Please Donate to NEMBA’s Annual Fund We rely on riders like you to keep us strong! ingle rack S JanuaryT 2008, No. 95 S www.nemba.org y Membership Drive Win a Fox Shox! - details on page 4 - 20th AnniversarGet Free NEMBA Socks! SSingleingleTTrackS NEMBA, the New England Mountain Bike January 2008, Number 95 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. Pimp my 29er SingleTracks is published six times a year by the New England Mountain Bike Association for What happens, you ask, when you take a the trail community. stock 29er and throw a bunch of chi chi part ©SingleTracks at it? Find out here! By Jeff Palter Editor & Publisher: Philip Keyes Contributing Writer: Jeff Cutler Copy Editor: Nanyee Keyes Executive Director: Philip Keyes 13 [email protected] NEMBA PO Box 2221 Acton MA 01720 Voice 800.57.NEMBA Oregon Mountain Fax: 717-326-8243 [email protected] Bike Diaries Board of Directors Gorges, rivers, mountains, beaches ... and plenty of singletrack, Oregon offers plenty of possibilities for Harold Green, President Rob Adair, Vice-President offroad exploration. By Elizabeth Pell & Howard Anne Shepard, Treasurer Granat Tom Grimble, Secretary 17 Rob Adair, White Mountains NEMBA Bart Angelo, RI NEMBA Norman Blanchette, MV NEMBA Todd Bumen, Mt. Agamenticus NEMBA Holly Carson, Central NH NEMBA Jon Conti, White Mountains NEMBA Hey, get creative! We wel- Peter DeSantis, Seacoast NEMBA SingleTracks Bob Giunta, Merrimack Valley NEMBA come submissions, photos and artwork. This is Rich Higgins, SE MA NEMBA your forum and your magazine. Be nice, and Rich Kordell, Blackstone Valley NEMBA share! Steve LaFlame, Central NH NEMBA Paper Trail Frank Lane, NS NEMBA On the Cover: John Isch riding Bigelow Hollow Heather Linscott, Berkshire NEMBA Treadlines — 5 in Union, Connecticut. Photo by Dawn Liam O’Brien, PV NEMBA Thompson Chris Patrick, SE MA NEMBA Member Profile — 16 Tim Post, GB NEMBA Have a pic that would make a good cover shot? Art Roti, CT NEMBA Places to Ride — 22 Email it to [email protected] Matt Schulde, RI NEMBA Dan Streeter, North Shore NEMBA SideTracks — 24 Want to Advertise? Mike Tabaczynski, Greater Boston NEMBA SingleTracks offers inexpensive and targeted John Vosburg, Blackstone Valley NEMBA Basic Biking —25 Calvin Weeks, Maine NEMBA advertising which helps us defray the cost of Jim Wrightson, Wachusett NEMBA Chapter News —26 producing this cool ‘zine. Call 800-57-NEMBA NEMBA Rides —34 or email [email protected] for our media kit. Support our Sponsors —39 Moving? WWW.NEMBA.ORG Don’t miss an issue! Change your address online at nemba.org or mail it into SingleTracks, PO Box 2221, Acton MA 01720 SingleTrackS No. 95 | 3 4 | January 2008 TREADLINES NEMBA Awarded State Contract NEMBA successfully bid on a Massachusetts’ state contract to provide Help NEMBA Get Political trail construction and maintenance training for the Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR). The contract is open for the next Do you have a passion for politics, mountain biking and three years. trails? On November 8th, NEMBA took part in the DCR’s first training session, NEMBA plans to set up a Governmental Affairs Committee along with instructors from the Student Conservation corps and Peter (GAC), and we seek volunteers who are politically savvy and Jensen, a professional trail builder. Tom Grimble, Mike Tabaczynski and are looking for a way to get involved with NEMBA and improve mountain biking in New England. While the final strokes of the committee haven't dried, we are looking to assemble a small group of mountain bikers who would help NEMBA become more engaged at the local, state and federal level. The GAC would help track legislation that effects mountain biking and trails, identify and develop political allies at the local and state level, help educate legis- lators about the issues facing mountain bikers, and share this expertise with NEMBA's chapters. The GAC will be regionally focused, so we need volunteers from all over New England. The committee will be task- Philip Keyes, with help from Harold Green and Bill Boles, led an all day focused, with each member working on specific projects in session at Harvard Forest in Petersham, with outdoor clinics held at his or her state. Most communication will be done via email Wendell State Forest. and the occasional conference call. DCR is fortifying its focus on trails as a major asset to the So if politics is your passion and you wish to get involved, Commonwealth, and the training was part of a three-day symposium please contact Philip Keyes for details, [email protected] or on trails in the state. NEMBA looks forward to providing any assistance 