Thunder Alley

Well the humidity and heat has arrived, there are daily thunderstorms perfectly timed for when I want to ride my bike. Luckily I snuck and hour in on Monday before the imminent threat came upon us. I rode Hale cause the baby was in a nap and that gave me the time I needed to unleash some fury. It was an hour but any ride with some needed exercise was welcomed. Then Tuesday came around and while not my normal ride day I was free from scouts duty but was rained out once again. Wednesday a little rain passed through and put the baby down and put 90 minutes of trail down on some good stuff. Still hot as could be but I was riding right! Felt pretty good throughout despite the mosquito's, one day I will put the bug spray on. Not all too much else going on around here, there is a lot more rain prediction for the next few days so I doubt I will ride again. Time to take up running or something to get me through this crap I guess. In more exciting news I have Mapped and planed over 5 ride so far, one which has probably never been done by a Utah rider, I plan to ride ridge trail 157 out to the Crest trail, probably a 50 mile ride or so with some serious elevation sustained 9-10,000ft we shall see if it happens. Trying to learn to use google maps so I can make and official route...... I came close to 100 miles in Utah last year I should hit that this trip, that is with what free time is allowed to me by my poor wife who has to deal this this Mountain nut. I lover the Wasatch I can't wait to be re united again. You bikers have no clue what your missing in SLC area riding. Suspicious bump on my leg, never found a tick but worried about Lyme, going to Dr. today.

Swetty at EveryTrail
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Hi Doggy

Friday night I asked my lady for a time frame for me riding Saturday since she has an exam coming up and not a lot of time to take care of the boy. Well it looks like the time allowed me to get back to Shenipsit and that is just what I did! With gears and squishy it was nice I am not going to lie, I needed it for all the climbing and to make life easier as I get back into condition from absence of rides. I started off standard issue and was finally going to link all the trails I had gathered and make it done right. Being my 3rd day on the bike I was riding fairly strong, welcomed by me of course but I still walked three sections of Bald Mountain because well I just don't want it that bad I guess. It was a nice day, pretty warm halfway into the ride but what you going to do. I hit the summit where I bobbled and could not find the one small section at the top, the mosquitos quickly convinced me to keep moving along or they would be forced to feast! Down the steep side and hit the paved road for a short 50 yards heading back into the forest. Well as I happily pedaled I saw a massive black dog 15 yards in front of me at the exit of a driveway, maybe a Saint Bernard, then when my eyes focused on the object, DANG! it was a black bear! I stopped dead in my tracks and was ready to start hooting and hollering obscenities but before I could he booked it down the road. I bobbled with my phone to get a picture and I caught the rear of him down the road. I was pretty spooked and my heart was racing, I have been in close proximity with multiple bears in the Wind Rivers Wyoming but I was not prepared for one here in CT! Strangely I felt on previous rides including that day, if I was to find a bear it was going to be when I was riding shenipsit. I pedaled on in mild fear as I past where he barreled into the woods but luckily he did not show his face. I rode on and completed my loop and was disappointed when I read I had only done 7 miles in almost two hours. Oh well, the loop is super good so that's my main concern. Was fun sharing that story when I got home. I wonder what Bentley would have done. I need to get him back in shape cause he needs to start riding with me again, so that's the goal this month.

N. snip goods

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Case O Whoopin

Well I did it again, got on a ride above my head, what else is new. I got an invite to ride some Case and was going to ride there anyway so why not do it in company. Well four of us total started up the big hill and then hopped onto the new section of trail I have not rode yet. It was nothing great, but I guess anything new is somewhat exciting. I was slow as heck off the start, I knew I was going to be in trouble as they quickly disappeared from view frequently. Well I hung in there by the skin of my teeth. By the last hour I was running low on steam with an empty belly and out of warm backpack water. I was super slow and sharty but I hung in there and decided not to bail on the ride just yet. I just kept trucking on wondering if I should split and put my headphones on and relax the last bit of trail but I stayed with it. I guess I have made it quite obvious I need to stick to my mellow solo since I don't like these strenuous rides. Hope to ride soon, at least Saturday!

