# Nass Mini Epic - 10/11/2009



## WoodCore (Oct 11, 2009)

bvibert said:


> How'd this ride go today?  I was expecting an epic TR when I got home after I drove by the parking area at 11am and you all were still there...



I'm working on it.......Actually it was so epic that I ended up sacking out on the couch for a few hours this afternoon.


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## MLegg (Oct 11, 2009)

Brian - to give you an idea, I bagged out 1/2 way through and still logged 14 miles. Evil met me at the cars since he had cramped up pretty bad and still no Woodcore and Greg. Who knows - one of them might still be out there getting the final miles in!


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## MR. evil (Oct 11, 2009)

My legs started to cramp on DTN and by the time we got to rt69 I was all done. Greg and woodcore
pressed on and rode Hinman and I tool the road back.


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## WoodCore (Oct 11, 2009)

The morning started early for me and after being out late the previous night and having a somewhat foggy head I packed up the car and headed down to the local caffeine dispensary for some fuel and began the trek up to Burlington. During the trip I was treated to some spectacular views. The cold morning air and the fog in the valleys combined with a bright sunrise and the colors of fall did wonders to wake up my senses. In addition the heavy coating of frost glistening in the early morning sun that was prevalent in quite a few areas was also a welcome treat.    







Anyway, met up with Mr. Evil, MLegg and Greg right around 7:30am this morning at the East Chippens parking location, geared up and rolled onto the trails for what would become my longest ride to date on the Burlington/Nassahegan trail network.

Here's our route:

E. Chippens>4- way>B Street>Short Cut>Truck Trail>Downhill>E. Chippens>BSB>Cemetery Twisties>FKC>Big Boulder Trail>Blue Trail>Kitchen Bypass>Stone Road>Stunt Trail>Lollipop>Rock Garden>Blue Trail>Stone Road>Bypass>Blue Trail>Cornwall Downhill>Dick Ticklers Notch>Cornwall Downhill>Hinman>Jug>Scoville Twisties>Bushwack>Skidder Road>WC Bypass

The whole loop came in at 14.21 miles with an impressive 2,611 feet of climbing. Even with a few mechanicals, some fooling around on the features and frequent (more than I'm used to) breaks we ended up back at the cars in just under 4.5 hours. 

Greg and Tim started out onto the trails with amazing speed I did everything I could to keep them in my sights. Regardless the first part of the ride was pretty uneventful. Although the temps where probably still in the 30's at this point I never really felt cold even though I was still riding in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. It was actually really nice being outside in the forest breathing in the crisp morning air in large quantities. 

By the time we got to the cemetery twisties I was starting to feel a little better and other than a quick dab at the very beginning, rode them clean, end to end without stopping for the first time ever. Not sure how it happened but did see Greg in a pile at the top of the steep downhill that leads down to the jump. He was O.K. regardless not a great spot to crash. 

The FKC was the usual slog up to the top of the ridge. Still Haven't been able to consistently clear that one area in the middle but seem to make it a little further each time so eventually I hope to be able to clear that section on a regular basis. 

The first mechanical of the day came as we where heading down the blue trail towards the bypass. Tim caught a stick in his rear dérailleur and ended up bending it a bit and snapping his chain. After some tense moments all turned out ok and we where back on the trail. 

After heading down the bypass we ventured across Stone Road and up to session the Rock>Ladder and Ladder>Rock>Ladder features. Although I've watched many others roll these in the past, today was my day to man up and get it done, and that I did. Actually got both on the first try! :beer:
















Tim was also busy rolling these numerous times as well.....











After the fun on the ladders we did some pedaling around the forest hitting up the loolipop loop and some other trails and culminated our time at Stone East with a run through the rock garden and down the blue trail back to Stone Road. For the most part I followed Greg's line and was pumped to finally clean the rock garden and confidently ride the downhill. 

By this point MLegg had had enough and headed down to say hi to some of the other riders that where getting ready to start out of Stone Road. Greg, Tim and I pressed on across Stone Road and up the Bypass. I made it almost all the way up but still can't seem to make that nasty 40' section towards the end. Oh-well, maybe next time. Anyway we made our way back up the blue trail towards the cornwall downhill. Didn't make the first mini climb up the rocks but managed to roll everything else including the techy descent at the very top of the ridge that I normally bypass around. Thanks for showing me the line Greg! 

After crossing Cornwall Road we headed in DTN. This was my first time in there and althoght I probably spent more time off the bike than on it, it was cool to check out something I hadn't seen yet! Tim, although pretty beat like the rest of us at this point was definitnely scoping everything out and rolled a few of the features. DTN is not exactly my bag but does have some very interesting natural features to play on for sure. 






