October rides...

[north woods gal]

Had two plus inches of rain on Saturday, which we probably needed - our woods were getting pretty dry. The good news is that my problem areas on the trails where water collects are still no longer a problem, thanks to some platform bridges my hubby built for me to lay down in the trail in these spots. Love that they allow me to ride in our low swampy areas without damaging the environment or tearing up the bike with a ton of mud.


Other fun stuff

Rocks to roll over


Logs to hop


Humps to roll over


Lots of steep climbs/drops. Halfway down a long one (green Pugs at top)

[emily_in_nc]

Love your trails, NWG! Thanks for sharing the photos. Love the platform bridges your husband built. Those are great for the mucky parts.

Crankin, sorry that you are still ailing. Sounds pretty miserable! I hope it will heal up quickly.

NY, sounds like a good club ride. Hope your calves are better now!

Had a good ride today, and I was thinking I'd have my fastest speed all year, except I lost .6 mph at the end of the ride, dang it. We've moved to a different RV park in the same city, just a bit down the road, really, but it requires a different route to and from the bike path we ride on. We are still working on the return trip to see which roads are best, have the fewest stop signs and least amount of traffic. Today we made some bad decisions and ended up riding through downtown on lots of brick streets and hitting a lot of stop signs. Oh well...it was still a fun ride with 33 miles total. Tomorrow we'll try a different route back after studying google maps again.

[rebeccaC]

Emily have you looked at (mapmyride)? It can show bike paths and connecting roads in any area you want.



Great photos NWG….you’ve also done a great job on making your woods into interesting trails for your riding….any chance that one of these days you’re going to come upon someone else who finds them?

For a different kind of landscape/ride…from our Sunday ride into one of the lesser steep canyons going into the santa monica mountains.

[north woods gal]

Love the pics, rebecca, as always. What a beautiful area.

As for encountering others on my trails, not an issue, since it is private land and we know all the neighbors. Also, on the two access points to enter, away from the house, I placed rocks and logs to negotiate to keep out ATVs and casual bikers. Have to be a fairly competent MTBer to get past those. With so many other MTB trails in our area, though, no interest in my setup, anyway, with the local MTB crowd. Encounters with deer, though, are a potential issue, so I have to keep an eye out for them. Have actually had some close calls as far as collisions when coming down off the steep drops.

I'd actually like to have some company, now and then, and despite inviting some local gals who want to try mountain biking, no takers, yet. Really would make a nice learning trail for mountain biking, since I've built by-passes to go around the trick stuff should you not want to test your skills. This has been done mostly with my husband in mind. Yup, I've managed to get my husband out on the easy trails with me, now. First time, ever, off the pavement for him. Doubt he'll ever be up to trying the scary climbs/drops or doing any trick stuff - has no interest in that and thinks I'm a little nutty for doing it - but it is nice to have him along. Star, our Border Collie, though, is my constant trail companion and knows the trails as well as I do. She takes shortcuts, now, across the trails to meet up with me, as I go. Be lost without her.

[north woods gal]

Don't know if all Border Collies are like ours, but Star is very much the look before you leap type. Anything new and different gets a good looking over and study before she proceeds. Even if I change the furniture around in the house, she notices and has to inspect, first. The good news is that we have no poisonous snakes, up here, though we do have plenty of garter snakes, right in the yard and our woods. Star has seen these and will follow them at a safe distance, but a simple command of "No" and she backs off. Same with deer and other animals. As I said, she's a great pal and very easy to work with.

On the other hand, our English Setter requires two of us, full-time, managing him when he's allowed to run in the woods for his daily workout. I have trained him not to chase deer, but off the leash, all he wants to do is hunt. Can't lose track of him for a second. Why we got a hunting dog when we don't hunt was a decision I do regret. Great dog, but not in the same class as Star as a companion or in terms of IQ.

Back to biking. Our leaves are about 75% fallen, now. Going to wait a few more days and then do a little trail clearing of leaves to get ready for winter. Will also be changing some of the tires on the fat bikes to more snow friendly design tires. Also, the last few days, have been riding my classic 26x2 MTBs for kicks and to get some time in on them before the snow comes. Then they go in the shed for the winter. Yeah, I love the fat bikes and the plus bikes, but those old standard 26ers still do the job. Like any other MTB, they have their strengths and weaknesses. On the skinny tire MTBs, mostly a matter of being careful in the soft stuff and when rolling over rocks.

[rebeccaC]

He does not have any sense of caution. His method of discovery is to dash up to something and stick his nose into it. What a goober.

...

Golden retrievers ftw….had one growing up and he always liked having me in sight until we were day hiking, especially around the lakes of Huez and in the foret d’Huez in the nearby Alps, then he would dash off to explore, jump in the lakes, make birds take flight and generally be more of a manic mess….but then we’d get home and he would nuzzle me with pet me eyes, actually he'd do that with anyone ….i miss him, his personality and unconditional love. When we have children I’m getting another one.

