'14 NE thread

[chatton18]

Mtn Creek Transition...This looks like it could be fun. Need to figure out if I can fit it in my schedule since I've got to meet some friends in the city that night. Going to try and make it happen.

http://bikepark.mountaincreek.com/ev...-calendar/474/

As one season comes to an end, it's time for us to make the transition to the next. Help us send off the ski season and welcome the bike season with The Transition Duathalon. This event combines all the best of both seasons - Snow, Bikes and Brews! Join the party and help us crown the all-around fastest athletes on the mountain. Compete as an individual or team up with a partner to split the disciplines.
Course Overviews:
Ski/Snowboard
Downhill race starting on Great Northern sweeping down Independence Pass and ending on Khyber Pass. Intermediate to Advanced ski or snowboard skill required. Racers will get one timed run.
Downhill MTB
Downhill race starting Tempest and then descending on-snow via the Khyber Pass ski trail to Gingerbread ending on-snow on the Sugar Slope ski trail. Intermediate to Advanced mountain biking skills required. Racers should expect to encounter, snow, ice, mud and uneven terrain. Racers will get one timed run.
Categories & Prizing:
Individual - $40 per person
Expert - Male
Novice - Male
Female
Team - $30 Per Person (2 persons)
Male
Female
Coed
Prizes will be awarded to the Top 3 finishers in each category
One (1) Complimentary Post-Event Beer (or Soft Drink) is included with each race entry. To be redeemed at the Biergarten during the awards and afterparty.
Valid Lift Ticket or Winter Season Pass Required - Discounted Participant Race Day Lift Tickets Available for $20 each.

Event Schedule:
9AM - Racer Check In
10AM - Ski/Snowboard Course Inspection & Open Practice
11AM - Ski/Snowboard Race Start
12:30PM - Bike Course Inspection & Open Practice
1:30PM - Bike Race Start
4PM - Awards & Afterparty at Biergarten
* Times above are approximates and subject to change

[icelanticskier]

winter riding doesn't get ANY better than this am. thick impenetrable grippy crust with 2 inches of perfect density pow on top. no trails, ride anywhere. fresh tracks for hours and hours. ripping through the forest and all it's funky undulations with hardly any underbrush is otherworldly. bank and carve wherever, however, up and over/around anything with a tranny. sick!!!!

i was freaking out this am out there.

rog

[gravitylover]

Woooohooooo ooooo What a super sillious fun ride we had this morning The woods are such a great place to be in the winter and in the woods around here it is still winter much to my surprise. There was a minimum of 6" and up to a foot in spots with very few bare spots, especially above 700 feet, there are some torched out zones but almost no mud at all. I think because we had a dry late season last year and then the ground mostly froze so all the winter moisture is just running off the frozen ground.

The trail was pretty icy in spots but nothing too terrible and everything else was a super supportive crust with an extremely high traction surface. It was actually more pleasant to ride off the "trail" because it was smooth and higher traction so we played with all sorts of terrain features and rolled through places you would never go into on foot which was really cool. We rode about 5 miles with probably 1200 feet of climbing in 2.5 hours so slow going but oh so super fun.

Sorry no pics, forgot to charge the phone last night

Now I'm going to have some ice cream

[icelanticskier]

amen brother^^^^^^^

killer crust right now. riding trails is for dirt time. this am was redonky donk.

tomorrow i go long through the trail-less hill and dale. no studs needed. so sweet.

rog

[gravitylover]

Oh my god I've been twitching all day like after a great powder day. It really has been the same buzz. I fuckin' love it!!

Tomorrow morning, early. Again! Gonna go a little bit higher with more E/NE and N facing so should be crustier

[gravitylover]

Holeeeeeeeeeeeeeee rolleeeeeeeeeeeeee crustyyyyyyyyyyyyyy weweweweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee





Too much fun.

[strawjack]

Today was absolutely perfect! My best ride yet. Damn it was soo fun!

I rode for about 1:15 and was exhausted The south facing stuff was a little too soft, but manageable with low rpms and a couple spots were down to bare ground. Searching for shadows and north facing the whole ride!

Wifey bought me this...her friends friend is making them. Funny, they come rolled like a J.


Today's goodness

[JayPowHound]

Drove past LLF and the Lynn Woods today and they're both looking mostly melted.. A few more days of sun and warm temps and we skinny wheeled fossils should be good to go!!!

[couloirman]

First day back mountain biking this season. Did a solid 10 mile loop at Arcadia in RI. Trails were riding well with only occassional icy patches, and more than a few mud puddles.

Big River on the other hand, man, that place was a mud fest today.

Anyone else here ride much in RI?

[Vt-Freeheel]

Full on winter in the MRV with 20-40" of snow on the trails.

ps: Skiing is over the top goodness right now!

[crank54]

Just found this thread... Nothing to add right now except can my fat bike please show up?

[icelanticskier]

Just found this thread... Nothing to add right now except can my fat bike please show up?

Man o man. The crust corn riding was super bliss this am. Went places you could never go without snow. No trails. Just forest and multiple power lines. Skinny tires woulda broke through the whole way due to the light overnight freeze.

Cannot believe folks are tolerating the special-ed waiting game. Next years offering will only be lighter/better for no more money. Just put a new rf nw 30t ring on and took off over a pound of crap. That and new 2.4-2.75 qbp shrader tubes makes 2 pounds off the bike for 40 bux.

Should be at least 2-3 weeks of snow riding left around here especially if we get that several+ inches this week.

rog

[gravitylover]

couloirman - Not yet but I'd like to. Somehow we don't seem to have the bikes with us when we've been through RI in the recent past.

