Contents:

NEMBA News 2005

Merrimack Valley NEMBA at Work in Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro SF

CT NEMBA’s Fall Fiesta

RI NEMBA Wants to Help Big River

Wachusett NEMBA Donates Tools to Groton Trails Committee

Harpoon-Topeak Finale Festival Raises $6600+ for Hurricane Katrina Victims

NEMBA Welcomes a New Chapter: Central NH NEMBA

IMBA Crew Goes Big in CT

NEMBA Celebrates National Trails Day with 12 Trail Care Events

Landry's Bicycles Sells NEMBA & MassBike Memberships

Another Successful Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day

Army Corps of Engineers Hosts New England Trail Builders School

NEMBA Unveils Plaque Commemorating Historic Land Purchase

Merlin Returns to Sponsor Trail Care Series in Mass, RI and Maine

Old Coot Wins Tomac!

RI NEMBA Awarded DEM Grant

Merrimack Valley NEMBA Awarded Trail Grant

Save Westminster Midstate Trail

CT NEMBA to Build New Trails at Millers Pond State Park

REI & IMBA Donate Tool Kits to NEMBA Chapters

NEMBA Awarded $11K Recreational Trails Program Grant

Trail of Dreams: Mountain Biking Returns to Wendell State Forest

NEMBA Thanks Our 2004 Trail Heroes

Help Preserve Connecticut’s Saltonstall Mountain

Merrimack Valley NEMBA at Work in Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro SF

If a tree falls in the Dracut state forest and there are no mountain bikers around, does it still make a sound?

That question comes to mind as I look back at how far the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Lowell Dracut Tyngsboro State Forest has come in the last 6 years or so. I remember my early trips to the forest on my Diamond Back hard tail. Fire roads, double track and a few poorly designed singletrack scattered around. (Actually that singletracks was probably more the result of party goers dragging their kegs to their favorite hangouts). It was not uncommon in those days to see stolen cars dumped and stripped along the fire roads. Piles of construction waste and other debris could be found dumped anywhere at anytime. Those images unfortunately were burned into the minds of many users and formed the opinions that created the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome of the Dracut state forest. You know the "I can't get no respect" thing.

The Merrimack Valley NEMBA was formed with the idea that we can do better than this. There are 1100 acres out here to work with. We came up with an aggressive outline that would see us reworking, rerouting, redesigning, and yes at times eliminating whole sections of trails in the forest. We would create new trail sections that would tie in and connect our favorite singletrack together to give us longer flowing trails. We would go into previously inaccessible areas of the forest, and working with a clean slate, we would develop new sustainable singletrack using the latest standards of trail building.

That's the path we started on over 6 years ago. And today I'm happy to say that we are still on that path but have put many miles of new singletrack behind us along the way. In the last 3 years we have added over five miles of new singletrack, seven boardwalks and thousands of hours of labor. Our NEMBA chapter coordinates and directs a local friends of the forest group with eight trail clean up days a year not to mention our own four to six scheduled trail maintenance days. The friends group is primarily involved with light duty trash pick up. We save the more physical trail building duties for the NEMBA members. The combination of hours put in by both groups have tipped the scales in our favor. Users of all kinds are constantly in awe of the turnaround of this forest. It really is amazing.

All NEMBA chapters seem to go through the highs and lows, the ebb and flows of sustaining a local chapter. Members move away or get burned out. Job and family responsibilities tug at our free time. We have also experienced a bit of that along the way. A few years back the state relocated our land manager and we were without representation at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Our chapter was just spinning our tires for a while. That changed when Ray Faucher, the land manager at Great Brook farm, was now assigned the duty of overseeing the Lowell Dracut Tyngsboro state forest. It's been a great relationship. Ray is trail smart and mountain bike friendly. We also had an infusion of new blood and energy with NEMBA members like Bob Giunta, Kirk Goldsworthy and James Vogh. Their hard work and attention to detail can be seen in the rock armoring, rolling grade dips, bench cutting, and drainage work on our new trails.

