NEW ENGLAND MOUNTAIN BIKE ASSOCIATION JULY 2017 #151 www.nemba.org 2 |July 2017 Ride the Trails SSingleingleTTrackS NEMBA, the New England Mountain Bike June/July 2017, Number 151 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. Mendon Town ©SingleTracks Editor & Publisher: Philip Keyes Forest Contributing Writer: Bill Boles by Bill Dakai Copy Editor: Nanyee Keyes Technical, deep woods forest, rocky and Executive Director: Philip Keyes twisty, Mendon Town Forest boasts a bit of [email protected] everything to put a smile on your face. NEMBA PO Box 2221 6 Acton MA 01720 Board of Directors Adam Glick, President Matt Schulde, Vice-President Anne Shepard, Treasurer Harold Green, Secretary How to be a Good Rob Adair, White Mountains NEMBA Ride Leader John Anders, Midcoast Maine NEMBA NEMBA puts on lots and lots of rides and has Aaron Brasslett, Penobscot Region NEMBA David Burnham, Wachusett NEMBA many volunteer ride leaders. Here are a few 14 Paula Burton, FC NEMBA things we’ve learned along the way on how to Matt Caron, Southern NH NEMBA Steve Cobble, SE MA NEMBA lead great mountain bike rides. By Bill Boles Grant Drew, Central NH NEMBA Perry Ermi, Cape Cod NEMBA Disa Fedorowicz, Central Maine NEMBA Brian Forestal, BV NEMBA Tim Friedman, SE MA NEMBA Chris Gaudet, Southern NH NEMBA Peter Gengler, RI NEMBA Jeremy Hillger, Pemi Valley NEMBA David Hughes, Carrabassett Region NEMBA Paper Trail Stacey Jimenez, Quiet Corner NEMBA SingleTracks Hey, get creative! We wel- John Joy, Central Central CT NEMBA come submissions, photos and artwork. This is Hank Kells, North Shore NEMBA Treadlines — 5 your forum and your magazine. Be nice, and Morgan Laidlaw, Midcoast Maine NEMBA share! Frank Lane, North Shore NEMBA Basic Biking — 14 Rob Lavoie, Greater Portland NEMBA On the Cover: Karen Whittier riding at Bear Alex Leich, White Mountains NEMBA Chapter News Bob Lesmerise, Franconia Area NEMBA Brook State Park in Allentown NH. Photo by PK. • Connecticut — 16 Craig MacDonald, Penobscot Region NEMBA Do you have a photo that would make a good Fred Meyers, Wachusett NEMBA • Maine — 21 Barry Moore, Merrimack Valley NEMBA cover shot? Email it to [email protected] Chris Nicodemus, Franconia Area NEMBA • Massachusetts — 26 Peter Poanessa, BK NEMBA • New Hampshire — 34 Want to Underwrite in ST? Tim Post, Pioneer Valley NEMBA Jon Regan, Northwest CT NEMBA • Rhode Island — 40 SingleTracks offers inexpensive and targeted underwriting which helps us defray the cost of Steve Richardson, Merrimack Valley NEMBA NEMBA Rides — 41 Chris Riley, Central Maine NEMBA producing this cool ‘zine. Call 800-57-NEMBA Brett Russ, Wachusett NEMBA or email [email protected] for our media kit. Pete Schrader, BK NEMBA Support our Sponsors — 43 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 Shelly Temple, Central NH NEMBA 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 Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 151| 3 4 |July 2017 Ride the Trails TREADLINES REGISTER NOW! NEMBA’s Women MTB Summit August 11-13 Join women from around New England for the first-ever women’s mountain bike summit. The goal of NEMBA Women’s MTB Summit is to empower more women to get involved in all aspects of the sport of mountain biking. Registration is limited, so act fast! For more info, visit www.nemba.org Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 151| 5 FEATURE Fresh Singletracks: Mendon Town Forest by Bill Dakai One of the newest trail systems in Blackstone Valley is in the Mendon Town Forest. A large map of the trails is available on NEMBA's "Mendon Town Forest" web site along with a very interesting detailed site his- tory. What follows is a brief overview of the trail system's layout and the degree of difficul- ty of each loop from a mountain biker's per- spective. The Mendon Town Forest trail system is the result of a lot of community effort aimed at creating a network of trails that can be enjoyed by all varieties of passive recreational trail users. Some trails are technical. A few are fast, smooth and flowy. And some are VERY tech- nical. All can be accessed from the two back- bone trails, Tower Road and Taft Trail, that are marked with rustic signs denoting their names. The singletrack loops are all marked with colored triangles that match the colors on the trail map. Retired local rider, Bill Dakai, has been one of the key volunteers to help steward this property. If you Starting from the main parking lot on Millville see him out on the trail, give him the tip of your helmet and say thanks! 