June 2008 Ride Log
Summertime is coming and the heat is on...
Sunday June 29
Railroad Path / Indian Ledge Park / Pequonnock River Valley - Trumbull, Connecticut
It was quite hot out with a forecast in the upper 80's. I got to the Tait Road parking lot at 12:11 pm. This lot is on the site of the former railroad station near the bottom of Church Hill Road. The town is actually working here to make a paved parking lot but for now it is dirt.
The only place where I saw anybody was on the railroad bed as I headed north. There were lots of walkers and so called "bikers". It amazes me the number of parents who ride with no helmet as their kids ride along wearing one. What kind of example are these adults showing? Do they really think their brains won't get damaged if they crash? Just what these kids need; a parent who slurs their speech because they were stupid and cheap. We live in the richest country in the world, in the richest state, and people can't come up with $50 for protect one of the most important parts of the body. I'm not sure why they don't wear helmets but I can only speculate that it doesn't look cool. That's no excuse not to wear one.
The heat was felt as I rode south towards the lower end of the trails. Most of the streams have dried up so the best place for any cold water was either in my Camelbak or the Pequonnock River. My older Camelbak Bandido held 64 ounces of fluid and was a waist mount. I'm finding it doesn't hold enough water for the longer rides and doesn't have the carrying capacity for my tools and supplies. My Dad used a backpack style Camelbak MULE and it is still in great shape. It holds more than enough gear and 100 ounces of fluid. It was much better than my other Camelbak for the type of aggressive cross-country riding that I've been doing. Unfortunately it takes the place of my camera backpack and doesn't work well for carrying my Canon EOS 30D camera so I'll have to be selective with the Camelbak's when I take it out.
The ride was fairly uneventful although there was two things of interest. On the way heading south, I rode up onto the top of old dam, down the south side roller and continued on across the smooth rock ledge. About thirty feet south from there is a steep flat rock that slopes up to the left. I decided to ride up the slope and almost didn't make it but did fine as long as I stayed committed. It does require some momentum and balance to keep it going.
Heading north, I exited the yellow trail onto the fire road, I spotted a deer sitting on the other side. He (or she) was looking at me and apparently felt I wasn't a threat. Either that or was too hot to get up and run. I rode up the fire road to not force the issue and I'm sure the deer was happy about that.
I did about 9.63 miles in 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Tuesday June 24
Indian Ledge / Pequonnock River Valley - Trumbull, Connecticut
Ride One of Two - Met Tom from work at the lower Indian Ledge Park parking lot. We only had about 45 minutes to ride as Tom had to get back to the parking lot by 6:30 pm. We rode south along the white trail and got separated near the north end of the old lake bed. Cell phones work pretty good around there and we soon hooked back up.
I used the GPS to mark various spots around the trails. I thought the marks would show up on the map but now I see it is just saved in the GPS for navigation later. Marks in the GPS as I ride these trails may not be too important as I'm very familiar with them. Maybe lost at night would be useful or for giving directions to lost hikers. We got back to the cars at 6:30 PM and did 2.80 miles in 45 minutes.
Ride Two of Two - Once back at the car I felt it was too nice to go home. So I headed back out. I remembered to reset the timer on the GPS just before I left. I was fairly well warmed up from the first ride and wanted to really put a number of miles into this ride. At one point, south of the composting area, I attempted to climb a steep section of loose rock and ledge but stalled and fell to the right downhill. Once again the knee pads took the initial hit. These pads have saved my knees from injury so many times in the past. They have saved me from a lot of pain and more importantly, possible permanent damage. Still the best $50 bucks I ever spent and the pads keep giving back. Fortunately the GPS mounted on the stem didn't get damaged.
I found myself riding much further and faster with less stops to "load up" the GPS with data. Did 6.78 miles in 1 hour and 22 minutes. Total ride time for the day was 9.58 miles. Not a bad day at all.
Sunday June 22
Collis P. Huntington State Park - Redding, Connecticut
One of a series put on by CT-NEMBA, this event was called "The Happening at Huntington". There was quite a good turn out for a Sunday morning. The event was well organized with TA's helping to park. Met up with Mark and Tren and we rode for about 6.5 miles. I forgot to start the timer on my GPS until about a half a mile in. The map below shows the track we took.
My name on the image is where I remembered to start the timer. The track in black is what I added with Photoshop. The Garmin Edge 205 worked out great since the GPS now adds an extra dynamic to my riding. The map image was created with the help of Mark L and his recommendation to use GPS Visualizer. Click on the image for a larger view. You can get even larger view if you right click and open in a new window/tab. More on this ride and a nicely done YouTube video is over at Bike Snack.
Thursday June 12
Pequonnock River Valley / Indian Ledge - Trumbull, Connecticut
Met with John at the Daniel's Farm Road commuter lot and headed up to Old Mine Park. First time out with the Garmin Edge 205 GPS although I kept forgetting to start the timer. We checked out a few trees that got blown down together from a storm that blew through Fairfield County a couple of days before. This blow-down is at end of the dam spillway at the base of the cliff. It lifted about thirty feet of trail with it and has made this area impassable. We did about 8 miles including up to Old Mine Park and back.
Saturday June 7
Pequonnock River Valley / Indian Ledge - Trumbull, Connecticut
Parked at Tait Road and took the old railroad bed up to Coyote Crossing. It was shaping up to be a hot day with a forecast in the lower 90's for the next couple of days. I did a number of loops around Indian Ledge Park checking out the trails by the water park and a couple of runs to the old lake bed and back. On the second loop near the north end of the old lake bed, I almost ran over a snake that was sunning itself in the path. I stopped to move him/her along before someone else hit it.
Tuesday June 3
Pequonnock River Valley / Indian Ledge - Trumbull, Connecticut
Parked at the Park Street commuter lot off Daniel's Farm Road. Rode up to Indian Ledge Park and checked out a couple of trails that I had missed in the past. These are just west of the water park area. Never knew there was the remains of an old car in there. It looks to be from the '40's. I picked up some trash and cut back some branches growing into the trail. After an hour and a half, I was back to the car.