not finished.Class Cycles guys came out -- couldn't have gotten all this done without than. Thanks Scotty, Greg, Nick, and Anthony!

Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton

TM Report: Mianus River Park

   

Date: 6/18/2011
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Mianus River Park
Town: Stamford
Trail Conditions: damp, buggy
Observations/Information: Met Ryan Tucker at Merriebrook road entrance and we load some of my tools in his truck and drove around to back entrance to save time. Ryan drove completely in to the "New Trail" re-route we have been working on. We continued the benching and later on Mike Burke came in to assist

TM Hours: Ryan/Dave = 4.5 Mike 3
Trail Ambassador Name: Dave Francefort

TM Report: Trumbull-Pequonnock

Date of Activity: Saturday, June 18th, 2011
Condition of Trails: Damp but Rideable (rocks and roots still slippery)
Location: Pequonnock Valley State Forest
Another beautiful day best spent outside! I've disbanded the TTC Monthlies because too much else was going on in Trail Work, etc. this month so today I hiked in solo.
Back in January when the TTC met with The Trumbull Parks Commission, they asked us to improve the blazing. Today's TM was focused on adding adequate blazing on the both the Blue and the White Trail north of the Serengeti.

Rapelers

I hiked in from the North End and said hi to a couple of rapelers off the rail trail. Once across the bridge. I had to hobble around a blowdown where you make the turn south onto the Blue. Once past, I proceeded to blaze and trim a few spots here and there . It was muggy and the rock and roots were very slippery but the trails were surprisingly not that muddy considering the deluge we had this week.

serengeti-jungle

I continued on the all along the river and once at the Serengeti, I forged into the jungle where the Blue cuts a muddy path across a marshy tall grassland. I trimmed a lot but its kind of a hopeless here as the plant growth is so spectacular along this section, it may close in again in a couple of weeks.

TurtleRock

Circling back on the Sandy Rim trail (past the Gap Jump), I picked up blazing the white when I got near the Pine Forest area above Turtle Rock. This area of barren pine forest floor is a hodgepodge of trails every which way but I merely beefed up the white blazes someone had thoughtfully put here last year. The White is now blazed and trimmed all the way up past the playground.
Feeling mighty grubby at this point, I sauntered back to the car, downed a burger and beer at a nearby deii and returned to ride 1/2 hour later.
I made it a quickie ride, south on the White and then up to the Central Maze to ride the Slick Rock Trail (it was still a bit slippery).

blowdown.jpg

There were a couple of HUGE blowdowns near the flowy trail that descends northward to the Orange Stream. I ran into my friend Steve McAllister at the stream and he agreed to snap a few shots of the blowdowns. TTC -affiliated locals were notified to take care of these - and if they prove too formidable, I'll ask the Town to finish it up. It's amazing the power of heavy rain and winds - the trunks on these fallen trees were massive.

Trail Ambassador: Rich C

TA Report: Haley Farm/Bluff Point

Date: June 16
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Haley Farm/Bluff Point
Town: Groton
Trail Conditions: good, dry surprisingly
Observations/Information: headed over to Groton, haven't been in awhile. started out at Haley Farm and rode over to Bluff Point. kinda cruised around thinking it'd be wet/muddy after all the rain this past week and the bit we got last night but the place was surprisingly dry. few "soft" spots but nothing to worry about. Just did the main section in the middle and the south-western area is usually muddy the longest. hung out at the bluff for a few mins.. saw the Coast guard cruise in the bay for some reason.

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

TM Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

Jeep Trail is now clear

Date: 6/15/11
Trail Name: Upper Paugussett State Forest
Town: Newtown

Re-Routed around the blowdown near the Wet Spot

Trail Conditions: Jeep Trail (off of Sanford Rd) - 100% open; Upper Gussy Trail 80% open; Poly Brodie Forest Road - 100%.

Observations/Information: Rode to Upper Paugussett with a hydration pack full of hand tools and attacked the blowdowns with fervor.  Got just about everything cleared except for the big one to the Gussy Trail between the Wet Spot and the stream crossings.  Need to re-route the trail here and waiting to hear back from the State on whether they want a formal proposal.
Trail Ambassador Name: Mark Lurie
Time:  2 hours
Distance:  5 mIles

Where's Waldo

Date: 6/14/11
Report Type: TM Report
Trail Name: Where's Waldo
Town: Southbury
Trail Conditions: Still littered with debris
Observations/Information: Walked the trail getting rid of the small stuff in the trail, did a bunch of lopping , cut two small hangers, looked for reroute for the one section with 4 or 5 trees lengthwise in the trail. The only reroute is flat- can't find a way to put it back on the slope. Also Class Cycles folks ( Scotty, Greg, and Anthony&friend) came out with saws. The trail is fine except in two spots now. It might be a while before things are totally in order.
Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton

TA Report: Case Mountain

   

Date: 6/13/11
Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Case Mountain
Town: Manchester
Trail Conditions: moist to wet
Observations/Information: Went out for a ride in the AM and didn't realize it had rained a little the night before until I got there. Case, as usual, was 98% ride-able with only a few muddy spots. The roots and rocks were very greasy making the riding very challenging. The trails looked to be in good shape, no major blow downs. I stuck to the more established trails knowing they would be the driest. Ran into a very friendly deer. As I approached it started walking towards me until I got within 30 feet and then it jumped into the woods and just stood there watching me.
Trail Ambassador Name: Matt Viara