It felt as if I was getting on board an alien spacecraft. I hadn't been on a bike in so long even my bike clothes felt strange. It was a sunny blustery day and all I had was a pair of shorts, an undershirt and long sleeve jersey. I thought I would never warm up. The wind in the lot was going right through my jersey. I made the clothing choice subconsciously and I was later to realize how right I was. I insisted on the trail, Glacier Ridge. It's the latest offering from our mtb club. We had ridden it when it was brand new and the builder was asking for volunteers to ride it in. It has been a few months now and as soon as we pulled in we could see a new trailhead had been installed and some fencing. It sure looked good. Our last ride here was a bit of an adventure due to a lack of trail markers and some very soft trailbed. We both felt that Glacial Ridge had some nice potential and had gotten word that more trails had been built. It didn't take too long to get into the rhythm. It always amazes me to see a new trail like this and be able to know who the builders are by the use of the landscape and how the features are utilized. There were no real straight-aways... the entire trail undulated, Keeping you guessing to what was a direction change or what was just an S. The climbs are typical for Long Island, short and steep. Some technical feature like passing between two narrow trees, or a man made rise and direction change always keeps you alert. You are kept very busy setting up for a move or a drop off of a mogul that leads into a turn. Some trails here have just too much straight trail and it is easy to become complacent. Some trails were built on smaller tracts and have a million turns. It seems with this trail lesson were learned and put to excellent use. We did find some new trails. I accidentally made a wide turn on a fire road and found myself on an up and down mogul. There was another great trail called "What goes up" And yes there was a trail that ended that statement... "Must come down". This is an overall hillier trail. I think living in a flat place people tend to over value a decent climb and try to make the trail find the steepest climbs... This trail instead used to terrain to keep your mind on the technical. The climbs are long and flow so well it almost ends up being a trap... you don't know you are in a climb until it is too late. We finished up tired, sweaty and feeling like the flying saucer had just dropped us back in the parking lot, but we were smiling widely... We have a great new home trail. There is plenty of land left to build on. Now we just need to get out and ride it!
It felt as if I was getting on board an alien spacecraft. I hadn't been on a bike in so long even my bike clothes felt strange. It was a sunny blustery day and all I had was a pair of shorts, an undershirt and long sleeve jersey. I thought I would never warm up. The wind in the lot was going right through my jersey. I made the clothing choice subconsciously and I was later to realize how right I was. I insisted on the trail, Glacier Ridge. It's the latest offering from our mtb club. We had ridden it when it was brand new and the builder was asking for volunteers to ride it in. It has been a few months now and as soon as we pulled in we could see a new trailhead had been installed and some fencing. It sure looked good. Our last ride here was a bit of an adventure due to a lack of trail markers and some very soft trailbed. We both felt that Glacial Ridge had some nice potential and had gotten word that more trails had been built. It didn't take too long to get into the rhythm. It always amazes me to see a new trail like this and be able to know who the builders are by the use of the landscape and how the features are utilized. There were no real straight-aways... the entire trail undulated, Keeping you guessing to what was a direction change or what was just an S. The climbs are typical for Long Island, short and steep. Some technical feature like passing between two narrow trees, or a man made rise and direction change always keeps you alert. You are kept very busy setting up for a move or a drop off of a mogul that leads into a turn. Some trails here have just too much straight trail and it is easy to become complacent. Some trails were built on smaller tracts and have a million turns. It seems with this trail lesson were learned and put to excellent use. We did find some new trails. I accidentally made a wide turn on a fire road and found myself on an up and down mogul. There was another great trail called "What goes up" And yes there was a trail that ended that statement... "Must come down". This is an overall hillier trail. I think living in a flat place people tend to over value a decent climb and try to make the trail find the steepest climbs... This trail instead used to terrain to keep your mind on the technical. The climbs are long and flow so well it almost ends up being a trap... you don't know you are in a climb until it is too late. We finished up tired, sweaty and feeling like the flying saucer had just dropped us back in the parking lot, but we were smiling widely... We have a great new home trail. There is plenty of land left to build on. Now we just need to get out and ride it!
Jimbo(san)
Way to get after it, Jim, and the write-up had me with you the whole way.
