New way to ride bikes: at Winterbike 2013!!!

I was working in Bath yesterday and made a stop at Bath Cycle, where Bikeman sends bikes, parts, and accessories all over the world. This year, Bikeman moved over 100 fat tire bikes out the door. I bought my Surly Pugsley from them last year and can’t stay off it, even in the summer months. These bikes were designed for snow.
I would be heading over there to ride this weekend, but I’m still following doctor’s orders in healing up from a hernia repair exactly three weeks ago. I’m in deep mourning without my bike underneath me.

A number of those bikes are headed to East Burke, Vermont to check out the winter Kingdom Trails. Here’s the demo fleet Carver bikes put together by the shop to stock Bikeman’s booth: Eye candy for sure.

The Carver fat tire demo fleet

It looks to be a fine weekend weather-wise, with sun and glorious snow pack to ad to the draw.

From the Kingdom Trails web site:
“…Kingdom Trails has partnered with MTBVT.com to arrange for a day of mountain bike revelry. On March 9th we will be gathering early in the day to lead a charge against Old Man Winter. Group rides for all ability levels will be guided from the Kingdom Trails Nordic Center.  Bring whatever bike you wanna ride… there will be a route for everyone from Fat Bike Singletrack Fanatics to “Just wanna get out there and ride my bike” Riders.  There will be free Fat Bike Demo’s and rental bikes available as well as yummy snacks hot totties and cold beer.  The Market Café will be offering lunch…”

Check it all out here–>http://www.kingdomtrails.com/events/winterbike-2013

Sign me up- Fatbiking ( or is it Fakebiking?) mag

I don’t buy much of nothing, but would spend $$ on this. You hear me Google analytics? Seriously glossy, although the price continues to present as unreasonable. Shows what a man with a a fatbike, a computer, or possibly only a smartphone phone can put together these days.

Fatbiker “magazine” <—Check it out!

Dozen Bubbas plus 3, 4? on Crispy Crust in the Bog

There were so many Bubbas and guests on their bikes in the frozen Bog this morning that I lost count. Jason thinks there were 16. There were so many of us that the group broke apart right at the start, with most of us backtracking the Bog Road for the climb up Benner Hill into the trails that led off the powerline on top.I do know it was a Bog record, even bypassing the numbers from the three warmer seasons this year.
Why? Surely it was not the conditions. It was 11 degrees out, and in the open sections like the power line, there was wind as well, driving the wind-chilled temps into the single numbers.

How long was the ride today? Depends on who you were with. Nelson and I were toast after just 5.7 miles, but Jon Anders put up 7.1, Eric checked in with 10.5, and the Hawk trumped all comers with 12.1. These were not summertime miles. They were mostly hard earned.
What were the riding conditions? There were places where the packed and refrozen snow settled down over rock gardens and evened them out, making travel zipper than usual.  However, some things were more difficult, like finding the trail. John and I found ourselves off-trail descending the first section from the power line to the wooden bridge over Branch Brook. Without a defined trail, the deep double-rutted ATV tracks led the way, but sometimes it was the wrong. The absolute best assistance winter bikers can get on their favorite trails is from snowmobiles, who pack the trail evenly, and if that surface is refrozen, it’s generally easy to stay on top and not break through no matter what type of tires you have on your bike. ATV’s left a narrow berm between the two icy tire tracks that were just deep enough to catch my pedals when I tried to ride in the slots. When I was in the berm between, refrozen footprints and deer tracks lumped things up and sometimes threw me back into the ruts.
There were 7 riders on fat-tire bikes out there today. He’s a pic of my group:

Mostly Fatties

There were a few sections of trail that were sheer ice, and the guys who were riding studded tires were able to go straight over them. Fat tire bikes had an option here, which was to pull off the trail, head right into the woods along those sections, and pick your way around trees to rejoin the trail after the ice receded. I did this successfully a number of times.
Climbing out of Branch Brook, there was the biggest blow-down we’ve seen yet this year on this ride.

Uncle Tom over the big one

And finally, here’s the real deal- footage of today’s ride posted by John Anders mixed in with a ride that John and Tim Sewall took on the Warren trails the day before.

