SSingleingleTTrackrackSS February /March 2005, Number 78 www.nemba.org LookingLooking forfor LoveLove onon thethe TrailTrail Est. 1977 YOUR NEW ENGLAND BICYCLE SOURCE! U NPARALLELED S ELECTION, SERVICE AND S UPPORT F OR C YCLISTS OF A LL L EVELS AND R IDING S TYLES! ALL TERRAIN BICYCLE BRANDS Hardtails: Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Cannondale, Santa Cruz & Introducing Norco! Cross Country Race: Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Cannondale, Santa Cruz Women’s Specific Design: Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Cannondale, Santa Cruz Free Ride / All Mountain: Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher, Cannondale, Santa Cruz & Introducing Norco! Downhill: Specialized, Cannondale, Santa Cruz & Introducing Norco! OUR CLOTHING DEPARTMENTS ARE FULLY STOCKED FOR WINTER AND SPRING RIDING! TIGHTS • JACKETS • GLOVES • SHORTS • LONG & SHORT SLEEVE JERSEYS • SHOES FITTING SERVICES AT WHEELWORKS Wheelworks’ Fitting Services: Cleat Fittings • Bike Fittings • Advanced Bike Fittings Advanced Triathlon / Time Trial Fittings • Custom / Size Cycle Fittings Location Fittings (Done at your home or office) www.wheelworks.com/fitting.htm REPAIR CLASSES AT WHEELWORKS Wheelwork’s Repair Classes: Park Tool School 6 or 12 Hour Courses • Individual Classes - You Choose The Topic! For Class Descriptions, Prices and Schedules Visit: www.wheelworks.com/class.htm AS LIFETIME NEMBA MEMBERS , WHEELWORKS IS COMMITTED TO THE N.E. MOUNTAIN BIKE COMMUNITY. BELMONT WHEELWORKS ACE WHEELWORKS 480 TRAPELO ROAD | BELMONT, MA 145 ELM STREET | SOMERVILLE, MA (617) 489-3577 (617) 776-2100 www.wheelworks.com SSingleingleTTrackS NEMBA, the New England Mountain Bike February / March 2005, Number 78 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 is published six times a year by the New England Mountain Bike Association for Of Love the trail community. ©SingleTracks Editor & Publisher: Philip Keyes and Bikes Staff Writer: Krisztina Holly Who says mountain bikers aren’t passionate about Contributing Writer: Jeff Cutler things12 beyond mountain biking? In this special 10 Copy Editor: Nanyee Keyes Valentine’s issue, NEMBA member recount how bikes Executive Director: Philip Keyes and love have collided, endo’ed and sometimes even led to some great ride. By Krisztina Holly and NEMBA PO Box 2221 NEMBA’s forum members. Acton MA 01720 Voice 800.57.NEMBA Fax: 928-395-7759 [email protected] SingleTracks Annual Board of Directors Tom Grimble, President Photo Contest Bill Boles, Vice-President Anne Shepard, Treasurer NEMBA members display their best mountain bike Tina Hopkins, Secretary pictures, just in time to get us psyched for the new Rob Adair, White Mountains NEMBA season of mountain biking. Odin Adolphson, Berkshire NEMBA 16 Norman Blanchette, MV NEMBA Todd Bumen, Mt. Agamenticus NEMBA Bob Hall, SC NH NEMBA Steve Cole, Mt. Agamenticus NEMBA Brian Condon, Maine NEMBA Jon Conti, White Mountains NEMBA Lisa Coté, Maine NEMBA Hey, get creative! We wel- John Dudek, Pioneer Valley NEMBA SingleTracks Rich Higgins, SE MA NEMBA come submissions, photos and artwork. This is Dan Ibittson, SE MA NEMBA your forum and your magazine. Be nice, and Krisztina Holly, At Large share! Tina Hopkins, Rhode Island NEMBA Rich Kordell, Blackstone Valley NEMBA On the Cover: PK and his true love ride their Frank Lane, North Shore NEMBA Paper Trail tandem on the tight singletrack Kingdom Trails. Joe Levine, Greater Boston NEMBA Photo by Mike Rowell. Heather Linscott, Berkshire NEMBA Rob Macgregor, VT NEMBA Treadlines —7 Want to Advertise? Tom McCrumm, Berkshire NEMBA Jonathan Melzar, Seacoast NEMBA SideTracks —27 SingleTracks offers inexpensive and targeted TJ Mora, VT NEMBA advertising which helps us defray the cost of Matt Mueller, CT NEMBA Chapter News —28 producing this cool ‘zine. Call 800-57-NEMBA Scott Nixon, SC NH NEMBA Bill Rogers, RI NEMBA NEMBA Rides —34 or email [email protected] for our media kit. Mitch Steinberg, Blackstone Valley NEMBA Moving? Dan Streeter, North Shore NEMBA NEMBA Sponsors—38 John Turchi, CT NEMBA Don’t miss an issue! Change your address online Roger Wharton, Cape Cod NEMBA at nemba.org or mail it into SingleTracks, PO Box George Willard, Pioneer Valley NEMBA Jim Wrightson, Wachusett NEMBA 2221, Acton MA 01720 WWW.NEMBA.ORG SingleTrackS No. 77 | 3 TREADLINES Tickets Available for Keep Track of Your Riding on Boston MTB Video Awards the NEMBA Forum Join other NEMBA members in tracking your riding for the 2005 Saturday, April 30th 7:00 pm season. How many hours are you in the saddle? How many differ- ent places have you been? What will your mileage look like at the end of the year. Inquiring minds want to know! We can't guarantee any prizes (but who knows, maybe we'll scrounge some up!), but it will provide a great way to keep track of all your stats and let you take a peak