A Scotsman in Morris County ??

J

Jock

New Member
All

Newbie here - I moved to the US of A in March this year and will be here at least a year.

My cycling experience is this:

I cycled everywhere as a kid and 'wasted' many years of my life scrambling in woods near my parents home.

I then progressed into Adulthood and middle age using Cars and Motorbikes for transport (and fun).

I bought a very basic MTB around 10 years ago and used it with the family for occassional exercise and the odd bit of messing about in the woods.

The bike sat largely unused until we moved here and I realised that the only way I could keep up with the American love for food was to burn some of it off with exercise so the bike came out of the garage.

So far, I have only cycled in Loantaka Brook Reservation - there is a mix of tarmac, gravel and hard packed mud. It has all really been for exercise but I really enjoy the rougher parts of this route so I think it might be time to venture a little more off track and onto trail.

A quick search pulled up this forum so here I am !!!!

I would be extremely interested in getting involved in some of the events and would love to get involved in some trail maintenance. I suspect I will be the slowest person on any of the rough stuff given a complete lack of experience and a 'not so svelte' build but someone has to bring up the rear, right ?
 
Explore out to Lewis Morris park, that's the next park in your progression.
Feel free to throw your hat over the fence, as in get on a ride that's probably too fast for you, and the guilt will push you really hard, and you'll eventually start keeping up with everyone.

BTW my grandmother is a Russell, from Scotland.
 
Welcome aboard Jock! ...you came to the right place if you are looking to learn and grow as a rider.
 
Welcome aboard there are plenty of ways to get involved with TM sessions and as with the sessions at Allaire there is normally a beginner paced ride after wards....
 
Greetings from a fellow man of Scots descent (Murray clan, Athol) who's in the next town over...I liveup the hill from Loantaka...good place to start, but as Luke said, Lew Mo (and nearby Patriot's Path) is a good next step. TM there has been on hiatus for a few reasons, but we expect to get back in the swing next year.

The other park you'll love at this stage in your riding (probably even more than Lew Mo) is Six Mile Run. Fewer hills, more "flow" to the trail to get you even more excited about the sport. About 35-40 mins from Madison. A pure blast to ride.

This site has great info on the parks/trails as well as when people are planning rides. PM me if you think you can ride on Friday mornings before work. Sometimes I get out on Patriot's Path for a 2 hour spin before fogging my eyeballs up at the computer for the rest of the day.;)
 
Used to do some good riding in the highlands among the heather, muck, and sheep droppings. Always got a nice strip up my back, ken what i mean?

Used to also play hockey on Loantaka Pond before Global Warming.

Good advice all on LM, isn't Round Valley still a decent ride too?
 
Thanks all for the warm welcome and the much appreciated advice.

Hopefully my rack will arrive today - if so it is LM at the weekend for me.
 
So I went to LM yesterday and today.

What a blast ! I cannot believe how much additional effort is required to do the off road stuff. I got lost both times trying to stick to the Yellow trail but I had an absolute blast.

I now know a lot of the trails there because it feels like I rode every single mile of them.

I will be concentrating on LM for a while until I get the hang of the technical stuff.
 
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