Maine Traffic Report: More Pugsleys Than Cars

Finally able to ride my Pugsley at a decent clip over the snow. We’re on the front wave of the coldest January temperatures since 2009 that are creeping here from Canada.  It’s going to head down below zero for the next three days, with an accompanying windchill. We’ll stay warm here, with wood/coal stoves in the kitchen and living room, fueled by bone-dry hardwood and the secret weapon- a few hundred pounds of coal that I’ve stashed away for nights just like these.

Bangor, ME weather forecast

The snow under the Nate tires is still crunchy, but the effort to move through it is minimal. I am tired of cold feet on my winter rides. My clipped Lake winter riding boots aren’t cutting it. Craig Nelson loaned me his socketed 6 mm allen tip that allowed me remove my Time pedals, and replace them with a set of plastic platform pedals that I bought for $12 a pair at Bath Cycle. I rode with this setup yesterday, which enabled me to wear my over sized and unlined New Balance hiking boots.  The extra room in the toe box lets me wiggle my forefoot around, and allows for the small chemical heat packets to be thrown in there as well. I was definitely warmer with this pedal setup.

Super fun bike run yesterday afternoon, riding from the house up on High Street a few hundred yards where I turned down the abandoned end of the Proctor Road and then I linked up with the snowmobile trail that wound its way around Moody Pond reaching Moody Mountain Road.  When I got to the end of the Martin Corner Road, I took a picture of my bike on the road back. 

Martin Corner Road entrance

You can see this is a driveway that turns right, but I’m headed over the snow berm straight ahead that runs a mile or so back to the trails.  I heard some voices on the road, and lo and behold, there appeared Casy and Chad, on their own fat-tire Pugsleys.

Casey and Chad with happy new Pugsleys

They were running a snowmobile trail out toward the Hope general store, and joined me for the ride back, where they continued up the other end of the Proctor Road, branching off to the snowmobile trail that led them back to their cars at the Lincolnville School lot.

I got onto new territory with the Pugs at the end, continuing on the trail, where I followed tractor tire depressions on the snow where I climbed through my next door neighbor’s fields, coming out back on High Street, adjacent to the Cross cemetery , and back to a warm house. Traffic report:cars seen on this ride = 0, Pugsleys 2.

Here’s the map and stats, courtesy of my iPhone and Strava.

Snowshoeing started today

Since the last appreciable snow feel here on Halloween, the ground has been bare, until yesterday, when we had 6 inches blow in from the northeast. I spent the morning inside, with a package of fluorescent highlighters, plotting possible route for an upcoming hike through New Mexico, but that’s another upcoming story.
Snowshoeing started today. I decided to spend a couple of hours walking around the route just outside my door. Reading the data on the GPS, I was stunned to see that all of the walking I did was within one square mile. I wanted to listen to my iPhone while I walked, so I tracked my progress with my Garmin eTrex30 and this time, was able to successfully upload the file from my computer right into my Strava app to register my progress.
Here’s the map:

Up over Moody Mountain, down around Moody Pond

I’m still totally pleased with my MSR Lightening Axis snowshoes. They are still perfect after two seasons. The bindings are ” lightening fast”, and never need adjusting on the trail.

Most folks own large pieces of property here, ranging from 130 to over 1,000 acres. In fact, just three families own all the land on both sides of High Street for 1.3 miles heading up to Moody Mountain road. I have permission to walk all of it. I cut the “Uncle Tom ” trail that runs up to the summit of Moody Mountain on one of these tracts.

Once I got up to the ridge, my navigating was aided by a deer path.

Natural directional

I had just a Patagonia Wool 2 long sleeve shirt on top under a soft shell, but 500 feet of elevation in a mile of snowshoeing had me sweating profusely. From the top, I bushwhacked down beside Moody Mountain road on an ancient road that probably is a couple of hundred years old. I heard that there were several families that used to live on the north side of this mountain, way back. I’ve not yet found old foundations where they lived.

Normally, I use High Street to walk home, but today I wanted a longer workout with the snowshoes, so I walked down hill and turned left onto the closed gravel Martin Corner Road where I followed fresh ski and snowshoe tracks around Moody Pond. The tracks eventually stopped and doubled back, so I broke fresh trail all the way back home.

I was exhausted when I reached the house, and still am. Snowshoeing is tougher than hiking, especially in powder. You have to widen your normal gait to account for the width of the shoes, and despite the claws underneath, you are not immune to sliding as you traverse sloped terrain.

I’m hearing the distressing, high-pitched whine of a snowmobile outside as I write this. Looks like the Pugsley has a freshly packed trail that will freeze up nicely overnight. I’m riding snow this weekend.

Riding Moody Mountain (Maine) in December

Here’s what it’s like to ride a bicycle in the woods in December in Maine right now. There is no snow at all- the ground is not even frozen, after a few days of 40-50 degree temps. Here’s the map of the ride:
First, I’m out of the driveway on pavement, heading south 1.3 miles toward Moody Pond- a pristine, trout stocked gem, that has NO cottages of houses on the shores. I look left over the pond and see the Camden Hills in the distance, some 5 miles away.
Then a right turn and a steep climb up Moody Mountain Road, which you can see on the elevation profile, from Strava. When I first moved here, this road was gravel, when my neighbor Andy Hazen was recruited to haul several cars out of the ditches that had skidded off when it iced over. There was also deep March mud in the low section right after the climb. I’m definitely in low gear now.
After a brief downhill at the 2 mile mark where I catch my breath, I’m turning onto French Road South, a gravel road that accesses my friend Steve’s property, some 100+ acres of woods. Steve has allowed me to ride around back there, something I have not been able to do for over a month now, due to deer hunters who make it dangerous to be out in the woods. People get shot by mistake and die every Maine hunting season, and this year has been no exception.
There’s a locked gate off the French Road that I slip under and then ascend again on a logging road to continue the 3/4 mile climb to the high point of the ride, reaching 800 feet in elevation. There’s the Moody Mt. Ridge to the right, but the overgrown woods are too thick to get up there. Here, I begin a 2.5 mile descent, after I cut left into a hidden entrance to a narrow bike path that I’ve maintained that links up to a marked snowmobile trail that meanders through Steve’s land until it rejoins the abandoned section of the French Road. I love this part of the ride.
Keeping up my speed, I ride through an abandoned logging yard on the FR into the forest again, churning my way through two mud pits and braking over two steep sections of ledge until I reach the biggest challenge of the ride, a rocky stream that is perpetually running, one that has been impossible for me to ride through, until I cleared it on the Pugsley. Those low pressure 4” tires deform over the obstructing rocks, with the knobby lugs on the Nates gripping enough for me to crank through.
From here, I’m running on a lumpy old woods road where (unfortunately) my access for some really good riding has been cut off for about 10 years now, due to a new landowner. So, I’ve maintained another hidden linkage of trail that brings me out on the French Road North, a well-traveled gravel road that leads past some real back country houses that puts me on the Muzzy Ridge Road, the low point just past 5 miles on the elevation profile.
From here it is a straight shot up and over an unnamed expansive hill that is actually a cultivated wild blueberry operation. The last time I was up here I had to turn around when I encountered two massive flame-throwing tractors were roaring across the huge fields and burning vegetation, an ancient practice in this area of the country dating to native pre-white settlement.

Blackened Blueberry Field

It improves the yield as well as makes it possible to sustain agricultural production. I sometimes take a detour and climb further to the high point of the land, where I can look out and see Penobscot Bay.
But today, I was hoping to reach home before the grey skies opened up and rained on me.
I kept going straight, and threaded my way over the entrance to a nasty washed-out abandoned gravel road where I re-entered the woods, and hit a sadly neglected woods road where I had to launch over two fallen trees and then went up and over a stone wall, pedaling along the edge of an old hay field and I reached the pavement of High Street where I wished I had worn a pair of clear riding glasses. My front tire was throwing mud at my face. It’s not that easy to see the road with a gloved hand in front of your eyes. Thankfully, I was able to wash off the mud on the bike with my garden hose.
I’ll do better next time. Memo: Bring the glasses!

Mt. Pleasant Sunday Ride

The temp was in the 20′s with a 10-20 mph breeze, when I woke up this clear, sunny morning, putting the actual wind-chilled temp in the teens for Church of Two Wheels with the Bubbas. I stuck chemical toe warmers into my aged Northwave Winter bicycling boots, squeezed into two layers of wool on top, under my Pearl iZumi shelled jacket. Last time I did this ride, there were five of us.