at where fellow members are riding. Just go to NEMBA's website to get started. Get in on the action and usher in the new season! Kona Bicycles and JRA Cycles proudly present the 3rd Annual Boston Mountain Bike Video Awards, a NEMBA benefit. Featuring the best regional videographers and the best local riding talent, the event is a fun-filled evening of films, Redbones BBQ, and cash bar sponsored by Harpoon Brewery. Get your tickets now to ensure a spot; finalists will be announced in mid-March at which point the tickets will likely go fast! Kona Clump pro rider, David Watson, will be in the house, hanging out with the audience and talking about his experiences as one of the best —and most filmed— freeriders. Many remem- ber David's antics at the Tour de France when he launched himself over the tail end of the peloton. "This event has become a great tradition for New England moun- tain bikers." says event organizer, Krisztina Holly. "It brings together the whole Boston mountain bike scene and gets people psyched for the new riding season." The event will be held at a historic silent film movie theatre that has been converted into a community center by the Phillips Congregational Church in Watertown, MA. Tickets to the event are $30 (food included) and can be purchased online at www.nemba.org. Tickets may also be purchased by phone at 800-576-3522. This event has sold out each time, and we recom- mend that tickets be purchased well before the event. No tickets will be available at the door. 4 | January 2005 TREADLINES Register for NEMBA's New NEMBA Awarded $11K England Trail Builders School Recreational Trails Program Grant Have you wondered what makes for an excellent trail? Why it's Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has so fun to ride and why it stays in such good condition? Perhaps awarded NEMBA $11,865 for five trail projects for the upcoming sea- you've been to some of NEMBA's trail care events, and you'd son. At the Middlesex Fells, Greater Boston NEMBA plans to restore like to hone your skills to take on larger, more complicated both the singletrack and fire road sections of the Middlesex Fells projects. Come find out at NEMBA's New England Trail Builders Mountain Bike Loop and construct two boardwalks. At Great Brook School. Farm State Park, they plan to finish construction of a new singletrack trail that passes through Toffet Swamp, with the construction of a 150' NEMBA's regional trail school will take place on May 21-22nd boardwalk through the swamp. Construction of the trail has already at Hodges Village Dam in Oxford, Massachusetts, in partner- begun and the corridor through the swamp has already been cleared as ship with the US Army Corp of Engineers, the Department of preparation for the lengthy boardwalk. Conservation and Recreation, and the International Mountain Bike Association. Southeast Massachusetts NEMBA was awarded the grant funding to install four boardwalks at Borderland State Park on the popular Pond This course is a must for any volunteer interested in learning Walk, Northwest and West Side Trails in order to protect the numer- the science of trail design, trail construction and maintenance. ous streams which bissect the trails. Southeast Mass NEMBA will also It's a work hard / play hard weekend that combines classroom construct a 230' boardwalk at Wompatuck State Park in a severely training with hands-on clinics that teach the basic (and not- degraded section of muddy trail that has been getting wider every sea- so-basic) skills needed to execute trail projects and lead trail son as people attempt to stay out of the mud. care events. There will also be time for riding and exploring the US Army Corps trails at Hodges Village Dam. Lastly, NEMBA's Recreational Trails Grant will help defray the costs of NEMBA's New England Trail Builders School. This year's trail school Space is limited and early pre-registration highly recommend- will be hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers at Hodges Village ed. Please www.nemba.org for details or give Philip Keyes a call Dam in Oxford, Massachusetts on May 21-22, and be sponsored by at 800-57-NEMBA. the Corp, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, NEMBA, and the International Mountain Bike Association. To register for the weekend course, please go to www.nemba.org. According to NEMBA's Philip Keyes, "We're grateful for the DCR's sup- port of our Tomac Trail Care Series, and allowing us the wherewithall to apply and build upon our trail expertise to the benefit of everyone who enjoys trails." Lock in your NEMBA Membership Dues Before April 1st Beginning April 1st, membership dues will be increasing to $25 for an individual and $35 for a family membership, so we wish to give mem- bers an opportunity to renew now and "lock in" the old rate, regard- less of when your membership expires.