Looking ahead to 2006 we plan to continue down the same path. We would like to continue the work that we started this year out by Gumpus Road. We just added one and a half miles of new singletrack out there that can be described as tight and technical, yet at times, fast and flowy with some advance features for more technical riders. I think this trail has something for everyone and that's the idea. As always the support of the DCR and our members is critical to accomplishing our mission. Retaining and adding new members will become a priority. So getting back to my original question. If a tree falls in the Dracut state forest does it still make a sound? Yes it does, but I think you'll be having so much fun on our trails you won't even notice. --Norman Blanchette

CT NEMBA’s Fall Fiesta

By the time you read this, CT NEMBA's annual Fall Fiesta has come and gone. This year's fiesta was located at Huntington State Park in Redding, CT. Who could have asked for a better day! The sun was out and the trails were dry! We had plenty of food and lots of fun things to do. First off I need to apologize for the directions coming from the Merit, those were direct from DEP. But, for those of you who figured it out and still showed up, thanks and I am sure it was worth it!

As for the day, well we had a great game of trail poker with a good number of winners. Big thanks to North Haven Bike for donating a set of Trailrat Lights, a helmet and some other great items! Also thank you to the Danbury EMS, unfortunately they had the wrong date and did not make it but they were nice enough to send me a hydration pack which I am sure we will find a way to hand out! So please next time you are in the Danbury or North Haven area swing by these shops and say hello and thank them for supporting CT NEMBA!

On to the important stuff… the riding! Well I heard nothing but rave reviews of the trails at Huntington, particularly the new trail. Congratulations go out to Paula Burton and her crews for getting things ready there. And other thanks to them for getting the trails marked and removing the markers afterwards!

Through out the day we had some nice home made stunts courtesy of Dave and Kathy Herd. Those are right out of their backyard and they were kind enough to bring them for us to play on. I've been trying to get them to let us have the Fiesta at their house but they just won't budge.

Also thanks to O'Neil's in Bethel for supplying the food. Go check them out, certainly a great place to go after you finish riding in Huntington. Well the riding and food was so good we decided to go back there the following week.
Oh and of course we had our general meeting. Well all-in-all it was a great year for CT NEMBA. Keep those rides coming and hopefully we will see you on the trails! --Mike Dews

RI NEMBA Wants to Help Big River

In September, RI NEMBA members, Peter Gengler and Leo Corrigan, met with Juan Mariscal, the new director of the Water Resources Board, Juan Mariscal, and the land manager for the Big River, Elaine Maguire, to discuss ways that NEMBA can undertake volunteer partnerships at Big River.

As the second largest state property where mountain bikers enjoy riding, Big River is key to the future of riding in the Ocean State. It also has an outdated use policy which restricts mountain bicycling to the area's doubletrack.
Joined by NEMBA's Philip Keyes, we talked about future possible volunteer projects, such as trail maintenance, trail design, bridge building, signage, and the possibility of creating a bicycle patrol that could help monitor illegal dumping and user safety. Since Big River is a watershed that needs to insure water quality for future generations, we would like to propose a partnership similar to what the Friends of the Massabesic Mountain Bicycling Association have created outside of Manchester, NH, also a public water utility.

A subcommittee has been established and we will submit a draft proposal to the Water Resources Board with the hope of establishing a more mutually constructive relationship. We hope to offer a two year trail agreement whereby we offer some services in exchange for use of the off road trails in the management area. If you are interested in getting involved in this issue please contact me at pgengler@landtruth.com —Peter Gengler

Wachusett NEMBA Donates Tools to Groton Trails Committee

On October 18th, 2005, during their monthly meeting at town hall, the Groton Trails Committee (GTC) received a donation of trail tools by the Wachusett Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association. "The Groton Trails Committee and mountain bikers have been working together for a long time sharing volunteers and resources," says Wachusett NEMBA President, Jim Wrightson. "Both groups are out in the woods together working on the trails that we enjoy so much."

"We are very grateful for this generous donation from the mountain bike community. It's an excellent example of how trail users and trail maintainers work together building and sustaining the infrastructure," says Trails Committee Chairman Joachim Preiss. "As a town committee without a budget, we're mostly using our members' tools; but Pulaskis and Mcleods are not among the typical yard implements." No doubt these new tools will come in handy as Pulaskis are used to remove stumps, roots and rocks, and Mcleods are used to open the soil, and establish a sloped surface for the water to run off. Preiss concludes, "This donation will allow us build better trails in less time."

