I'm happiest when biking at walking speed

blackburn1973 said:
That's the easier entry point based on the roots and whatnot entering in but going hard left is definitely the way to go (though for the record I've never cleaned it myself ... those who I've seen do it are all about the left).
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I remember following Mike and Steve (two guys that come to most of the TM sessions) once and when they got there, they stopped and let air pressure out of their tires before attempting it. Don't recall if they made it all the way thru but got at least part of it.
 
rick81721 said:
I remember following Mike and Steve (two guys that come to most of the TM sessions) once and when they got there, they stopped and let air pressure out of their tires before attempting it. Don't recall if they made it all the way thru but got at least part of it.
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Yeah, British Mike and Steve rip. Way out of my league. I used to ride with them pretty regularly but was very tough to keep up (though definitely made me challenge myself). Some of the B-lines they've put together off Boulderama were mind blowing.
 
rick81721 said:
OK this is one of my nemeses at the sourlands - white trail section to roaring rocks. Have never cleaned it going up, down isn't too bad. Come to think of it, I did clean it once but that was when frozen snow filled in all the gaps kinda like concrete so that doesn't count... or maybe a few bags of concrete is the solution :shrug:

anywho, tips??

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Update - back again today and tried several more times. Left is definitely the play for this chump. Got half way thru once after multiple attempts. This will get cleaned this summer!
 
Today was my first time back on the bike since mid June, as I was living in London studying at London School of Economics.

Needless to say, I was really excited to get back to the rocks. I chose to stick to familiar ground and have been excited to ride the newly maintained Candy Ass by @Fat Trout so I went to Allamuchy. Upon arriving at the Stuyvestant lot off of 517, I went to put my riding shoes on, which were left in the garage for 2 months, and felt a sock in my shoe. This was a weird sock though...
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Yes, there was a mummified toad in my shoe. I have no idea how long it was there... I mean, how long does it take for a toad to crawl into a shoe and mummify? But anyway, it was an interesting start to the ride to say the least.

I started off by climbing ditch/cardiac to get a run of Candy Ass in fresh. I was blown away with how much easier some of the lines are on Candy Ass now that I'm riding a slack dual instead of a hardtail XC race bike. There was still a section or two that I wasn't able to clear, but I'm really excited that the trail is alive and well again... I only ever knew Candy Ass as a 3 inch wide trail with trees down every 400 feet.

The rest of the ride consisted of Dan's trail, Lumpy Bumpy, and another try at Candy Ass. Overall 13 miles and over 2000 feet of climbing. Being off dirt for 2 months and doing so much elevation and tech has my back feeling tired now, but overall a great ride to get me back to my rock riding habits.
 
Back to school, which means back to the unique technical riding along the north shore of Massachusetts. These trail systems are must rides if you’re in the Boston area, and I’m fortunate enough to ride them multiple times a week at college.

Today I rode a system called School Street. It’s only 3 miles north of the Atlantic in the fabled Manchester-by-the-Sea. Most of the elevation is straight up rocks, and the dirt is a combination of looser rock/sand covered with pine needles. The rock is super grippy; it reminds me of slickrock in some spots. It’s one of my go-to trails in Massachusetts.
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Now you got me jealous again for where I grew up. School Street is a great ride. Netowrk connects into Red Rock, which coincidentally has some very solid bouldering rocks, and affords some great time on top of some really big rocks. Probably slightly gnarlier than most of DogTown and on a par with the tougher parts of South Woods in Rockport. Enjoy 'em while you got 'em!
 
Not quite at the level of a lot of these, but I think the orange trail at Dickerson mine, particularly going up, is a reasonably challenging tech trail in spots.
 
blackburn1973 said:
Now you got me jealous again for where I grew up. School Street is a great ride. Netowrk connects into Red Rock, which coincidentally has some very solid bouldering rocks, and affords some great time on top of some really big rocks. Probably slightly gnarlier than most of DogTown and on a par with the tougher parts of South Woods in Rockport. Enjoy 'em while you got 'em!
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I did the ride from School Street into part of Red Rock once; I’ve been looking forward to doing that again. Going to Lynn Woods again and riding is first priority for me though.
 
Bringing this thread back! I meant to keep this updated with my tech rides and new accomplishments when first creating this thread... since last posting over two years ago, I've mostly been riding rock in NJ and Massachusetts. Most of my rides in NJ have been at Allamuchy North; I almost always try to ride Lumpy Bumpy when I ride there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Moosic just outside of Scranton. I've only been once, almost 4 years ago now. There's some great slickrock/slab style trails there, with some chunkier stuff at the bottom near the reservoir. Looking forward to it!

 
Moosic is awesome. I spent a little over 3 hours covering almost all of the trails at the park; the only one I missed was White Birches, and my ride ended up being a little over 18 miles.

Tech-wise, Moosic actually reminds me of Moab/Sedona. The park is covered top-to-bottom with slab-style rocks, connected between those slabs by chunky tech and some looser sand/gravelly rocks. The scenery at Moosic is incredible; Blueberry and The View are two trails that have great views into the valley.

My favorite trails there were Conglomerate, Gene’s Trail, High Voltage, and After 5.

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I rode here Thursday and totally agree with your description. The only trails I missed were After 5 and the View. I took my time but my ride was about 5 hours. I might come back for a late afternoon ride Wednesday to show some buddies. I need a 1.5 - 2 hr loop that covers the best trails. Thoughts?
 
phillychris498 said:
Bringing this thread back! I meant to keep this updated with my tech rides and new accomplishments when first creating this thread... since last posting over two years ago, I've mostly been riding rock in NJ and Massachusetts. Most of my rides in NJ have been at Allamuchy North; I almost always try to ride Lumpy Bumpy when I ride there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Moosic just outside of Scranton. I've only been once, almost 4 years ago now. There's some great slickrock/slab style trails there, with some chunkier stuff at the bottom near the reservoir. Looking forward to it!

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Awesome. I never knew that was there. I might have to try it some time. I drive by it a LOT going up and back to lake ontario.
 
dmc123 said:
I rode here Thursday and totally agree with your description. The only trails I missed were After 5 and the View. I took my time but my ride was about 5 hours. I might come back for a late afternoon ride Wednesday to show some buddies. I need a 1.5 - 2 hr loop that covers the best trails. Thoughts?
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There’s a fire road that you can take out away from the parking lot, loop back on Stonehenge > The View (awesome gnarly tech, only adds 5-10 mins) > Conglomerate, then do Bruised Ego down to Gene’s trail all the way to the other side again. I would loop in High Voltage (down), and then take the fire road up and skip the waterfall climb if you’re pressed for time, and then take Blueberry back the car. Would look like this on the map:
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Just do High Voltage in both directions. It's probably the best trail in the park, unfortunately short, and fun in both directions. Besides, some of the turns are tricky to spot if you don't know the trail, so you'll get a good feel for the trail by going up (clockwise) it first.
 
I’m in southern New Hampshire for the weekend, so of course I did some digging for some technical trail systems and found one called Ledges. It reminded me of a more up-and-down Sourlands; smooth at times, but in between the smooth sections of trail are some pretty sweet rock features. At times, the trail ride along the edge of some pretty daunting rock ledges (hence the trail system’s name).
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This is a really good video of the trail system:

 
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