Rocky Neck State Park

   

Date: 2/4/2014
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Snowy white
Observations/Information: Took a hike in Rocky today.. not really that deep of snow but it's REALLY heavy on the trees and had to move broken branches off the trails many times. Trees and brush are really bent over with the weight of the snow on them. Unfortunately we're getting more tonight into tomorrow and I have a feeling we're gunna end up with some serious trees down through out the area. I shook off as much as I could while walking by today. Maybe we'll get a bit of rain first so the current snow melts off before adding more.
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Dec 14, 2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: light coating of snow
Observations/Information: With the storm coming in and my knee feeling better I wanted to get a ride in before the snow got too deep for my 29er to ride in. WINDY and cold but I dressed well except my gloves which just the windproof wasn't enough :(

But I did get a short bit of a ride in and actually enjoyed it to some extend. Couple of trees down that might have to go chop out later, the braid around doesn't flow well.

GPS and vid of the short Snow Ride...
Trail Ambassador Name: Thomas Lamourine

Friggin cold at Rocky at EveryTrail

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Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Nov 19, 2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Leafy, windy, cool but really now bad!!
Observations/Information: between working and health issues I really haven't ridden but maybe once since the beginning of the summer... yah.. like 6+ months :(

anyway, said screw the knee today and decided to head out for a quick spin around rocky,.. Place was actually in better condition than I thought it would be with the recent windy weather. LOTS of leaves everywhere but the tires did well and I was kinda riding slow anyway. Love that we can ride over the tracks now :)
Did a little vid with a new Contour Roam2 I got as well as the short trip on the GPS...


Rocky Neck, 11_19_13
from thom Lamourine
on Vimeo.
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Tuesday May 28, 2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: awesome, though some hanging over growth

Observations/Information: trails are in great shape for the most part. Vegetation is growing in in most places so use caution and wear eye/head protection.
Swamp Side Ride (white trail from 156 to beach parking lot) there is more trees/brush hanging low so again, use cation and watch your speed there so you don't wack your head.

Head Ranger's son is re-marking all the "legal" trails nicely for a school credit or some such thing.. doing a good job and painting nice and bright.

New tire and fork spring at EveryTrail

EveryTrail - Find the best Biking in Connecticut

Just did a test run of about 3 1/2 miles trying out a new fork spring upgrade and a new rear tire. Both performed much better than I expected..
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: April 6 & 7, 2013

Report Type: TA Report
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: awesome for the most part.
Observations/Information: Rocky Neck is great. There are still a few low lying branches here and there and some downed trees but most have easy routes around and aren't much of an issue when riding.

The state is in a "red Zone" for fire warnings from it being so dry.. and yet here there is still moisture in the trail going from the upper fields by the WIne Emporium, down to the lower Shipyard Field. Plus there is a tree down right as you hit that area so use caution there.

State is dry, but not Rocky Neck's fields trail

other wise the place is pretty much perfect!! spent some time playing with the vid cam trying to get better/more interesting shots.. working on edits still.

Get in your rides on the rocks and such over the train tracks as the beach/cliffs are closed to biking as of the 1st of May for the summer season!!
Trail Ambassador Name: thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: March 27, 2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Decent, some moist areas.
Observations/Information: Went to Rocky Neck for a quick spin. Any of the field areas still have large puddles and mud areas, stay off and let it dry for a week or so. Headed over to the right on the roads just trying to get my wind back after pretty much not riding in months. LOTS of low hanging branches and broken leaner trees. BEWARE of all the derailleur snakes!!!

there is a LOT of the twigs and small branches covering the trails. bring an extra hanger and tools!!!
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Feb 2, 2013
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: good, frozen

Observations/Information: 4 of us meet up at the lot and took off thru the upper field and headed down to the Shipyard field. The State Gnomes had been in and mowed the upper field and areas around, the tractor left some deep ruts right at the entrance but they really did a good job cutting back the grass and brush. Really cold out so we did a quick spin and actually headed back to the cars so I could throw my gloves on the heater for a minute. After a quick warm up we were all good to go and rode back into the woods. The Gnomes had been really busy and had pretty much cleared all the down fall from the last wind storms and even the really large older stuff from the hurricane at everyone had been just going around. There was one trail that's un-marked that the State doesn't care for and right at the beginning  was a large branch down so we took care of it.

