[splat]

Yes Monkey fest was a Huge amount of fun! Lots of beer, food, beer, rain, Beer and yeah there was some riding.

first off , Pigboy is inspecting the cooling set up for the first 2 Kegs.

Pigboy demonstartaing how to put Dry Ice , warm water in a a Plactic bottle , seal it and throw, and then wait.

Becareful, if you are early to arrive leave you bike in the lodge , when the decorators arrive you never know where it will end up.

I Are Baboon , Show off the latest fasion in $7.50 jerseys

some of the Night ride returning

Bad DNA , shows off his splinted Broken finger

The Cake

BACON!!!

PigBoy and JBP go off to assult Burke Mt Toll Road , That is the lodge behind them

Dalton Doug's table at Trout River

mmmmmm Beer

BadDNA and BadCrumble's table , there table was next to us the cool side of teh room

Mmmmm German Pizza

The cool side of the restaurant

TroutMonkey !

The fridge is stocked

I Are baboon after a few Beers

BadDNA get taken Care of

Mmmmmmm Sausages

a tribute to a few of the dead Solders who were sacrificed this weekend

Rut rooo Raggy !!!

Now to unload the other Memory card

 

[I Are Baboon]

I'm just unloading my pics now. MBC and I had such an awesome time. Now I am reminded why I was so pissed to miss the last two Monkeyfests. It was great to see everyone again and meet some new monkeys in the process.

BTW, if anyone found my Visa credit card on the ground at the rest stop just south of White River Junction, please let me know. Thx!

 

[I Are Baboon]

TroutMonkey !

TroutMonkey sends her best!

 

[MMcG]

So what were the highlight beers of the weekend????

 

[I Are Baboon]

I actually didn't take all that many pictures compared to previous monkey gatherings, but here goes...

We had planned to ride Friday afternoon and met in town, but some pretty heavy rains came minutes after I took this pic, so we bailed on the ride.

A little rain didn't stop JBP though. He rode and we drank. We win.

MBC took the time to fine tune my new front wheel.

BadDNA prepped his homebrew kegs. I must say the doublebock was my favorite of his several outstanding homebrews.

Splat added a little dry ice to his beer to chill it.

After dinner and several beers Friday, we went for a quick (90 minutes) night ride. Here's Quo Fan.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Pedaling up the road climb to the trails on Saturday, my crank came off! Believe it or not, I was actually able to fix this.

Group photo before the Saturday ride. I believe we had 31 riders and we split into two groups.

Berkshire_rider

MBC

mudgirl

Regrouping on Pastore Point Loop.

Mark (non-monkey) took to riding into the river to cool off and clean his bike. The trails were MUDDY.

SPLAT.

mudgirl on Vast

followed by MBC

Splat giving the Baboon salute.

splat again.

MBC

 

[I Are Baboon]

So what were the highlight beers of the weekend????

The sheer selection was the highlight. There was so much beer there I actually found it difficult deciding which to drink. People had to bring beer home.

 

[splat]

Now it is time for My riding time Photos

BadDNA attempting a Skinny ride over in the park

The group night ride

MBC at Night

Pretty Water fall

Up Darling hill road

The group Photo at the top be fore we all took off

First the Stupid Fast ride would take off also know as the anti-social ride

Bike geek

Tree saw would be the last to be anti-social

Berkshire rider

Woodsguy

And Mudgirl in the mud puddle

Baboon over a tree

Ahhh the guy who onl;y has one post on the monkey in the Monkey fest thread asking if he could tag along with us , we met up and he rode with us . it was a pleasure to have you with us

Herb, Mbc and 2 other s

BadCrumble

Riding and BadDNA

That Dam tree clipped my Shoulder!!!

MBC in some mud , was lots of these small mud Puddles

Riding and Badcrumble climb a little bit

Now hte Heavy Mud section would begin

Berkshire rider through a big puddle

MBC on a bridge after a puddle

Tap And die -- fun

IAB through Big Puddle

MBC on a bridge

Quo_fan same bridge

MudGirl

BadDNA washing of of the Mud off in the mid ride bike wash

Non-Monkey shows his approach to using the bike wash

a Decent on Violets outback

BadDNA on Sidewinder , sidewinder was in amazing condition consdering all the mud we were running it to, it was in perfect condition

MBC on a teeter tooter

Berksire rider riding across a wood pile

I Are baboon hopping up onto a piece of wood .

well at this point the batteries in my Camera Were done. and I had run out of spares .

