Last Chance for weekday fun!

Due to the shortening daylight hours (wah!), this week will be our last I Dig Tuesday and Wednesday mountain bike rides. Sad, we know, but we'll come up with some new fun soon.

So - Tuesday, 5:30, Jungle Habitat - come join us for our weekday trail build finale. You bring the gloves and the water, we'll bring the tools.

And on Wednesday, we'll have our final after work mountain bike ride at Jungle Habitat for the year. Let's try to push off by 5:30 - it'll be all we can do to get 2 hours of riding in!

Stay tuned for announcements of new trail work dates, and hopefully some night riding opportunities - hey, we've gotta ride sometime, right?

King of the Mountain Results, and a Reminder!

Our KOM event for August 23 had a wet start. Eventually the clouds parted and gave us some sunshine to ride in. Unfortunately it was accompanied by a lot of humidity so staying dry at any point was not an option!

This week's riders were all team members or racers. We especially enjoyed the competition from our friend and Team Bulldog member Ryan Heershap who showed up and put up a good fight!

The first climb up Stonetown Road might be short, but it is VERY steep. Dave and Keith broke away at about the halfway point and fought it out with Dave coming in first, Keith second, Ryan third, BJ fourth, and Matt fifth.

Before climb number 2 (Westbrook Road), Kevin caught up and we all paced up to the start. From the start of the climb. Dave, Keith, BJ, and Ryan set a high pace up the first pitch. Dave, Ryan, and Keith pulled away. BJ dropped but fought hard to prevent too big of a gap between himself and Matt. By the time the riders made it to the Coffee House the finishing order was Dave, Keith, Ryan, BJ, Matt, and Kevin.

The final climb up Otterhole Road was a good one. At the first pitch it was a repeat of the Westbrook climb with the three leaders opening up a gap on the rear guard. BJ was able to bridge and attack on the last pitch but was quickly pulled in by Dave and Keith. Ryan flatted on the attack, which left third place for BJ. The points on the final climb were therefore awarded to Dave, Keith, and BJ.

Great job to all who braved the elements. and a huge thank you to our favorite bike shop owner Mike from Town Cycle for providing the prizes to the winner of each climb.

The points for the day look like this...

Dave Kahl - 9

Keith Halla - 6

BJ Kisch - 3

(Ryan was not awarded points due to non membership, but it was agreed by the group he would be eligible for premiums)

The next and final KOM will be next Sunday, August 30. We will ride the original route, rain or shine. Come on out and take a wack at these hills - the payoff is worth every bit of it. There will also be some special "Super Premiums" for everyone who shows!

Tuesday and Wednesday fun!

A little late, but a quick reminder that we are at Jungle Habitat this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. Come take advantage of a weeknight trail build while they're still around! It's not raining and not sweltering for a change, so bring some water and gloves and we'll provide the tools.

Tomorrow we are going to take our show on the road and mountain bike ride at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in Jefferson. Let's try to be ready to ride at 5:30 p.m., as the daylight hours are shortening already. Meet at the Saffin Pond Visitors Center parking lot. If you need more info or directions, try this link - http://www.morrisparks.net/aspparks/mahlondir.asp . This is a really fun area to ride - once you try it, you're sure to go back!

King of the Mountain reminder!

We know it's hot, we know it's August, we know it's vacation time... but come ride with us anyway!

Friday night - barring weather complications, we'll do the usual Friday night road ride, meeting at 6 p.m. at the Village Square Inn, Rt. 23, Newfoundland.

Sunday - it's part ???? (we've had some rainouts!) of our King of the Mountain competition! We're going to do the route that got rained out last time, as the Renaissance Fair is still in town. We'll stay in New Jersey instead, and do Stonetown, Westbrook, and Otterhole. Still three climbs, still prizes and points, still meeting at Town Cycle and still leaving at 9 a.m. on the dot!

Hope to see you out there! Any questions, well, you know the drill .... info@teamtowncycle.com !

Trail work, Ladies Road Ride, and Wildcat Redux

Yes, it's hot, but that's not going to stop us - we'll be at Jungle Habitat on Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. to do some work. Bring plenty of fresh water, and we'll supply the tools!

Wednesday finds us with our standing Ladies road ride on Clinton Road. We'll meet as usual at 6 p.m. at the Village Square Inn. All levels of ability are welcome!

