Ted Wojcik

My trusty friend. Almost 7 years old!!

Soul Machine?

An amusing yet very relevant story. This will be  today's sermon.

"When one rides another's bike the machine soul detests this and causes the borrowing rider to crash which makes the owner upset. Machine soul has punished the infidelity of the owner."

Read the entire article at:
Machine Soul

by John Gurklis 

published in Dirt Rag Mag

GF the 'Klunkerz' King!

Got to chat briefly with the 'developer' of the modern mountainbike at a showing of his movie, 'Klunkerz' that we saw at the Somerville Theater last night.......

He truly is the 'Big Daddy' of the scene!

Checkout the full-zip neoprene batman blazer......

2008 Events, so far......

Some mostlyNEMBA dates to remember and to plan around:

(All TCD's are NEMBA/Trek Bicycles Trail Care Series--in other words, all NEMBA members that participate in work dates get a chance for the free Trek bikes EVERY time they volunteer for any of those dates! So don't forget to sign in every time!)

This list is SEMASS NEMBA-biased, so for complete NEMBA listings, go to the above link.

Feb 21 Klunkerz Trips for Kids Benefit with Gary Fisher, Somerville Theater, 7 pm

Feb 18 Friends of Wompatuck meeting 7 pm

March 16^th Trail Care Day (TCD) Wompatuck 8:30-12:00

March 30th TCD Ames Nowell SF 8:30 am-12:00

April 5th TCD Foxboro--roadside cleanup AM, Blowdown Ride PM

April 6th, Wompatuck TCD 8:30am-12:00

April 13th TCD Borderland 9 am 

April 14th, Friends of Wompatuck Meeting 7 pm

April 26 NEMBA general meeting and fundraising Gala at Holiday Inn, Boxboro

May 4th TCD Ames Nowell SF 8:30 am

May 10th Friends of Blue Hills(FoBH) Trail Work Blue Hills(BH)

May 17th DCR Park Serve Day(DCR-all parks) Wompatuck 8:30 am-12:00

May 17-18 NEMBA Spring Trail School Wendell SF tent., maybe with the IMBA TCC in attendance

May 25 Wendell SF, Kona Bicycles MTB Adventure Series (KBMTBAS)

June 7^th National Trails Day (this MAY be a Wompy work day)

June 7th FoBH Trail Work BH

June 8 Bear Brook Boogie (KBMTBAS)

June 15^th, Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day

June 22 Happening at Huntington, CT (KBMTBAS)

Aug 10 Bradbury Mountain ME( KBMTBAS)

Aug 24^th TCD Wompy 8:30-12:00

Aug 29-Sept 1 Labor Day NEMBA Camping Trip possibly KT

Sept 6 NembaFest at Wompy (KBMTBAS)

Oct 12^th TCD Wompy 8:30-12:00

Oct 26 Wicked Ride of the East, HPSF (KBMTBAS)

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

Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day(click for pics)

OK it's been a few weeks since my favoritest event of the year--Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day. I need to report before too long or my memory will fade to 'it was a good time'.........
Well the day started out by raining all night--I could hardly sleep, for one because I always have a hard time sleeping when I have a big event early the next day, and also I just don't sleep well when it's raining. I think the latter is because rain sometimes puts a 'damper' on a planned ride--not always though.
As of 5 am it was still raining, and I got maybe four hours sleep( bed at 1 am) but I was determined to make the day happen either way. After a good breakfast(I already forget what it was, but probly eggs and toast and coffee) I loaded ALL the bikes and gear--The wife, kids and mine on and in the car and trucked over there. To be fair it was really just an incessant drizzle, not really raining, but the radio/tv/internet could not tell me what really the day would be like.
I met Mr Boles and he handed me some yellow arrows and I set out to pre-ride the int/advanced side. Of course anybody in their right mind had decided to pull the covers up over their head and stay in for the day, so I proceeded to do my duty. Fortunately, the arrows we had put up before the 3 days of torrential rains started were amazingly still up and not all curled over from all the moisture.......so I had a fairly consistent ride with only a few stops to add an arrow or three.
I got back and things were starting to swing--tents were going up, Joe Sloane was there with the coffee and donuts, ( Joe is the tireless soul who has organized this event almost singlehandedly for 12 years!), volunteers were actually showing up, and everyone was smiling in the mist!
By opening time, 10 am, all the vendors were ready to show their stuff, and riders were starting to 'trickle' in....... I was fairly drenched, and proceeded to hang out and chat with my friends at NEMBA and make the rounds with the vendors. It was probably 58 degrees, and even with two layers of everything, was kinda chilly.
The sun did try to show a coupla times.....
Anyways, wife showed up with the kids as planned and they rode circles through and around the venue, mostly on the obstacle course, which was soaked, and the plywood teeter-totter and ramps were slick. They had no trouble though, being the experienced riders that they are........
I took Isabella for a ride around Houghton's Pond--just happened that the heavens opened up and we got even more thoroughly drenched--but we had a great ride together.
back at the roundup, I needed to focus on getting the scheduled rides going. Having plenty of ride leaders, this was easy, and more and more riders showed up despite the weather....
A few rides went out, and it seemed that the vendors were bored, but as the day progressed more people showed up and made it worth their while(I hope).......
Quadcycles' with their pro trials rider doing a coupla shows for the crowd, pumped up the scene......
My turn came to lead my 'Buck Hill Leisure Ride', and I had I think 12 of us! A dad and his 6yo son peeled off after a few miles(that's REALLY tenacious of a 6 yo to even hang on that long!), and I introduced the group to the climb. Buck Hill is one of those loose rolly rock drainage ditch type of trails. Really shouldnt even be a trail, but it's our only legal way up and down. Once we were at the top, we enjoyed the 'top o the world' view only available at Buck Hill. We took our break up there to enjoy the view, and most were smiling again(read:done cursing me) by the time we set on going back down.....
The rest of the day:
Trials Show again
Bike Limbo(didn't win)
Raffle(didn't win)
Talking with friends and sponsors
Final count waas t least 300 riders, despite the rain and miserable drizzle!!
Bike ride again with Stephen at home, before I got into dry clothes and took a nap.

Nice day for a ride, eh?

January has been a rollercoaster month, temperature-wise.....Right now, it's 3 degrees above zero F. And yes, back in the day, maybe even last year, and maybe even again this year, I've been known to ride at similar temps. But today, I'll be happy just to warm my toes by the fire, until I'm good and ready to (maybe) workout on my trainer in the (chilly but not frigid) basement, or more likely, go to the Y on my trial one-month membership, and do the treadmill and some stretching....
I did manage to get one good twice-around the Creek on Monday, when it was 22 degrees warmer. Felt great to be outside breathing, the only buzzkill was when I was heading back onto the trail from 3A at the Creek crossing, I'm blinded by the lily-white ass of some geezer bent over right next to the trail pinching a loaf. I just had to laugh out loud as I churned by. That's not someone I want to stop to chat with....
I wish I had my digital camera, I woulda popped one and left it right here for you'all to admire. He woulda flipped, as I think he's a regular Quincy polititian or wannabee. But I don't need to be causin any feeble-assed heartattacks . Like I said, he was a geezer...
Either way, the fire's over there, and my toes arent getting any warmer under the desk.