[splat]

Today was Freetown State forest. we did about 19 miles in 5 3/4 hours

This started out because Berkshire_rider was saying how rocky Douglas was and DR was saying he needs to ride freetown to see some serious baby heads.

I personally THink after riding both now , that Douglas still get the Nod from me for rocks. but don't get me wrong this was a lot of Fun.

here are the 2 of them in the parking lot with the Statue , and I have no idea what this statue is for !!

Our group is ready to go , we all pealed off layers before leaving , it was amazing it was about 48 degree out when we left, it felt pretty much spring like. DR and Berkshire rider were even riding in Shorts.

a Local Motorcycle club Built this Bridge, we liked it .

Gary S on a roller

Berkshire_rider Meets the rocks .

as we were crossing a Fire road , here comes something you just don't see every day . A dog sled.

and since there wasn't any snow on the ground for the dog sled to pull , this is what they were pulling . they were going at a pretty good clip!

DR on a roller .

and we took a rest break on top of this lovely clif , it was about the 11 mile mark.

as we were getting ready to continue on , this guy wasseen flying around , and he did a couple of laps checking us out.

On ward ., DR had a problem he came up to this decided he could not limbo it ,but then couldn't get his foot out of his egg beaters Due to a loose cleat.

here donny and gary riding down the water bars .

once we got to the bottom the view of the cliff we had been on top of

then we had to hit the road for a Mile or 2 , and went past this ,

this is for you Skooks !!

then we all just started getting tired , and it took to much energy to stop and dismount and walk around a couple of water crossings , her DR crosses a stream

and that is all I have. Great ride ! amazing weather for the first week in February

 

[BurlyShirley]

Thank you so much for the pics. I wish we had something more than mud here right now. It may be frozen enough to ride in the morning.

 

[splat]

Thank you so much for the pics. I wish we had something more than mud here right now. It may be frozen enough to ride in the morning.

We had a Couple of sections that were pretty muddy , especially the last section. As I recall Berkshire_rider Thanked DR for the White water rafting.

 

[Rip]

Looks like it was fun as usual.

 

[splat]

Reading Rob and Beth talikingabout pedals reminded me , I had my own pedal issues. the one side of my SPD stopped working.

other than the obvious Chunk of Plastic Missing ( which i did yesterday to it ) , what do you see wrong with this pedal

 

[berkshire_rider]

A few more............


I guess "warm" is a relative term. The southerners and Cali monkeys probably would think it's too cold to ride. On a sunny day Massachusetts in February, this means riding in shorts.

Here's an idea of what the trails were like most of the day. Tough to make miles in this terrain.

Donny on a small roller.

Splat on a roller.

Dave on the washed out section.

Donny jra.

 

[narlus]

splat, it looks like the bolt which keeps the side plates together (and runs through the tension spring) came out. i had that happen a couple of times on my old 737s.

you can fix it, but not trailside. it helps to have a vise so that you can align it properly before reinstalling the screw.

 

[hooples3]

great pics... that must have been a long 5+ hrs on that type of terrain!!!! good job!!

 

[berkshire_rider]

great pics... that must have been a long 5+ hrs on that type of terrain!!!! good job!!

Myself and two others were on our "big" bikes that are all above 40 lbs.

 

[splat]

Myself and two others were on our "big" bikes that are all above 40 lbs.

Ahh Steve , you need to learn how to count. You, DR, Donny and Gary were all on 40+ punders

 

[narlus]

why use a 40+ bike for trail riding? seems like everyone in the DH forum is now on 42-43 lb bikes...something doesn't add up.

 

[berkshire_rider]

Ahh Steve , you need to learn how to count. You, DR, Donny and Gary were all on 40+ punders

Must have been too much sugar in me from the pop-tarts. Either way, a heavy bike + a 5 hour ride = Even the Chili Relleno and Margarita thearpy didn't help last night.

 

[berkshire_rider]

why use a 40+ bike for trail riding? seems like everyone in the DH forum is now on 42-43 lb bikes...something doesn't add up.

Would rather not have it so heavy, but it weighs 41 pounds. I would love to get it down to 35-36, but would have to throw more money at it. Biggest problem is the frame weighs 9lbs.

I could have rode my NRS which is ~30lbs, but the BB is much lower and I hit the BB, the pedals, and big ring on everything.

 

[splat]

why use a 40+ bike for trail riding? seems like everyone in the DH forum is now on 42-43 lb bikes...something doesn't add up.

no one ever said they were smart .

and

as Long as Steve has his Nuts and his skinny sausage he's happy

You knew you were going to hear about that !

 

[berkshire_rider]

.........:eviltongu...........:nuts:

 

[narlus]

Would rather not have it so heavy, but it weighs 41 pounds. I would love to get it down to 35-36, but would have to throw more money at it. Biggest problem is the frame weighs 9lbs.

I could have rode my NRS which is ~30lbs, but the BB is much lower and I hit the BB, the pedals, and big ring on everything.

suggestions:

1 - get a rock ring and don't run a big ring on yr NRS. that solution has worked for me since '95 for NE trail riding (unless you either ride a decent amount of road and/or fireroad, you should never spin out a 36T front ring)

2 - lighten yr rim/tube/tire combo on the heavy bike. unless you are doing a lot of drops, or fast speed rocky stuff, you don't need the same FR/DH setup that bloats a bike's weight.

last big 'trail' bike i had was a joker, w/ a Super T, DH rim wheelset and chainguide, and that wasn't over 40 pounds. i eventually realized that it was fun @ lynn, 'nam, and places like that, but was too much weight the rest of the time.

 

[berkshire_rider]

lighten yr rim/tube/tire combo on the heavy bike. unless you are doing a lot of drops, or fast speed rocky stuff, you don't need the same FR/DH setup that bloats a bike's weight.

last big 'trail' bike i had was a joker, w/ a Super T, DH rim wheelset and chainguide, and that wasn't over 40 pounds. i eventually realized that it was fun @ lynn, 'nam, and places like that, but was too much weight the rest of the time.

I hear you, and am aware it's too heavy / too much bike. It was built to not break, and somehow ended up too damn heavy. I actually ordered the Nevegals in 2.35 this morning to replace the 2.5's with the DH casing I have now. Outstanding tire, just too damn heavy. Difference between the two is from ~1250g to ~780g. Wheelset isn't overly heavy, Mavic EX823's, although the hubs are XT's.

The other change that will be made this season is to one of the cranksets with the external bearings. Not sure if that will shave much weight from the RF Prodigy / Gigapipe bb combo.

The goal is 35-36lbs.

 

[Skookum]

Cool report, i dig the wheeled dog sled. i've never seen one before.

 

[brungeman]

sweet photos guys.... ME LIKEY LIKEY!!! It looks a lot like the type of rock sections that we rode this morning! I will post the pics as soon as I pull them from my cam.

 

[splat]

Cool report, i dig the wheeled dog sled. i've never seen one before.

was a first for me too..

 

[Morryjg]

was a first for me too..

I got to run dogs with a guy up in Alaska. He just hooked them to his four wheeler. That way all he had to do was give it a little gas if the going got too tough.

 

[McGRP01]

Blah, blah, blah, someday.....blah....

 

[berkshire_rider]

Are you coming out to ride with us in 2006? I should be out to your area at least one weekend this year for a Saturday Spier / Sunday Stables tour.

Davis is two rides up at 'Nam on you. Just sayin' :evil: