2006 Year in Review

[AA]

I don’t know about everyone else but I had a great year in 2006.

Here is some of the fun stuff I got to do this year (in no particular order).

*Did trail work on my local trail system including building a 60' boardwalk
*Rode some killer trails on the north shore (MA) that I had never done
*made a "snow bike" out of some old skis and a recycled frame from the dump
*Rode most of the Midstate trail (in pieces)
*Did the MS150 charity ride in the rain with my wife Susan (on our tandem)
*Raced the VT50 again (after a 6 year hiatus)
*Participated in the D2R2 dirt road randonnee http://newhorizonsbikes.com/page.cfm?PageID=347
*Rode 4 solo road centuries
*Scouted out more local epic rides from my house, able to link together 2 different 50+ mile loops
*lots of rides with the usual gang
*did 3 NEMBA adventure series rides (all a great time)
*Traveled to UT with my wife to do a trip to the Maze district of Canyonlands NP (learned what flash floods and "sticky" mud are really all about)
*Finally got back to Leominster SF to ride

Let’s hear about some of your fun times this year...

[AA]

more pics...

[fisherking]

It was a great year for me as well. My first full year of riding and yesterday I got my 1000'th mile in for the year, which I was pretty happy with since all of my riding is in the morning before work.
Also found about 6 more places to ride within a half hour from home/work which is great. I also took part in getting 3 new people started in riding MTB...

I need to free up the weekends/nights for some trail work and group rides next year!!
Thanks to all of Nemba for advice, photos and all the trail advocacy that goes on!!

MIke

[bdee]

2006 was a good one:

* Got to ride the PV NEMBA ride and had a blast
* Did some trailwork in Arcadia
* Made it to more NEMBA rides than usual
* Finally won a mtb race
* Took a serious beating in some 'cross races
* Rode SS mtb and road way more than I should've
* Figured out the Warner Trail from 140 to Diamond Hill
* Started mtb night riding again after years with no suitable trail lights

[Slider]

You've been busy, AA! I think the VT50 alone would give me a sense of accomplishment, or kill me. ;-)

Slider

[MTBME]

I also got out to PV NEMBA to do their Leonard Skinner / Holoyoke ride this summer which was a first for me. That was a nice mix of trails they laid out. Will have to try Wendall next year. I also did the Wicked ride for the first time and the Turkey Burner. Great weather helped out there.

And in no particular order some of the usual stuff in my backyard: Groton Town Forest / Groton Conservation Land, Townsend state forest, Lowell Dracut Tyngsboro state forest, Stow town forest / Bolton, Leominster state forest, Westford secrets, MIT Haystack, Ayer / GRIM, Lynn Woods, Great Brook, Harold Parker, Fomba / Massebesic and I have to add Burlington / Lexington LLQ (land lock quadrant). That was quite a pleasant surprise. Stunts bigger than Vietnam.

And I managed to crack over 1,000 miles on my road bike which includes some early season wind trainer / roller work. It would have been impossible to find the time to get that extra thousand miles on the mountain bike. Its much easier to find an hour after work to bang out a quick 20 miles on the road when the light is fading. And it saves a bit of wear and tear on the body.

[bullitfreerider]

The usual: Total for ROAD is 937; 225 for RBK on Computrainer and 619 for MTB as below. Grand total is 1781 miles.
About the same as 2005.

-Road work in Western MA, local road TT's, local road work, one Century.
-The usual MTB riding mostly at NAM and LYNN Woods, some local, Western MA and Borderland.
-NEMBA Nam trail work days(2)
-Winter "play" at Stowe included bumps and XC skating...lousy bump year
-One twisted knee but no breaks

[hammerhead]

2006 a Year in Review

Winter – Not the greatest for either riding or skiing – but I did get in a bit of each.

Spring – Trips Arizona and Whistler highlighted the departures from a cool and wet New England springtime.

Summer – A few disastrous (mechanically and physically) races interspersed between a lot of wonderful group rides on the local trails and a few trail work sessions at Wendell, The Montague Plains, and at Hendrick Street. August finished up with the annual John Jenkins Memorial all-day pain festival.

Fall – A fabulous day trip to Kingdom Trails served as the high point of a time of great weather during which I spent many too many hours tied to my desk.

Riding Destinations hit include:
Arcadia
Batchelor St
Brodie-Jiminy (Pedros)
Coke Plant
Dalton
DAR
Dubuque
Earle’s Trails
Great Brook
Harold Parker
Hendrick St Conservation Area
Hodges Village Dam
Horse/Chestnut Mt
Kingdom Trails
Leverett M&M Trail
McDowell Park AZ
Montague Plains
Mt Sugarloaf
Mt Toby
Mt Tom
Petersham
Pocumtuck Ridge
Rocky Mtn
The Ice House/Jeep Eater Trails
Vancouver BC
Wendell
Whistler BC
Wompatuck

[Jisch]

I too had a great year of riding. I'll put together a year end review in pictures after Sunday's ride, but some of the highlights include:

- Getting to ride in Morocco - what a trip!
- A great ride up at PVNEMBA - those trails rock.
- An aweseome weekend up at KT with AoF and Edge - 42 miles in one day - my longest dirt ride to date
- Buying my wife a new Spec'd FSR for Mother's Day (meaning weekly rides with her every weekend since)
- Seeing my wife's skill progress every week
- An excellent family trip out to CO with rides in Fruita and Grand Junction (skiing too!)
- Many rides with the regular riding group (Slider and DNA - you guys rule!)
- A beautiful 5 hour ride this fall at Bigelow with 17 like minded folks - what a day!
- I'll put a prediction for an awesome ride tomorrow mostly with folks I don't know
- Writing a couple of articles for Singletracks
- And of course getting my new RM Switch for Father's Day.

More later when I get some time.
John

[radair]

My year was packed with great memories. Did the usual excellent ice rides in the winter, including one last ride on the Brownfield (ME) Bog with Pete & Z before they headed for CA.

Had a great SS ride at FOMBA in Feb. (1) then drove home in a raging snowstorm. Had another great SS ride at HP in March. In April, I took the family to New Mexico, met some great people, soaked in hot springs and did some fun rides (2 & 3).

Ruptured my left achilles in May, found out how much crutches suck (& had to cancel a Whistler trip), and eventually did a lot of MTB rides in a boot (4). Put some miles on my road bike, over 1000 all told, including my first century over 4 notches here in the Whites in August. By necessity, I learned to ride flat pedals, and am still on them on the MTB.

Did a ton of quality trail work. Rode a lot with some great friends through the fall, at KT and various off the beaten path locations in NH and ME (5). Did some trail work at Fort Rock and got in an excellent ride before and during a deluge. Still riding at least every other day, usually solo and always fun.

Despite being off the bikes for almost 2 months, '06 was yet another great year.