800-576-3622. needed to improving DCR capacity to maintain and build trails. SingleTrackS No. 95 | 5 TREADLINES Happenings at NEMBA Parcel, Vietnam The second Vietnam trail care day sition and jump. Eammon started of 2007 was held on September a discussion on the BustedSpoke 23. Approximately 15 people forum highlighting the issues attended the event. The crew con- with rogue stunts in the Upper tinued work on the TNT trail. The Charles Headwaters Area. work included tuning the transi- Overall reaction has been very tion and exit berm on the supportive and the thread has "Donnie's Demise", continuing been educational to those work on a berm/hip jump, and unaware of building restrictions improving the transitions on the in the area. There is little progress final two technical trail features. in creating a trail map and inter- Work is not complete on the TNT section markers for the whole trail and the final trail care day is Upper Charles Headwaters Area. scheduled for Sunday November We will continue to work with 4, 2007. The Tuesday Night Trail the Holliston Town Forest Crew continued its work through- Committee, Holliston out the year on the DLS trail. The Conservation Commission, and focus on DLS is on maintaining, Milford Conservation tuning, and restoring the land- Photo by Steve Barnes Commission to create an Upper scape around the trail. Dirt pits Charles Headwaters Trail Map and trail marking system. A volunteer were filled and collapsed to preserve the natural look of the area. has stepped up to help us create a vector map of the area. Overall Trails were lined with rock walls to better define trails and to close the 2007 has been a productive year. many trail braids. Plastic fencing was erected to eliminate traffic in re- vegetation areas. Unauthorized "rogue" building was discovered on —Vietnam Land Management Committee (Steve Barnes, Mike what we think is NSTAR land on a feature known as the mushroom DeCristofaro, John Goeller, Don Johnson, Dave Mitchell, and John drop. The builder(s) brought in lumber and hardware to build a tran- Vosburg) 6 | January 2008 TREADLINES Medfield Youth Program Visits ‘Nam The Medfield mountain bike youth program visited Vietnam in Milford for their final ride of the fall session. After enduring six weeks of cross-country riding on the local trails in Medfield, Sherborne and Dover, they hit the trails in 'Nam and let loose. The ride began with some practice jumping, hucking and drops. Then they hit Dirty Little Secret and the fun began. The boys loved all the work NEMBA has put into the trail. They were ooohing and aaaaahing over all the changes and the rock lined trail. Big air was to be had off many jumps along the way. The favorite spot of the day was the "step-up". The boys spent about 45 minutes flying off the rocks and up the step-up! Three flat tires were the only casualties. The ride finished with a fast trip on the banked turns and down the trail by the cell tower. All the boys agreed it was the most fun they have had! The Medfield Park and Rec department runs the Medfield Mountain bike program. It began six years ago and was offered to children in middle school. It expanded into to 9th and 10th grade, as the first group got older. The older boys then became paid assistant leaders. The program has successfully opened up the world of mountain bik- ing to the Medfield youths. This year there were thirteen high school Mitch Bovarnick catching some big air and eight middle school participants. are also planning some community events. The first thing Mitch, Ash Mitch Bovarnick and Ash Burgess, two 10th graders who have been and the club members are planning to do is clean up all the broken in the program for four years started a Mountain Biking Club at glass at the lookout at Noon Hill in Medfield. The group will also help Medfield High School this year. More than 25 boys and girls joined. the Lynch family with their annual bike drive for Bikes Not Bombs this They are hoping to participate in some local races in the spring. They spring. —Susan Lynch Bear Brook Weekend Success The Southern NH NEMBA chapter hosted its first annual Bear Brook State Park trail maintenance weekend on October 13 and 14. Over 20 volunteers participated in the two days of trail work, riding, and social- izing. The hard work paid off as we were able to open a section of the Chipmunk Trail which had become impassable due to previous logging and neglect. Thanks to everyone who participated. Special thanks go out to Greg Preville, the park manager, for all of his help and cooperation for the event. We hope to see everyone again next year! —Kathy Evans SingleTrackS No.