4 Days of Thanksgiving Riding...

It was a superior Thanksgiving holiday for riding! I got 4 days in a row. Jungle Habitat on Turkey Day with the Sid's Crew and Edwinn Staar in the house for a killer start. What a great ride! Friday: Blue Mtn. with the Etman brothers and Alberto. Superb trail conditions and great leadership by Adam. Sat: Solo singlespeed 29er mission at Glacier Ridge for 12 fast rolling miles. And finishing off with a visit to Sprain Ridge with Paul, Alberto and the NYC MTB Meetup group. I totaled about 50 mountain miles and it was superior. Thanks to all who came out to ride!

Rumble at the Jungle...

Jungle Brothers

Alberto spinning off the pounds at Blue...

LW & the Etman Brothers at Blue

Bert leading his group at Sprain

Paul on the Power Line at Sprain - Wicked Trail!

The Second One

Ringwood. 3 of us from Sid's...Me, Paul & Alberto. 3 Great customers...Dan, Frank, & Santiago (from Spain). Lots of rocky, leafy miles and spills. Thanks to all who attended. Great ride. Old and creaky the day after.

Santiago teaching us the Spanish Climbing Technique

2 Good Rides.

Bregt and I rolled out to Glacier Ridge for a spin last Saturday. Great, leafy conditions.

Ramapo to Ringwood Crusher

It had been awhile, but we hit it hard. Parked at Skyline Drive and rode the Cannonball & yellow trail to Ringwood, then the green trail around Ringwood and back to Ramapo. 4 + hours on the trail. All rocks and wet leaves. Brutal and fabulous. Loved every minute of it.

Alberto explaining the laws of nature to Austin & Paul
at the top of the Ridge Trail (yellow) Lookout

Me and Alberto at the top

Bad brake and the culprit smirking...

Attempted trailside brake bleed

Austin rock ride 1

Austin rock ride 2

MD Day 3

After 2 days of riding with the big posse of 8 and 9 riders, I connect with JW for a ripping Patapsco ride in Baltimore. As we suit up trailside JW realizes that his shoes are sporting cleats for the pedals that are not on his bike. A small adventure ensues and we end up visiting our friend Simone at the Bike Doctor to remedy the problem. 1 pair of SPD cleats later and it's business time. We rode most of the Avalon side of the park and it was superb! Great trail conditions and high water crossings...

Hi, is Simone around?

The outer loops... Morning Choice

JW Log Ride

3 days in row of Tranny shredding

Water crossing on the way back up and out

It was great time and thanks to all the crew that came out to rip it up MD style!

MD Day 2

Back on the home turf at Schaeffer with my Bro and a revised crew from Day 1. After knowing Pape for nearly 30 years (damn I'm old!) we get our first ride in together....

Suiting up in the lot and it's crowded as the temp goes up towards 70.
Lorenzo, Nile, Konandale, Edwinn Starr etc...

Pape's Arrival!

3 Great Rides In MD...

I rolled down to Maryland for some riding with my brother and the hometown crew. It was excellent fun and the weather was perfect. By day 3 it was in the low 70s.....in November!

Suiting up roadside for the Hoyls Mill/Black Hills ride...

Brothers in MTB

LW, Brent, and Konay...

Tranny tanning itself...

The posse at the bridge waiting for stragglers...

Happy Halloween Ride!

Halloween on a weekend night is always crazy in NYC! We started off Friday night with a trip to Woodstock for a reggae session with The Mighty Diamonds! It was awesome! Saturday was the last day that Rocky Point was open for the season so we made our final trip out there for 2009....and it was well worth it. 20 miles of haulin' ass with Bregtje, Paul, and Austin.

Paul tune's up Austin's Anthem before we hit the dirt

Bregtje and Austin gettin' ready to roll...

The Sid's Crew

Bregtje's Duck got a new fork upgrade to a Fox Float...plush

Powder 2 preparing for liftoff...

Gettin Busy

It's been a busy month so far with Interbike East in Providence where I test rode about 25 new mountain bikes....my favorite....Rocky Mountain's Altitude 29er. Got a good road ride in around the Boston burbs with Cujo from The Blizzard Of 78 and a couple good SS 29er rides on my Rocky Mountain Hammer the past 2 weekends.....I love this bike.

2 Bold Rides On One Leg

Fork Leg that is.

Just got my carbon Lefty installed on the Ventana and christened it with 2 bold rides. Snuck through the thunderstorms Saturday back to East Setauket and rode the whole trail system. The other side of the street is indeed the hardest part, but it was no match for my new fork enthusiasm. I rode that part first and then rode the main side. 3 hours of pedaling. Somehow I didn't get rained on when everyone else did? Sunday jetted out to Sprain Ridge with Pauly to hit some rocks. Great riding....

The Ventana in it's new found glory with the Lefty at Sprain.


Paul repairs a shoe issue...


Yes, I love mountain biking.

East Setauket, LI Ride

I heard about this trail on LI called East Setauket that is supposedly 10 times harder than Rocky Point or Glacier Ridge so we decided to check it out and see for ourselves. It was typical CLIMB style riding, but with more short, steep climbs. Very twisty and lots of fun. Looking forward to going back....

Bregt and Paul at the car before the ride....


Bregt blocking the log ride without realizing it....hehehe


Pauly shows us how it's done 29er style...

2 Big Rides!

My Lil' Dutch Princess came back from Amsterdam and we hit the trail on Saturday. She rode in Holland every day for 2 weeks and arrived home in excellent riding shape. We smoked through 18 miles of Rocky Point. Here she is in action...


Sunday I set out to meet the Boys from work at Jungle Habitat in NJ to seek out some of the new trails....and the old ones aren't so bad either. Both Paul and Alberto were riding their new 29ers for the first time. I hit it on my old faithful Pumpkin (Ventana X-5). Here we are getting ready at the car(s)...


Yes Paul, those are some big wheels on that Turner Sultan...

Alberto at the overlook with his new Cannondale 29er SS


We stopped to check out some of the animal cages and this old truck was parked way back in there....

Labor Day Ride Day 3

Yes, there was some soreness setting in... But, the weather was great and we were having a blast ripping the local trails, eating good food, and partying in NYC. A great customer and friend of mine from New Zealand (Ian) was in town and he was on schedule to join us for the Sunday ride. This would be Ian's first time on a 29er. He got to ride JW's Rocky Mtn. geared Hammer 29er hardtail which is crafted from delicious Reynolds 725 tubing. I rode Powder 2, my Rocky Mtn SS 29er. JW rode his Cannondale SS 29er. Sosarillo joined us for the ride too. It's always fun to ride with The Sos. He's a ripper. Sos had to pedal extra hard because he was about 3 inches short of a 29er. We rolled out to Glacier Ridge on LI and came upon a parking lot full of riders! There was a going away ride for someone who was moving to Australia via Virginia (don't ask me?) and about 30 riders had just come out of the woods. Linda from Bike Junkie saw our Rocky's on the roof as we pulled in and she gave us the lowdown...

A motley crew we are...


The Sos rolling old school on his Dragon.


I'm not sure what these 2 were looking at? Some people just like looking at maps....especially Eagle Scouts.


It was fast and furious. A good time had by all and an American tradition to celebrate the finish! A Coke Slurpee....


Ian meet Coke Slurpee....Coke Slurpee, Ian. They got along famously!


Special thanks to JW for making the trip to NYC. A great staycation for me! Can't wait to do it again...