Mini Marathon Monday's

First " proper " MTB ride of the year.  As always the trails in Uxbridge were in mint condition.  It seems that people really payed attention and did not give into temptation before the trails thawed out properly.  DMBA gave the go ahead for all the tracts on the 14th so after a few hard days on the road bike a nice jaunt through the woods was just the ticket.  50 km and 3600' of climbing later and the inaugural ride was over.

Dagnar MTB Trails 

DAGMAR.... Is finally ( almost ) back. I week to go SEPT 12th

One of the old school G.T.A. mtb destinations has been resurrected.  Official Press Release:

Uxbridge: September 1, 2015: The Durham Mountain Biking Association (DMBA) is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the Dagmar North Trails on September 12, 2015. The new 13 km of trails in the Dagmar North Tract (DNT) are the culmination of eight years of planning and 5 months of building. The building was accomplished with over 200 volunteer builders investing over 5,000 hours of sweat equity in the project. This is one of the largest volunteer trail building projects in Canada. 

In the meantime here is " some " of the trails sped up into a 18 minute sample video.  There is a lot more and tons of options and can't wait to add this to the mix... officially


 

First Annual Kris & Phil's Retro Revival Ride - Durham Forest

Bill's IBIS, Phil's Rocky, Kris's Klein, Paul's Trek, Derek's Kona

Kris and I have been floating this idea around for a while and the ride finally took place this past Sunday at Durham Forest. 

It was 8 degrees when we rolled out at 9:30 ish but the trail conditions were mint. 

We have lots of ideas and venues for future rides ( think Mono Center, Seaton, Mansfield etc. ).  We had a mix of old and new rides and all ages and levels out and everyone had a blast. 

We did 2 loops so everyone had as much as they wanted.  No major mechanical issues even though I kept expecting the air upgrade kit in my Judy XC to project upwards at 180 psi :)  Paul's Trek put the rake in RAKE.  Good Times !!

3 weeks to go for the 2014 Ride For Karen...

Nice morning for a rip around Durham Forest and the Ride For Karen crew was out taking full advantage of a empty forest and it was cool to realize we all had different years of the ride covered  off between 4 jerseys.  Kris & Kirk ( blue jersey and far right ) have a new route in store for 2014 and once again Kris and I will be marshaling the 30 km per hour group.  Still lots of time to register and raise some funds for a excellent cause with the comfort of knowing that all the funds raised are going to a great cause.  Over the past 12 years the RFK has raised over $2,000,000.  A great accomplishment and fitting tribute to the life and legacy of their mom Karen.

Philip, Kris, Steve, Kirk ( Fu taking the pic )

Carbon Fiber Footprint

Santa Cruz Tallboy 2 - Durham Forest

Dog Days of......June

Spent the last few weeks riding up at Durham and Walker Woods.  The trail gnomes have been busy with a few nice new sections of trail and the conditions and weather has been nothing short of amazing ( minus the mosquito's and poison ivy ).

I wish DMBA / IMBA or others would take a few minutes and offer up some rider etiquette lessons for new riders.  While this idea is nice to float around I realize the logistics and access would be difficult to capture the right audience ( keep in mind even seasoned riders could benefit from a refresher ).

Maybe the onus sits with riders in general to pass on some knowledge ?  I'm not sure but when you see hikers literally jump off the trail to avoid bikers and downhill riders making zero attempt at yielding to uphill riders you gotta wonder if people are even aware ?

Places like Durham are heavily used by many different groups on non directional trails and while this won't address all the issues it sure as heck would be a good start.  This is part of the reason we have been going there at different times hoping to avoid the morning mad house that the weekends seem to turning into.

Kris is starting up some night riding in Durham so if this sounds good to you reach out to me and I can get you the nights and times we are meeting up.