Monday, March 27, 2023

NEMBA’s Philip Keyes Leadership Summit

Got to head down to Cape Cod to check out NEMBA’s Philip Keyes Leadership Summit, March 24th-26th.

Just under 100 participants from nearly all of NEMBA’s 33 chapters got together to discuss strategy and how to ensure the success of the organization and mountain biking in general, and of course, ride.

After some energetic opening remarks from Nicole Freedman, NEMBA’s new executive director, the brainstorming began

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Boning Up

 NOT MY FEMUR
Getting older has never been billed as being fun, at least not once you get past that magical age of ”21” (which was so, so, long ago).

But, just like trying to keep an old car or an old bike up and running, our older bodies (or sbould I say "classic") need more maintenance as time goes on. Here is yet another article that discusses the importance of weight and strength training as a way to stave off osteoporosis and osteopenia. 

The reality is, exercises like cycling, and swimming, just don’t cut it when it comes to bone strength. The more you stress the bones, the stronger they will become, providing you have adequate nutrition with calcium and vitamin D.

Friday, December 30, 2022

How a Trail is Born

When you are blasting down a trail, enjoying the flow, or struggling up a climb that seems to go on forever, do you ever wonder how that trail came into being? If so, check out Trails Don't Build Themselves, as part of the MTB 101 series, and wonder no more.

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Bay Circuit Trail (Just a Taste)

 
I was at a trail building workshop recently and one of the questions that was presented to us was, “what’s your favorite trail?” 

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What is Mountain Biking?

What is mountain biking? Definitions may vary, but see how I unpack the different types of riding in this new series MTB 101... class is now in session.

Monday, September 5, 2022

First Aid Kits Only Help If You Bring Them With You

Yes, the same "crash photos" 
seen in a previous post.
I used to carry a first aid kit when I went riding but I had gotten out of the habit. I mostly stopped wearing a hydration pack, and without one, I limited my *stuff* to the bike necessities: tube, CO2, multi-tool; and a couple of water bottles. My recent ride that went a bit sideways made me rethink this approach. 

Let's face it, it's inevitable that you or one of your riding compatriots is going to crash. Hopefully there will be no serious injuries and all you'll get is a good story and a good laugh, maybe make it on to #fridayfail on Pinkbike.com. But, someday, something more significant might happen so you should probably be ready.

In my mind, being ready requires two things: knowledge and supplies. I do happen to have a fair bit of medical knowledge, but until research is done to determine if oak leaves are better for packing a wound over maple leaves, I'd prefer some good old fashioned medical supplies.

If you don't have much medical knowledge, I strongly encourage you to take a first aid class, especially if it can be geared towards the outdoors. You should also take a CPR course and a Stop the Bleed course.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Frontenac Secteur SUD National Park Adventure

It’s not common for a 30 mile gravel ride to rise to the level of needing a story about it, but this one does. This ride wasn’t a ride, it was a journey, an experience, a shit show. A shit show that I got to enjoy with my lovely wife and our two friends, Liz and Dan.

I’m typically tasked with finding and leading rides (or hikes) whenever we travel. I do have a reputation for taking my wife and our friends on rides that are a *bit* harder than I might advertise, or with a wee bit more climbing than mentioned. That’s part of what I do, but I HONESTLY don’t set out to do it. This just sort of happens, there’s “one more hill,” or we’ve only got “a few more miles to go.”

Anyone who has tried to find a ride hundreds of miles from home knows the challenges associated with choosing loops purely based on GPS tracks. Be it TrailForks or RideWithGPS, it’s caveat emptor when you download that GPS file and hit start.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

ECGA Gravel Goodness

On Saturday July 30,  Noah Leavitt and Dan Tieger, along with some other folks, worked with the Essex County Greenbelt Association to host an informal gravel ride starting in West Newbury.

The roughly 25-mile loop included a mix of road and off-road accessing Maudslay State Park, the Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area, the abandoned J.B. Little Road, trails around the Indian Hill Reservoir, and some quiet paved roads.

About 30 riders set out in multiple groups broken down by an estimated average speed. I tried to go back and forth between everyone, but the fast riders were long gone. That being said, I was able to snap a bunch of shots of the majority of the participants, and from the smiling faces, it seemed like everyone was having a good time. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Muddy Onion 2022

I love bikes, Vermont, and hills, and the Muddy Onion gravel ride combines all three. This has been one of my favorite gravel rides since "gravel rides" were a thing, and after being on hold for the past two years because of the 'rona, it was great to be back for this early season test of fitness. 

