Bear Brook Ride

Location: Bear Brook Park, Allentown, NH
Date: 8/11/07
Distance: 15 miles
Time: 2:30 moving, ~4h total
Trails like: The bastard child of The Fells and Kingdom Trails

I felt the need to get in some MTB action this weekend, so, with all of my MTB friends out of town, I decided to trek up to SoHamp and hit up Bear Brook State Park. I've been wanting to go there for a while since it offers 20+ miles of trails. Not riding the same loop over and over = less loss of will to live. I searched the web for what trails were good to ride, and from Northeast Cylcing I obtained the following map.

I arrived at Bear Brook around 11:30, the trip from Boston taking about 90 min. It cost $3 to get into the park, and with permit obtained, I drove over to the Podunk road parking lot. I got my bike set up, and started looking for the trails. This project took a while as the trail marking system was...sporatic. Give me three weekends, a troop of boy scouts, and a couple of GPS units and I could make a map and trail markings to be proud of.

I finally found the Pitch Pine trail, and road it for maybe half a mile. Not bad...narrow, rolling, a little rocky and generally fun. Unfortunately, the trail entered the archery practice area, and so I bailed to the road, lest I be mistaken for a deer or, even worst, a masshole. I quickly got on the broken boulder trail, which turned out to be pretty flat, wide singletrack. I road the trail into the woods and eventually crossed a stone road which turned out to be Podunk road. I then go onto a sweeeet no name trail that had smooth twisty singletrack. I relished this for a while, and then got dropped back on on Podunk near the 4H camp. My location acertained, I ate some lunch, drank some dew, and got ready for more.

My next excursion put me on the hedgehog ledge trail...fun for a while, and with a beautiful little pond. The trail then became a series of unrideable stone staircases and so I got in some requisit hike-a-bike. I ended up in Hayes field and went back in for the Carr ridge trail. Again, fantastic single track at the beginning, nasty descents at the end.

The Carr Ridge trail ended in the Cascade trail, easily the most memorable of the day. On one side, steep uphill slope. One the other, a precipitous drop into a stream. In the middle, a 1.5 foot wide trail that liked to twist and climb, and try to throw unwarry bikers into the water: an oreo cookie of doom. It did not succeed in throwing me, but came damn close. I rode it to the end with several falls and a few scrapes and bruises. I definitely want a rematch.

At the end of the cascade trail I was bonking, so I sat down, drank half a dew, and had a handful of starburst jelly beans. I decided to take a short cut down to the lane trail, as the next section was supposed to have many unrideable sections. The lane trail turned out to be a dirt road, but with no small amount of climbing. Also, at the bottom of a little downhill, a stone arrow directed me into the woods. Intrigued, I bypassed the arrow and found myself at the edge of a four foot deep ravine that dropped into a stream. The road had been washed away, probably in last years floods. With enough speed one could probably jump it, but, with 2 inches of suspension, my bike almost certainly would have buckled.

The lane trail eventually dropped me off back at Hayes field for my final two laps. Both involved riding uphill on Podunk road for a while, and then downhill on singletrack. What a fantastic idea!! The Chipmunk/Bobcat/Salt lick trail was fun, but not very technical but, oh man, the Little Bear Trail rocked. Twisty, smooth downhill with a few jumps. It made for a great end to the day. To be sure, it wasn't sidewinder, but it was way more fun than anything in the Fells. Little Bear dropped me off in the parking lot, and so I racked my bike and drove back to Boston.

All in all, I really liked Bear Brook Park. There were more trails that I didn't ride that warrant exploration, so a second trip is probably in order. It might also be a fun place to take new mountain bikers as the technical sections are short and not sustained. Either way, its just another reason why Boston is a great city for outdoor enthusiasts.

Getting hit with a 2x4

Event: 24/12/6 Hours of Pat's Peak
Race: 6 hour solo
Location: Henniker, NH
Date: 7/14/07
Race loop: 5 (4.25) miles, 850 (950) feet of vertical/lap (GPS)
Downhill portion: BRUTAL
Results: www.patspeak.com

Last year, you may recall, I raced in the Jay Challenge MTB race. 72 miles. 14000 feet of climbing. An unimaginably epic ride. If you took the Jay challenge, and distilled away all the pavement and dirt road sections, leaving only the nasty single track, well then you'd have the 6 hour solo race at Pat's Peak. If the Jay Challenge was drinking good beers all night until you were really sleepy and content, then Pat's Peak would be like pounding shots Jack until you passed out.