The Groton Trails Committee was established in 1998 as a town committee with 9 appointed members and is responsible for many miles of trails on public and some private lands. The members are meeting most Saturdays during the summer to work on different trail building and maintenance jobs throughout town.

Click picture to enlarge: (left to right) Vice Chair Paul Funch, Secretary Ed McNierney, Vic Burton, Wachusett NEMBA President Jim Wrightson, Chairman Joachim Preiss, Chris Shaffer, Wendy Good, missing: Bruce Easom and Steve Legge. --Joachim Preiss, Chairman, Groton Trails Committee

Harpoon-Topeak Finale Festival Raises $6600+ for Hurricane Katrina Victims

Despite high gas prices and the threat of another hurricane, 400 riders made their way to Cape Cod to celebrate the finale of the Harpoon-Topeak Mountain Bike Adventure Series, code-named NEMBAFest, raising $6652.45 for the American Red Cross.

Many camped out the night before, filling the campground at Sandwich’s Camp Lyndon and enjoying enjoying plenty of food and a couple of kegs of fresh IPA and Octoberfest, donated by Harpoon Brewery.
On the day of the fest, scores of industry tents offered great end-of-season deals, the riding was excellent and Justbill’s technical skills set up was a great hit.

The NEMBAfest is usually a fundraiser for our organization. However, because of the national calamity caused by Hurricane Katrina, with some of the victims staying nearby at Otis Air Force base, NEMBA decided that donating the proceeds to the American Red Cross was much more important.

"Our hearts go out to all the victims and the families devastated by Katrina," says NEMBA's executive director, Philip Keyes, “and it’s nice to see mountain bikers from around New England come show support and have a great day riding."
Neal Todrys, owner of Topeak Cycling Accessories (Foxboro, MA) commented that "Topeak is pleased to be involved with an organization like NEMBA because of its ability provide great riding opportunities for cycling enthusiasts throughout the region, and its ability to raise money for good causes."

Individual riders who gathered more than $200 in pledges were entered to win a custom cruiser bicycle donated by NEMBA member, William Noonan. The lucky winner was Sharon Lamb, of Billerica, MA. Check out the event pictures.

NEMBA Welcomes a New Chapter: Central NH NEMBA

NEMBA Board of Directors has unanimously approved the charter for a new NEMBA chapter in central New Hampshire. Glenn Kirby, the founder of Central NH NEMBA, is focusing his chapter’s efforts on working with the US Army Corps of Engineers on developing a singletrack trail system in Elm Brook, located in Hopkinton, NH off of Route 89.

The chapter is hitting the ground running and has already held it’s first trail school in conjunction with the International Mountain Bicycling Association and has already designed and built new singletrack on the Elm Brook property. Here's what IMBA had to say about the event!

Another early focus will be in Fox State Forest (Hillsborough NH) and a NEMBA liason has already been appointed to develop partnership opportunities in this management area. Glenn believes that there is significant interest throughout the Sunapee Lakes region to build upon the existing ridership and partner with local bike shops and land managers.
According to Glenn, “the Central NH chapter is looking forward to many successes and some fun times riding.” If you are interested in getting involved with Central NH NEMBA, email Glenn Kirby or call 603-456-3805.

IMBA Crew Goes Big in CT

Jill and Chris, the IMBA Trail Care Crew, visited Fairfield County, to help NEMBA begin work on a new trail at Collis P. Huntington State Park in Redding. The visit was organized by Paula Burton and Tom Carruthers.

During the busy visit, May 11-15, Chris and Jill addressed 65 people at an Appalachian Mountain Club group at a regularly scheduled meeting in Westport, worked on trail design for a day, gave a workshop to 14 land managers at Tarrywile Park in Danbury, and presented a two day trail building seminar to 25 people at Huntington State Park. Many organizations and park managers were represented at the various events including Appalachian Mountain Club, Friends of Tarrywile Park, Hat City Cyclists, Hop Brook Army Corps of Engineers, Charles Ives Trail, Kelda Property, Connecticut Forests and Parks, and Putnam Park. The municipalities of Danbury, Weston, Newtown, and Stamford all sent employees to learn more about trails.

