After wandering and exploring the north side of Menzel Wildlife Area and chilling for a bit on a rock in the shade. Yes I said shade in October. Decided after checking map and such to do another ride.
This time would head west on Naphan Rd to Phillips to do a recce ride for a friend who was asking about Philips Rd. Specifically Philips Rd north of Naphan Rd. Like the previous Dafoe Rd recce ride would use the GoPro for this recce. Like before more info can be found there than by merely writing it out from sketchy memory.
Like previously on the Dafoe Rd recce found proof that it was used as part of some kind of gravel ride event. Say that as had to pull a pile of Shimano brand course marking tape. It is totally disgraceful for any event organizer to leave it like that post event.
One does have to pay attention though as at a point more then halfway heading north you reach an intersection. Where Phillips if you go straight will eventually dead end in either swamp or farm fields. You go left and it becomes Cheesecake Factory Lane. So make sure you have AllTrails or equivalent on your phone to he some help if not familiar with the area.
After tagging the the sign where Cheesecake Factory Lane starts at Moneymore Rd reversed course and did the track in reverse to Naphan Rd. Then on back to where parked the Ute at back a Naphan and Daley. With day done and two rides done.
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A few days earlier during the ride to recce the Dafoe Rd road allowance spotted double track heading into the north side of the Menzel Centennial Wildlife Area. I had filed it away for a later recce ride.
Next opportunity came up and headed back to the area was previously. Though this time parked right at the west entrance to Dafoe Rd as this was more of exploration and less about distance.With me still waiting for the bone bruise in my left hand to heal more it again was something to do. That wasn't more endless same loops and such near Kingston.
And theoretically based on maps there was possibly a track that went to the small lake in there. Which when followed the one track the maps suggested would go there. It ended up dead ending at a bog.
In the end the tracks really ended up in dead ends and one couldn't tell if they where still in the Wildlife area as there didn't seem to be an actual confirmed boundary maker. It seemed like signs had been put all over will nilly.
So it was back to the Ute to eat and drink a bit. And decide what the next part of the day would be.
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A friend asked me about a unmaintained road allowance north of Tyendinaga on the north boundary of the Menzel Centennial Wildlife Preserve. To help her out I offered to conduct a ride recce and get e better idea of what was there.
Bonus was that with my left hand having the bone bruise from Vorlage I was at the moment limited in the kind of riding could do. So this gave me a small little project to do while waiting for it to finish healing.
While ended up doing a bit of a loop I focused video efforts on the unmaintained Dafoe Rd. With the rest of the route just a bit of a ride to explore a bit. One thing I did notice was that the road south edge seemed to be pretty much the north boundary of the Menzel Wildlife Area.
A bonus was I noticed a track heading south from Dafoe into the north side of the Menzel Wildlife Area. Well at least I assumed it was into the north half of the wildlife area. However that would be another exploration on another day.
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Last time did anything chairlift and mtb combination was way back in 2010 at Horseshoe resort. Back then was on the first Chromag I had the 2007 Stylus. After that long of a break opportunity came to do it again.
Brought the Stylus and the Starling Mega Twist as a back up. Keeping in mind the Starling was barely put together and had zero done to prep it to ride anything beyond a couple of street rides for a couple of hundred meters.
Well the Stylus only lasted one run as on the first run had a flat and had issues that wouldn't let it hold air. Turns out after 13,998km's of riding the rim had finally had enough. The spokes where pulling through the rim which only figured out once was back home in the workshop. So it was the Starling that swapped too.
It took a few runs to make adjustments as mentioned above the Starling was not set up at all. Things like front shock, bar angle, and of course the rear shock needed to play with air pressure. This is not to me an ideal situation as tinkering alot to stet up while doing a day of downhill runs isn't idea;. And when your attempting to maximize things it can lead to rushing and that can potentially lead to playing tag with the planet.
Which did happen. Wasn't focused coming into a technical rock section at to high a speed and attempted to body slam the planet. Road rash on shin, deep muscle bruising on right leg, and a painful bone bruise in left hand. Though wasn't enough to stop an ex ski racer as kept doing runs all afternoon. Though after that was definitely more conservative.
While did a couple of runs on the other runs at Vorlage . Ended up doing most on Dechainee Long. Which looking back I should have focused on just doing runs on it slowly getting better. And while setting up the Starling so there was less distractions. To be honest looking back and thinking as an ex-ski racer that one run one could spend all day on it just working at slowly getting better which would transfer to other trails later. It is perfect.
It would be the last run of the day that would without really aiming to set a PR on Dechainee Long. Which is the best one's to me now days. Because really it is far less about how hard you can pedal and so on. It is all about how few mistakes you can make, how much less you can touch the brakes, how smooth you are, and so on. Because there is so much that can affect your run.