I arrived at Pat's Peak around 9:30 and went to register. I was slightly annoyed that, despite have preregistered, I had to fill out all sorts of paperwork, but it turns out that they switched from EFTA to USA cycling after EFTA (apparently) screwed them royally. I know this because that Pat's Peak guy railed on them for a solid 5 minutes during the pre-race meeting. He also yelled/belittled the downhillers for riding on the grass and reminded us that Pat's Peak could be making $20,000 for hosting a wedding. A real classy guy. This meeting was from 10:45 to 11:15. The race started at noon, so, I worked on my bike for a while, had lunch, and drank some Mt. Dew.

The start was Lemans. Only three guys actually ran fast. I grabbed my bike and rode somewhere in the middle of the pack. People were not taking it out fast. We tooled around a snowmaking pond for a while, and then it was into the woods. The course alternated between tight, pretty technical singletrack and grassy, rough double track for about 2 miles as it climbed slowly up Pats Peak. I screwed up one single track section and had to wait for what seemed like the whole field to pass me. The course peaked at the top of one of the chairlifts, and there was a steep, doubletrack, grassy downhill. I let my bike fly, but the course was too rough and I had to rein it in. Fortunately, I did so before I hit the hidden waterbar of doom. When I hit it, I got thrown into my handlebars, but somehow barely managed to stay on my bike. My fellow racer and compatriot from the Jay Challenge, Dennis, was not so lucky. Hope you heal quickly, man.

The downhill ended in a sharp, loose rocky turn, and then there was more single track, followed by a long grass/loose dirt climb. In the afternoon sun, that was quite nasty. At the top of the climb there was a single track section that was windy, loose, and climby. I rode it maybe twice during the race, the other times I ran it (nominally slower). After this section came the downhill of pain . Twisty, narrow, rough single track littered with day ending endo-rocks. My 2" of Headshok were not up to the task. Those guys that used rigid single speeds must have been really hurting. Of course, anyone on a 4" x 4" dual suspension rocketed by me on the descent. I stayed on the bike for the single track section, but only just, and my arms, shoulders, and legs got really tired from absorbing shock. We then has a downhill on a very washed out dirt road. I was on the rideable line until it came to an abrupt end and dropped me a foot and a half into loose sand an volleyball sized rocks. I endoed, but landed on my camelbak and was pretty much unhurt, just covered in dirt. I got back on the bike and rode the small uphill and downhill to the start/finish.

After going through the tent, I stopped briefly for some food and water, and headed back out to the course. My second lap I was really feeling the descent from the first lap, and the realization came to me that this was going to be a long day. And so it was. Round and Round I went. After the second lap I decided to rest more between laps. After the third I took a 20 minute break. The race director wandered by, looked at my bike, and was like "I bet you're in a lot of pain right now, this isn't a hardtail course". The fourth and fifth laps saw me walking and taking some Mt. Dew breaks out on the course. I also started cramping up, and realized that, without electrolytes, I was pretty boned. I grabbed some energy drink mix and poured it into my camelbak. I guess I grabbed the ass flavor, because my stomach recoiled in horror when I drank it, but, it did stop the spasming in my legs. I completed the 6th lap at 5:45. I had the option of doing a seventh lap (you get credit for a lap started before 6 hours is up), but it had long ago ceased to be fun, and I didn't think my body would have survived another descent. I checked out, hosed myself off, and got the hell out of dodge.

Racing is always fun, but some races are less fun than others. This one was one of the less fun ones. Riding loops until you're too tired to ride anymore wasn't nearly the exciting day I'd been hoping for. It would have been fun with a team to the 24h race, because you'd spend most of your time hanging out with you friends, but solo...its just not the same. Hopefully Jay will be back next summer. Of course, theres always the Vermont 50....