[emily_in_nc]

My 15 year old Boston Terrier is a long legged guy who has always been very fit and strong. (30 pounds). He is such an inquisitive, clueless dog, I've never allowed him off-leash. He does not have any sense of caution. His method of discovery is to dash up to something and stick his nose into it. What a goober.

Oh god, you have just described Paisley (our 9.5 year old Boston Terrier) to a "t". They don't know caution, do they? Even on leash she has gotten herself in trouble. In Belize she got bit or stung by something on our after dinner walk (in the dark, so I couldn't see what it was), and her faced swelled up huge. Terrifying. Fortunate a Benedryl brought it down quickly, as this was at night on a weekend on a third-world island with only one vet, and us without a car. If it had been a true emergency, we might not have her today.

On the October rides subject, did our same 33 mile loop today and have found the best way to get back to our new RV park. Each route we try gets a little better. We have one more tweak we might try to this one tomorrow to avoid a busy four-way stop.

[emily_in_nc]

Scary, Emily. That is one thing that worries me about the idea of travel outside the US with my dog. Glad Paisley is okay.

Yes, and that is why, if we take her out of the country again, it will be back to Mexico, and only to a city with plenty of good vets. We had good luck in Playa del Carmen, where not only are there a ton of good vets, house calls are common and don't even cost extra!

Ended the week with a nice 32.3 mile ride on a windy day. The tweak to our going home route did not work out, as it involved a longer stretch on a road that ended up being brick surfaced (through downtown) for several blocks. We'll go back to the route we did yesterday, which has a busy-four-way stop followed by a quick left turn, but at least avoids the brick street. Plus it's 3/4 mile longer, extra miles!

[Crankin]

We did cancel the ride we were going to lead on the south coast of MA and RI. Going to try again in November.
So the forecast here was for occasional showers/rain, starting at 1. We left at 10:30, hoping to do 20-30 miles or so, and do a long ride tomorrow. At mile 5 it started raining. mostly a heavy mist, but it was getting uncomfortable, plus we both were dressed too warmly. It would have been OK for the temperature, but it was like 80% humidity. So, we turned in a direction to head home and then it stopped. We had more options, so we did not go straight home. Ended up at 12 measly miles. Fast, though, and I feel like I got a good work out. Just so sweaty.
After lunch, we went to an Oktoberfest in the next town. We went to the brew pub across the street from the little fair and had cider., brewed right in Boxborough, where I used to live. Of course, by then, it was sunny, drier, and 74. No rain in sight.
Hoping to do that ride we set out to do a few weeks ago and ended up doing something else. I found the correct route, by searching DH's rides by date.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily have you looked at (mapmyride)? It can show bike paths and connecting roads in any area you want.

Yes, we use that frequently when traveling to a new area. But here we know the area and the bike trails very well; this is our third year in this area (winters only until this year). We know of all the road alternatives to getting to and from the trails, but there are so many different choices of neighborhood roads that it's mostly a matter of which ones have the least number of stop signs, stoplights, and bumpy brick road segments (historic area), and those are kinds of things you really just have to try for yourself to figure out. It seems like most who ride here drive to one of the many trailheads rather than riding to them; we're the oddballs who bike everywhere! We did try a better route back from the trail today and even have a third option we'll try on our next ride to compare.

Love your photos, as always!

[Crankin]

Yesterday I did an 11 mile ride, to see how my sciatica is healing. It was OK... got kind of humid just during the 45 minutes i was riding. It did rain overnight, but when I got up, it was a lovely 53 and dry. I went out at 5:15 AM and did a route I had done when I first moved to my condo. It's a little longer than most of my early morning rides, but I am sick of the ones I normally do. One part of the ride goes down a favorite road I used to commute on when I was still teaching and where I used to ride a lot, when I first started riding. When I first did this as an early AM ride, it must have been late spring or early summer, as it was not dark out. There is part of this road that has no homes, wooded on both side, which felt very creepy this morning! Although it is a well used road, it was early enough to not be busy. After that, I was back in suburbia, where I had one hill to climb, before a nice gradual downhill for the last 3 miles. There was actually a "traffic jam," where I had to wait behind 5 cars to make a turn, bout a mile from my house. Mostly pick ups full of mean looking guys, going to Dunkin Donuts. Well, this is Massachusetts...
13.5 miles. I was dressed correctly, but my new helmet was bothering me with a head cover under it. It either felt too tight or too loose when I adjusted the ratchet. It's not the first time I've worn a head cover with it, but now I have a headache!
Still unsure if my ride will go on Saturday. The forecast for the area we will be riding in is getting a bit better, but the decision is in someone else's hands.