Case whoopy

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Case

With only 5 rides in the last month or so I have been missing frequent rides. Mostly the weather has had to do with it and is not a motivation problem on my behalf. With that said I got to ride Wednesday and plan to again tonight. I took off to Case. Conditions were good and Bike was in working order after driving it under water last week. It was nice and cool as I climbed. I had not been to case in a while so it felt somewhat fresh and new. Felt might good out there, was on par with a normal paced ride and look forward to getting some fitness back. We bought tickets for Utah looks like 11 days July14-25 and I am soooooooooooooo excited to ride there. I am obviously going to ride as much as I possibly can without being gone too much. I am pretty sure I am going to bring my Kona Tanuki with me for the plane ride. I miss Utah so bad it's going to be a good reunion!

Case reunion

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Pay Day

Most in the East know it has been a tough week with two major storms dumping plenty of rain on the land. After hearing Friday the trails were in fine shape I decided to go out and see what I could find. I chose Hollow since I was still trying to complete the bigger loop and honing my navigating on the task at hand. So I set off hesitantly with the idea in my mind if I was going to leave a footprint I would not ride. So shortly into the ride I was amazed how fine the trails were. Just moist, no mud, when I got down to the water line of Mansfield Lake, the trail that dips up and down by the waters edge was flooded. I am talking under 2-3 feet of water flooded. With not much of an idea what to do I walked the hillside a ways up and avoided the flooded 100ft section. I was now back on trail but knew there were more pieces that would be flooded. The trail once again was in totally fine shape! I was pumped to be riding, it felt good in my head, my fitness on the other hand sucked. I was slow as could be and was hating it had been 8 days since my last ride........ I carried on and found another flooded section so I headed up the paved main road and bypassed it all together and got on the high road and chugged on. I made my way up that big ol hill, needs a name by the way, let's call it Stoned Hill. I walked some, that was the first time in awhile I had to hop off on that strenuous hill. Being I was on SS I found it was ok. Onwards after the summit to cross the road and into Schoolhouse Brook. Trails here had more running water which was no big deal since things were so rocky and gravel that there was no mud to be found. I finally rode the last section of blue and got the loop almost complete with having to make detours. I guess I will just have to get back there when she drains to officially kill it.

Hollowbrook 3rd with water detours

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Mansfield Hollow to School House Brook

Got out a screaming fast pedal at the Hollow. I was determined to loop the two parks again with a little more finesse after seeing a trail map of the joint. Also I was going to add in a section I could see on strava map that a mountain biker had rode. So I set off and stayed on orange instead of unmarked single track and found is a much easier pedal but lacked the views of the lake. I was ripping hard and body and bike were in fine tune as I made it to the river in like 30 minutes! Climbed the big ol hill and across the road I was in School House Brook where I began to feel a few rain drops. It was really dark by now and even though it was a little after 7:00 the lush green canopy made it hard to see. A little while down the trail it started to rain a little more. I was still en route and making good time to Wolf Rock. I rode quite a ways on the road due to seeing a poor marked rock but no big deal. I have never been to Wolf Rock but it offered a nice view of the valley. By now the rain was coming down good and I had no interest in lengthening the ride. So I got off blue and headed on a trail where I had a feeling would get me near Mountain Rd. Turns out I nailed it perfect and rode to the car as it began to rain harder and hit the car. Super good ride, really smooth and fast, probably the fastest 13.2 miles I have rode in less than two hours. There is still room for more miles since I take direct routes. I can't wait to get back and do more what a fun fast loop!

Hollow to brook 2nd loop exp.