Approximately 1000 ft of trail was benched and hardened, and three water crosses, two rock and one wood were built. Eastern Mountain Sports contributed $500 to the event and gave out water bottles and discount coupons to participants. After the event was over, Hat City Cyclists donated $1000 to NEMBA for trail materials to help build much needed bog bridges on the new trail at Huntington. Thanks to all the attendees, and Chris and Jill for making this event an overwhelming success! — Paula Burton

NEMBA Celebrates National Trails Day with 12 Trail Care Events

NEMBA held a record twelve events to celebrate the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day on June 4th, with hundreds of volunteers getting down and dirty to build new trails and care for old ones.

Berkshire NEMBA — Beartown SF
CT NEMBA — Tarrywile SF
CT NEMBA — Huntington SP
CT NEMBA — Risley Memorial Park
Greater Boston NEMBA — Great Brook Farm SP
Greater Boston NEMBA —- Middlesex Fells (with Boston Hikes)
Merrimack Valley NEMBA — Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro SF
North Shore NEMBA — Bradley Palmer SF
Pioneer Valley NEMBA — Wendell SF
Seacoast NEMBA — Salem Town Forest
South Central NH NEMBA — Yudicky Farm
White Mountains NEMBA — Town of Conway Common Lands

While some projects focused on maintenance, others were quite ambitious. At Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle MA, for example, the crew partnered with REI, Inc to construct a 120’ boardwalk through a dense swamp to create nearly one mile of new singletrack trail. In North Conway, NH, the group rock armoured perennially wet sections of trail. At Wendell State Forest and Lowell-Dracut State Forest, new trail was fined tuned, and in town forest in Salem NH, volunteers raised the treadway to prevent mud pits and erosion.  Check out photos of many of the NTD events.

Landry's Bicycles Sells NEMBA & MassBike Memberships

When NEMBA and MassBike's executive directors took part in Landry's employee training program this spring, neither knew the extent to which Landry's wanted to incorporate advocacy into their business mission. Company heads worked with the organizations to set up a pilot program that would allow employees for each of Landry's four stores to sell MassBike and NEMBA membership directly to their customers.

To kick start the program, company officials set up a bit of friendly competition between the four stores to see which one could sell the most memberships from April to May. While Landry's Westboro store won top honors, all of the stores actively marketed the advocacy organizations and sold a total of 77 memberships, collecting more that $2,000 for the organization. 44% of the membership were sold by Landry's John D'Ambruoso. Thanks, John!

Setting up the pilot program was relatively easy, yet it does require the shops to create a cash register SKU for the membership transaction, and to gather the names and mailing address of the new members. These are databased by Landry's corporate office and submitted bi-weekly to both NEMBA and MassBike. Landry's mails the membership check monthly as part of their routine bookkeeping.

Landry's has always been committed to bicycle advocacy. Tom Henry, one of the Landry's owners, is a past president of MassBike and is very active nationally. Since Landry's has four Massachusetts stores in Westboro, Danvers, Natick and Norwood, the pilot project is primarily serving the Blackstone Valley, North Shore and SE Mass NEMBA chapters.
In addition, Landry’s has become a $1000 NEMBA dealership, and its website, www.landrys.com features NEMBA and MassBike on its homepage.

If all goes well —and it appears to be excellent thus far — NEMBA hopes to model this program across New England as a way of increasing NEMBA's partnerships with local bike shops.

If your local bicycle dealer is interested in selling NEMBA membership, have them contact Philip Keyes at 800-57-NEMBA.

Another Successful Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day

The MTB Gods were definitely smiling down on Blue Hills Mountain Bike Day again this year. It rained for weeks before the event and weeks after, but the sun shone for a good part of the day, defying the weather forecasters and lifting the spirits of hundreds of riders who showed up for the festivities. Along with a welcome break from the Spring rains, a bunch of new sponsors in 2005 added some great new energy to the mix. Riders could sample the wares of many area dealers along with local clubs and advocacy groups. Guided rides, contests and fun were the order of the day for riders of all ages and abilities.

