Sunday, April 07, 2013

Building sweet singletrack and then riding it at Rockland Preserve


If you want to know what riding at Rockland Preserve is like, it can be summed up with one verb:  climbing! Still, it's a fantastic place to ride and if you find yourself in the area, with your mountain bike, do not pass up riding there!  All the trails are well marked and if you have a QR Code reader, you scan the QR code at the trail head and get an online map of the Rockland trails.  Keep in mind, though, many of the trails are meant to be ridden in a specific direction.


This map shows you the direction that should ride these trails because if you don't and go the other way you must be a glutton for punishment.


After working on the trails for 2 hours we headed back down to the parking lot and got our bikes.  I brought the Kona Singlespeed and learned the hard way that Rockland is not Singlespeed friendly, rather Granny friendly.  Weather was perfect, however, and shorts with a long sleeve and short sleeve over that was perfect.  While it was windy there was just enough warmth in the air, around 60 degrees, to make it really pleasant - perfect riding weather.


In fact after the first climb a lot of people started shedding clothes.


We stopped at the Balance Beam skinny to see who could do it.  It's tough because in the middle the surface area is cut in half and it rises up a couple of inches, too, making it a really challenge.


Only one person cleaned it, John Biehn!


Big group of riders, must have had 15 people and no one had a mechanical, unbelievable!

 

The trails at Rockland are still a work in progress.  Some fall into the Rake and Ride but that will change over time.



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