And finally, we're going to try this again - hopefully we won't get rained out again! A change of pace for our Wednesday mountain bike ride this week - Wildcat Ridge! We'll meet at a small dirt parking lot on Meridan Road off Green Pond Road in Rockaway, NJ at 5:30 p.m. For those driving from West Milford, it will be a left off of Green Pond Road after you travel past Lake Telemark and throught the town of Hibernia. For those coming off of Rt. 80, it will be on your right before you get to Hibernia (and before you start climbing the mountain.) See this map if you are unfamiliar with the area- http://tinyurl.com/mdup6k . The map from Google shows Heddy Road coming off of Green Pond Road, but we're pretty sure the street sign say Meridan. This Mapquest map shows it a bit differently - http://tinyurl.com/leulff . Any questions about the area, give us a shout.

The dirt parking lot is on the left less than 1/4 of a mile in off of Green Pond Road. The riding will be a medium paced ride on a combination of newer single track and fire roads. It'll be a great change of pace for us - come join us!

There you have it - a little something for everyone!

Welcome, West Milford Messenger readers!

To all of you who are joining us after seeing the article on the cover of the West Milford Messenger, welcome! We hope you'll poke around the site, check out our calendar, and join us for some of our upcoming events. If you are looking for trail maintenance work or trail building opportunities, for yourself or your group, please contact us. We're happy to work with your group or organization. Also check out www.jorba.org for more opportunities and information.

Upcoming events at Jungle Habitat include

• I Dig Tuesdays trail work, meeting at the entrance gate at 5:30 p.m.
  
• September 26 - Journey into the Jungle - a beginner mountain bike ride/clinic - for all ages
• September 27 - Rumble in the Jungle Mountain Bike Race.

We'll be adding weekend trail building opportunities starting in September, so check our Google calendar (on the left) or this blog for new dates.

As always, please leave a comment here or email us at info@teamtowncycle.com with any questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Weekend planning

OK, here's hoping the weather gods will let us have a full ride schedule this weekend! This is what we have in store -

Friday - our usual weekend warm-up, the Friday night Clinton Road ride. Meet us at 6 p.m. at the Village Square Inn, Rt. 23, Newfoundland. We always have all different ability levels, so don't be a chicken - come out and ride!

Saturday - Club member Mike Moskowitz will lead a beginner/moderately paced mountain bike ride at Waywayanda State Park on Sat. a.m. Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the boat launch parking lot. This is a great ride for newbies or for those who haven't ridden much lately, so get up early and get it in gear! In case of rain, we'll ride in a light drizzle only - any more that, we'll pull the covers back over our heads.

And finally, on Sunday, Gerard and Tom will be leading a Clydesdale mountain bike ride through the wonderful and scenic watershed of northern NJ. The ride will leave Tom's house at 30 Gould Road around 11:00 AM on Sunday. Non-Clydesdales (anyone weighing less than 200 lbs) will be required to sign a "No Hammering Pledge" or submit to carrying enough sand and rocks in their Camelbacks to compensate for the lighter weight and even the playing field. Gerard says he's bringing the Knob Creek flask he won at the Kahl Triathlon, and the route will take us past a couple of local watering holes, so you may want to bring a couple bucks. It should be an interesting ride!

Any questions, let us know!

Correction - I Dig Tuesday CANCELED 8/4

Here's a message from Jeff Mergler at JORBA -

Sorry for the late notice but personal commitments will keep Dave,
Bogert and I from leading the normally scheduled trail work tonight.
(4 August 2009).

If you are looking to top off Pay Dirt or are looking to better your
chances for the Cyclecraft/Bicycle Hub raffle, or you are looking for
another volunteer activity, please consider another park nearby, such
as Wawayanda (this Sunday), Allamuchy on Wednesdays or come back and see us
next Tuesday when we resume work on the otter slide trail.

Also, if you are looking to do some ad-hoc work, we could really use
some volunteers to go in and clip some face slappers and other light
trail maintenance. If you're interested in that, please contact us
directly at jungle at jorba.org

Thanks!

http://www2.jorba.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1312

Let's ride!

OK, while we still work to dodge the rain, we have a few weekday opportunities for you. As usual, Tuesdays we have our I Dig Tuesdays trail work session at Jungle Habitat. Good for working on those Pay Dirt points if you are a racer, and good for everyone as we create more trails to ride on!

Wednesday we are going to try again for our new trail location. Club member Greg Muniz has a new area of trails in the Awosting area that he is anxious to show us. Meet us at 5:30 at Greg's house, 7 Greenwood Avenue in the Awosting section of West Milford. There is a chance of rain - heavy rain will cancel, but if it's light, we'll give it a go!

Lastly, there is our usual Wednesday ladies road ride on Clinton Road - meet at 6 p.m. at the Village Square Inn. All ability levels welcome! Rain will cancel.

Stay tuned for our weekend schedule, coming to a computer near you soon!