All the Queen's Men

Its 5:10 a.m. Sunday morning, and I'm sitting in the firetower on Burke Mtn. with Ck, Ct, B, and Ca exhausted, suffering from a bad head-cold, and utterly content as the sun rises over the mountains and the clouds marking the last day of our adventure... But lets back up.... Its Thursday afternoon and we're sitting in the shade near the Dartmouth shooting range having just completed a rollerski biathlon. Everyone is near heat stroke and we still have the triathlon left to do. No one wants to do it, but all rally and push back their tiredness and mount up for another epic event... But lets back up again... Its midnight at the Wednesday/Thursday juncture and we're swimming across the Connecticut river in the pitch black, stroking towards far away lights and unknown challenges... But lets really back up... In 1999 five freshmen came together on the Dartmouth Ski Team. One was a VT superstar; one was a legend from New York state; one hailed from far away Alaska; one came from snowy Rochester, NY; one came from suburban Simsbury, CT. Over the next 4 years they shared a remarkable college experience: defeat and triumph, frustration and hope, and rivalry and friendship. They ran together in the mountains of New England both white and green. They tasted together the first snows of winter. They dwelt together in a house that is no more. They sang together of the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains. Then they scattered, each to find their own fortune. It so happens that Ck NROed an anthro class for refusing to write a essay about the topic: How do we know the pyrimids weren't built by aliens? Thus, she lacked the distribution requirements to get her degree and had to take an extra term. Since J was trips director over the summer between Ck's senior and super senior years, Ck got tasked to choose tripees for each trip. For his own trip, she found a former member of the US women's ski team who seemed bad-ass and awesome in every way. The rest is history..Ck proposed to Ct at Moosilauke ravine lodge at the end of trips two years later. The need then arose for the choice of a Best Man. Ck, being Ck, decided rather to let the Best Man choose himself and established the Bestmanthalon, an event by which the Best Man might prove himself worthy. The event would consist of contests of Brawns, Brains, Skillz, and Fun. The first events, Chess, Go, Bridge, and Gobblet, played over the internet, started 9 months ago. It turns out that only B and I wished to contest these events, and his victory in chess gave him the slight advantage going into the live events in Hanover. We convened at Ck's house Wednesday night., and, after some light refreshment decided on our plan for the evening. We would kick it off with some video games, followed by the first event of the modern pentathlon: swimming. Video games included Mario Kart Time trial, SMB points time trial, Wii Tennis, and Wii Boxing. Brayt took the Kart TT, and I was in Second. The SMB points match heavily favored those seeded later, and so Levi and Jon clean up. I tooled on Everybody in Wii Tennis, and I think Jon took first in Boxing. Not a bad start. Then, 11 p.m. rolled around, and we all trekked down to the Connecticut river. B and I had wetsuits and there was a safety canoe, but, damn, the river looked wide at night. The canoe went ahead of us, and we followed the lights. Ck surged to the lead, and finished the crossing in ~5:30, with B, L and J following, and me taking up the back. We then embarked on a ninja mission, the details of which I am not at liberty to divulge. This got us back to Ck's house at 2 a.m. I turned in for the night, as the next day promised a triad of tough events: the decathlon (nonathlon), biathlon, and triathlon. The decathlon started at 7:oo a.m. with the 110 high hurdles. High means HIGH: they come up to my chest. I couldn't jump over them, not even a little, so I ninja kicked every one down. The 110 hurdles took me 30 seconds. J, with impressive technique, won the event. We then had the high jump, which B won, and the long jump, and the shot, and the 100, 400, and 1500. The pole vault we eschewed, lacking the proper gear. We then trekked over to the training field for the javelin and the discus. The highlights of the event for me where the 100 where I came in 2nd and the Javelin where I won for the manthletes. Unfortunately my 100 was 13.1 seconds, making me slower than Hitomi Kanzaki. The shame! We stopped at Molly's for lunch, but Ck wouldn't let us rest long. We had yet the rollerski biathlon. Ca brought out her Anshutz rifle, the one I think she used in the Olympics and let us shoot with it, which was really sweet. Of course we all pretty much sucked-ass at shooting, so it was a rollerski race. The penalty lap for missing a target was an out and back on the soccer field in the burning sun. Brutal. We had an interval start to space out the shooting. It was pretty obvious that B would win, being a pro cross country skier. I hadn't rollerskied in 4 years, so it wasn't pretty. We had three skiing sections (2k, 3k, 2k) and two shooting sections (standing and prone). I hit exactly zero targets, which made the event long and torturous. Running penalty laps in ski boots is not fun. I finished DFL. After the race we all sat in the shade and talked about how tired we were, and how the triathlon wasn't a good idea. Ck, being Ck, rallied us, and off we went to Storrs pond. I was in a bad way at the beginning of the sprint tri. I was heat exhausted and dehydrated and fucking tired. Never-the-less, we got our gear set up and lined up for the race. Hitting the water was intensely refreshing. The swim was 400m, and I was really tired, so it took forever, but