Every year for Easter we go down to Rochester to visit our friends and to do our first offroad ride of the year. This year was the forth edition of what we call RochEaster.
The weather was apparently going to be pretty bad this weekend but John(Echo) said that some trails were going to be fine. On our way down to Rochester we decided to take the shortcut via Mexico and Fulton. Big mistake, we hit a big snow storm coming from the lake and could barely see where we were going. We really regretted to have already put on our summer tire
. We had to turn back from the small road and go back on the highway. We could not believe that we were going to ride our bikes the next day.
The next morning in Rochester, there was no snow on the ground but it was freezing cold. The jacklope is a very tough animal and many of them showed up for the ride at Dryer Park.
From left to right: Tweek(Mike), Deyv, Sorgie, Treesaw, Earl,Franck and Echo (John).
Here's Treesaw and Earl. It was the first ride for Treesaw after her knee surgery. Funny enough it was on these same trails that I did my first ride after my big knee injury last year.
Here's Sorgie sporting the stylist balaclava.
Amazingly the trails were very rideable, the base is mostly sand. One of builder, Victor from the shop Trailblazer, said that the trails are dry 72 hours after a big rain, maybe the name of the park has something to do with it.
Echo on the delicious ribbon candy
Isa handling a technical part like a dirt goddess. Her racerx is now equipped with my old Fox F100 and Isa is enjoying the extra travel and especially the slacker head angle for this racy bike.
Treesaw on the same part of ribbon candy
I was riding my brand new Kona Unit 2-9. I got this bike in replacement of cracked 98 Stab.
It was my first time on a 29er and I loved it but I have to say that the trails at Dryer Park are perfect for a full rigid singlespeed 29er. The trails are flowy, with not many roots and no rocks. I did not wish for a second for a front suspension.
This bike carves like crazy when you push it.
The rigid fork is super fun when you are stomping on the pedals which you always do with a singlespeed. After a couple of crank turn you hit your cruising speed and after that you surf the obstacles with your momentum.
One thing that surprised me and my fellow rider is the traction I had with the 29 inch wheels. When everyone was sliding everywhere in some creamy part I was always on track, maybe due to brand new tires and the fact that bigger wheels have more contact on the ground.
We did many trails at Dryer even thought it was still freezing cold, everyone was happy to ride.
mmmmm singletrack.
After the ride we went for beers and burgers and then to Tweek house to witness their band practice: Household pest. Echo plays the keyboard, guitar and backup vocals and Tweeks plays the base.
The next morning, we had some work to do on our bikes, Echo was putting gears on his Unit and I was doing the spring clean up on the blur.
Gears are so overrated!
Clean bike, dirty car
It was as cold as the day before when we parked at Mcgregor's.
We rode a couple of miles on the road to the start of the ride at Tryon park where everybody else was waiting for us
We played around a bit in Tryon.
But we soon found out that the trails were not as dry as the day before. We had a long and punishing ride on the trails made very slippery by the wet clay.
At the end of day it started to snow and when we got back to the house, the snow covered the ground.
After the ride we went to Tweek's for a night of reunion with all the missing monkeys: Crashby, Stuntmatty, Instigator and the new generation of monkeys: Sydney!
We were so happy that everybody came at the gathering.
We bought some special edition beers from the Bieropholie brewery from Québec. A Imperial Stout and Scottish ale not for the faint of heart!
Bike, Beers and friends, what more can you ask?
We were supposed to do 3 rides during the long weekend but the snow and the condition of the second ride discouraged us from riding. We once again had a unforgettable time with the jackalopes, it is always a honor and a pleasure! Thanks for the everything guys!
The weather was apparently going to be pretty bad this weekend but John(Echo) said that some trails were going to be fine. On our way down to Rochester we decided to take the shortcut via Mexico and Fulton. Big mistake, we hit a big snow storm coming from the lake and could barely see where we were going. We really regretted to have already put on our summer tire
. We had to turn back from the small road and go back on the highway. We could not believe that we were going to ride our bikes the next day.The next morning in Rochester, there was no snow on the ground but it was freezing cold. The jacklope is a very tough animal and many of them showed up for the ride at Dryer Park.
From left to right: Tweek(Mike), Deyv, Sorgie, Treesaw, Earl,Franck and Echo (John).
Here's Treesaw and Earl. It was the first ride for Treesaw after her knee surgery. Funny enough it was on these same trails that I did my first ride after my big knee injury last year.
Here's Sorgie sporting the stylist balaclava.
Amazingly the trails were very rideable, the base is mostly sand. One of builder, Victor from the shop Trailblazer, said that the trails are dry 72 hours after a big rain, maybe the name of the park has something to do with it.
Echo on the delicious ribbon candy
Isa handling a technical part like a dirt goddess. Her racerx is now equipped with my old Fox F100 and Isa is enjoying the extra travel and especially the slacker head angle for this racy bike.
Treesaw on the same part of ribbon candy
I was riding my brand new Kona Unit 2-9. I got this bike in replacement of cracked 98 Stab.
It was my first time on a 29er and I loved it but I have to say that the trails at Dryer Park are perfect for a full rigid singlespeed 29er. The trails are flowy, with not many roots and no rocks. I did not wish for a second for a front suspension.
This bike carves like crazy when you push it.
The rigid fork is super fun when you are stomping on the pedals which you always do with a singlespeed. After a couple of crank turn you hit your cruising speed and after that you surf the obstacles with your momentum.
One thing that surprised me and my fellow rider is the traction I had with the 29 inch wheels. When everyone was sliding everywhere in some creamy part I was always on track, maybe due to brand new tires and the fact that bigger wheels have more contact on the ground.
We did many trails at Dryer even thought it was still freezing cold, everyone was happy to ride.
mmmmm singletrack.
After the ride we went for beers and burgers and then to Tweek house to witness their band practice: Household pest. Echo plays the keyboard, guitar and backup vocals and Tweeks plays the base.
The next morning, we had some work to do on our bikes, Echo was putting gears on his Unit and I was doing the spring clean up on the blur.
Gears are so overrated!
Clean bike, dirty car
It was as cold as the day before when we parked at Mcgregor's.
We rode a couple of miles on the road to the start of the ride at Tryon park where everybody else was waiting for us
We played around a bit in Tryon.
But we soon found out that the trails were not as dry as the day before. We had a long and punishing ride on the trails made very slippery by the wet clay.
At the end of day it started to snow and when we got back to the house, the snow covered the ground.
After the ride we went to Tweek's for a night of reunion with all the missing monkeys: Crashby, Stuntmatty, Instigator and the new generation of monkeys: Sydney!
We were so happy that everybody came at the gathering.
We bought some special edition beers from the Bieropholie brewery from Québec. A Imperial Stout and Scottish ale not for the faint of heart!
Bike, Beers and friends, what more can you ask?
We were supposed to do 3 rides during the long weekend but the snow and the condition of the second ride discouraged us from riding. We once again had a unforgettable time with the jackalopes, it is always a honor and a pleasure! Thanks for the everything guys!