Oh what fun it was

 

[mudgirl]

Monkeyfest was fantastic!!! It was great meeting those of you I didn't know already and finally putting more faces to your screen names.

I can't wait for next year!

 

[MtnBikerChk]

Most definitely an awesome MF - one for the recordbooks, I'd say!!

Thanks to TreeSaw for organizing it and doing all the cooking - AGAIN!

Thanks to everyone who helped me finish IAB's wheel! I *think* I'm getting the hang of it! I have a few in the garage to practice on.

and of course BIG thanks to BadDNA for the Bourbon Porter and BikeGeek for the Troegs porter. Thanks to you guys, IAB have enough beer to keep us comfortably numb for a long time

Hope everyone's ride home was uneventful too. We kept passing through torrential downpours - and then the sun would come out.

Stay tuned for 2008 MF II probably in October where MudGirl will be seen doing Sidewinder!!

 

[Quo Fan]

Fantastic monkeyfest!

I'm uploading some of my shots as I type. It was great meeting some new monkeys.

Photos to follow.

 

[dtrek4500]

Hey everyone, thanks for the good time at monkey fest and it was a pleasure meeting you all. I was also very honored to have my redline put up above the counter, it made a wonderful center piece. Also it seems to be a very nice form and site here on ridemonkey, I think that I might start to spend more time on here than I do on mtbr. Well again, nice meeting you all.
Dave

 

[mudgirl]

Hope everyone's ride home was uneventful too. We kept passing through torrential downpours - and then the sun would come out.

Yeah, me too. I did make it home an hour faster than it took me to get up there, though. It helped that it was a weekend = no construction, and I didn't have to spend 30 minutes wandering around Bennington trying to find the right road due to inaccurate directions from Google maps.

 

[strangeland2]

Stay tuned for 2008 MF II probably in October where MudGirl will be seen doing Sidewinder!!

Damn I might have to unpunish myself if there is a redo in Oct.

 

[JRogers]

Just got back a bit ago. Had a great time. Thanks again to Theresa for organizing and cooking and to everyone else who came with their bikes, stories and (often beer-related) generosity. Seeing everyone again or for the first time was great. I think after this year I quadrupled the amount of words I've said (check custom title- given from my first monkeyfest a few years ago).

Even with the mud (or maybe because of it) the riding was tons of fun. It didn't seem like anyone had major crashes or bike problems, which is always good.

I did manage to mess up my face a little. Not gonna lie- that crash freaked me out and I was trying not to think about it later. My back wheel just slammed a small stump and flipped the bike over- fast. I didn't even get my hands off the bars and I went entirely onto the top of my head. I think the soft ground prevented more injury and a shattered helmet. I left a nice Giro-shaped depression in the soil. I really could have hurt my back/neck/spine. The crash was kind of like diving headfirst into a shallow pool or something. Thankfully, a scratched face and sore neck is all I got.



A mini-ride report of sorts:
After everyone left (except TreeSaw and Earl still packing up after doing so much cleaning), I went on a road ride. After tooling around town for a few minutes to warm up, I started up the Burke Mtn. toll road. I hadn't done it before and wanted to make sure I did it this time. If you haven't checked it out, it's right off 114 before the lodge. 4.7 miles total with a 2,384 ft gain. The first two miles are easy and then the toll portion starts- I think it has a 13.4% average with extended sections over 20%.

It was definitely the hardest road climb I've ever done. My 'cross bike's 36x23 was not as low as I would have liked. I thought I was dying. The top was in the clouds/raining and all of it was wet. Even pedaling seated, I could feel and even hear my rear tire slipping on the pavement with each (incredibly slow) pedal stroke. In my lowest gear, each stroke felt like doing a medium weight leg press at the gym. I had to stop a couple times to rest for a few seconds, but made it up okay in the end. I decided not to bring my jacket, which was pretty dumb considering it was pretty cold and completely wet at the top. The descent was scary as hell. I was on the brakes the whole freaking way because it was slick and got you up to warp speed in about 3 seconds if you let it go. My tire slipping on the way up was not confidence inspiring.

