So.. he did his homework, found a place to start, a place to end, and we stashed some camping gear about midway along the trail. We parked my veggie car at the end then met BBW at the beginning. We brought a bunch of trail food and full camelbacks.
The trail is multi-use. Bikes, hiking, horses, all that. We came across a MONSTER steamer in the first few miles. I mean.. this thing was HUGE. BBW knew what he needed to do:
We did pretty well... we didn't know how long the ride was going to be. We were pretty lucky we didn't have too many mechanical problems. The trail was in great shape in some sections, others were horrible. Some of the better sections were long, straight, level or downhill, and in pretty good shape.
Others were covered in trap-rock, uphill for miles, dug up by horses, or super muddy.
We got to one section that crossed old barbed wire. We didn't think much of it... much of the trail was abandoned. There were no signs that it was private, or closed, etc... so we hoisted the bikes over and found this crazy, groomed, trail through the woods:
Turns out, the barbed wire was there to keep animals in. We came to the end of this freaky section and right into the middle of a herd of cattle. I didn't think much of it until BBW pointed out the freaking BULL lowering his horns and stomping the ground. So picture this.... we're standing in the back pasture of an old New England farm, super tired from 30+ miles of mountain biking, dressed like bike geeks, and staring down a real live bull. I decided I would take my chances with a pissed-off farmer and headed for the gate. Lifted my bike over and rode out to the road. BBW was right behind.
On the OTHER side of the trail we saw a tiny 8"x11" sign saying to go around the farm. Great.... that would have been nice on the trail leading INTO the farm. wtf.
Overall it was a great weekend... the trail turns out to be 44 miles from Putnam to East Hampton... we didn't need to split it in two day but it was surprisingly tough. I was expecting a somewhat easy ride, since it follows an old rail bed. But... it wasn't. I'm thinking it'll be a good spring two day ride, with camping halfway.
The lake was pretty calm sunday after the rain. Not too many more days this year like this:
40-
3 comments:
I thought it was a big Clif Bar that someone had dropped on the ground. I figured I would take a bite to keep me going for while. Thank God that 40oz had stopped me before I swallowed.
The real story about the bulls...40oz wanted to have a race with the bulls. The plan was he would ride up next to the bull. Then I would slap the bull on the a** and they would both take off and see whose faster. We would have done this except I was too scared to get that close to the backside of an animal after the Maggie experience. I figured if I got out of control like I did with Maggie, the bull might not be as understanding as Maggie was. So we just hopped the fence and tried not to get shot.
I have a question: Is the steamer on the right or the left of that picture?
AH-ha! I am Sooooo funny!
Looks like you guys had a good- albeit long- day, wish I could have joined you.
40oz, by the way, there was a hole in that tube....
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