Mountain Bike Church #1

In case anyone was wonderin' about that early November('04)  Sunday in Wompatuck State Park:

The first* official 'Mountain Bike Church' was a wheelie uplifting experience. With 3 inches or so of combination of Virgin light powder/crunchy popcorn snow (depending on what part of the Wompy microclimate you were in), riding was a Joy. We rode over the technical stuff-well, it was like, walking on water, although much drier. The Sermon was performed by the crackling of the tree branches and the sound of icicles melting in the warming sunlight. I must admit the 8 o'clock 'mass' was a solo ride, which was fine with me because I had no idea what riding would be like and gave me a chance to scout it out and prepare for the First Gathering. And I assured myself that I was not alone...

The 10 o'clock started out with myself and three Wise People, 'Jessica', 'Ben', and 'Ed'. All brand new to Wompy, I think they too were ready for the 'baptism' about to commence, as they all arrived with big smiles and pleasant conversation. We had steaming dixie cups of freshly-brewed tailgate Brazilian espresso and Jessica's freshly baked sweet 'Wonder Scones', then proceeded to explore the 'left' side of the 'Cathedral'. We rode for an hour and a half with hardly more than a coupla goofy falls, and no mechanicals, save for the fact that my front derailleur was frozen stuck in the granny the whole time. Didn't make much difference since we averaged 5.0 and wasn't worth trying to go faster. Riding in the snow requires us to really pay attention to everything that's around us and gives us a chance to Reflect as well as work on our balance and technical skills. Studded tires were not at all necessary and would have been a Burden. The only sketchy stuff were the Bridges which were icy underneath the snow. The only sin was we couldn't ride all day……………

Now for the Cranxology:

Grease all where your chain will flow,

Lube all where dirt may go

Clean all including the seatpost

Ride all day till you're ass is toast………

Amen.

*All this doesn't mean that we 'invented' the church that day.....the MountainBikeChurch ideal has existed for many centuries.......only recently has the icon of knobby-tired bike come rolling along to confirm our ideals and to quantify our passions for speed, distance, ride time, and to get us out to breath the fresh air and to share all of that with our fellow riders......   

Chain Stretch Part One

After many total drivetrain replacements, I have come to the resolution that I WILL replace my chain every 3 months, or less.The chain is what causes all the cogs to wear. There's a whole set of technical jargon to explain why this happens, and the purists would refute what I am about to proclaim, but here goes--'the chain stretches', and no longer matches the teeth perfectly after a certain 'X' amount of time--kind of like when you buy a new car and drive it off the lot--its not new anymore. So prolonging the time between chain changes(say that 3 times fast) only naturally puts undue wear on the softer cassette and chainring metals. Of course the  bigger chainrings last longer because there bigger, but the granny I usually replace every coupla chains anyways. My formula goes like this:

Every three chains, one new cassette

Every four chains(or one year), new middle ring and one new granny

Every time I forget to do any of this, one new of everything, every year, except big ring. (I think I've replaced 3 in 20 years, and not because they wore out, just that a new one looks cool, for awhile......) Will all this save money? Maybe not.. But your drivetrain WILL run smoother if you use the formula! AND use Phil's Tenacious oil. 

Just my two Abe Lincolns. You can take them to the bank.

 

Yep! It's cold again!

The toys ride went off as usual bringing so many people outta the woodwork. It's always good to see all those smiley red-faced helmet-heads chattin' it  up at the BH VC pre-and post ride.......

the cold

it numbs my toes

it brings me in to the warm gathered room

of friends old and new noshing and enjoying

the company and a warm beverage and a glimpse of 'santa'

it brings me in to duct-tape my shoes

insert chemical toe warmers

it brings me outside to warmup the lycra carefully, by the bonfire

to meet my friends before the ride

it gets me back on the bike

onto the trail

with friends old and new bouncing down, climbing up,

trying old dreaded technical sections and making them

speeding, drag-racing, clipping in and out

it gets my lungs burning, my nose dripping and freezing and falling off

it gets my adrenaline up, my fears down

it numbs my toes

it brings me back to that warm gathered room

full with friends old and new

back to the bonfire with warm beverage in hand

and makes me forget about

the cold

Thanks to all who came and donated and/or braved the coldest day of the year(so far)!!

Happy Holidays and don't let the cold keep you inside...........

Blue Hills Mountainbike ride and Toys Drive 10 am-1 pm Sunday, Dec 2

It's that time of year again!!
Join DCR, TrailWatch, and SEMASS NEMBA in our annual  Toys Drive. It's
a great way to share with the local community and help a child in need 
of some holiday excitement!
Of course the seasonal (warm)refreshments and confections will be on
hand, as well as a toasty bonfire courtesy the DCR rangers, and plenty
of riding to do. We'll even put together a kids ride if you bring 
'em....rumour has it that Santa will be making an appearance....... 

