a big storm has been blowing across the country, dropping 'feet' of snow in the mountains out west, promising to hit here tonight, and linger through tuesday morning. since late this afternoon, just as it got dark, the flakes have been falling and adding up to 3-4 inches so far. that gets me excited.
the month of november has seen lots of local biking and some on the cape, flying the power kite, local hiking & trail work, scouting new ski trails over in pomfret vt, hiking the AT on the after turkey trot, biking & hiking town hill--it has been busy on the adventure side.
back at the beginning of the month, at the tail end of a couple of days of high winds and more than an inch of rain, i rode the addict over to the top of love joy brook road. it would be bad enough to ride over a thick layer fallen leaves, and all the added water could submerge an already wet trail. i turned in shaking my head, but smiling and hoping i didn't meet a blow down on one of the steeper sections where it could be hard to stop--"adventure cycling!"
i came up with that mantra on a long tour, coming home from minneapolis. i still use it, even i'm not exactly 'off map' given i live here and have ridden a lot of these trails before. today's adventure was indeed slippery, very wet, and included a few blowdowns, fortunately on the flatter sections down towards the bottom. no matter the obstacles, it is always fun to ride for miles through the woods.
the next weekend, i was down on the cape, helping a friend move some of her things from up in scituate to her mom and dad's cottage in popponesset-mashpee. soy and han live just a few miles away, so i took some pedals and my shoes to ride while visiting them. soy has a luddite--a sweet single speed made by civilian, with a carbon front fork--in his stable and i was hankering to get on that saddle.
it was well the effort of taking his 'frozen' pedals off. and though i was a bit leery of stripping my own, i tightened them on and rode out to 'callie's beach', near 'dead neck' dividing the ocean and waquoit bay. soy had shown me a cool jeep trail that goes through the jehu pond conservation area much and hooks up with 'will's work road' out to the water.
i had my 3.5m kite with me and after some futzing with the launch from a narrow spit of land, full of bushes and things to rip nylon, i got it in the air. the wind was really blowing and constantly wanting to pull me into the marsh. a guy, wearing a full wet suit came down the path with a kite-surfing set up. i pulled my little guy in while he set his big one up. i was able to help him launch his which was cool. i had been wanting to see how it was done.
i watched a bit before riding back home. there was a large blowdown in the conservation area that i decided to grab a saw and go back to cut. sawyer got home while i was at the house and got on another bike to come help. it was work, but we stopped after one cut and just shifted the trunks so you could ride through without getting off the bike.
sunday afternoon, when i got back to new hampshire pam and i got in some trail work on town hill behind the house. there is still one monster pine down across the path just before it pops out onto hall's road leading down to the bear pond bog. i will have to get it with a bigger saw.
i did more biking going into the next weekend. i have bee trying to keep thursdays and fridays available to play. saturday, pam and i got back on town hill and cleared everything right to the bog, except for that monster pine and a couple of big hardwoods that you can easily step over. on sunday i went over to cory and melissa's in pomfret for a bit of house work and to scout a possible ski route up into the hills behind his place. we tromped about in crusty snow and figured a possible path, hooking up fields with maple sugaring roads. i am totally stoked with the possibility of a few miles of trail. the downhills will be fantastic with a foot of fresh powder!
on the friday after thanksgiving, we got a group together for the 19th (or so) annual after turkey trot going from goose pond road to the skiway and back. participation has waxed and waned over the years, with it on the waning side most recently. still, it's nice to see whoever comes.
this year, all the pendeltons, plus mia, noah's young one, made it, as did sawyer off cape, and laura from next door. the forcast was for some sun and moderate temps, but most people kept their hat and gloves on, if not their jacket zipped. it was definitely wintery, icy enough for people to wear creepers, which really helped up on the spine of holt's ledge. for posterity, i took top and bottom photos.
saturday, the sun actually did come out and warmed up some, at least when you were standing in its rays. i tried to tempt laura to roll out her new fat bike and ride a loop with me. she was on nephew ryder duty so after i took a spin up over town hill--to that big ol' downed pine--and back again, i changed shoes and hiked the same with the two of them. we stopped at the two classic landmarks for photo opps: the octopus tree, and the abandoned truck...
