Bigelow 11/2 9:30

[Jisch]

More time for planning this time around.

Leading a ride at Bigelow on Sunday morning. 3+ hours, intermediate+ pace. Dropped riders will be given a map :-D

Expect slippery leaves, nemisis rock gardens and enough climbing to make it feel like you rode a lot further than 14 miles.

Sound good?
John

[TheHare]

Meet off of 171 at the Fisherman's Lot? Never been to Bigelow before. Good chance I will join you. Thanks, Steve

[Jisch]

The main lot for Bigelow is a left off of route 171/197.

See map here:
http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-connecticut/trail/PRD_166809_4534crx.aspx

Fisherman's Lot is the first lot on the left as you enter the park.
John (860 808 6221 cell if needed)
(be great to see you out there Steve!)

[TheHare]

Thanks John. See you at 9:30. Bringing one other. Clocks change. Extra hour sleep! :) Steve

[Jisch]

Cool. It looks like there will be 10 or so riders tomorrow.

Clock change means everyone gets an hour further from my sleep pattern.

John

[Jisch]

Wow, can you say turnout? I posted this ride up at MTBR, NEMBA and here, just like I did for the last three rides over the last 3 weeks - all of which I rode solo. I pull into the lot at 9:10 and there are 5 cars there, and no one I recognize. As I start getting ready the cars with bikes on top keep on coming and coming. We get rolling by 9:35 or so with 20 riders!

Almost immediately we have our first issue as I cut into the woods and the last 17 riders keep going up the hill - sorry about that - I guess I took off before everyone was ready.

We regroup and the issues with managing 20 riders become evident. We split into two groups after a few stops. I go with the faster group, including Arch, Salem, Matt and The_Hare - a very fast group indeed. I did my best to not hold the group up too much (really keeping up was beyond possible). We did a good rip meeting up with the other group on the last leg of the ride.

No mechanicals that I saw other than Salem trying unsuccessfully to use his bike as a lever to pry two logs on a bridge apart (his wheel was tweaked, but still rideable).

Two crashes that I saw, I crashed on an off-camber section of trail, a nice uncontrolled run down a slope, stopping only after my helmet caught an overhead branch. For the second crash I hesitated before doing a little roller and likely caused Miles_e to go OTB as he tried to adjust to my slowdown.

We finished the extended loop in about 3.5 hours, which is pretty close to how long it takes me to do it solo, which says a lot about how we were moving considering the number of riders.

An excellent day to be in the woods.