We exited DTN and bombed the remainder of the Cornwall DH. At the bottom Tim was having some leg cramping issues and decided to bail down route 69 back towards the cars. 

Greg and I pressed on the across 69 and onto the Hinman. Although I had cleaned the stream crossings to the stone wall the day before the stars where not aligned today and ended up taking a somewhat ill fated dab and managed to tweak my ankle a bit. Regardless we finished the ride with a nicely paced rip up and down the Hinman with minimal breaks. Managed to talk Greg into finishing the intended route and proceeded into Jug. I managed to roll the alligator bridges for the third time in a row today which put a little kick back into my dying pedal stroke which I carried into the Scoville twisties and back to the cars for a well deserved cold frosty beverage. 

IMHO, other  than tweaking my ankle,  it was perhaps the quintessential day to be out on a bike in the woods. A beautiful day and an awesome ride. Great riding with everyone today and look forward to few more before ski season sets in!!


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2009)

I figured I'd split these posts off to get us started. Incredible ride today. Perhaps my best of the season. 

Met Woodcore, MR. evil and Mlegg around 7:30 on East Chippens. Cool start - probably mid to low 30's, bright blue skies and lots of color in the forest. The route was basically as planned: 4-way >  B Street > short route to Truck trail > 4 way (WoodCore did some nice armoring by the muddy stone wall down from the 4-way) > BSB > Cemetery (another nice WC armoring effort in the notorious muddy spot) > FKC > over to Stone > up to the ladder stunt trail > down the ladder trail > over and up to the second climb into Stone > south to the skinny area > lollipop > Stone out to Blue/Red (?) > Rock Garden > straight out to Stone. We bid Mlegg farewell here. Up to the top of the ridge > sketch DHs (fun - nice job Jon tackling that rocky outcropping) > cross Cornwall > DTN > Cornwall DH (lost MR. evil down 69) > Hinman > Scoville twisties and back to the cars. My GPS track is saying a bit over 14 miles:

http://crankfire.com/trails/data.php?dataid=640
http://crankfire.com/map/index.php?tid=7&t=640&w=0

A truly spectacular morning. Lots of leaves down though which resulted in cautious riding and we couldn't really achieve cyborg speed. Sill a solid moderate+ pace throughout. Tim had a few minor mechanicals, including a quadricep failure. :lol: Actually I started cramping too after crossing 69 but was able to finish okay after some lighter pedaling for a bit. WoodCore tackling several new sections of trail and stunts. Tim was the roller madman, and Mlegg, as usual was simply pleasant company. Jon and I finished a bit after noon. Great rip!


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## MR. evil (Oct 11, 2009)

Woodcore summed things up. I have been wanting to ride DTN for a while now, so I am glad to get that out of my system. Some fun stuff in there, but not enough to justify going back anytime soon. Just not a very pedal friendly trail. Pretty much hit all of the rollers. The only feature I wish I hit was the smallish drop after to big rock roller. My legs were already cramping at that point and I took the line to the left. By the end of the CW downhill my legs were fried. Standing the entire dh using my legs to absorb the bumps
did me in for good. Got to the bottom of the dh, crossed the small bridge and collapsed in a pile of leaves. I had to hike a minority of the climb back to 69 and then took the road back to the truck. The last stretch on E Chippens almost did me in. About 2 minutes after I got to the truck MLegg rolled
up behind me.


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2009)

MR. evil said:


> Got to the bottom of the dh, crossed the small bridge and collapsed in a pile of leaves.



That was a weird spot to stop. I knew you were hurting as I saw you sitting there frantically massaging your thighs. I had a brutal hamstring cramp out of nowhere this afternoon. Not fun.



MR. evil said:


> The last stretch on E Chippens almost did me in.



Funny. I said exactly this to WoodCore once we finally got back to E. Chippens. Something to the effect of, "I bet Tim was really hating riding up East Chippens by the time he got here..."


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## bvibert (Oct 11, 2009)

Nice looking ride guys! :beer:


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2009)

bvibert said:


> Nice looking ride guys! :beer:



We all missed you out there today, Brian. Still plenty of time left to ride this season, but before you ask, next Sunday is out for me.


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## MR. evil (Oct 11, 2009)

Greg said:


> That was a weird spot to stop. I knew you were hurting as I saw you sitting there frantically massaging your thighs. I had a brutal hamstring cramp out of nowhere this afternoon. Not fun.
> 
> 
> 
> Funny. I said exactly this to WoodCore once we finally got back to E. Chippens. Something to the effect of, "I bet Tim was really hating riding up East Chippens by the time he got here..."



I didn't really have a choice about stopping there. My quads seized up and I couldn't bend my legs to get a foot down. The leaves looked soft so i fell
over into them. My quads have been killing me all day, but no cramps. Other than that i feel great. I do fear a nasty leg cramp or two in my sleep tonight.....I hate those.


