"small change" wrote in message
...
Today I went over to Canfield mountain with my new club co-president for a
"tour" and some unofficial activity. We hooked up with our Idaho liaison,
and we headed out early for a climb to the top of Canfield mountain. The
idea was to show us around: I've been there twice before on hit-and-miss
explorations. We left early to try and beat the mud, hit the trails while
they were still frozen. A four mile climb to the top brought us out he

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...field1sm-w.jpg

then lots and lots of trails. This area is shared with dirt bikes, so the
trails are a little mixed in surface quality but it's great to be out, and
I
love to see new places. The trails are interesting texture... we started
early enough that the surface is crunchy with ice crystals and crusty
frozen
mud. Rutted too, sharing the trail with really big tires makes for
interesting riding to say the least. It's a little slow going for me, I
haven't been out a lot and the trail conditions are different enough that
I
take my time. I'm "pokey" today, but the rest of the gang are racers so
they
need someone to keep them real. :-)

As we hit the return end of the loop... mud. And more mud. Greasy sticky
heavy mud. Ride loose mud. Mud that fills up your bottom bracket so that
the
deraillers don't work mud. Mud that make your wheels stop if you go too
slow. I've never ridden anything like it so might as well enjoy the
slide,
er ride.

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...c-fieldmud.jpg

That bike must have weighed 10 pounds more than usual by the time we got
down the hill. I've certainly picked the right guys to ride with, there
were
latte's and muffins waiting for us, for part 2.

Then we all change our of our goopy gear for part two of the day, which is
installing anti-ATV barriers on two of the trails. These trails are for
dirt
bikes and bikes only, no quads but those guys will try and go anywhere
Hopefully these "turkey chutes" will help:

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...s/c-field2.jpg
http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...s/c-field3.jpg
http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...s/c-field4.jpg

penny






Cotswold mud...

http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/phot...w&image=397682


Note, this was after 6 miles of road riding to get home, so a lot had fallen
off.
And, yes, I was as unfit as I looked!

AndyC