First Monster Cross Ride

The Tour de Roxbury, back in early 2009, would be my first taste of local Gravle and the beginning of a new love affair with this riding surface.  Rail Trails and greenways have some similar qualities to but they are entirely too predictable and not very challenging.  In order to get ready for the TdR I had to take the Qball out on a test ride of what I thought would best emulate the conditions. 

At the Beaver Pond

There is an old railroad bed by my house that you can ride and it connects to a trail system frequented by ATVs and Equestriennes. I rode out through the vineyard and picked up Al's Trail, a ten mile trail that runs from Fairfield Hills to the Pond Brook Boat Ramp. Once on the trail from the rail bed it turns into single track and takes a serpentine route to Walnut Tree Hill Rd with one gradual and another fall line climb.  The Qball handled them nicely although the hand positions for climbing were unfamiliar and it took some getting used to.  Riding across Walnut Tree the trail heads in towards a beaver pond and then dumps out onto Black Bridge Road.

 

Where the pavement ends and gravel starts you can ride all the way to the Black Bridge but crossing at this point is not safe and the road on the other side only continues another couple of hundred yards to Glenn Road in Sandy Hook.  So I turned around and headed home from here, riding some more single track along the way, too, and since this was after work, it turned into a night ride.

It was damp and a little muddy here and there, but the Qball handled the terrain admirably.  While I had the Qball set up as a 3x9 the port barend shifter only worked for two rings upfront so I stayed with the Granny and Mid ring just to be safe.  The riding position was also comfortable, too, but climbing was still interesting because I really didn't have a hand position for climbing out of the saddle.  Of course, later down the road, I learned that you don't climb out of the saddle.  Riding rigid was fine in the single track, too, something that have been doing on Qball for years, anyway.  Tour de Roxbury, here I come!