After was done riding at the Black and Decker trails and was headed back towards Kingston. About half way to Gan had an idea if there was enough time to bag Little Blue Mtn on the Starling.
This was just a short and easy high point bagging after the earlier enduro run laps in Brockville. And definitely way easier then the peak bagging earlier in the year up in Griffith. This would be the Starlings first peak bag.
After the usual checking out the view at the high point and peak photo. Headed down for the Starlings first peak bagging descent. Took my time descending as was near the end of the day and don't need more injuries.
One off the peak the next phase was to this time kind of wander the tracks around to see where it connected. It sort of ended up being kind of a loop. And with the sun starting to set it was time to get back to the Ute and head back to Kingston.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
After the crash at Vorlage and the weeks waiting for the bone bruise in the left hand to heal. It came time to test it a wee bit and tinker a bit with the set up of the Starling.
Decided to head to Brockville to play around on the Black and Decker short enduro runs. take the time to tinker a wee bit on the Starlings set up more. And do so in a more relaxed setting this time instead of doing what did at Vorlage which led to the crash.
It was much easier to tinker more with the set up this time as know pressure like one can have at Vorlage. Over winter work on getting the coil for the longer travel rear shock have waiting for me to get around to getting one. Definitely had to add more air to the rear air shock. As well as had to spin the handlebar slightly more forward.
Got it all at this point where it feels like want it. However it can still be adjusted more when go back to Vorlage. Though at that point it will be more the small things like air pressure in the rear shock. It was good to get out and tinker a bit more before a future trip to Vorlage.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
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.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
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.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
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.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
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.
If you like these adventures please support Team No Fixed Income