like an exuberant puppy, ryder was skittering all over the place leaping off rocks and tossing his spear, trying to stick it into a not so illusive prey, the ground. laura sent me a video from the day before that captures the gist of the game and ryder's fine form!
the month of november has seen lots of local biking and some on the cape, flying the power kite, local hiking & trail work, scouting new ski trails over in pomfret vt, hiking the AT on the after turkey trot, biking & hiking town hill--it has been busy on the adventure side.
back at the beginning of the month, at the tail end of a couple of days of high winds and more than an inch of rain, i rode the addict over to the top of love joy brook road. it would be bad enough to ride over a thick layer fallen leaves, and all the added water could submerge an already wet trail. i turned in shaking my head, but smiling and hoping i didn't meet a blow down on one of the steeper sections where it could be hard to stop--"adventure cycling!"
i came up with that mantra on a long tour, coming home from minneapolis. i still use it, even i'm not exactly 'off map' given i live here and have ridden a lot of these trails before. today's adventure was indeed slippery, very wet, and included a few blowdowns, fortunately on the flatter sections down towards the bottom. no matter the obstacles, it is always fun to ride for miles through the woods.
the next weekend, i was down on the cape, helping a friend move some of her things from up in scituate to her mom and dad's cottage in popponesset-mashpee. soy and han live just a few miles away, so i took some pedals and my shoes to ride while visiting them. soy has a luddite--a sweet single speed made by civilian, with a carbon front fork--in his stable and i was hankering to get on that saddle.
it was well the effort of taking his 'frozen' pedals off. and though i was a bit leery of stripping my own, i tightened them on and rode out to 'callie's beach', near 'dead neck' dividing the ocean and waquoit bay. soy had shown me a cool jeep trail that goes through the jehu pond conservation area much and hooks up with 'will's work road' out to the water.i had my 3.5m kite with me and after some futzing with the launch from a narrow spit of land, full of bushes and things to rip nylon, i got it in the air. the wind was really blowing and constantly wanting to pull me into the marsh. a guy, wearing a full wet suit came down the path with a kite-surfing set up. i pulled my little guy in while he set his big one up. i was able to help him launch his which was cool. i had been wanting to see how it was done.
i watched a bit before riding back home. there was a large blowdown in the conservation area that i decided to grab a saw and go back to cut. sawyer got home while i was at the house and got on another bike to come help. it was work, but we stopped after one cut and just shifted the trunks so you could ride through without getting off the bike.
sunday afternoon, when i got back to new hampshire pam and i got in some trail work on town hill behind the house. there is still one monster pine down across the path just before it pops out onto hall's road leading down to the bear pond bog. i will have to get it with a bigger saw.
i did more biking going into the next weekend. i have bee trying to keep thursdays and fridays available to play. saturday, pam and i got back on town hill and cleared everything right to the bog, except for that monster pine and a couple of big hardwoods that you can easily step over. on sunday i went over to cory and melissa's in pomfret for a bit of house work and to scout a possible ski route up into the hills behind his place. we tromped about in crusty snow and figured a possible path, hooking up fields with maple sugaring roads. i am totally stoked with the possibility of a few miles of trail. the downhills will be fantastic with a foot of fresh powder!
on the friday after thanksgiving, we got a group together for the 19th (or so) annual after turkey trot going from goose pond road to the skiway and back. participation has waxed and waned over the years, with it on the waning side most recently. still, it's nice to see whoever comes.
this year, all the pendeltons, plus mia, noah's young one, made it, as did sawyer off cape, and laura from next door. the forcast was for some sun and moderate temps, but most people kept their hat and gloves on, if not their jacket zipped. it was definitely wintery, icy enough for people to wear creepers, which really helped up on the spine of holt's ledge. for posterity, i took top and bottom photos.
saturday, the sun actually did come out and warmed up some, at least when you were standing in its rays. i tried to tempt laura to roll out her new fat bike and ride a loop with me. she was on nephew ryder duty so after i took a spin up over town hill--to that big ol' downed pine--and back again, i changed shoes and hiked the same with the two of them. we stopped at the two classic landmarks for photo opps: the octopus tree, and the abandoned truck...
today, as the snow has stopped for a bit--still hoping the storm delivers a few more inches--i'm happy to finish this up and dream of the next adventure. no matter what december brings weather-wise, it's always a good day to go outside and play!