In the end despite the bad crash still saw improvement and a good time. Though of course kind of mad that didn't get more runs with the Stylus so of course thinking of maybe a re-match with Dechainee Long with the Stylus. See how feel whenever go back.
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At the end of August it was a return to the Griffith area for round 2 with the area and challenging ideas with mountain bikes. As mentioned earlier in the June blog entry post trip to Griffith that there was a peak that looked doable. So this would be the trip to bag The West Peak.
It was a few days before leaving that another potential was spotted Bluff Mtn. It didn't really look exactly like it could be bagged. However one had to give it an attempt. Which as would turn out was truly undoable and can read more in the link.
To be honest one has to expect that not every attempt will be a success. Just because it looks possible on a map doesn't mean the reality on the ground once there will match. Every Ontario peak or high point I consider and attempt has the potential to not be a success.So back to truck and then back to where was camping overnight.
Day two had as Borat memes would say...
Day two saw the successful bagging of the West Peak of The Three Mountains and turns out the highest peak of the area I bagged so far. This of course after descending and getting back to camp and the Ute.
Would lead to an easy spin to the nearby General Store for some ice cream and pop to have some kind of reward. And sit by the Madawaska River for a wee bit before heading back to camp for more food. And to chill and sleep as was a successful long day.
Woke up to rain the next morning and feeling kind of achy. With it being rainy didn't really feel like hanging out at camp much more Maybe if hadn't rained would have been in a better head space whoever with the rain kinda felt like time to go. So packed up everything as best could in the rain and headed towards Highway 41.
Though I did stop on the way out near Hyland Creek Rd and Highway 41 where there was a sort of rest stop for campers to deposit garbage and such. Sat for a wee bit under the shelter taking in more fluids while giving myself more time to wake up. Kind of easier to do that when not thinking about packing stuff up in the rain.
After a bit was time to head down the highway for home. Though I readily admit stopped at Rosie's General Store near Denbigh and picked up some greasy Onion Rings. Sort of some comfort food while driving Highway 41 in the rain home.
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Over the summer had been looking at track in the area and while had noted Bluff Mountain which did te day before. And was a bust. I had noted the West peak of The Three Mountains. Based on what could sort of see looking online at Google Sat view and All Trails it looked like there might be a way to bag it.
Even better to confirm my hunch about it received my copy a week before going of the Backroads Mapbooks paper map of the Griffith Area. which when looked close showed that indeed there was a route in from the backside and maybe a route down on the front side. However the truth will always reveal itself once one gets to the peak if it is actually rideable as what is there may not match the map.
After getting ready and packing the Hookabike in the pack just in case had to do some wearing the Stylus as a backpack. Headed out from the campsite on Hyland Creek Rd. and when got to the first intersection headed right on Three Mountain Rd. Which a bit further in near Tincamp Lake turns left while the route towards West Peak follows an unnamed FSR. You really need a proper paper backroads map to navigate with to best find the route as nothing exactly matches using say AllTrails app.
At the end of the FSR and a wee bit of backtracking to the ATV track. Followed that track as it meandered all over in. Till it came out of the trees to a spot that looked to be roughly a high point. Well as best can spot in Ontario.
After checking Peakbagger which showed I was roughly where it should be. Especially have to consider that it may not be 100% accurate. Say that as other then ATV's I might be the only mountain biker to go to this peak. Or maybe the only one in a long time. It would be later when looking at the data at home would find out this would be the highest peak or high point I bagged so far in that area.
So after bagging the peak followed the ATV track that went down from the peak, the same track that I suspected would descend all the way based on the map. Stopped to sit on a rock at a spot can see more of the valley below. After was there for a wee bit two ATV riders came over the top and proceeded down the track was looking at. Well, let's let them be the unknowing 2 man recce team and see if they come back so will confirm the map was accurate.
While sitting there also looked at the map and based on what also saw
the West Peak of The Three Mountains was the only one accessible. Well
without a great amount of bush bashing and who knows what else to get
there. Not interested in that.. After waiting a while and looking out over the valley they never returned. Now I know what is that way and it is good to go.Packed up and resumed the descent.
And after alot of careful descending as being in a remote area crashing and getting hurt wouldn't be a good time. And needing rescue was not on the menu. Eventually the rock slabs gave way to the standard dirt and rock double track of the area. Which meant in theory was close to connecting with the FSR.
Which after a bit of that came out and joined Three Mountain FSR Rd and mission success. Bagged the West Peak of Three Mountains and found what turns out to be the best descent ridden up there to date.From there reversed course back to camp on the FSR's took in. And from there a quick easy spin to the general store to grab a reward for the success.
Short version of the day,
And the longer more full length video.
And just for fun did a downhill only version.
Ended up doing both as after trip was tinkering with video editing and added both videos just for fun. Though in future won't do the GoPro App edit version as it cuts too much out.
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