River Highands Plus

RIW at River Highlands - the weather was great!

Then I went over to Smith School and rode some more!

Cowles - Upper Level Quickie

Today a rode a bit of the upper part of Cowles Park starting from the parking area just over the river. I should have ridden Keg Roller the other way as it was an amazing flowy downhill.

I bailed earlier than I planned cuz I got hungry. A burger and beer at the marvelous tavern in Tariffville hit the spot!

Metacomet Trail / NET sec CT 19 a BlueBlaze

Six Flags

Moto Trail West

Keg Roller  

(back)

Root Down

Yep A triple!

 Headed up to Cowles mid morning and finally rode a bit of the upper section. Taj Mahal was great! The climb up to it was some serious hike-a-bike and what's worse? As I was climbing I realized I left my Camelbak back on top of the car!!! Duh!

I was hoping to do more of the upper section but I beelined it back down to get the Camelbak....

...and decided to finish off the morning with a quickie at Smith School. I had just leaf blew the back trails at Parcel 3 at Smith and wanted to ride the crazy dip into the crevasse (which surprising I hadn't seen before!) 

Later that day I headed over to Plainville to ride with the NEMBA guys a Shade Swamp. There were lots of us and downs and I baled early (at the XX) and rode back to  the Transcend Brewery via the roads. We head a nice social time at the brewery when the full ride was complete.:-)

A "Lithium" Day

Tyler Mill

Central CTNEMBA had its annual NembaFest ride at Tyler Mill Today - the weather was perfect! About 60 riders or so turned up and the vibes were great (donuts/coffee, pizza galore and raffle and a bunny hop contest). 

I had a great ride (destination the Rivertime trail) and --needless to say-- the pedal assist served me well!

EoK

We ended a little after 12 noon and I was still jonesin' for more bike time so I rode the trails. East of Keeney. I discovered a good amount of trees down in the dirt biked area north of Howe but managed to slog thru the confusion and hit the Fun Loop.

Leaf Blowing

Since quite a few trails were getting hard to distinguish I returned a bit later and leaf blew a few of the "harder to discern" trails and made a reroute on Backtracks.

Lithium Day??

Why did I call this a lithium day. Well the two rides AND the leaf blow were all powered by lithium batteries so why not call it that ?:-)

Tyler Mill - once more

 I did an hour and half ride around a good amount of trails at Tyler Mill today (late afternooon

Heck - I am beginning to really like the place!

These are the trails I rode:

• Red
• Brave Ulysses (North)
• Brave Ulysses (South) - a couple of surprise hills caught mere here!
• Weed Pile
• Middle Kingdom
• Tamarac Swamp road
• Boy Scout
• Wall Oven
• Middle Kingdom
• Bridge-Streambank to Red Loop
• Swamp Loop
• Green 
• Rivertime
• Teeter
• Totter
• Sidewinder
• Field Perimeters
• Red

Ya win some - ya lose some :-(

I decided to check out Rockland Preserve today but it was a disaster!

Rockland Preserve

It was a 45 minute drive and when I arrived, I was the only car in the lot - that made me a little apprehensive from the start. Not having ever been here before, I of course checked my Trailforks map at every intersection but somehow I ended up on this abandoned trail with deadfall logs blocking the trail every 10 feet or so. The initial blue trail climb was kinda tough in spots - lots of rocks and a continual climb but I cautiously managed it! But after getting way off the beaten track I decided to bail and headed back out, somehow hitting a loose rock and bashing my knee on the easy trail out!

I thought - crap - I can't call it a day... lemme go over to Tyler Mill and redeem myself.

'Tyler Mill

The Tyler Mill Ride was great--a mix of easier (green) and some challenging (blue). Somewhere in my travels I bloodied my leg but the ride was definitely worth it. I have totally changed my thoughts on this park - I love it now and will try to return more frequently.

Trails I Rode;

• Maze Connector
• The Maze
• Lazy Maze
• 12 1/2 Walls 
• Tyler Mill Rd
• Laurel Brook
• Buck Sheds
• Pink Blaze
• Bridge to Purple
• Red Swamp
• Red/Green Connector
• Blue 
• Flat Blue

1st Time at Hurd

It was a beautiful day so I headed down to Hurd State Park mid afternoon for a mountain bike ride.It was my first time here so obviously I relied on the Trailforks map quite a bit!

The River Trail has a fun wicked descent but the ascent was even worse--rocky and steep so this old man had to walk it :-(

It a nice park but not that much of a thrill for me. I'll be back but probably only occasionally.

Descent to the River

Once back up in the forest