NEW ENGLAND MOUNTAIN BIKE ASSOCIATION September 2016 #147 www.nemba.org September 2015 #141 www.nemba.org 2 |September 2016 Ride the Trails Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 147| 3 SSingleingleTTrackS NEMBA, the New England Mountain Bike September 2016, Number 147 Association, is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organi- zation dedicated to promoting trail access, maintaining trails open for mountain bicyclists, and educating mountain bicyclists to use these trails sensitively and responsibly. ©SingleTracks North Conway’s Editor & Publisher: Philip Keyes Contributing Writer: Bill Boles East Side Trails Copy Editor: Nanyee Keyes North Conway is a great weekend destina- Executive Director: Philip Keyes tion for mountain biking. Make sure you hit [email protected] the East Side Trails when you visit. NEMBA By Rob Adair PO Box 2221 Acton MA 01720 10 Board of Directors Adam Glick, President 12 Matt Schulde, Vice-President Anne Shepard, Treasurer Harold Green, Secretary Shift for Yourself Rob Adair, White Mountains NEMBA Learning to shift gears efficiently will save Mike Akrep, Pioneer Valley NEMBA your knees and conserve your energy so John Anders, Midcoast Maine NEMBA Malen Anderson, Merrimack Valley NEMBA you can ride longer and harder. Mike Avery, Pemi Valley NEMBA Matt Bowser, Central NH NEMBA By Bill Boles Aaron Brasslett, Penobscot Region NEMBA David Burnham, Wachusett NEMBA Paula Burton, FC NEMBA Eammon Carleton, BV NEMBA Matt Caron, Southern NH NEMBA Steve Cobble, SE MA NEMBA Brian Danz, Greater Portland NEMBA Erik daSilva, Penobscot Region NEMBA Perry Ermi, Cape Cod NEMBA Chris Gaudet, Southern NH NEMBA Peter Gengler, RI NEMBA Paper Trail SingleTracks Hey, get creative! We wel- David Hughes, Carrabassett Region NEMBA come submissions, photos and artwork. This is Stacey Jimenez, Quiet Corner NEMBA Places to Ride — 10 your forum and your magazine. Be nice, and John Joy, Central Central CT NEMBA share! Hank Kells, North Shore NEMBA Basic Biking — 12 Morgan Laidlaw, Midcoast Maine NEMBA On the Cover: Racer at the Bond Brook Thom Lamourine, SE CT NEMBA Frank Lane, North Shore NEMBA Chapter News Treadfest, supported by Central Maine NEMBA. Rob Lavoie, Greater Portland NEMBA Photo by Ian Ogilvie Bob Lesmerises, Franconia Area NEMBA • Connecticut — 13 Bill Markham, Berkshire NEMBA • Maine — 17 Do you have a photo that would make a good Jesse McGowan, Central NH NEMBA • Massachusetts — 24 cover shot? Email it to [email protected] Fred Meyers, Wachusett NEMBA Barry Moore, Merrimack Valley NEMBA • New Hampshire — 29 Want to Underwrite in ST? Kevin Orlowski, Central NH NEMBA • Rhode Island — 35 Peter Poanessa, BK NEMBA SingleTracks offers inexpensive and targeted Eric Pospesil, Franconia Area NEMBA NEMBA Rides — 36 underwriting which helps us defray the cost of Jon Regan, Northwest CT NEMBA producing this cool ‘zine. Call 800-57-NEMBA David Riding, SE MA NEMBA Support our Sponsors — 38 Chris Riley, Central Maine NEMBA or email [email protected] for our media kit. Pete Schrader, BK NEMBA Maciej Sobieszek, Greater Boston NEMBA Moving? Cory Stiff, SE CT NEMBA Joshua Tauses, Carrabassett Valley NEMBA Don’t miss an issue! Change your address online Glenn Tourtellot, Quiet Corner NEMBA at nemba.org or mail it into SingleTracks, PO Box Ryan Tucker, Fairfield County NEMBA 2221, Acton MA 01720 Glenn Vernes, Central CT NEMBA Brian Vibert, Northwest CT NEMBA 4 |September 2016 Ride the Trails Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 147| 5 Best Ever NEMBAfest! The afterglow of NEMBAfest, powered by Pedro’s, continues to shine, and with the announcement of next year's date —June 16-18, 2017— riders are already planning next summer's vacation and those that are camping-averse are now booking their accommodations. By all accounts, this year's event was off-the-chart amazing. Clear skies continued through the entire weekend. Pre-registration was up 40% from last year and the total ridership over the three days was a record 5,800. The smile meter was pegged at 11. The expo area was packed with over 80 bike industry vendors, and riders took advantage of demoing the latest bikes on our dedicated demo loop sponsored by the Outdoor Gear Exchange. After the fest, one rider posted on Facebook "We were thinking of updating our kitchen. That changed when we went to NEMBAfest. We both replaced our 20 year MTBs with new ones." This is music to the ears of people like Derek Griggs of Pivot who had a record number of bikes demo'ed that weekend. The vibe over the entire weekend was joyful and chill. Everyone wore a smile —hard not to after riding such great trails! But what makes this festival unique is the number of families and kids that come and