Crew 3's New England Swing

7/20 Mt. Snow, VT

We arrived at Mt Snow hoping to ride the NORBA course, but we were sorely disappointed by the entire mountain being closed. Apparently the recent rains had caused severe damage and we weren't allowed on the mountain on bike or foot. We did get to test ride "Sugars" on the "Crosstown Trails" which were short and tame, but still fun.

7/22 Lowell Lake St. Park

The locals rode a loop trail around the lake for years, until the State purchased the land and closed all trails to mountain bikes. Now Rob Macgregor and Vermont Biking Association are working to regain access to the land. We met with Rick White and Nate McKeen of Vermont's Forest, Parks, and Recreation to discuss the future of mountain bike access in Lowell lake and statewide. There seemed to be a dual concern that bikes would overrun the trails if they were opened to bikes and that there wouldn't be enough bike use to justify rebuilding the trails with a more sustainable design. We left with the impression that the Vermont State lands are very concerned about the mountain bike access issue and at the same time willing to ignore the issue. It doesn't seem like mountain bikes will be welcome on Vermont's state trails any time soon, but the tireless efforts of folks like Rob help to bring that day closer.

7/23 Waitfield, VT

Stayed at John Egan's Big World, which is owned by Jerry Noonan, local mounmtain biker and trailbuilder. Rode and worked with Jerry, Gary Kessler and other really great folks.

Vermont Observations:

Vermont certainly has some different issues facing it. Generally, the State forests and parks, as well as the National Forests here, have very limited legal trail access for mountain bikes. Consequently, there's not too much trail riding opportunity on public land. On the more positive side, Vermont has a huge network of "Class 4 roads", which are old roads that are no longer maintained by the state except for water crossings and bridges. As you can imagine, most of these roads have pretty much become de facto trails. They have their problems (some have become full-on streams), but for the most part they provide excellent riding opportunities for mountain bikers. Also, private land owners are incredibly permissive when it comes to allowing folks building trails and crossing their lands. However, these trails can't be signed, blazed, or mapped. There are also coming under development pressure as more people buy into the "rural" Vermont lifestyle, but with smaller lots. A landowner with 2 acres is not as likely to allow a trail through their backyard as a landowner with 40 acres. Jerry had gotten permission from a local landowner and laid out about 1/4 mile of new trail, and we helped fine tune that into about 1/2 mile of trail, then we all cut in about half of that, "Vermont style". Make a note to nominate Gary Kessler for State Rep of the Year.

7/24 Hartford, CT -- West Hartford Reservoir #6

Brian Smith. Mike and Jan visited last year and laid out an alignment for new trail. The local NEMBA chapter had started cutting the new trail, but forward momentum was stalled when they got to a "talus slope". The group thought it would be an exorbitant amount of work to bench cut through all these rocks. An alternate line was looked at and discarded after some discussion, and we got down to work building a full bench cut for 70 feet through a boulder field. Five hours later the looks of disbelief turned to smiles and grins as folks turned around to look back at tasty bench they had built right through the huge rock pile.

7/26 Somerville, MA

We visited Independent Fabrications world headquarters today. Jane showed us around the plant and offered us new frames. We declined already having a fine pair of IFs and not wanting to be greedy. Wonderful to see the crew in action and exhilarating rides being born. We hopped back in the Subaru and headed through the rain to Hampton Beach, NH and caught a Widespread Panic show. Long sustained jams and powerful chords brought our day to an excellent close.

7/27 Coyote Hill mountain bike camp, VT

Met yet another living legend in Tom Masterson, former National Cyclocross champion (twice!!). Really, really nice guy, and he's running a mountain bike camp for kids and teens. I only wish I'd been doing this at their age! He's got a different group of kids each week, different levels (some stay for more than 1 week) and he's teaching them all sorts of different riding skills, mechanical know how, trail maintenance, riding ethics, and it's all in that fun camp atmosphere. We rebuilt a short section of trail and discussed water and erosion with the kids. Our hats off to you Tom, the kids are our future!

