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Back in Poughkeepsie!

Tom Church

Tom Church

Monkey
Jan 25, 2004
239
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Beacon, NY
Well after a few years in Westchester I am back in Poughkeepsie. I'm less than a mile from Vassar so I'll be there somewhat often, need to get the lights working. Also need to check out the trails up near Kingston and the Brewery.

Stosh, you need to show me around stewart again when it reopens!!!

Tom
 
dogwonder

dogwonder

Nitro
May 3, 2005
1,849
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Walking the Earth
Tom Church said:
Well after a few years in Westchester I am back in Poughkeepsie. I'm less than a mile from Vassar so I'll be there somewhat often, need to get the lights working. Also need to check out the trails up near Kingston and the Brewery.

Stosh, you need to show me around stewart again when it reopens!!!

Tom
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In what part of Poughkeepsie are you living? I'm about a mile from Vassar myself. Have you been there recently? I didn't ride there much this season as it is in tough shape.
 
robdamanii

robdamanii

OMG! <3 Tom Brady!
May 2, 2005
10,677
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Out of my mind, back in a moment.
Tom, pick a weekend when Stewart re-opens and I'll even show you around Stewart.

Someone's been cleaning up Vassar (I think the XC team from the high school) and keeping the trails clear of leaves and such. Makes for some nice night riding.
 
dogwonder

dogwonder

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May 3, 2005
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robdamanii said:
Tom, pick a weekend when Stewart re-opens and I'll even show you around Stewart.

Someone's been cleaning up Vassar (I think the XC team from the high school) and keeping the trails clear of leaves and such. Makes for some nice night riding.
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no kidding? maybe I need to try to get back over there but either need to do a weekender, play hooky from work, or get a light. Have they done any work on the freeride bridges?
 
dogwonder

dogwonder

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May 3, 2005
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robdamanii said:
I dunno. We were riding with lights, so we didn't venture into the FR stuff. Maybe if you're up for a weekend we could go over there one of these weekends.
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Pretty much the only weekend left is 10/11 - 10/12. I'm in Vermont this coming weekend, the weekend of 18th and the weekend of the 25th. I'm on the road a lot these days.
 
dogwonder

dogwonder

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May 3, 2005
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johnbryanpeters said:
So for them of us what're iggerant, what are the trails at Vassar like and what has been wrong with them?
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There's probably only about 6 or 7 miles of trails, not a lot but pretty convenient and mostly singletrack.

There are a couple freeride bridges as well. One pretty big teeter-totter, a couple suspended bridges, one a good 10 feet up. There is another section with a few jumps, some of which you can double up if you are really moving.

The main problem with Vassar these days is the lack of maintenance. The freeride stunts have a lot of busted boards and the trails have become overgrown. Some downed trees have found their way on the trail as well. The overgrowth is bad enough that thorny branches will grab and yank your helmet as you peddle by. Not much fun.

I tried to do some maintenance early this year but was just by myself and don't have tools to do major repair. I just tried to cut back the growth. But brush cutters and a hatchet will only go so far. It got so upsetting to ride their I completely scrapped it and drove to 909 and Stewart rather than ride there from my house.

Fun lil place when it's maintained.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,447
20,248
Sleazattle
My last trip to po-town I found out that my old trails had been turned into McMansions as far as the eye could see.
 
bluebug32

bluebug32

Asshat
Jan 14, 2005
6,141
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Floating down the Hudson
Vassar has a lot of different trails. Mileage-wise it's not as long as other nearby trails, but you could easy spend an afternoon out on the trails. The thing I love is that Vassar's a great skill-builder. There's a decent amount of climbing and fast descents, some technial sections, switchbacks, stunts and bmx jumps to play on. It's the perfect place to practice and the ideal after work ride.

A core group of people are responsible for building many of the stunts. I'm assuming theyre now adults and either moved away or are too busy with other things to maintain the stunts. A few cross country teams use the trails and I think they're the ones responsible for the recent trimming and raking which has made a huge difference.

Perhaps in the fall we could schedule a clean-up day at Vassar. We could even try to coordinate with the college's bike shop for some extra hands.
 
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