it totally killed my heat exhaustion. I got out of the water last, and jumped on my bike for the 10 mile bike. The course was 4 miles of up and then 4 miles of down, and then 2 miles of rolling terrain. I was able to crank pretty well, and I used the bars as best I could, but I wasn't going fast. I got through the course, and started the 3k run just as B was finishing his run. Yeah, its hard to compete against a professional athlete when you're a grad student, but, that's how things go. The sprint tri concluded the hard part of our day, and we headed back to Ck's house to help her pack and to ready ourselves for the exodus to Burke. Packing turned out to be taking Ck's possesions, then loosely organized, and put them into cars that had free space. This process took the better part of 2 hours, during which time other equipment was obtained from various locations on campus. All the cars were marshalled, and the caravan rolled out of Hanover at 7 p.m. We did not, however, go straightways to Burke. We stopped in Bradford for mini-golf, a very fun event that was very close. Afterwards we were all hungry, myself very much so. I recall telling Ck that my eating of food would be "rigorously necesary" She handed me a bag of chips, and that was dinner. We got our caravan reformed and headed northward in the summer night. The "Fun" portion of the manthalon remained, of which I will comment little, only saying that I competed manfully, though not alas to victory as I would have hoped. The day we were slated to finish the modern pentathlon with a bike race (horse back riding), Wrestling (Fencing), pistol shooting, and the 3000m cross country run. Things didn't quite work out that way. I arose around 9:30 and scrounged around for coffee. My caffeine need being met, I planted myself on the deck at Burke and sat in the sun chatting with all people. Ct and Ck went to go get their marriage license, and upon returning, Ct put Ck in bed, and told him not to wake up for many hours. Brayt and I figured that Ck was out of commission for the day, so we headed over to Kingdom Trails for some MTB action. Kingdom trails were , as B put it, sublime. Challenging, yet really fun, fast yet technical, windy yet scenic. Basically, the best mountain biking in New England. I can't wait to go back. We biked for 3 hours and it was just amazing. Sidewinder in particular blew my mind, ludicrously scary and yet ridable...fantastic. We met up with Ct and rode with her group for the last hour. You might recall from previous entries that Ct is a kick-ass mountain-biker, so that was really fun. We returned to Burke around 2:30 ready to chill some more, but Ck was up, and had other plans. Ck planned an MTB crit for us, so, after some heal dragging on everybody's part, back to Kingdom trails we went, with Ck's family and B's parents in tow. The course was a 1 mile loop called Old Web, basically 50% downhill 50% uphill. Really, really fun to ride, but I had no legs left. We did four laps, and I rode as hard as I could, which turned out to be pretty slow. Apparently L and B had a good fight for the win, but I was happy not to get lapped. We drove back to Burke, and dragged our feet some more, but Ck still had time before the rehearsal dinner, so, wrestling was next. We had a "king of the hill" style match. Basically, if you were in the middle, you were getting time points. One person would challenge you and either take the hill, or get thrown out or knocked down. I started in the hill and controlled it for three seconds. I spent the next four minutes getting my ass throw and knocked down repeatedly. Still, it was fun. L, being the biggest, won the event, and we had time left for only one more, the pistol shoot. We had six shots with E's .22 revolver at 10 yards. The other competitors didn't hit the target more than once. I hit it three times, two shots grazing the center ring, so I took the victory. It was too little, too late, but damn it felt good, especially after wrestling. The points were added up, and the results anounced. In 4th place me, 3rd L, 2nd J, and the Best Man, B. It really didn't matter, though. That night at the rehearsal dinner, we all decided to give speeches during the reception anyway. The Best Manthlon wasn't about winning or losing; it was about 5 friends having the time of their lives. To that end, there were no losers. Or as our coach used to say, "there are no non-heros on this team". Ck and Ct's wedding ceremony was really gorgeous. The view of Willaby Gap was breathtaking, and the weather cooperated perfectly. During the reception we took a good 20 minutes to give our speeches, but for love of Ck and Ct, that seemed like a short time. The food was delicious, and we danced the night away to the best jazz band I've ever heard. By this point I had developed a nasty headcold, so it took 600 mg of caffeine plus 3 cups of coffee to keep me going, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. At some point I agreed to hike Burke Mtn to see the sunrise in the morning. I figured I was already sick, hiking probably wouldn't hurt. Sure enough, at 4:30 a.m. Ck knocked on my door, and I suited up for the final athletic event of the weekend. It was a nice hike, in the dark, up the ski trails, and the view from the firetower at the top was exquisite. It was a fitting end to an epic 5 days. I don't think there will be any weddings next year, but we all agreed to all get together for an adventure. Hopefully our fellowship will reconvene in Moab, or some other suitable playground, and we can tell tales from manthlon and of all the years past and look forward to those left to come. Ck and Ct, we couldn't be more happy for you. Thanks for having such a kick-ass wedding!