7/28 Norwich, VT

The bad news: Rich's painful tooth turned out to need a full root canal. (Just try getting a dentist appointment sooner than a month away.) Actually found a dentist to do most of the work, now we need an endodontist to finish. The good news: We get to work with Jenny Hubbard. She also works with kids, teaching them mountain biking skills blended with map reading, orienteering, first aid, road riding skills, and IMBA¹s Rules of the Trail! She also holds bike rodeos to cover the basics. Jenny organized a great meeting, with representatives from the Upper Valley Trails Group, representatives from three town planning commissions, a trails rep from New Hampshire, and folks from a few other organizations. A very successful slide show, with lots of discussion, then a few short walks to look at some real life examples of good and bad trails. Later that afternoon, a kids bike rodeo and BBQ, complete with dog-sled teams pulling a 3-wheeled sled through the field!

7/30 Bolton, VT

A gorgeous drive up I-91 led to Bolton holiday resort. Another rocking Widespread Panic show shook our bones and brought smiles to our faces.

7/31 Conway, NH

Met with members of the White Mountain NF Forest Plan Revision team along with Mark Jenks (NH state rep) and other representatives of the Nat'l Forest. Mark's group has been working closely with the National Forest for years now and has been in on the planning process since the ground floor. Their dedication, along with the many comments sent in by mountain bikers (including one from IMBA) has helped the planning team realized that mountain bikers are a large part of the forest users. The plan is still many months from being complete, but should turn out quite positively.

8/1 Trail Layout on Cyclone Mountain

We took a look at a proposed trail that mainly follows a recently cut logging road. The folks here definitely have the right idea, zigging and zagging across the road cut to take advantage of the already cleared areas without going up at too steep a grade. We helped define the line a little bit more, with the aid of our trusty clinometer . The new trail will allow riders stay off the paved road and still get to the trail across the top of the ridge and the legal trails on Nature Conservancy land.

8/2 North Conway, NH

An 18 mile road ride before breakfast, then we demo'd Rocky Mountain XC full suspensions from Mark's fleet. Tasty magic carpet rides that made us question our devotion to hardtails (don't worry yet Jane, there's only room for two bikes on top of the Subaru).

8/3 Some motel in Maine

We holed up for a day to read, write, do laundry and rest.

8/4-5 Bradbury Mountain State Park, ME

Worked with Fred Robie of the Maine Bicycle Coalition, Gary Best, park ranger, and Tim Corcoran from LL Bean. We flagged over a mile of new trail alignment which will complete a singletrack loop in the park when it's finished. The next day we started work on the trail, cleared 300 feet and completed 30 feet of full bench cut, including some on solid rock (on, not through). Looks like it'll be a lot of fun when it's finished. There's a race held twice a year at the park so an increase in the numbers of riders is inevitable, which the head ranger is not only aware of but is eagerly anticipating.

8/6 Mt. Agamenticus, ME

Met with Todd Buman, who is just starting to develop a local advocacy group for the area. We discussed strategy and management issues. It's a very complex area with 6 different land owners organized through the Mount Agamenticus Steering Committee. Todd has some work cut out for him, but seems ready and willing to take it on. The trails are some tasty fun, if a little abusive of grade at times.

8/7 Arundel, ME

The middle school in Arundel has about 26 acres of land next to the school, and last year the students decided that the best use of this land would be to build mountain bike trails on it. Smart kids. So we met with a small group of teachers at the school and taught them the basics of trailbuilding. All this year, they're going to incorporate this knowledge into their standard curriculums (i.e. the math teacher might teach about grades and the rise over run equation, the science teacher could look at different soil types and plant species, etc.) while going through the process of walking the land, mapping the control points, flagging the trail and building the trail. The teachers were very enthusiastic, and hopefully the kids will be as well when the school year starts.

