after seeing The Big Rock Show, drinking a half dozen beers, having no dinner, getting 4.5 hr sleep, then waking up, having two cups of coffee, no breakfast, and driving to unnamed location for some classic rock-infested riding w/ noted hammerheads Couching Tiger, PK and Alexis, i knew i was in trouble.
3 hours later, ~12 miles down, i was toast. there is very little in the way of extended climbs on these trails, but the ups that exist are the ones which send you into anaerobic conditions pretty easily. rough, steep, and very unforgiving to poor line choices. even the flat spots are nothing where you can crank away; i'd wager there are more wheelbase or under boulders on these trails than most anywhere i can think of, and i've ridden around a lot of new england trails.
the day was a bit cooler than it has been, and i was glad to be wearing tights and a long-sleeved jersey; certainly a far cry from the nice riding weather i've enjoyed on the last few rides. but in the first 10 minutes or so, after a huge in-the-red climbing effort had my HRM screaming to me that i'd just about hit my max (yeah, i've got the geek tool on, sue me), suddenly cool weather wasn't on my mind.
we gradually wended our way through some new stuff, old stuff, slow, stuff and fast stuff - the only constant was the familiar grey rocks, flecked occasionally w/ greenish lichen.
at one point we came across the only riders we'd see all day, a strange amalgam of freeride (fullface helmet, big travel transition w/ 66 as a fork) and old school (singlespeed 29" w/ rigid fork, but running 2.6" kendas w/ DH tubes). the rest of the day, the woods were our own. here's some shots of the proceedings:
PK on a small rock face:
alexis, on a 29"
couching tiger and his ever-reliable bullit, in a pretty neat wooded section:
PK on the up:
me, same place:
couch:
and again:
up over the roots and rocks:
3 hours later, ~12 miles down, i was toast. there is very little in the way of extended climbs on these trails, but the ups that exist are the ones which send you into anaerobic conditions pretty easily. rough, steep, and very unforgiving to poor line choices. even the flat spots are nothing where you can crank away; i'd wager there are more wheelbase or under boulders on these trails than most anywhere i can think of, and i've ridden around a lot of new england trails.
the day was a bit cooler than it has been, and i was glad to be wearing tights and a long-sleeved jersey; certainly a far cry from the nice riding weather i've enjoyed on the last few rides. but in the first 10 minutes or so, after a huge in-the-red climbing effort had my HRM screaming to me that i'd just about hit my max (yeah, i've got the geek tool on, sue me), suddenly cool weather wasn't on my mind.
we gradually wended our way through some new stuff, old stuff, slow, stuff and fast stuff - the only constant was the familiar grey rocks, flecked occasionally w/ greenish lichen.
at one point we came across the only riders we'd see all day, a strange amalgam of freeride (fullface helmet, big travel transition w/ 66 as a fork) and old school (singlespeed 29" w/ rigid fork, but running 2.6" kendas w/ DH tubes). the rest of the day, the woods were our own. here's some shots of the proceedings:
PK on a small rock face:
alexis, on a 29"
couching tiger and his ever-reliable bullit, in a pretty neat wooded section:
PK on the up:
me, same place:
couch:
and again:
up over the roots and rocks:
: