The Yips

"Another one bites the dust. And another one down, and another one down..."

Ever had one of those rides where it doesn't matter how wide the bridge is, you ARE going to fall off of it? I've had two such rides.... No worries though, "Marty" is fine. He landed in the water once, while I made it to the stream bank, but nothing serious. The bridge, on a lesser used trail in Horse Hill Preserve, was sketchy at best, but.....

My second fall, at Yudicky in Nashua, was off of a narrow ramp going over a large tree. The ramp I rode up was much wider than the one going off the other side. Rode up, saw the downside ramp, grabbed brakes, and rode off the side and fell into the bushes. The bushes sustained crushing injuries....

So now I have the yips.....you know....when everything suddenly looks scary to ride on the bike, even the stuff you've done a million times! And then it's yips squared when it happens two days in a row....

But I'd have to say, I've had some great rides this week. The trails in the area are drying up nicely, and lots of trail gnomes have been out cleaning them up. (THANK YOU!)

Harold Parker in Andover, MA is great. On Wednesday we rode on the Jenkins Road side....more technical and rocky. "Marty" was great until the near dark flat (I"m still dealing with the thorn issue in the rear tire....) On Saturday went to Tucker Brook in Milford. Most of the trails had been cleared although we found a section that suffered immensely from the ice storm. Milford was one of those towns without power for almost 2 weeks this winter, so it's no wonder the trails need work. But Tucker Brook is a must ride. A lot more trail there than it appears on the map. If you look closely in spots (when you get to places that a trail should be....)you'll likely find one! My first ride there last summer did cause me to ride some trails the WRONG way.....trails that were definitely built to ride downhill! On Sunday we rode at Grater Woods in Merrimack. Tom Vallincourt has built some sweet trails in this area.....the milliped, the salamader, and now the eft trail. All sweet, twisty singletrack with some challenge thrown in here and there. Probably about 4 miles of trail total, and if you go out and back, it makes for a good ride. I've never seen a map of this area though..... On Monday John and I rode at Yudicky (as mentioned above). Another GREAT place to ride. About 1 1/2 hours of riding if you do all the trails. Again, a lot of nice twisty singletrack with a few more challenging trails with some stunts on the other side of the road. I first explored this area using Peter DeSantis' book "Get Out and Ride". It a good place to start....