Jen & Rich Edwards
IMBA Trail Care Crew 3

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	Crew 3's New England Swing 7/20 Mt. Snow, VT We arrived at Mt Snow hoping to ride the NORBA course, but we were sorely disappointed by the entire mountain being closed. Apparently the recent rains had caused severe damage and we weren't allowed on the mountain on bike or foot. We did get to test ride "Sugars" on the "Crosstown Trails" which were short and tame, but still fun. 7/22 Lowell Lake St. Park The locals rode a loop trail around the lake for years, until the State purchased the land and closed all trails to mountain bikes. Now Rob Macgregor and Vermont Biking Association are working to regain access to the land. We met with Rick White and Nate McKeen of Vermont's Forest, Parks, and Recreation to discuss the future of mountain bike access in Lowell lake and statewide. There seemed to be a dual concern that bikes would overrun the trails if they were opened to bikes and that there wouldn't be enough bike use to justify rebuilding the trails with a more sustainable design. We left with the impression that the Vermont State lands are very concerned about the mountain bike access issue and at the same time willing to ignore the issue. It doesn't seem like mountain bikes will be welcome on Vermont's state trails any time soon, but the tireless efforts of folks like Rob help to bring that day closer. 7/23 Waitfield, VT Stayed at John Egan's Big World, which is owned by Jerry Noonan, local mounmtain biker and trailbuilder. Rode and worked with Jerry, Gary Kessler and other really great folks. Vermont Observations: Vermont certainly has some different issues facing it. Generally, the State forests and parks, as well as the National Forests here, have very limited legal trail access for mountain bikes. Consequently, there's not too much trail riding opportunity on public land. On the more positive side, Vermont has a huge network of "Class 4 roads", which are old roads that are no longer maintained by the state except for water crossings and bridges. As you can imagine, most of these roads have pretty much become de facto trails. They have their problems (some have become full-on streams), but for the most part they provide excellent riding opportunities for mountain bikers. Also, private land owners are incredibly permissive when it comes to allowing folks building trails and crossing their lands. However, these trails can't be signed, blazed, or mapped. There are also coming under development pressure as more people buy into the "rural" Vermont lifestyle, but with smaller lots. A landowner with 2 acres is not as likely to allow a trail through their backyard as a landowner with 40 acres. Jerry had gotten permission from a local landowner and laid out about 1/4 mile of new trail, and we helped fine tune that into about 1/2 mile of trail, then we all cut in about half of that, "Vermont style". Make a note to nominate Gary Kessler for State Rep of the Year. 7/24 Hartford, CT -- West Hartford Reservoir #6 Brian Smith. Mike and Jan visited last year and laid out an alignment for new trail. The local NEMBA chapter had started cutting the new trail, but forward momentum was stalled when they got to a "talus slope". The group thought it would be an exorbitant amount of work to bench cut through all these rocks. An alternate line was looked at and discarded after some discussion, and we got down to work building a full bench cut for 70 feet through a boulder field. Five hours later the looks of disbelief turned to smiles and grins as folks turned around to look back at tasty bench they had built right through the huge rock pile. 7/26 Somerville, MA We visited Independent Fabrications world headquarters today. Jane showed us around the plant and offered us new frames. We declined already having a fine pair of IFs and not wanting to be greedy. Wonderful to see the crew in action and exhilarating rides being born. We hopped back in the Subaru and headed through the rain to Hampton Beach, NH and caught a Widespread Panic show. Long sustained jams and powerful chords brought our day to an excellent close. 7/27 Coyote Hill mountain bike camp, VT Met yet another living legend in Tom Masterson, former National Cyclocross champion (twice!!). Really, really nice guy, and he's running a mountain bike camp for kids and teens. I only wish I'd been doing this at their age! He's got a different group of kids each week, different levels (some stay for more than 1 week) and he's teaching them all sorts of different riding skills, mechanical know how, trail maintenance, riding ethics, and it's all in that fun camp atmosphere. We rebuilt a short section of trail and discussed water and erosion with the kids. Our hats off to you Tom, the kids are our future! 