# Case Mt. Manchester CT - 08.30.2008



## MR. evil (Aug 30, 2008)

I rode Case Mt in Manchester Ct this morning with a co-worker of Randi’s. I brought my camera but didn’t take any pictures as it was raining pretty hard the entire ride. So here is a link to some pictures of Case posted on Crankfire.com. These pictures do not do the place justice.

http://www.crankfire.com/galleries/picturelist.php?s=21&t=1&suid=&v=&s_t=&_p=1


I haven’t ridden at Case in almost 7 years, but the route I used to take was more cross country and not nearly as technical as what we did this morning. The 3 of us met at the parking area on Line street just past Manchester Country club. There we several guys in the parking lot when we all pulled into the lot. But they went a different direction than we did. They went out to the more mellow XC stuff. The interesting thing about Case is all of the large granite boulders that are every where. Apparently this area was carved up by a glacier and that is where all the boulders came from. At any time during the ride you could look of into the woods and see 10 to 20 large boulders scattered around. Many of them right on the side of the trails. Lots of them have smaller rocks and logs built up to them so you can ride up and down them. Pretty cool stuff!

The two guys I rode with were pretty much DH and FR guys. They were very slow on the way up but flew on the downs. We started out the ride on a fairly long climb on a rocky fire road. We rode a little under a mile and came across some large boulders that were set up as roller and drops. After watching Dean (Randy’s co-worker) roll one of the larger boulders ( 7 plus feet high) I scoped out his line and then gave it a go. I cleaned it with no problem. It was really cool riding with these guys as they were giving me lots of advice on how to handle roller and drops. We played on a few other rocks and then continued on the climb. From here on out it was double track but extremely rocky. The hard thing was the rocks in the trail were so large you had to find lines though and around them. You couldn’t ride over them, and it made things very challenging. We continued another ¾ of a mile or so and made it to the summit where we took a short break at a little look out over the valley. From here on out we had most of the climbing behind us and most of the remainder of the ride was very long techy DH’s and short techy climbs. 

After the break we headed into some double track and from here on out the ride got really gnarly. For those that have ridden at Nassahegan imagine the top of the ridge, and those DH’s only MUCH rockier and 4 to 5 times as long. About 100 yards into the trail I learned just how crazy Randi’s co-worker Dean really is. He bombed down what had to be a 70 degree rock face that was about 20 feet long and then proceeded to rip the ensuing DH. To make it even more impressive Dean is about 40 years and a bit over weight. The other rider (Dean’s buddy Baker) and I took to long way around and did our best to catch up on the DH. The next ½ of a mile plus was one of the craziest DH’s I have ever done. The entire trail was covered in large rocks and you really couldn’t steer. You tried to point your bike in the direction you wanted it to go. But the rocks would throw you all over the place and you just had to roll with it and pray. There were also large stunts on the sides of the DH’s similar to stuff at Nepaug. If things were not challenging enough everything was wet and slippery.

The rest of the ride was pretty much the same. We would do a small, very technical climb to be rewarded with a very long and fun DH. My only crash of the day was about 200 feet from the parking lot. The last DH of the ride was bombing down the lower half of the fire road we started the ride on. I was doing a good job keeping up with the DHer’s until I took the wrong line. Dean and Baker stayed to the left on one section while I took the right hand line. There were some large roots that were completely washed out on the downhill side that I dropped at very high speed. I cleared the wash out only to hit another set of roots. I had a second to hit my brakes and slow down a bit. But I still went over the bars. I managed to land on my feet a good 10 feet from my bike. But I was going so fast I was having a hard time keeping my upper body over my feet. I was basically running down the hill trying to catch my balance. I eventually fell over and landed on all 4’s. I imagine it was pretty funny to watch. I got back on my bike and ride a couple hundred feet to the parking lot.


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## severine (Aug 31, 2008)

Sounds like some of what we rode at Hubbard Park.  Very cool!  Thanks for the trip report, Tim! :beer:  Definitely something worth checking out in the future!

Must have been quite the sight seeing Dean rip through the downhills.  It gives us all hope!


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## Greg (Aug 31, 2008)

Nice, Tim. My only concern is now you're going to use this as a convenient excuse to blow off tomorrow. "I'm still so tired/sore from Saturday's ride...." "waaahhhhhh...." 

Seriously, sounds like a cool place. Gotta try to get out there one of these weekends.


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## bvibert (Aug 31, 2008)

Sounds like a good ride. I hope I'm able to make it out there soon!  Too bad it rained there for the ride.  It hardly rained at all here.


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## MR. evil (Aug 31, 2008)

Greg said:


> Nice, Tim. My only concern is now you're going to use this as a convenient excuse to blow off tomorrow. "I'm still so tired/sore from Saturday's ride...." "waaahhhhhh...."
> 
> Seriously, sounds like a cool place. Gotta try to get out there one of these weekends.



Well I am pretty tired and sore this morning, but not from the ride. I replaced the rear struts on the Maxima last night. It only took me about 3 hours, but for some reason when ever I work on the car it totally kicks my ass. My entire upper body is really soar. 

Case was a fun ride, and really challenging. If we do the same route I did yesterday there will be several parts of the ride that will push everyones limits. And I couldn't image anyone doing this route with a HT.


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## MR. evil (Aug 31, 2008)

bvibert said:


> Sounds like a good ride. I hope I'm able to make it out there soon!  Too bad it rained there for the ride.  It hardly rained at all here.



Well the rain did keep it nice and cool.


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## MR. evil (Aug 31, 2008)

Greg said:


> Seriously, sounds like a cool place. Gotta try to get out there one of these weekends.



I am sure I could get Dean to give us a tour. I remember the first half of the ride pretty well (the climb and initial DH). But from there I wasn't paying attention, I was too busy not crashing.


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## MRGisevil (Aug 31, 2008)

mr. Evil said:


> and i couldn't image anyone doing this route with a ht.



Screw you I can't! Make your own damn dinner tonight!!!!!!


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## MR. evil (Aug 31, 2008)

MRGisevil said:


> Screw you I can't! Make your own damn dinner tonight!!!!!!



Seeing how I cook most nights that isn't exactly a punishment.


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## MRGisevil (Aug 31, 2008)

Touche...


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## severine (Aug 31, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> And I couldn't image anyone doing this route with a HT.


You should see what we were riding in Meriden with HTs.  Jeff was on his old bike and I had my Hardrock.  

I'm sure there's something for everybody at Case.


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## MR. evil (Aug 31, 2008)

severine said:


> You should see what we were riding in Meriden with HTs.  Jeff was on his old bike and I had my Hardrock.
> 
> I'm sure there's something for everybody at Case.



There is more mellow stuff there. My comment was that I could not imagine anyone riding the route we did on a HT as it was pretty brutal on my FS.


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