I got to see my soon to be born frame.

The musicians were signing something about "give me that old time religion". Wouldn't you know that song got stuck in my head for the whole ride, except the lyrics changed to "give me that old school single track religion." Joining me on the ride today was Reenie of course and IFChick Kerry.

From the center of town the trails radiate out into the surrounding forest in all directions. The trails are what I would describe as "old school", the type of stuff I learned to ride on. Technical, ups and downs, big rock slabs, perfectly constructed log piles and many sketchy moves. It's technical as hell, but not a stunt or a huck within eyeshot. You need to climb to ride these trails, 6" full suspension bike with the seat slammed all the way down is not going to cut it...

Saturday I rode 100 miles of single track. Not much into highly detailed race reports so here goes:

Lap 1: Lots of traffic, sat in, passed when I could and gutted out some hills turning 34 x 18 @ 3 RPMs stuck behind geared riders in their granny rings. The course is the same but different this year - torrential rains have turned part of the course into a giant energy sucking muck hole. The downhills are incredible - smooth, narrow and fast as all get out. It's interesting I hate turbulents on plane rides but have no problem riding single track at 20+ MPH passing inches of trees. I must be a control freak or maybe just a freak.

Lap 2: Lower back kinda hurts, eventually that goes away and I'm able to ride a speedy and clean lap.

Lap 3: Slower than 2. Determined not fall apart this year. Take it easier, drink and eat a lot.

Lap 4: I feel fine so turn on the jets. No sense in having anything left at the end of a race. The Mohican 100 was such a disappointment in that respect... John Majors (NUE Masters rider) catches me half way through, damn - some friendly competition (in my own mind) keeps me motivated and ahead the whole way around. I don't think he knows we're "competing" 'cos he'd surely beat me. I get the whole thing over in 9:39 for a good day on the bike. Thanks to Paula and her team for assistance in the pits for the beer and a place to crash my broken body after the race. On to the pics...

We rode 100 miles of this - It was hilly at times

The IFChick endorsed recovery meal.

Reen got the women's SS award

Not sure what's going on here

Women's Top Ten

Somewhat longer story - 20 something year old Nimrod college student blows a stop sign at speed across third street in Cambridge, clips the back wheel of the Element and flips it over. We are lucky, cars can be replaced...He's lucky he only got cited for failure to stop instead of facing jail time in the situation was worse.

Point of impact: Nimrod's plate embedded in the rear wheel.

Now for the ride recaps: Saturday Reenie had the great idea to take the MBTA commuter rail from Belmont out to Littleton and ride trails back. I knew there were some pockets of green space out that way, and I knew how to connect it with all the Acton / Carlisle stuff so the ride was on. Joining us was wicked fast racer Sara and Chelsea native, la ruta casualty and resident ball breaker Rich from the MTB MIND crew.

Well we rode a bunch of trails and then at 40 miles or so the hose from Reenie's hydro rear brake pops outta the lever. Too bad as the ride was going great but we all decided to head back at the point which was basically an easy spin downhill with a tail wind. We woulda/coulda have done around 60 miles that day so we'll have to try this one again sometime.

Sunday was the NEMBA ride at the DAR state forest in Goshen MA. It's a long drive from here (2 hours) but some of the best riding I've done in New England. I had fun and rode pretty hard the whole way around with Brian from JRA Cycles - nice to have an arrowed "ride" where you can just go at your own pace. By the end of that thing I was pretty cooked. The post ride BBQ for charity was key and later that night we downed a whole pizza and salads from the joint down the street...slept like a rock...

Monday was Bear Brook with Chris, Reenie, Andrea and Junko. Always a nice ride up there with some grilling and beers at the picnic area at the end. It was here the camera made it's one and only appearance this long weekend. Until next time...

This trail system is within easy riding distance to some other trails I know about so the option for epic ride routes out of the house has increased even more.