I am really curious what happens with next years fat crop. Right now it sort of looks like the B suppliers are trying to bring the price down. There are going to be more than a few models between $800-$1200 retail soon and that might eat up a fair bit of production capacity on things like hubs and rims. I know that S has some really cool ideas for Gen 2 but I haven't heard what they think for arrival times.

Aww man, I think that Crusty the Clown has finally left town around here I'm gonna miss him. Runnin' half mile long runs in the trees was incredible, like skiing trees. Smooth rolling everywhere, traction out the wazoo, bouncing down frozen creek beds, frozen lakes with thin wisps of snow blowing across the surface... All the things that make winter in the woods special Looking forward to next year already

Vt-F -

[icelanticskier]

First day back mountain biking this season. Did a solid 10 mile loop at Arcadia in RI. Trails were riding well with only occassional icy patches, and more than a few mud puddles.

Big River on the other hand, man, that place was a mud fest today.

Anyone else here ride much in RI?

Haven't in some years but used to ride Arcadia a TON 20 years ago when I lived on the cape during the summers. Great place. So much stuff. About 8 years ago I did a huge single speed winter loop with some fellow expert/pro norba racers that included a 3 hour loop in Arcadia that connected with another 2-3 hour loop in pachaug (sp?) state park in ct. Close to 6 hours of super techy fully rigid 2-1 gear ratio Ricky racer dick swing love fest. Love that shit!!!

Would love to do that ride again. At one point we rode right up an old nelsap ski hill.

rog

[icelanticskier]

Btw, a coupla inches o new atop this crazy crust may be too much for me to take. May hafta pick up smoking cowboy killahz n shit

rog

[gravitylover]

Found the limits today of what a 4.6" tire at 5 psi will go over. That term "float," you've all heard it in relation to these bikes, is kinda weird. You float until you don't. It's an all or nothing kinda thing. Spin smoothly and gently, never put too much weight on one wheel, feather your brakes so you don't get going too slow and then oomph uggh top tube intro All in all, still a worthy endeavor getting out and turnin' the cranks Nice to see that there is still a covering to as much as 8" in the woods up high and the only mud is in areas that are obvious collection points. We cleaned the leaves out of a couple of spots to help it drain but otherwise things are really drying out nicely as soon as the snow melts off. We were in places that were still 8" of crusty stuff on Tuesday but dry today and they were fantastic.

The dry areas were a blast. Rocks and roots just slide under the tires, the bike is light and tossable, kicking the rear end around on downhill switchbacks is easier than any bike I've ever owned and the traction is limitless going uphill. Unfortunately I run out of go long before the bike

I had pretty much forgotten how much fun a full rigid bike is and with the outrageous outer diameter of these tires it rolls through things like we always wanted our bikes to in 1988. It brings back old skills that had been put away but not thrown out which is kinda neat and opens new doors because they will roll in places a "conventional" mt bike tire won't. I could see having a single speed or internal geared so there's no worry about snapping a der. hanger while bushwacking which in a lot of cases is better than trying to follow a trail this time of year. Game trails are an additional playground component to the woods on a fatbike.

[icelanticskier]

yum!!!!^^^^

rog

[gravitylover]

Hmm, looks like it's freezing back up and it may stay cold for a bit. Gotta work Monday but who wants to meet for one more session with Crusty on Tuesday morning?

[icelanticskier]

Hmm, looks like it's freezing back up and it may stay cold for a bit. Gotta work Monday but who wants to meet for one more session with Crusty on Tuesday morning?

one drive down to ct and back in one week with a raging bout of the flu is enough for me thanx.

would love to ride down there with you at some point tho.

killer crust this am. went out to get an armful from the woodpile a bit ago and found the gripmaster crust of the universe. just the right amount of crunch too.

high temp mid 20's today, so no rush. headed out in 30 to see what i haven't seen yet this long snowy winter

enjoy yer tuesday crust!

rog

[smartyiak]

[QUOTE=strawjack;4211933]

Wifey bought me this...her friends friend is making them. Funny, they come rolled like a J.


Friend's friend should make more and you should tell us where to get 'em, b/c that !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[icelanticskier]

it'd be 100 times more cool if they left the "burke vt" off the t-shirt

rog

[strawjack]

it'd be 100 times more cool if they left the "burke vt" off the t-shirt

rog

You got something against Burke biatch!? They are making them in Burke. This one would be good for Rog - http://www.rollafatone.com/products/...-gray-t-shirt/

Just got back from my ride and lost the trail...then I realized I don't need a phucking trail!

[icelanticskier]

You got something against Burke biatch!? They are making them in Burke. This one would be good for Rog - http://www.rollafatone.com/products/...-gray-t-shirt/

Just got back from my ride and lost the trail...then I realized I don't need a phucking trail!

actually i prefer pink. nothing against burke, but i just think the shirt would be better w/o the towns name on it. burke is fucking played as far as mtb goes. i used to own a home there and ride the trails from my back door, biahtch!

deep snow pack spring bliss today. was pretty much lost for most of the ride till i popped out miles from where i rode into the woods and realized where i was.

one more frozen morning before the blizzard hits tomorrow night!

rog

[fishbikeski]

First-time poster, long-time lurker.
I'm trying to plan a 4-day dirtbag adventure MTB tour starting from central VT for my buddy's 40th. The plan is to ride a different place each day, drink beer and car camp overnite, and then drive on to the next destination. Some places i have in mind are the obvious, like STAB, Burke, maybe Highlands...
Can anyone recommend a few other destinations with all-day flowy singletrack? I've seen some good beta on places like Franconia...
Anyone?
Bueller???

[icelanticskier]

north conway.

ride yer heart out for 2 days plus and barely scratch the surface.

rog