Today there were twelve- all the regulars plus two new guys on fat tire bikes, Carl on his Surly Moonlander, with the 5″ tires, and Walter on his Carver framed test bike from Bath Cycle. Here is a picture of the difference between the Moonlander’s fat tires and my Pugsley’s ( right).  Ian was riding his Salsa Mukluk, another great fat tire machine with an aluminum frame.

Two Fats

I’d like to mention the initial climb. After leaving the parking lot at the Rover garage on route 90, the trail starts up an abandoned and eroded road , where it travels 1.9 miles to the top of Mt. Pleasant, with an average grade of 7.3%, and 755 feet of elevation gain.  It’s a bitch, but I did my best climbing ever, at one point staying in the saddle after I passed three guys who were walking up.

Nelson even shouted, “Climbdog!” after me as I ground my way up over the leaves and rocks.

The Pugsley’s aggressive tread Nate fat tires grip well, and are worth the extra $$.

Once on top, the usual ocean overlook was being blasted by the arctic wind from the west, so we rode over to a more protected section of ledge.

Bubbas on Top

We then bombed down from the top to what we call the Three Way intersection. It’s pretty technical in sections, with drops over ledges and some icy patches to dodge, not to mention the thick cover of recently fallen leaves that obscure some of the hazards that lie underneath.

Mt. Pleasant ride

I was descending at the rear of the pack, nursing my aching forearms, when I came upon trouble. A half-dozen guys were at the edge of the woods and the downhill, tending to a “Bubba down”, who turned out to be Steve. His front end hit some obstacle, at speed, and smacked him into the ground. The side of his head had a couple scratches, and his helmet was intact, and his tights were ripped, exposing some nasty red exposed skin. He was a bit dazed, and took a good 15 minutes before he was able to get up and on his bike. Incredibly, he chose to ride with us, rather than return to his car, which was less than a ten minute ride away from this point.
Steve is an excellent rider, past Maine Sport racer, and someone who
“hardly ever” makes mistakes.
The hawk seemed OK in the parking lot afterwards, but there was a post on Facebook this morning from Rigger indicating that the Hawk experienced ” a pretty good concussion and can’t work for three days…and that he should be fine with some rest.”
Good vibes to Steve and his eventual return to Bubba Church, next time.

I took a shot of The Hawk in the lot, but it didn’t come out.  I found this one, from an earlier ride this season.  Leading, as usual. 

Sunday Morning at Bubba Church

Five members of the Bubbas in the Woods met, as usual on a Sunday morning, to ride Mt. Pleasant, a 1,027 foot summit that overlooks Penobscot Bay.  As usual , we saw no one out there hiking , biking, four-wheeling, or truck-mudding it up over the ledges, mud pits, and trail up to summit and beyond. Here’s the profile of the 7 mile ride.

Profile of Mt. Pleasant ride

This trail suggests that one be in shape, as it starts out on a fairly level access road that quickly starts to go up some 2.5 miles, where it switches to gravel, at best. Sections of this trail are even frequented by four-wheeled-drive trucks that really churn up the path and create washed-out sections that are a perennial challenge to clear.

Up close to the summit, there is an option to try and power your way up a particularly challenging section of ledge that is  wet, lichen covered, and also something that I have not yet personally mastered.  It was no problem for Rigger today.

Rigger makes it, again

The summit is always rewarding, although it is often windy and cold up there. Today it was not too bad to add a  jacket, sit for a while, eat a bar, and check out the terrain and features below.

Taking a break, taking it in

I’m loving the new panorama option of my iPhone’s OS 6 free upgrade.  Soon there will be snow and ice on this particular trail that will make this view just a memory.

Sunday morning in Maine

Here’s a video clip of Neal descending Mt. Pleasant.  Neil is known for his rapid, full-speed descents on his Turner.  From this point of the ride, there’s a mile of downhill on the way back to the cars.  Nice way to end this ride.

Where to ride mountain bikes during hunting season in Midcoast Maine?

How about Camden Hills State Park?