Rolling out of Montpelier, the Muddy Onion offers two route options, 21 and 39 miles, the latter with about 3500 ft of climbing. I chose the 39'er, as did Jason G and Glen G, and in total there were about 697 other riders lined up with us on Saturday morning.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Gran Prix Beverly Cyclocross

You can tell by the fact that you can't see any 
riders behind me how far out front I am...
Thanks Jen Carter for the pic!
So there it was, my triumphant return to cyclocross racing. And, by *triumphant* I mean I didn't die. About 10 years ago I was racing quite a bit, but it's been a while since I worried about which side I needed to pin my number on or obsessed about tire pressure. Okay, I NEVER obsessed about tire pressure, but you get the point. 

With the race happening in my proverbial back yard, I had to do it, lack of training or semblance of fitness be damned. In fact, the entirety of my "training" for the race consisted of the one-lap pre-ride I did shortly before the start. 

If you want to skip past my ramblings and see some pics of my teammate/work colleague/bro, scroll below, but if you want to subject yourself to a tiresome description of the course, read on.

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Kill Your Lawn, Grow "Weeds."

Over the past few years, my view of lawns has shifted from just apathy to total disdain. 

I've never been a "lawn guy," I've never really cared enough to dedicate much time, effort and resources to my grass. Sure, I *tried* and had done some stuff... watering, fertilizer, de-thatching, aerating, overseeding, etc, which, when I actually list it out, seems like a lot, but I was only barely interested and didn't do all of these things often enough or consistently. My lawn's appearance matched my efforts, but it was usually "good enough," and I was fine with that. The weeds were green, the grub patches weren't too bad, and I had better things to do. And while I wasn't a dedicated grass guy, my OCD made sure that what I did have was usually neat and clean.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Beverly Bike Park?

I've been kicking around the idea of a bike park somewhere in Beverly.

UPDATES WILL BE BELOW

Exactly where? Who knows.

How big? Dunno.

When? No idea.

But, all things start with an idea, so if you're interested, please fill out this short form.

Friday, October 30, 2020

Battle of the Blowers vs Bloviators

It's that time of year to start the leaf blower battles. The autumn leaves are down, trails are covered and the debate rages as to what is better--"clean" or "natural."

I say there is no universal right or wrong approach, but generally I favor groomed trails. 

In fact, for the most part I don't think leaf removal adversely affects trails and more likely may confer benefits to trail users.

Before you load your aspersions and invectives in a flaming bag to hurl at me, let's lay out some facts or at least some informed opinions that I'll use to make my case.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Poultry Power


It started innocent enough. Jean's friend in NH asked if we wanted chickens, and of course the answer was, "yes!" They gave us a small coop and all we needed to do was build an enclosure and get a permit from the city...

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Arizona Adventures

I’ve never been one to shy away from biting off more than I can chew, so when Glen tossed out the idea of a one day epic 100-mile ride along the very remote Arizona Trail, I was in. I even started to train for it, but then, well, life got hectic, and “training” turned into drinking lots of coffee hoping that it would be a suitable replacement for proper sleep, diet, and exercise. 

It wasn’t.

Monday, February 24, 2020

Let Me Tell You About My Shovel

William Macy's Shoveler from the 1999 Mystery Men

I’ve mentioned before that I’m always looking for convenient and efficient ways to get tools out to the trails. Many times the best tool for the job is relatively big, or heavy, or both, and in those cases I will either schlep that stuff out by foot or load up the bike trailer. 

There are, however, some pretty kick-ass tools out there that are strong enough to do real work, yet packable enough to stow in a bag. 

Enter the DMOS Delta Shovel. Available in both steel and aluminum, it folds down to be easily carried in a back pack, and it extends to allow you to dig, move rocks and do anything you want a shovel to do.

Friday, January 24, 2020

Get Off My Gravel


So, the buzz has been that USA Cycling has its eye on gravel racing. Not to be left behind, the UCI is apparently looking too

I would like to point out that this is not new. I found a Cyclocross Magazine article from 2015 where USAC's former CEO, Steve Johnson said, “The gravel segment is the Wild West of bike racing, and it really needs us right now.” 

Dunno... seems like gravel riding and racing have done just fine.

2019 Video Recap

Just a video montage of some of the rides we (Racer-X) slayed in 2019. X Gon' Give It To Ya.