6 |July 2017 Ride the Trails Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 151| 7 8 |July 2017 Ride the Trails FEATURE St. you're on Shirley's Trail which immediately crosses a very rocky and seasonally wet area via a 60-ft. long boardwalk constructed by BV NEMBA members. We all like rock gardens, but since this trail is at the main entrance and needed to be beginner friendly, a boardwalk was necessary. Shirley's trail leads you to Tower Rd. Still a town road, it was laid out in 1726 as a cart path. Tower Rd. is at right angles to Shirley's trail and runs all the way through the forest roughly south to north. The Taft Trail is not difficult and passes by all the forest's historic sites. There are two other named double track trails that run south off Taft Trail. Heading west you encounter Quarry trail which dead ends shortly after passing a primitive stone quarry. The quarry is reached on the Yellow trail. The second double track is Mill Trail which leads to a very well preserved sawmill complete with a dam and foundation. Continued on page 10 Save the Trails SingleTrackS No. 151| 9 Following Taft trail west will eventually end at private property before reaching Asylum St. Access to Asylum St. and the connector to Cormier Woods, a TTOR property, was granted by the Brewer family (owners of Southwick Zoo) via a portion of the White trail. Near the end of Asylum Trail, you will be crossing another BV NEMBA bridge. While the singletrack loops can be accessed in many places I will describe the loops as starting and ending on one of the backbone trails. The Blue loop starts and ends on Tower Rd. It traverses a maze of historic stone walls; hence the trail twists and winds to find its way through 19th century gateways and other exist- ing wall passages created during a 1980's log- ging operation. The trail will take you over Wigwam Hill where there is an operational fire tower. Pay attention to the blazes because the trail runs very close to itself in several spots. Orange Trail, about 2.7 miles long, features a nearly continuous array of natural obstacles and it rides much longer than the mileage indicates. Intermediate riders and above will enjoy this trail a lot. The trail winds back and forth as it travers- es a basic down hill path to the bottom of a small ridge. Then back fast decent through a forest of red pines. After the decent it's up and uphill, paralleling Taft, until it crosses Taft and begins a very fun and over a rocky outcropping and down to the finish at Quarry Trail. 10 |July 2017 Ride the Trails The Quarry Trail leads to the Yellow rain along a swamp that is the rem- Trail and to its junction with the Taft nants of a mill pond before it joins with Trail. Quarry has far less technical fea- Taft going west and crossing a stone tures than the Blue Trail and will be bridge. Check out the massive granite enjoyed by most riders. slabs that were used to create this bridge. Shortly after the stone bridge The Yellow Loop is the most technical- White leaves Taft and proceed over a ly challenging of Mendon's trails as it series of gently rolling rock ridges traverses a rocky, off camber route through an area known as bedrock. heading down hill towards the There are a couple of "A" lines in this Southwick Zoo trail head. It then fol- section but the main loop is marked to lows Wigwam Brook ravine proceeding exclude them. This results in a fun sec- along a tributary uphill towards the tion traversable by most riders. After a sawmill. After crossing a wet area on a section of bedrock, the trail heads BV NEMBA built bridge and passing downhill to the border of the the sawmill, the trail again turns uphill Southwick easement land which con- traversing the most demanding place tains the smoothest and most flowy in the Mendon Town Forest. Here sev- sections in the whole trail system. eral natural rock formations occur one After a long smile inducing downhill after the other while going uphill. They the White Loop joins with the Asylum present even seasoned riders with a Trail. challenge. Things mellow out as the trail heads back to the Quarry Trail. After turning left on Asylum from the Due to the technical nature of the White Trail you proceed up hill to the Yellow trail it should be considered as start of the Sidewinder section.