Demo bikes were in huge supply with offerings from both local dealers as well as the big guns from Trek, Cannondale and Rocky Mountain. Our friends at Wheelworks, Dedham Bike and Cycle Loft made the connections and the trailers rolled in with the largest assortment of demo bikes ever seen at a Blue Hills event.

SEMASS NEMBA under the fantastic leadership of Rich Higgins has done a superb job of working with the DCR Blue Hills staff to create one of the most exciting family mountain biking events in New England. DCR Ranger Maggi Brown, her dedicated staff, and volunteers from TrailWatch are immensely proud of the strong working relationship that exists with the mountain biking community in the Blue Hills. This bike festival is a yearly showcase of all that can be accomplished when land managers and mountain bikers work together toward common goals of rider education and cooperative trail use. —Joe Sloane

Army Corps of Engineers Hosts New England Trail Builders School

Oxford MA, May 21-22: Mountain bikers and trail builders from every state in New England descended upon the Army Corps of Engineer's Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Massachusetts for an intensive work hard / play hard weekend course on trail building and maintenance. Joining in the instruction were recent Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, Kurt Loheit, from southern California, the IMBA/Subaru Trail Care Crew from Portland, Oregon, Jill Van Winkle and Chris Bernhard, and NEMBA's trail experts, Tom Grimble, Paul Peaslee and Mike Tabaczynski.

Hodges Village Dam was the good "laboratory" for applying the latest science of trail design and maintenance because it is multi-use facility enjoyed extensively by motorcyclists, equestrians, trail runners, hikers and cyclists. While almost all the trails need rehabilitation, the New England Trail Builders School focused on three sites so that we could teach the critical aspects of trail design and maintenance. The Army Corps facility was also chosen because of NEMBA's

participation in a USACE conference where we outlined the type of partnerships we offered to land management agencies. The Corps was a gracious host, and Park Ranger Jamie Kordack, Timothy Russell and her staff went beyond the call of duty to make everyone feel welcome and at home.

Beyond an exceptional classroom presentation by IMBA's Trail Care Crew, trail builders chose one of three clinics each day to focus on the different construction techniques, such as building Technical Trail Features out of rock and constructing a boardwalk through an environmentally sensitive wetland. During the course of the weekend, participants also designed and built a quarter-mile trail along a steep esker embankment that required extensive benchcutting and rock cribbing in order to bypass one of the worst cases of fall line trail in the park. While a quarter-mile may not sound like much, it took about 25 people two days to bring the project to near completion.

"The New England Mountain Bike Association is at the forefront of trail building," said NEMBA's executive director, Philip Keyes, "and this training will give rise to better trails being created throughout the region. This is good for everyone, trail users and land management agencies alike."

Despite the hard work, the energy level was high and there was much riding and carousing by the campfire in the evenings, courtesy of Harpoon Brewery. All the attendees, including the land manager of Mount Agamenticus, left the course with enthusiasm to return to their local areas and apply their trail knowledge to better their local parks.
The school was funded by the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Recreational Trail Program Grant, and we are especially grateful to the Army Corps of Engineers and the International Mountain Bicycling Association for making the event successful.   Click here for event pictures

NEMBA Unveils Plaque Commemorating Historic Land Purchase

April 30. Milford MA: The New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) unveiled the bronze plaque to commemorate the organization's purchase and preservation of the Vietnam trails in Milford, Massachusetts. NEMBA is the first mountain bike group to purchase, own and manage its own property. Forty of the 57 major donors listed on the plaque were in attendance to celebrate NEMBA's success and to ride the property.

Kona Bicycles, the largest bicycle industry donor, sent freerider Dave Watson as their representative and ride leader. Also in attendance from the bicycle industry were representatives from Wheelworks, Landry's Bicycles, Milford Bicycles, Seven Cycles, Bustedspoke.com, REI and the International Mountain Bike Association.

"This was a proud and emotional event for me," said NEMBA executive director, Philip Keyes. "This property and plaque will forever stand as testimony to mountain bikers' dedication to the future of trails and open space. It shows that mountain bikers can positively impact both the sport and the planet for future generations."