Got down into the beach parking lot and decided we were all doing good so we took an extra trip over to Ravenwoods next door. Definitely get a good warm up climbing that hill.!!

Got back and visited Devine Wine...
pretty sure the vote goes to the Birkshire Brewing's Cabin Fever
Trail Ambassador Name: Cory Stiff, Steve Eldredge, Keith Coughlin, Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Jan 6 2013

Report Type: TA Report:

Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park

Town: East Lyme

Trail Conditions: Snow, but ridable

Observations/Information: Keith Coughlin just moved down to the south eastern part of CT and hit me up to show him a few of the local ride spots. The snow is still sorta deep going just a few miles north, but here on the shore the last few days have kicked it down to just 2-3 inches. We were all mis aligned on Saturday but managed to get the 4 of us all together around noon and so we took off and rode the snow trails. hikers/dog walkers have packed the tread pretty well an in many sun exposed areas the snow was thin in not at all. Traction was actually pretty good and only had a few of the really steep, northern facing hills we just couldn't get a real bite on.

Did have one flat, of coarse, it was my front. tried to get the tubeless to reseat but she wasn't having it so I slapped a tube in..(think there was a slice somewhere but couldn't find it with the snow and muck and didn't want to waste even more time)

Kieth, Cory Stiff and I meet at the parking lot up by Wine Emporium and rode down to the beach parking lot to meet Steve Elderidge who drove in there. Spun around most of the basic stuff and even a chunk of the Camp grounds. Really the only place we didn't go is the center un marked path which we'll show Keith another time.

Honestly I was kinda dragging and wasn't pumped about riding this morning when getting up, with the cold wind, snow and all but really glad I went!! had a great time..!
Trail Ambassador Name: Keith Coughlin, Cory Stiff, Steve Elderidge, Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: 11/2/2012, A nice warm day!!
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Sweet, bit slippery do to leaf cover

Observations/Information: Was a really nice warm day and I finally found my Flex mount for the Contour, So I went out to play with different camera angles. Was actually the first time out riding since before the hurricane. Still Some major trees down all around the area, and I don't see the State getting to it any time soon. Oh well, trails are still ridable, many places already have by-passes around the bigger trees. I just did the basic outer edge loop to get vid footage. Here's the video assembled, mostly just quick under 10 sec clips blended together, but gives an idea of trail conditions and shows a few of the hurricane damaged areas...

Back to the old haunt, Rocky Neck at EveryTrail

EveryTrail - Find the best MT biking in Connecticut

also a GPS track, (thou I never really got to 195 miles an hour!! )
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Oct 22, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East lyme
Trail Conditions: Dry and Leafy
Observations/Information: Well, Fall is here! trails are pretty dry for the most part but there is a pretty heavy coating of leaves making it a tad slippery at speed, use caution!

The State kept me at Rocky Neck an extra week to work on the trails after most of the other seasonal employees were laid off, unfortunately I only got to work on the main trails and even those didn't get 100% the attention I would have liked to give them. I did get to the little roller coaster (starting at the balance rock) and cut back the briars and got to the Yellow trail section on the edge of the 4 Mile River so you should be able to ride without too much branch whip ;)

Also got into the fields and though the big field cutter was down I used a weedwacker and got the grass cut back so you can actually ride/walk the trails.

there is still a couple branches left from last yr's storms that are stuck in the trees/brush on the side of the white trail, I cut back as much as I could of the brush so you can at least see them now, USE CAUTION in that area as they are right hat head height, hopefully the State Gnomes will get a chance to get out there with chain saws and clear them!
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: June 26, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Wicked Awesome, Dry and tacky
Observations/Information: After the quick and heavy rain yesterday I kinda expected the trails to be wet. They weren't!! Actually it seems the heavy rain just swept the trails, can see where the leaf and other residue was washed away leaving nice tacky hard pack behind.
everything was hard packed and 90% dry. headed straight to where I Wack-a-moled my head on the branch and cleaned it up a bit. Then just did a quick spin around the place. Weather is just perfect for riding!!
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Backwards twisting the Neck at EveryTrail


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Rocky Neck State Park

Date: June 24, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Friggin Awesome, never got all the rain most of the State got so trails are dry!!
Observations/Information: Was going to do Laundry all day but decided I could get a quick rip around Rocky Neck between loads and before it got too warm. SOO glad I went!!