Then, I warmed up at my car for a few and headed out 114. Much better and much flatter. I rode through Burke, East Haven and into Newark before turning around. The weather was pretty nice and really cleared up by the time I was finishing. Caught a nice tailwind on the way back, washed up in the river, got a burrito at the store in town and headed out for a rather uneventful drive home.

Unfortunately, I started feeling slightly sick as I entered CT. I guess not sleeping, riding all day and finishing it with a soaking wet torture session wasn't the best health recovery plan. Oh well...I do have Monday off from work if I want it...

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[irishblue76]

Hey everyone! It was so nice to meet all of you this weekend! I had such a great time with all of you and I'm looking forward to the next time around!!! I'll bring peaches to replace the ones I tried to juggle with!

 

[Yelo]

First Monkey fest for me and my girlfriend was a blast!

We first hear of that on thuesday from Deyv & Isa, they just learn we where to be at the kingdom by the end of the week and told us we should stay for monkey fest, I'm glad we did.... I should have go for the night ride on friday tough:huh:

Thank's to everyone for accepting us in your group on such a short notice and specially to teresa for all she did on that W-E for all of us, you guy's don't call her Mama Monkey for nothing...

Here's some of my pics:
the cake and the cook

The "lucky" guy who volunteer to take a picture, he ended up taking a dozen or so....

Some rider's from my group in "Tap and die", I got everyone from my group on that spot, feel free to ask if your's is not their...

Bad DNA ad to play with is toy on a regular basis....

Thank's for all the fun we had, hope to join you again sometime, maybe in the fall.....

 

[mudgirl]

Stay tuned for 2008 MF II probably in October where MudGirl will be seen doing Sidewinder!!

Wait..... what? I thought that was on the agenda for next YEAR!!! I don't think I can get good enough to do that one in two MONTHS!!

 

[splat]

Now how do I get in on the lodge? Looks like I missed out on the beer drinking.

ya pretty Much just show up at the door with beer .

 

[kiwimj]

Doesn't look like it in the pictures (choking badDNA...lol) but it was really nice getting to know you all! Great people, cool rides and what about the beer!!!

First monkey gathering for me but won't be the last one, I really enjoyed it

hope to see you guys soon!!! MJ (hypno gf)

 

[irishblue76]

Doesn't look like it in the pictures (choking badDNA...lol) but it was really nice getting to know you all! Great people, cool rides and what about the beer!!!

First monkey gathering for me but won't be the last one, I really enjoyed it

hope to see you guys soon!!! MJ (hypno gf)

I agree MJ! It was my first Monkeyfest too & I'm hooked! I guess I'll be seeing you at the next one! Beth

 

[badcrumble]

I also lost my Monkeyfest virginity this weekend! I had a great time and it was really nice to meet everyone. Thanks Treesaw for all the organizing and cooking and to the guys for the homebrews. Loved BadDNAs doublebok and honeywheat (...I'll be over to finish it off!). The mud puddles were fun yesterday, just a shame about the rain today.

Bad DNA , shows off his splinted Broken finger

DERRRRRUNK!

TroutMonkey !

Gotta love troutmonkey! Can we get her as a VIP for next time

 

[Westy]

People had to bring beer home.

 

[MtnBikerChk]

Gotta love troutmonkey! Can we get her as a VIP for next time

I wrote down the website for her and told her where to look for her picture. I hope she registers as TroutMonkey and posts!! LOL

 

[woodsguy]

What a great weekend. Even the rains couldn't dampen our spirits. Great riding, great food, great company - everything a Monkeyfest should be. Thanks to Treesaw, and everyone else that made this event possible. I'm already looking forward to next year.

I took over 300 pics but with three shortened weeks in a row and having to get ready for Great Glen this weekend I don't see how I will have time to post them up and get caught up with work at the same time. We'll see.

Kevin

 

[pigboy]

Wow. the JRogers solo toll road ride sounds like it was even more hairy than the JBP and Pigboy toll road ride. It was dry enough on the Saturday morning ride that our rear wheels weren't losing traction.