NEMBA purchased the 47 acres on October 23, 2003 after more than a year of fundraising that grew from the grassroots to become a national campaign, with 549 donations coming from 23 states. The donors listed on the plaque gave a $1000 or more, with some individuals contributing $15,000 toward the purchase.

Since the mountain bike ceremony, everyone rode to the site of the plaque, located deep in the forest, and enjoyed the technical antics of Kona's Dave Watson during a tour of NEMBA's property. The ride featured a new trail NEMBA created last fall to rave reviews.

This summer NEMBA is working with local freeriders and expert trail builders to build a highly technical trail on the property.

Photo courtesty of Mike Tabaczynski

Merlin Returns to Sponsor Trail Care Series in Mass, RI and Maine

Merlin began sponsoring NEMBA’s trail maintenance in 1996, making it the oldest title-sponsored mountain bike trail care series in the country. Now they have returned as the sponsor of the 2005 Merlin / NEMBA Trail Care Series, donating a beautifully crafted titanium Oreas frame. To win this handcrafted beauty, all you need to do is volunteer in any of the Merlin / NEMBA Trail Care events. See nemba.org for locations and dates, and come out and save the trails!

Old Coot Wins Tomac!

The 2004 Tomac / NEMBA Trail Care Series was one of NEMBA’s largest series ever. More than 500 volunteers participated in 55 trail care events in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine, resulting in thousands of hours of volunteerism to improve New England trails.

However, there can only be one winner, and this year it was Bill Boles, one of the original founders of NEMBA and Dirt Rag’s Old Coot! The timing for Bill was more than perfect since he was already looking for a new steed. Sounding more like a kid than a coot, Bill commented, “maintaining trails is something I enjoy doing. But riding them is what it's all about. And this year I'll be riding them on a brand new bright red Tomac Revolver. I can't believe I won. Many thanks to Tomac Bicycles for making the upcoming season of riding my best one ever.”

RI NEMBA Awarded DEM Grant

Rhode Island NEMBA received a $900 grant from Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management for a project completed last summer. The Trails Advisory Committee awarded the grant last year, and after completing the required project we were recently able to receive the $900.

The grant money was earmarked to redo a bridge on Sand Hill Trail in Arcadia. Mike Shea designed the bridge with input from Arcadia's land manager, Jay Aron. This 72-foot boardwalk/bridge required about 52 hours of work from 17 RI-NEMBA members as well as some help from a DEM worker, Jeff, and a mule that was also purchased using Rhode Island's small grant program.

The trails of Rhode Island have seen many improvements using the DEM's small grant program and RI NEMBA is grateful for the opportunity to benefit from this program. —Tina Hopkins

Merrimack Valley NEMBA Awarded Trail Grant

Over the last couple of years Merrimack Valley NEMBA has made great strides in improving the trail system and feel of the Lowell-Dracut State Forest, adding new trails and generally cleaning up this somewhat forgotten park with the help of the ranger, Ray Faucher. To make it easier for users (as well as police and first-responders) to navigate the park, NEMBA has awarded the chapter a $500 grant to purchase vandal-proof signage that will provide location information. This is especially important for this park because it is situated in three cities and has a confusing and haphazard trail system. According to Ranger Faucher, the signage will "encourage new users to the forest who previously were uncomfortable walking the trails due to the confusing nature of their trail design and layout."

Save Westminster Midstate Trail

Many mountain bikers are familiar with the Midstate Trail, the historic long-distance trail that bisects the state in central Massachusetts. The section north of Mt. Wachusett, traversing the Crow Hill Cliffs in Leominster State Forest and heading up to Mt. Watatic is especially popular for cyclists looking for a long, gnarly adventure. However, only four miles of the Midstate in Westminster are on permanently protected conservation land, and the remaining 8 miles of trail are on private land. The North County Land Trust has identified 28 large parcels of private land that are in danger of development, and the trust is now engaged in a fundraising project to secure conservation restrictions to protect the trail.
The Midstate Trail Project is in need of donations for land appraisals and surveys, to prepare grant applications from major funding sources. Donations should be sent to:

North County Land Trust, Inc.
Westminster Midstate Trail Fund
PO Box 2052
Fitchburg, MA 01420

For more information, please contact Janet Morrison, Director of Land Protections for the North County Land Trust.