Low hanging branch whacks me HARD!! 

BIG CAUTION ON THE SWAMP (white) TRAIL!!! 
just after you cross the bridge, and take the right hand turn toward the swamp the long swooping left arch there is a low hanging branch all covered with leaves. Well you think you can just duck through like normal but on the far side there is another fallen branch someone cut, but not high enough and if you are blasting down the trail like I was you're going to get a major whack in the head!! THANK GOD FOR HELMETS!!!

Nice rip at the Neck at EveryTrail


EveryTrail - Find the best biking in Connecticut

Other than that it's about the best ride I've done all yr. Weather was about as perfect as it gets. Just a light breeze to keep the bungie bugs away, almost zero humidity... If it weren't for a bit of neck and head ache from the hit I'd feel better than I have in a long time ;)
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: June 8, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Good, mostly dry
Observations/Information: Few wet spots but 90% dry and after the odd weather lately I was actually expecting more mud n' water on the trails.

Quick Spin round the Neck at EveryTrail

EveryTrail - Find the best biking in  Connecticut

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: 4/27/12
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Awesome

Observations/Information: Trails were about the best I've ever seen, almost like someone has gone and hit them with a leaf blower or something. Nice having the tree budding with new leaves. Everything is starting to green up again.
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Date: April 17, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Awesome
Observations/Information: Trails where in really good shape, the tad of rain we got over the weekend kept it nice and dust free, even a few wet spots here and there. Streams are low but still running for the most part. Beach was pretty full for a Monday in April

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

  

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: March 18 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Awesome, heavy traffic!!
Observations/Information: day turned AWESOME after about 1PM.. trails where in good shape and I cruised out to play with a goofy neew cam mount I had made. forgot to glue one section and the cam fell off on the mini coaster .. LOLLO..
anyway.. TONS of hikers, dog walker and such on the trails, even on the unmarked few that normally you can cruise down. Everyone was very polite and stepped aside with a big smile as I went by and I said thank you to them. Cruised out to the far west point as it's going to be closed off to bikes soon. hung out and took a few Iphone pics.

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Feb 28, 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Good
Observations/Information: Just a quick spin as I needed to get out and the weather isn't lookking soooo good tomorrow. Place was loaded with dog walkers and hikers, even on the less used, sorta hidden paths. Nice afternoon out!

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Feb 23, 2012

Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Awesome, dryer that I would think after the rain
Observations/Information: SUCH A NICE DAY!!! was unreal awesome out. was going to play with my Contour but forgot to zip up the seat bag and it fell out, couldn't fit it but didn't let that kill the ride.. Trails were good and dry.

Took a pic of the parking lot where the state had cleared out a mess of the woods back to the stone wall.Used to be woods all back there...

Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Feb 19th 2012
Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: Good, lightly moist
Observations/Information: Trails were actually pretty good, we didn't get that much rain and it soaked in nicely, made for a nice solid packed. Only did a quick 3 miler as I had pulled a something in my neck and was taking it easy... trails are good. Weather was better!! TON's of dogs on the trails. Being polite goes a long way as I got a lot of "nice day" comments with hello's and everyone stepped aside to let me by when I'd slow up approaching them. Screaming "on your left" while you buzz by doesn't go over big on multi use trails as it startles people and most walkers/hikers are out there to relax, not get stressed out and startled by MTBers... just an observation :)
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine

Rocky Neck State Park

Date: Feb, 3, 2012

Report Type: TA Report:
Trail Name: Rocky Neck State Park
Town: East Lyme
Trail Conditions: decent, some wet spots
Observations/Information: just went for a super quick spin around Rocky neck to get outside and get some fresh air. Trails are OK except the usual moist spots are down right wet. Avoid going between the upper field and the lower (shipyard) field. Also the State has come through and mowed everything back along 156 for like 20-30 yards in... the old rest area is now WIDE OPEN space right the the stone wall... kinda weird after all this time over grown.

 

Ran into two guys exploring a bit around. They are working on the new Amtrak bridge in Niantic. Yacked their ears off for a bit about here, Crankfire, ECTRR.com and other local coverage websites and trail info. then went on riding :)
Trail Ambassador Name: Thom Lamourine