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## MR. evil (Oct 11, 2009)

I am upset I couldn't ride Hinman, that's one of my favorites there. But there is no way I could have made it.


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## bvibert (Oct 11, 2009)

Greg said:


> We all missed you out there today, Brian. Still plenty of time left to ride this season, but before you ask, next Sunday is out for me.



I wish I was able to make it too.  There was just no chance though.  Gonna try for this Friday and Sunday this coming week...


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## WoodCore (Oct 11, 2009)

Greg said:


> We all missed you out there today, Brian. Still plenty of time left to ride this season, but before you ask, next Sunday is out for me.



Ditto that, we missed you for sure today Brian! Regardless, if I don't go north next weekend I'm up for a few lengthy loops in the forbidden forest next weekend. Regardless, anytime your ready ride with the lights under the cover of darkness just let me know!!


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> ...in the forbidden forest...under the cover of darkness...



Sounds romantic. :lol:


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## WoodCore (Oct 11, 2009)

Greg said:


> Sounds romantic. :lol:



Night riding isn't romantic, it's just frickin fun! Get yourself a set of lights and lets roll  :beer:


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## rueler (Oct 11, 2009)

WOW!! You guys pedaled your arses off!! Good stuff! Sorry I didn't make it out w/ you guys. I did a 10 miler out of Stone that was pretty grueling. Crazy part is that we never hit anything on the east side...Kind of wanted to do the Hobo and North Side trails...oh well, maybe tomorrow. 

Our loop was: New trail - Jim J. Bulloch/hunter trail - blue trail climb - blue trail at top of FKC - Cornwall DH - Tickler's - Cornwall DH - 69er - Cemetery - FKC - Surveyor trail - blue trail - Wasteland DH - Stone Road

I agree about the armoring effort...nicely done Jonny. I checked it out yesterday...and spent some time helping your effort. How'd it roll??


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## Greg (Oct 11, 2009)

rueler said:


> I agree about the armoring effort...nicely done Jonny. I checked it out yesterday...and spent some time helping your effort. How'd it roll??



Smoooooooth.......a tad sanitized, but that spot needed major help. Nice work gentlemen!


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## WoodCore (Oct 11, 2009)

rueler said:


> I agree about the armoring effort...nicely done Jonny. I checked it out yesterday...and spent some time helping your effort. How'd it roll??



It rolls awesome Scott! Thanks for finishing up the rest of the backside and taking care of the PP blocking. Rode through there with MLegg today and he was amazed at how nice it was! :beer:


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## Trev (Oct 12, 2009)

Looks like you guys had a nice ride!

Lots o Miles plus hitting all those rollers and drops over at the DTN and Stone.. good stuffages !!

Enjoy...


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## WoodCore (Oct 13, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> It rolls awesome Scott! Thanks for finishing up the rest of the backside and taking care of the PP blocking.  :beer:



Here's the finished product......


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## bvibert (Oct 13, 2009)

Nice work!  Can't wait to ride it. :beer:


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## Trev (Oct 14, 2009)

bvibert said:


> Nice work!  Can't wait to ride it. :beer:


Same here.. good stuff!

Maybe I can squeeze a PM ride in this Sunday..


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## MR. evil (Oct 14, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> Here's the finished product......



Nice work. 

I understand that this was a very muddy stop and this need to be done. My only complaint is that the work was done too well. I really liked how chuncky that area by the wall was, its now too smooth. Then again I don't ride there much anymore, so its not that big of a deal


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## Greg (Oct 14, 2009)

MR. evil said:


> Nice work.
> 
> I understand that this was a very muddy stop and this need to be done. My only complaint is that the work was done too well. I really liked how chuncky that area by the wall was, its now too smooth. Then again I don't ride there much anymore, so its not that big of a deal



That's what I meant by a "tad sanitized" but that area had gotten pretty bad this summer and needed to be reworked. Especially important since we've been riding out of E. Chippens and using that trail a lot. It looks like a totally new trail! Nice job gentlemen!


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## bvibert (Oct 14, 2009)

Greg said:


> That's what I meant by a "tad sanitized" but that area had gotten pretty bad this summer and needed to be reworked. Especially important since we've been riding out of E. Chippens and using that trail a lot. It looks like a totally new trail! Nice job gentlemen!



The area was pretty bad last year, and only got worse this year.  I hate to see a trail sanitized, but I'd rather it stay rideable in the long term.

I hope I get to check out the work first hand soon.  I always appreciate when I come up to a spot that's notoriously muddy and someone has taken the time to armor it.  Even more so when I know who did it.


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## JD (Oct 15, 2009)

Nice TR, looks like fun stuff


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