celebrate mountain biking and father's day weekend. "It's a really healthy and safe atmosphere" says NEMBA's Philip Keyes. "There's a sense of freedom one gets from mountain biking and you can see it in the kids' eyes as they rip around the kids riding zone or bomb around the expo, and you can tell that the moms and dads are stoked that their kids are sharing their own passion. It’s a beautiful thing." The fest had something for everyone. The morning yoga and after- noon stretching were popular. The woman's skills clinics put on by Mountain Bike Skills Training were well attended. Mike Stedley put on two incredibly talented stunt shows, and Jeff Lenosky (coming off of an injury) put on some mountain bike shenanigans for riders of all ages. And then, of course, there were the rides: fatbike rides, night rides, 'intermellow' rides, epic rides, ladies rides, family rides. So many rides, so little time! By the late afternoon, everyone seemed tired, but happy, and in need of a nice cold beer at the beer garden. There were two live bands both Friday and Saturday, and true to form, The CopOuts pulled out all the stops and got the crowd hopping with their Irish punk Saturday night. But while one might think the campground would be rowdy with so many campers, by 11pm all was quiet and everyone was packing it in so they could rest up and ride the next day. “Mountain bikers are a good group,” commented a local policeman, “they like to have a good time but they also want to be in good shape to ride the next day.” Putting on the NEMBAfest is a huge undertaking, and couldn’t be done without not only the partnership between Kingdom Trails and NEMBA, but also hundreds of volunteers. Riders appreciate th3 fact that people are giving of themselves in order to put on a quality event and you can feel the passion for mountain biking coming from every- one in the community. As industry veteran, Seth Brosnan, commented, "I wanted to reach out once again and thank you for the opportunity NEMBA gave to Cannondale last weekend. I am humbled and impressed by the sheer magnitude of such a spectacular event. This was the most impactful thing I have ever been a part of in 18 years. My team and I were blown away by the hospitality, professionalism and sheer kindness that was shown by all to all at NEMBAFest. I wish we could do it again this weekend!" Until next year! 6 |September 2016 Ride the Trails Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 147| 7 PLACES TO RIDE North Conway’s East Side Trails By Rob Adair Nestled behind spooky and ever-chang- Walmart and the out- ing Ghoullog is one of a let shopping centers kind. Hemlock Lane has of North Conway and lots of space and is close below The Nature to the historic Redstone Conservancy's Green quarry, including a mas- Hills Preserve is a fine sive polished granite network of trails column. The Pudding known as the East Pond Conservation Area Side trails. The full trailhead on Thompson gamut of the East Side Road is convenient to runs from Red Tail Sticks & Stones but is a Trail at the north end small lot with a lot of to the Outer use; please consider this Limits/Twilight Zone Rob Adair 3rd choice. trails in the recently The trail network is on expanded Green Hills land owned by Cranmore Mountain Resort, Town of Conway conser- to the south, however this article focuses on the center of the net- vation land, State-owned "bypass mitigation" land and some private work located between Mt. Cranmore and the Redstone Quarry. parcels. The State-owned property consists of 450 acres of land that Three trailheads access this centerpiece of the network: Mt. Cranmore was purchased for the long-proposed Conway bypass project. The (first parking lot on right when coming down Skimobile Road), bypass has been put on hold and the land, which would become town Hemlock Lane (located at a dead end cul-de-sac between Walmart conservation land if the bypass is built, sat in limbo for years. It had and The Bike Shop), and Thompson Road. Cranmore and Hemlock old woods roads and motorcycle trails on it and has long been both have a kiosk with the Conway Area MTB map in place. Cranmore enjoyed by mountain bikers. The town offered to manage the land for has some fun singletrack when heading south, and riding through the the state and White Mountains NEMBA assumed maintenance Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 147| 9 PLACES TO RIDE duties, which have included building over 200' of bog bridges in wet sec- tions, rerouting trail sections for improved sustainability & flow, and rock armoring a steep section below the "green granite" quarry. The network is fairly easy to navigate, with a powerline running north to south on the flat below the Green Hills.