18 NE - Go on, ride when it's wet

[jackstraw]

Green Woodlands...Have a couple friends that want to ride there Friday. Looks like rain on Thursday of around a 1/2". Will that place be cream cheese or can it handle it? I rode up that way this past weekend and it was fine, but it wasn't maching built stuff...just that stuff they call 'rake and ride'.

[CantDog]

Rode there a few months back after it rained and my sense is while things are built to drain fairly well, the soil was so soft that there were quite a few muddy spots. If its going to rain 1/2 an inch then I would think it would need more time to drain.

[jackstraw]

^right on. That was my thought but just wanted confirmation. Thanks!

[tBatt]

Sweet - been wanting to stop in and check out the Brant Lake trails/Hub...any more pics/info?

Not much for pics. 700ish ft grindy climb out of the gate. A butterfly loop up top. Small climb to the South summit then you have option to go to the north summit via constellation or rick's run. Ricks is a bit better of a downhill and flows nicely into the Stairway to Heaven climb. More trails to go in next summer as long as he can get the funding. It's a great ride to be coupled with the North Creek Ski Bowl or Gurney Lane. All three are built by the same trail builders, Wilderness Property Management.

[gravitylover]

Picked up a couple of new bikes and did a quick assembly yesterday, gotta dial them in today.

[JerseyDave]

The modern MTB drivetrain looks so crazy. Completely inverted. Weird from a purely aesthetic observation. I think I'd just put a 2 speed back up front.

[nyskirat]

Well Circumburke was an awesome mudfest. Amazing event.

[Peruvian]

The modern MTB drivetrain looks so crazy. Completely inverted. Weird from a purely aesthetic observation. I think I'd just put a 2 speed back up front.

Are you stuck in 2010?

[JerseyDave]

Are you stuck in 2010?

Totally.

[babybear]

fun video even though it's an ad but made me think of this thread. so fun riding in the rain


I also don't mind the aesthetics of the new drivetrains. had a few double takes when I first went 1x a couple yrs ago, but wouldn't go back. waay less fiddling and simpleness wins me over

[JerseyDave]

I like the 1x. I first went there in 2002. I had to invent it basically. Got sick of chain drop and was going to less gears as a result of riding with my seat low all the time and pedaling standing up. I got a thin steel inner plate machined down and drilled out, and had a hard time tracking down chain ring bolts that were long enough to sandwich the whole thing together.

36:32 was my lowest gear on 8 speed. I paired down from there to a 5 speed, then a 3 speed, then a 2 speed with an old dx thumb shifter and a "neutral" gear in between so I could do roll-backs without having to pedal backwards just because Aaron Chase was such a bad ass and I was trying to emulate his riding style. I finally went to a 36:18 single speed and ran it for a decade.

Then the 1x drivetrain came out, but the "more gears" thing continued out back and the front ring kept getting smaller. Last year I went back to gears. I have a 6 speed 34:11 to 34:26. I can't see needing more for anything under a 4 hour ride but if I had em I'd probably use em. It seems like a lot of mass to have way out away from the cg of the bike, but it mostly just looks odd to me after the years of big front rings and tiny clusters. Internal gear box I think is the future. I think external shifting mechanisms are a conspiracy to keep us buying and replacing expensive fragile bits. Imagine if Jeep hung the transmission off the back bumper of a wrangler. That's how I equate mountain bike drive trains.

[jackstraw]

Rough-in is done on my new lunch ride trail. I think it'll add about .5 to the network. Needs a good blow and some finish work. Pretty happy with this one so far. I had a lot of open space to play with so it is faster with the bigger turns.

Good mix of trails now although it lacks tech, which is ok. We have plenty of that elsewhere.

[biggins]

Googe just made this pano featuring CantDog from a few months ago... it feels creepily appropriate for the run up to Halloween:

[MaineSkiAddict1]

^^ perfect.

Today was a quintessential fall day. Partly cloudy, comfortable temps, slight breeze, no bugs, tacky dirt.

[HankScorpio]

Rode Kingdom Trails early yesterday morning. 20 miles and 2.5 hrs later and I still didn’t see another rider. It’s amazing how much better KT is when you take away all the people.



Word is Perry Hill is blown so that’s where I’ll be today.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[JerseyDave]

Sea of Leaves yesterday. We blew off the Excavator trails. Gonna leave the older single tracks and rake the summit trail down to Kingston (the newer stuff) as it has basically vanished under deep, dry leaves. Super fun ripping it up yesterday, like glade skiing on a bike. Having cut those trails, I still lost them from time to time. Lots of debris down from the wind last week.

Everything else is just practice for fall trail riding. That said, the high speed flow trails I like to have clean.

[jackstraw]

Fort Rock was perfect this morning. Such a great time of year to ride! Giddeeup!

[biggins]

Green Woodlands. So damn pleasant. Rode through flurries all day.

[jackstraw]

Green Woodlands. So damn pleasant. Rode through flurries all day.

Do they close or is it open all year?

[Vt-Freeheel]

Great
Granville
Gravel
Grind today, 28` and sleeting. Glad to discover Old Stage Rd goes through with some stream crossings, mud and a short detour over a stone wall to get around downed trees.

Team Cannondale
That SuperX is scary light, want!

[biggins]

Do they close or is it open all year?

Dunno. Nothing on the FB page about a closing date.

[jackstraw]

Dunno. Nothing on the FB page about a closing date.

Right on.

[biggins]

Shout to Anospa- 7th of 176 in his age group for the ESC Enduro series. Not too shabby homeboy- guess you're racing pro next year, eh?

[JerseyDave]

Raked the Summit tr., Goat Path, Pony Express, and Kingston tr. Fresh Loam! The Easy line and a couple of small huck options at the bottom of Pony Express.
Pony Skeleton that we found buried under the pile of rocks used for the ramp off the ledge. Thought I was gonna have to call the FBI until I found the skull. Happy Halloween!

[gravitylover]

Do they close or is it open all year?

I asked a question a while back about fat biking there and they said that they will groom for xc ski but not for bikes so they'll be closed for bikes through the winter at least this year. They're also closed for at least part of hunting season.