CT NEMBA to Build New Trails at Millers Pond State Park

The State of Connecticut DEP recently approved the construction of approximately five miles of new trail at Millers Pond State Park. The trail will be completed in phases, with the first mile to be cleared this spring. According to State Park Supervisor Alex Sokolow, the new trail will "enhance the trail system currently in place, providing access to the outer reaches of the park, and encourage year-round use of the park."

Millers Pond State Park is located on the Durham Haddam line, with parking available off Foot Hills Road in Haddam. Portions of Cockaponset State Forest abut the park, and will be incorporated into the trail system.

Connecticut NEMBA, in cooperation with the DEP, will be holding two trail maintenance days this spring to begin the first phase of the new trail. Volunteers are invited to come and participate in the trail clearing. Once complete, the trail will be open to hiking and mountain biking, and will connect many of the park's rocky outcroppings. —Alex Sokolow

REI & IMBA Donate Tool Kits to NEMBA Chapters

Building and taking care of trails will be easier for ten NEMBA chapters this year thanks to REI's donation of a Trail Stewardship Kit. Each kit, valued at over $500, includes a McLeod, Pulaski, Clinometer, work gloves, T-shirts, IMBA yield the trail signs, responsible riding tips brochures and IMBA's excellent Singletrack Solutions book. The chapters that received the donation are Blackstone Valley, Cape Cod, Merrimack Valley, North Shore, Maine, Mt. Agamenticus, Pioneer Valley, Rhode Island, Seacoast, and South Central. Thanks, REI and IMBA!

NEMBA Awarded $11K Recreational Trails Program Grant

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has awarded NEMBA $11,865 for five trail projects for the upcoming season. At the Middlesex Fells, Greater Boston NEMBA plans to restore both the singletrack and fire road sections of the Middlesex Fells Mountain Bike Loop and construct two boardwalks. At Great Brook Farm State Park, they plan to finish construction of a new singletrack trail that passes through Toffet Swamp, with the construction of a 150' boardwalk through the swamp. Construction of the trail has already begun and the corridor through the swamp has already been cleared as preparation for the lengthy boardwalk.

Southeast Massachusetts NEMBA was awarded the grant funding to install four boardwalks at Borderland State Park on the popular Pond Walk, Northwest and West Side Trails in order to protect the numerous streams which bissect the trails. Southeast Mass NEMBA will also construct a 230' boardwalk at Wompatuck State Park in a severely degraded section of muddy trail that has been getting wider every season as people attempt to stay out of the mud.

Lastly, NEMBA's Recreational Trails Grant will help defray the costs of NEMBA's New England Trail Builders School. This year's trail school will be hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers at Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Massachusetts on May 21-22, and be sponsored by the Corp, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, NEMBA, and the International Mountain Bike Association. To register for the weekend course, please go to www.nemba.org.

According to NEMBA's Philip Keyes, "We're grateful for the DCR's support of our Tomac Trail Care Series, and allowing us the wherewithall to apply and build upon our trail expertise to the benefit of everyone who enjoys trails."

Trail of Dreams: Mountain Biking Returns to Wendell State Forest

Way up in the Northeastern corner of Franklin County (that'd be the northernmost county of the Pioneer Valley for the rest of you New Englanders), sits the very large (by Massachusetts standards) Wendell State Forest. At nearly 8500 acres of high, rolling terrain, Wendell has long cried out for some quality non-motorized singletrack development.
I had heard rumors that the land manager up in Wendell was eager to see some new trail construction—specifically, if you can believe this, mountain bike trails!. So, on a soggy morning in November, I drove up to Wendell and met with Ranger Brian Stewart. After introducing myself and making my NEMBA pitch, he grew very excited and began searching through some old files and soon produced a stack of old yellowed photographs of NORBA National races held at Wendell in the mid to late 1980's. Ross Bicycles and Swatch Watch were the sponsors—that's how far back we're talking!