We’ve been spared the ravages of Hurricane Sandy here in midcoast Maine, but I haven’t been willing to ride since Sunday in the off and on rain and wind.  In addition, deer hunting season runs for a month right now, with hunting allowed from dawn to dusk 6 days of the week. There are a LOT of hunters roaming the woods right now, some hidden in tree stands as well.  People get shot every year for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Enough said.

The internet is a wonderful thing.  I need to ride, and put up a request to find some riding buddies this afternoon on the “Bubbas in the Woods”  Facebook page where I got a bite from John Anders.  He suggested we ride at 4 PM in the Camden Hills. I was there, but forgot to pack my lights.  John had an extra set he loaned me.

So, is Camden Hills a safe place to ride a bike in the woods in November?

A check on the laws revealed that hunting is not permitted at any time at any State Historic Sites or Memorials, as well as the following State Parks: Andrews Beach State Park; that portion of Bradbury Mountain State Park west of State Route 9; Cobscook Bay State Park: Crescent Beach and Kettle Cove State Parks; Damariscotta Lake State Park; Ferry Beach State Park; Holbrook Island Sanctuary State Park; Nickerson Lake State Park; Owls Head Light State Park; that portion of Quoddy Head State Park within 1,000 feet of the lighthouse; Reid State Park; Sebago Lake State Park; Shackford Head State Park; Two Lights State Park; and Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park.

Hunting is not permitted between May 1 and September 30 at Camden Hills State Park, where “discharging of any weapon is prohibited from or within 300 feet of any picnic area, camping area or campsite, parking area, building, shelter, boat launch site, posted trail or other developed area.”

That’s it.  So you could actually encounter legal hunters in the Park in November.  We didn’t see any hunters on this Friday afternoon, nor did we see any hikers, staff, or even any other cars in the Stevens’ Corner parking lot.  We still wore bright clothing, and were often talking loud and whooping like hell on the ride.

Here’s a YouTube clip of me and John riding our fat tire bikes right now in Maine. I had no idea he was putting this together, and I like his music selection. Take a break to watch us have a superb time on our Pugsleys. And crank up the volume !

I’ve also included a map of the ride:

Parked at the top, turned around on the bottom

Massive Mass of Bubbas

A record tonight for the number of riders in The Rockland Bog- I counted 17 guys milling around in the parking area off Bog Road after the ride, which happens every Tuesday night- year round, snow, mud, or heat- as if has for almost two decades now.

Bog Route- exiting off “Secret Trail”

Most of the faces are the same, but the bodies are a bit thicker, hair grayer, and the bikes lighter, faster, more comfortable, more able to handle the ribbon of rocks, roots, and grit under our wheels.

Bubbas grouping up for the Highland

Are the bikes more dependable? The Bubbas are famous for being hard on gear- the number of frames that we have broken has reached double digits- with me contributing to that category as well. It’s incredible that we rarely now have members that have ” mechanicals” out there any more. It used to be a standard practice to interrupt a ride to replace or adjust drive trail components. Now, even flatted tires are rare. The bikes are better, and maybe we are also better riders- we sure have had chances to practice!

I rode well again tonight, finally clearing the long section that started on the Highland Path, past the power line, back into the woods, and across three woods roads.

I am riding better than I ever have, partly by losing 10 pounds of body weight since April, but mostly due to the almost magic properties of my Santa Cruz Tallboy with those big 29 inch tires and VPP rear suspension system. I think it is mostly the bigger tires. I have the same ability to roll over difficult terrain and climb more easily on my Surley Pugsley, whose 4″ wide soft tires are nominally 29″ in diameter. Here’s a pic of Ian on his Mukluk ready to attempt leaping from one log to the next and riding it out. He didn’t make it, but he tried.

It is also coming on to the best time of the year to ride here in Midcoast Maine- early fall, before the days get too short and the rainbow of foliage drops from the hardwood trees and blankets the trail, making it harder to follow, and camouflaging some of those knock-you-off your bike obstacles that are normally visible. Here’s a shot of Craig on his newly assembled Turner, who managed to roll off the trail a couple of days ago while we were riding Five Brooks’ on Ragged Mountain. He’s smiling!

Nelson on the Turner- Bubba down!