7/28 Norwich, VT The bad news: Rich's painful tooth turned out to need a full root canal. (Just try getting a dentist appointment sooner than a month away.) Actually found a dentist to do most of the work, now we need an endodontist to finish. The good news: We get to work with Jenny Hubbard. She also works with kids, teaching them mountain biking skills blended with map reading, orienteering, first aid, road riding skills, and IMBA¹s Rules of the Trail! She also holds bike rodeos to cover the basics. Jenny organized a great meeting, with representatives from the Upper Valley Trails Group, representatives from three town planning commissions, a trails rep from New Hampshire, and folks from a few other organizations. A very successful slide show, with lots of discussion, then a few short walks to look at some real life examples of good and bad trails. Later that afternoon, a kids bike rodeo and BBQ, complete with dog-sled teams pulling a 3-wheeled sled through the field! 7/30 Bolton, VT A gorgeous drive up I-91 led to Bolton holiday resort. Another rocking Widespread Panic show shook our bones and brought smiles to our faces. 7/31 Conway, NH Met with members of the White Mountain NF Forest Plan Revision team along with Mark Jenks (NH state rep) and other representatives of the Nat'l Forest. Mark's group has been working closely with the National Forest for years now and has been in on the planning process since the ground floor. Their dedication, along with the many comments sent in by mountain bikers (including one from IMBA) has helped the planning team realized that mountain bikers are a large part of the forest users. The plan is still many months from being complete, but should turn out quite positively. 8/1 Trail Layout on Cyclone Mountain We took a look at a proposed trail that mainly follows a recently cut logging road. The folks here definitely have the right idea, zigging and zagging across the road cut to take advantage of the already cleared areas without going up at too steep a grade. We helped define the line a little bit more, with the aid of our trusty clinometer . The new trail will allow riders stay off the paved road and still get to the trail across the top of the ridge and the legal trails on Nature Conservancy land. 8/2 North Conway, NH An 18 mile road ride before breakfast, then we demo'd Rocky Mountain XC full suspensions from Mark's fleet. Tasty magic carpet rides that made us question our devotion to hardtails (don't worry yet Jane, there's only room for two bikes on top of the Subaru). 8/3 Some motel in Maine We holed up for a day to read, write, do laundry and rest. 8/4-5 Bradbury Mountain State Park, ME Worked with Fred Robie of the Maine Bicycle Coalition, Gary Best, park ranger, and Tim Corcoran from LL Bean. We flagged over a mile of new trail alignment which will complete a singletrack loop in the park when it's finished. The next day we started work on the trail, cleared 300 feet and completed 30 feet of full bench cut, including some on solid rock (on, not through). Looks like it'll be a lot of fun when it's finished. There's a race held twice a year at the park so an increase in the numbers of riders is inevitable, which the head ranger is not only aware of but is eagerly anticipating. 8/6 Mt. Agamenticus, ME Met with Todd Buman, who is just starting to develop a local advocacy group for the area. We discussed strategy and management issues. It's a very complex area with 6 different land owners organized through the Mount Agamenticus Steering Committee. Todd has some work cut out for him, but seems ready and willing to take it on. The trails are some tasty fun, if a little abusive of grade at times. 8/7 Arundel, ME The middle school in Arundel has about 26 acres of land next to the school, and last year the students decided that the best use of this land would be to build mountain bike trails on it. Smart kids. So we met with a small group of teachers at the school and taught them the basics of trailbuilding. All this year, they're going to incorporate this knowledge into their standard curriculums (i.e. the math teacher might teach about grades and the rise over run equation, the science teacher could look at different soil types and plant species, etc.) while going through the process of walking the land, mapping the control points, flagging the trail and building the trail. The teachers were very enthusiastic, and hopefully the kids will be as well when the school year starts. Jen & Rich Edwards IMBA Trail Care Crew 3


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