Note that I'm not saying the downhill wasn't scary as all get out. That downhill is just nasty, scary, mess in your pants material. After the campground I stopped using the brakes and my bike got a really interesting case of speed wobbles. Time to true the wheels maybe.....

 

[I Are Baboon]

I know, but you just don't understand how much beer was there. My "10 beers per person" estimate probably needed to be tripled if you included what everyone NOT named BikeGeek or BadDNA brought.

 

[Quo Fan]

More pics. Gosh, how we hate pics of riding, drinking and beer.

Waiting for the rains so we can bail on the ride

BadDNA behaving badly

A trip to the Garneau outlet where MBC got a little silly

The beer that Bike Geek brought

The keg setup

Pigboy with his beer

Splat's beer in a coozy

The "awesome" pump track

Pigboy getting ready for the night ride

Mudgirl

Gifts to Tree Saw and Sq-earl for all they do for the monkeys.

The poor photographer that offered to take our picture

BigT and MBC

Woodsguy

A Canadian on a SS

No caption necessary

DR with a "Black and Tan"

Splat checking out why the bottle never exploded (Note the shovel for protection)

Pigboy, swings and misses all the potatoes.

Fall asleep and you get your picture taken.

Bike Geek

JRogers

Douglas

BadDNA

MtnBikerChick

Devy

Riding

Sq-earl

A Canadian (Sorry, I never got your name)

Splat

Spalt's waterfall on Sunday

 

[pigboy]

it's easy to sit on your high horse and act disgusted. but were you there to help us drink? hmmm.... ?

 

[pigboy]

Quo fan: that Canadian is Jerome. not sure what his RM name is.

 

[BadDNA]

Quo fan: that Canadian is Jerome. not sure what his RM name is.

Hypnotic - who, by the way, needs a new custom title, "Man Whore" or "IMBA Pimp". I'll leave it up to the mods to decide which one.

 

[Westy]

it's easy to sit on your high horse and act disgusted. but were you there to help us drink? hmmm.... ?

Wish I could have been there but long distance travel that weekend was impossible for me. Did this instead.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Hypnotic - who, by the way, needs a new custom title, "Man Whore" or "IMBA Pimp". I'll leave it up to the mods to decide which one.

 

[I Are Baboon]

The group Photo at the top be fore we all took off

How come everyone in a red shirt gathered together for this picture? I'm a little freaked out by that the more I think about it.

 

[badcrumble]

How come everyone in a red shirt gathered together for this picture? I'm a little freaked out by that the more I think about it

I noticed this too...and all the red shirts were "social"

 

[badcrumble]

Hypnotic - who, by the way, needs a new custom title, "Man Whore" or "IMBA Pimp". I'll leave it up to the mods to decide which one

Man Whore, Man whore!!!

How was Mill Stone in the end?

 

[douglas]

MF '08 was a great time, as expected - it was real nice to see old friends and cool there was so many new faces.


but one of these years one of you photogs need to man up and go on the stupid fast ride so theres some pics of us!
ps: we spent more time stopped then riding, so dont be suprised how easy it would be

 

[I Are Baboon]

MF '08 was a great time, as expected - it was real nice to see old friends and cool there was so many new faces.


but one of these years one of you photogs need to man up and go on the stupid fast ride so theres some pics of us!
ps: we spent more time stopped then riding, so dont be suprised how easy it would be

Apparently you are all fast because none of you own a camera?

Speaking of which, I have not seen a picture posted of BadDNA's beer "cup."

 

[BadDNA]

Speaking of which, I have not seen a picture posted of BadDNA's beer "cup."

You can kind of see it here:

 

[Deyv]

Hi Guys,

Every year the monkeyfest is a total blast and it's all because of the people. We are such a great group of mammals!

All was said about the great riding on the friday and saturday so here's a little something about our sunday.

A bunch of us decided that we did not have enough riding and that we would not get discourage by the weather. So we went at Millstone on the sunday.

It was a great ride, the guy was right, their terrain drains very well, imagine that, most of the trails were dry! It's not always a conspiracy to get your money The riding was phenomenal especially the many technical slickrocks and rock garden. Hyp has a tons of pics.

Thanks for everyone for a great weekend! Especially to Mama Monkey!