DCR also has a group hike planned at 1 pm for all ages/levels.
We'll plan on a couple of social group rides starting out at 10:30, so
layer up and come out for the festivities!
Please bring an unwrapped toy/gift for a child (any age, but gifts for older, 11-16 year olds, are needed also) to the Houghton's Pond Visitor Center, and we'll start there. 
If you can't ride, you can still drop off a gift from 10-1....
All donated  toys are delivered to InterFaith Social Services in Quincy, and are distributed over  the holidays to families in need.

Meet at the Houghton's Pond Visitor Center( the one behind the playground with the nice roof...).

For info call DCR 617-698-1802.

SteveC

Turkey Club

Well we all hadda really cool ride Thursday.......four riding buddies from the good ol' 'Link' days and two outastaters who came all the way from Albany and York County PA, just to ride with us......really slippery leaves, roots, waterbars, rocks, MAJOR climbing (my glutes were sore for acoupla days!)....of course we had 'racer boy' Paul C. pushin us through our 12-mile slog........

We all made it back  in time to enjoy slothing about the house with our families and 'giving thanks' that we all made it back in one piece despite acoupla spectacular endoes......

In attendance were:

Sean F

Bill D

Paul C

Dana S

Joe from York

the Albanian

and Me

It was an amazing 52 F, usually T-Day is really cold and/or snowing.......

(Today is November 27th, and it's 62F ! Who says the globe ain't getting warmer? I'll leave that depressing rant for another day........anyways, gotta go ride!) 

Like a Virgin

New trail--that's something we don't hear much around here. It's usually enough to take care of what we've got anyways, and nothing excites the local managers less than the mention of cutting a new trail. This, despite the NEED to re-route many poorly-designed turn-of-the-century trails, is the unfortunate dilemma we are in here now in New England. Sure, there are some very upbeat land managers that embrace and instigate progress, even to the point of giving carte blanche to us mountainbike types, 'cause they know that we're the ones who will take care and nurture their established trails and thoughtfully design new ones. And there are even more LM's in between, who are just either on the fence about two-wheel use, some who are still realizing how much we can contribute to their park, some who are completely still in the dark ages, some who just don't have the time or resources to pay attention, even others who actually ride a mountainbike......... The list is endless, and I'm sure some psychologist could pare it down to three different types of land managers, but  we all know that the best kind om LM is one who we can work with.....
So, when we see the need for a new connector, go-round, switchback, or other cool new feature, and we ask, AND get the go-ahead, that's EXCEPTIONAL! When we're done doing the Papelbon dance, we get down and dirty with the LM and make a plan. The work has to make sense, and follow guidelines and directives set by the LM. Usually it helps to roundup a crew of hard-working volunteers. A nice sunday morning(church!) session in the spring or fall, with incentives like free lunch/coffee, etc, is a good way to getem out. Of course they(we) would all rather be out on the trail riding, but when there's work to do, ESPECIALLY cutting a new trail, that's a good enough incentive......

Anyways, we did get to cut a new connector on our last trail work day at Wompy.  Not a long one, but still, a NEW trail!

Soft, loamy, pineneedley, hardly defined save for some ribbon and some vague signs of human intervention.......

Now that the work is done, our job now is to ride it!

I'll never grow up

JRA the other day on some nice rolly, pine-needley trails that phantom wrist pain came back. No swelling, just a spot of pain near the base of my thumb-bone, that stops me from whatever I'm doing to say OW! I think it's basically good ol wear 'n tear on the old bones. Or, more likely, growing pains. I'll never grow up.
Anyways, I bought a new brace to at least wear at night. Last time I went to the doc, he said wearing it at night helps alot, as the problem could stem from sleeping on my wrist every night. So I'll try that, and stay off the mountain bike for a few days.....I tried riding last night and I cant grip properly without intense pain. I'll ride the road bike for now. And maybe I gotta rethink my position on the bike, again. Every few years I change it slightly, to alleviate some pain or another.....The Old Coot and CP have these 'Mary' bars that sweep back radically so that your hands are resting more naturally in front of you. More like the angle at which I hold my chef's knife, or a roto-tiller. It could be the shock needs another air adjustment.
Either way, it's break time for a few days or a week. I really don't want to miss fall riding, as it's really the best time of year to ride. Kids are back in school, and the weather is great. Not cold enough to take me off the bike yet, usually not til December. In fact right now it's been 80-90F all week.
Enough whining for now.