Boot and Rally

Event: Salomon Xwing Transalp Rally Qualifier Date: 2/17/07 Location: Loon Mtn, NH Team Reporting: Ullr's Avengers: Scott and Alex Skis: Xwing Tornado: 170 cm At Stake: A chance to win a trip to Europe, and also a bunch of swag Fatal Flaw: A sense of honor/stupidity This was to be my first downhill ski race since the mid 80s, so, you can imagine I was stoked about it. Basically, it was a scavenger hunt on skis. Salomon was putting on the event to promote their new "all mountain" ski series, the Xwings (They must have paid off George Lucas) and so they outfitted us with a pair of skis for the event. There were orienteering style checkpoints all over the mountain and then also scavenger hunt type photos (i.e. a neon ski suit) and also bonus point photos (i.e. chair skier). You also got points for the number of vertical feet you skied, as measured by an altimeter watch. I spent the night in Littleton with C and C, and so we got to Loon at like 8:30. C and C started right away, and then A showed up soon after and we started. They tried to give us the super fat Xwing skis, but, it being NEW HAMPSHIRE, we just laughed and asked for the skinny ones. That settled, armed with camera, altimeter watch, and checkpoint list we got in line for the high speed quad...and discussed strategy in the 15 minute wait for the chair. Ouch. That was a significant chunk of our alotted 4 hours. We rode singles for the rest of the day. Basically our plan was to get all the orienteering checkpoints as quickly as possible, and then move on to the photo scavenger hunt. We decided not to split up and not to pay attention to vertical feet skied. BIG MISTAKE, but alas, splitting up we thought was against the rules. It wasn't. The checkpoints were easy to find. They were all on marked trails, and were, for the most part, easy to see. We got every one we set out for the first time, except one that briefly eluded us. On most runs we got more than one. I also tried to shoot as many photos as I could in line and on the chair, but the camera they gave us was kinda crappy, and it was hard to tell if the photos came out. Some of the checkpoints revealed bonus points, which were find a chair skier, take pictures of both train stations, take a picture of you sticking your tongue out at the top of the mountain cafe, and one other that I can't recall. As we moved into the photo shoot phase we tried to get the highest scoring photos first, and then the lower scoring as they presented themselves. I got a guy wearing a cowboy hat simply because I rode the chair with him. We kind of lost track of time, and when we went to check in, we were told we had ten minutes. We scoured the lodge and base area in a whirlwind photoshoot. We actually got the picture of the adaptive skier at this point, and that was huge: 50 points. In the lodge, our camera fogged up, and ruined some pictures, but, with a little ingenuity, it was brought back into working operation, but not before some drunk guy wanted to punch me for taking his picture. oops! We handed in all our stuff with 1 minute to spare and got our tickets for the after party, to be held in the base lodge. It was 2 p.m., so we all hit the slopes for a while. My Scott Aztec Pros are a lot less carvy than the Xwings, but, then they're also a little big. If I want carvy, I can use my 155 rossignol 9Xs. Anyway after a few runs, we returned to the lodge for the after-party and awards. C went back into town and picked up some malt liquor, and we brown bagged it rather than paying out the nose for beers at the lodge bar. Ah being a graduate student! C and C tooled on everybody else and took 1st place. A and I were not in the top three, so, no prizes for us, but a good day in all.