I could hardly believe it. There were shots of young John Tomac and never-young Ned Overend racing side-by-side racing on Wendell singletrack. There were great shots of Hans "No Way" Rey hopping over nervous volunteers in a trial demonstration, and Cindy Whitehead astride the podium. What Brian showed me was a regular photo-history of the classic era of mountain bike racing-all of which happened right here in Wendell.

Brimming with enthusiasm, Brian told me the first project he was interested in was the resuscitation of the long-abandoned mountain bike race course; in particular, a 1.2-mile stretch of singletrack along Wickett's Pond Road. I told him we'd be happy to help out in any way we can.

So, over the course of two, cold rainy Saturdays in early December, a group of 11 volunteers revived (and often re-routed) the long-lost singletrack You could almost see the ghosts of past mountain bike luminaries watching us work. A lot of this was straightforward clearing and cleaning, but another chunk of labor involved doggedly cutting through long stretches of dense laurel, which has become endemic to much of forest. Though this is a rather unrewarding, slow-moving and unpleasant task, the volunteers proved to be indefatigable in their efforts and by the end of the second Saturday we had forged a fine 1.4-mile singletrack trail.

Ranger Brian Stewart took a much appreciated leadership role in helping to mark the trail and providing some quality hands on labor assistance—he's a whiz with the chainsaw. Brian himself has spearheaded the creation of some truly wonderful multi-use trails in the park, the newest and nicest being the trail around Wickett's Pond. He was pleased enough with our efforts to let us mark out and create another trail that branches off the first one and runs to the top of Baker Rd.

So with visions of new singletrack dancing in our heads, we went out on another cold January Saturday with another crew of 11 volunteers to create a completely new trail in Wendell, roughly one mile in length. Once again, we were immersed in dense laurel, however, once through the laurel we were able to fashion a great switchback climb up through a rocky birch and beech forest, and then wind the trail through the woods and out to Baker Road.

Again, Ranger Brian Stewart was happy enough with our efforts to allow us to begin marking out a much larger singletrack that will run past many of the outstanding natural features on the west side of Wendell State Forest. We've already marked out some of the future trail, with more to follow in the coming months. In the Early Spring, we'll have larger volunteer days to begin building what we up here in Franklin County hope will evolve into a premier riding area in New England. --Liam O’Brien

NEMBA Thanks Our 2004 Trail Heroes

The NEMBA Trail Hero Program is designed to acknowledge and reward exceptional volunteerism by NEMBA members. Without the involvement of members who make substantial time commitments, NEMBA would not be able to achieve our current level of success. NEMBA's Trail Hero Award recognizes and acknowledges these exceptional volunteers on a yearly basis. Trail Hero Award recipients are invited to participate in the Broform purchase program that allows registered members to purchase products at discounted prices. The following NEMBA members were nominated by the officers of their local chapters

Help Preserve Connecticut’s Saltonstall Mountain

CT NEMBA is urging mountain bikers around New England to help protect Branford's Supply Ponds/Pisgah Brook Trails by making a donation to the Branford Land Trust.

Branford's Supply Ponds/Pisgah Brook trails are well known to many Connecticut mountain bikers. Trails on over 600 acres of Town-owned preserves draw riders from throughout the Greater New Haven area and beyond because of the widely varied terrain. It's a great place for all levels of riders. However, many of the trails in the area cross privately owned land, making them vulnerable to development.

The Branford Land Trust has pledged to raise $100,000 toward the purchase in exchange for a conservation easement on the 93 acres that lie in Branford. The easement insures that future Town governments won't be able to put the land to other uses, guaranteeing that the land will remain undeveloped and available for recreational use forever. This effort is being supported by a grant from the Foote Family Trust that will match contributions to the Branford Land Trust.

Please help keep these trails available for our use. Contributions can be sent to: Branford Land Trust, PO Box 254, Branford, CT 06405. Please make checks payable to Branford Land Trust and note "Saltonstall Mt." on your check. Remember that every dollar you donate will be matched by the Foote Family Trust and is tax deductible. Thank you for your help. — R Scott Borrus

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