brown shirt ride 16 miles

Thanks to Steve for a great ride today!  We rode some Quincy Trails, and then road Furnace Brook Road to the Blue Hills.  In the Blue Hills we rode some very nice stuff.

About a 2 hour ride, temps med to hot, sunny.

Now time to cook up some pasta!

Eaton's Bond Braintree MA

A few weeks ago, I helped out the New England Mountain Biking Association (NEMBA) with a trail maintenance day at Eaton's Pond in Braintree MA.  Today I checked out these trails on the bike.  I rode to Eaton's from the house here.  About 4.3 miles away.  Today the WX was great.  Sunny, temps in the 70s F. low winds.  

The trails are new, and more are being built.  This space will have a nice trail system when the work is completed.

I did take a break and had a nice chat with Nick KC1MA.  He was on a way to a club meeting. This was via the Boston K1RJZ 900 MHz repeater in Boston MA.  I always try to bring some type of ham radio with me on these rides.

The whole ride was about 2 hours, that's including the QSO with KC1MA, and a detour to walk over the Fore River Bridge.

I all ready cleaned off the bike, so it's all set for the next ride.

Thanks to NEBMA  and the Town of Braintree for creating these trails!

Check out NEMBA

Blue Hills

Great ride today in the Blue Hills.  WX was Sunny and temps 40s to the 50s F.
Rode for about 1.5 hours.

Rode to Summit like last ride.  The decent down Great Blue was the same as well.  I mixed it up a bit with some loops and other trails on the way out.

Great Blue Hill Ride in the Blue Hills Massachusetts

7:20 am start WX 50s, sunny and mild.  About an hour and 20 minute ride.

From HQ Up Wolcolt Path to 1085 to the Summit Road.  Then decent the Coon Holow Path left at 1082, back to the Summit Road, back to 1000 Border Path.  The Border Path in this direction is a fun decent.  Ride with Caution, there a other trail users, and there are many erosion bars that could flip you over.  Then left on to Chestnut Run Path, Right on to 1191, bend right 1183, left at 1166.  Here my back tire was very low on air.  I pumped in more air and road the Eustis Trail back to Wolcolt Path.  Via 1140, 1121, and 1122.  I had to stop on Wolcolt to put more air in the back tire again.

Today was a great ride.  I may have done more exploring but I did not want spend the time to replace the rear tube.  I will do that at home this weekend.

Not flat yet.

Blue Hills WX Obs.

Mountain Bike ride Great Blue Hill Blue Hills Massachusetts

Got started around 8AM Temp was about 33 F.  Road up Wolcolt Path.  Right at the start my legs were burning. As a result of this feeling, I placed the bike in the easy gear.  Took a right on to 1122, then another onto 1121, right onto 1166 and all the way to 1191.  Here it was a left onto The yellow multi-use trail.  Road this system to 1085, then up the path leading to the paved summit road of Great Blue Hill.  Road the paved road to the summit of Great Blue Hill.  Now it's a bit warmer out, the sun is out, and it's a clear day. Enjoyed the view.  I placed a call out on 146.52 and KA1BBU returned.  We switched to the Norwell 145.39 and had a very nice chat.  73 Bob!

After a nice break at the summit, I road the Coon Hollow Path back to the paved summit road.  This was the most fun part of the ride.  It was very rocky, but because it was a descent, it was quite manageable.

From the paved road, I found my way back to Wolcolt.  Before ending the ride, I did the quick loop around Houghton Hill.  I enjoy Houghton Hill because it's easy climb, with more great views.

A great ride again.  Thanks to the Blue Hills for such a great trail system.

Mountain Biking today in the Blue Hills

Due to the extra dry thaw this year the DCR South ended the bike ban early! So today I did some of the Blue Hills.  I wanted to check out stuff that I have not done before.  The wx was great, under 60F, and cloudy.  Perfect for riding.  Started at after 8AM and finished after 10:30 AM.

Started on Wolcolt Path, then right onto 1122, then right onto 1121 (Eustis Trail)  Then at 1183 I was looking at the map to decide what's next.  A nice jogger asked me If i was lost. After chatting with him about good trails to check out, I realized he had found my ham radio!  How lucky for me!  I though he was a ham, and he happen to have the same radio as me.

Based on the joggers advice i took Chestnut Run Path to Border Path, then left onto Rotch Path at 1114.  This got me back to Wolcott Path, from there I did the loop at top of Houghtons Hill.  This was very nice break at the top of that hill.  I put my call out on the Bridgewater 2m machine (147.18) a few time.  No one was around, but the machine was sounding solid from up there.

Now it's 9:00 AM.  I take trail back down to Wolcolth path, cross over and at 1160 I take the Hancock Hill Path.  Now this was where I had to walk the bike though some tough sections.  I hope to improve my riding skills more in this section in the future.  It's a great trail for views, it's up high.  From this trail I was back on Chestnut Run Path.  I then road again Border Path and Roach Path.  I then road Wolcolt Path back to the main road.

I was still feeling good, so I crossed over Hillside St.  and I road the 6 mile Intermediate Loop.  I took it easy on that side, but still happy with my timing, and I did not have too many breaks.

I can't wait to my next Blue Hills ride!  Next time I'll bring more water.  70 OZ was not enough, and it was not even sunny or hot.

White Horse Ledge NH