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Wednesday Crandall

Holy crap I really enjoy riding Crandalls, while I wish it was a larger area I can certainly work with all that it does have. With time not on my side I have managed to make two rides happen so far, I find that Landon can go to sleep at 6:30 so this allows me 90 minutes to an hour to ride depending if I drive to ride. So with almost two hours to ride I set off cranking at a good click with Creedence Clearwater on the tunes. Trail was nice and tacky with the cool weather and after my chain tension adjustment the bike feels so much better. A rare thing happened yesterday at Crandalls, I came across another rider, I notice tire marks as I ride usually but never came across another rider let alone on a fat bike. Felt great as usual out riding, I was feeling beat and fatigued most the day and was worried about the ride but I had no problem with the pedal on the gas surprisingly. I found myself a little over an hour with still time left, turns out I must have been moving real good. I though I made an almost two hour loop and shaved 30 minutes off of it so I must have been looney cause I could not be moving that quick. I wanted more but 90 minutes will suffice.

Crandall king

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Turning Tires

After 12 days off the bike I was ready to get out more than ever. We got some rain Monday that passed through and then the sun came out and then went back to overcast. I put the boy down to rest at 7:00 and I was out the door a minute later on the SS. The trail across the street is all grown in and I could hardly stay on track so I will be trying to break it back on this week. It was moist and gloomy in the start but that changed a little later when the golden hour approached and got a glimpse of some bright sun that warmed by soul. It was pretty cool compared to the day before but was still a sweat fest. It looks like Al's trail is still alive and well, I rode it in the together direction and found the taped off trail still up. Continued on with a hunt for speed and flat terrain. I must say I did make some good choices cause it was fast and minimal work. It felt so sooooo good to be riding, as usual but this time a little more special since it was a good amount of time since last ride. The drive train is still has some slack, must be down to the cog, cassette or crank now after replacing chain and front chain ring. Solid ride that put me home just before dark, today is gorgeous but with scouts I have no time to ride so let's give it another go Wednesday night.

Post cat island ride

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Family Heavy

The Roy's are back we all survived! We all set off on our voyage Saturday morning with my Mom Dad Brother his girlfriend and her brother to our annual visit to Cat Island. The baby had slept good at Mom and Dad's so we were going to go with the assumption it was going to be smooth sailing come travel day. Traveling on airplanes for the first time with a 7 month old was stressful for me prior, but like everything else he behaved so well and was a real little champion. For those who don't know, Cat Island is in the Bahamas and is where my family has spent most vacations over the last 15 years. It is a very quiet Island just 60 miles long with nothing more than a a few grocery stores and kick butt beaches. We all loaded into a plane in White Plains and took off and before we knew it we were in Nassau. Once we landed we made our way to a connection where we would be flying 40 minutes to Cat Island. Landon passed out drinking his bottle while we both became soaked in sweat from lack of air flow on the plane but no big deal. We hit tarmac by 5 and were out on the beach where we got to take our little boy into the ocean for the very first time. What a great experience as we dipped him in and out of the water and played with him. He was pretty exhausted from the whole experience but he was being a good sport. One heck of a day I tell you, when the boy went down a load of bricks were lifted off my shoulders and relaxation fully set in.
The next day we awoke to another warm toasty sunny Bahamian day, It was glorious walking with my smoking hot wife down the sandy beach with our little boy, I truly am a humble grateful man. We proceeded to get Landon into the water and then set off on his very first boat ride, a lot of firsts this trip by the way. The breeze had him squinting most the time but he was greeting us with gummy smiles the whole way! It sucked that it would be our one and only boat ride the rest of the trip. Later that day LuAnn took out my brothers inflatable paddle board after me which I was extremely impressed with it's construction! It was both our first time on a paddle board and quickly grew to love it!

Monday Night was mine and LuAnn's 4th year wedding anniversary, the timing was poor for it to be on a family vacation but hey roll with the punches so that's what we did. We decided to have dinner next door at the hotel and enjoy a evening together. We put the boy to sleep and off we went and had a fantastic ocean side dinner with live music and each others loving company.
From then on the weather took a turn and most days were overcast but still filled with beach fun with paddle ball and this awesome invention called wababoa ball. If you are in calm waters this is tremendously fun as it defies gravity and skips across the water. The last day we got just a glimpse of sun and that is when a few more pictures got snapped and was followed later with torrential downpours. Could have used a lot more sun this trip but it was great regardless spending time with my entire family. Going to have to get a crack at it next summer and the little man will be tearing up the beach like a mad man I am sure! Great trip!