Today I went to Moreau Lake State Park.  It’s about 45 minutes north of Albany, NY.

It took me about an hour to figure out where the actual trail head was.  The park doesn’t officially open for the season until the end of May, so the roads inside the park were mostly closed.  I finally found a trail head on the outside of the park.  Right as I took off in what I figured must be the right direction I ran into two ladies.  They gave me directions for the best route to take.

I started out climbing for 30-40 minutes.  Being my first climb of the season, it took a lot out of me.  When I got to the top I veered to the right at a fork and crossed a small stream.  I then hit the summit of one of the hills or small “mountains” in the system.  It was a decent view, but I got the feeling this wasn’t the best part.

I backtracked and took what would have been the left at the fork.  This led me up some really nice single track where I hit what was truly the summit.  The view was spectacular.  You could see out over Moreau Lake and over the entire valley.  On the other side of the valley I could see the peaks of the Adirondacks.

The two ladies who gave me directions were up there and I got more information on where to go from there.  I then rode the ridge for about an hour.  It was a very spongy manicured single track.  All of the trails were marked very well.  Whenever there was a little bit of doubt on where to go there was a small circle with the color code for the trail.  The ladies told me to stay on the red trail and at all costs avoid the yellow trail.  “It’s not really a biking trail.  It’s super technical.  It’s more for hiking.  You’ll know if you get on it because it’s crazy.”

So I looked for yellow.

When I finally hit yellow I saw that it veers the opposite direction from where I wanted to go.  It took me up and over another ridge.  I then crested and saw the trail leading me down the other side of the mountain.  I figured I shouldn’t take it because then I’d be stuck at the bottom of a valley with a 500 foot climb and 10 miles of trail between me and the car.

So I backtracked out and started heading back to the car.  I didn’t get to experience the technical aspects of the yellow trail.  I will surely look for yellow again next time out and take it all the way to check out this supposedly super crazy tail.

The last mile or so was a super fun reward of fast rocky downhill.  Being on my hardtail, it was a little nerve racking at points.  I was just praying that no huge rock popped up and kicked my wheel out or something, but it was super fun.  It was probably the fasted I’ve gone on the TOP.  It felt like a real downhill trail.

If you are ever in the capitol region of New York (Albany and Saratoga Springs area) then definitely check out this trail.  It reminds me of the trails out west.  Most of the publicity for trails around this area goes to the Saratoga Mountain Bike Association Trails, so that’s what I’ve been riding.  But those trails are pretty tame.  They are like most of the trails in the Kansas City area.  Good for a quick after work ride, but they don’t feel like real mountain biking.  I got that feel with this system.

Reminds me of this little scandal: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/sports/cycling/04tour.html

The well-known slopestyle contest will be in addition to a new gravity portion of what they are now calling a “festival”. Expect all the top freeriders to battle it out once again.
http://claymorechallenge.com/

Recently Shimon Schocken spoke in Tel Aviv about a program he started in Israel for taking juvenile offenders mountain biking. The way he talks about being out in the middle of no where with nothing but incredible scenery and a sense of accomplishment will resonate with every mountain biker.

And since mountain bikers tend to be interested in stuff like this, I’ll suggest some other TED videos for you. There are really some amazing presentations at these conferences.
http://www.youtube.com/,,, (linking every picture on the internet)
http://www.youtube.com/… (why work doesn’t happen at work)
http://www.youtube.com/… (brain computer interface)
http://www.youtube.com/… (math magician…gotta see this one to believe it)

Outside of the PNW this is THE coolest trail system in the country. This park has everything from steep whistler style rock rollers and step downs to huge 15 foot gap jump lines and massive drops. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was another gap jump or skinny or just something super cool.  And it’s all in a free to enter state park.

I was lucky enough to hook up with a group of local riders to get a tour of the park. We had around 10 guys total and it was a lot of fun.

Here’s a huge gap jump. The gap was probably around 15 feet and had big consequences. No one in my group felt like killing ourselves, so we didn’t hit it.

Here’s my favorite feature out there so far. A steep rock roller. Right after the roller you have a step up to platform then drop off the platform.

And here’s a double line. Pretty big gaps here with a step down and drop leading into it.

I had the opportunity to spend a day at Highland Mountain Bike Park in New Hampshire riding the Trek Session 88.

My first impression was that it’s a very light bike for being a full on downhill rig.  I ran SRAM x.0 shifters, Elixer brakes and Bontrager tires front and back.

When I first got on it, I was surprised by how tight the cockpit felt.  It’s a size large, but it felt too small for me.  I’m 6′ 1″ and normally ride a size medium Transition BottleRocket so this didn’t make much sense.

The fork was a Fox 40 and felt amazing.  I fell in love with this thing the very first run.  My normal fork is a Fox 36 Talas.  The stiffness of the 40 mm stanchions really showed through and the plushness was glorious.  This thing floated over everything.

For being a downhill bike, people aren’t generally concerned with pedalability too much.  But, I did a few tests on some short up hills.  I was able to pedal fairly easily while sitting down, but would not like doing a major climb.  If I had to climb to my hill, I’d probably be pushing up most of it or putting a larger cassette on.

Overall I like the bike.  I can’t say it was “amazing”.  I’m a Transition guy, and am use to their geo.  This bike didn’t feel as comfortable as the Transitions.

Patrick at Carlmont from keithdasneak on Vimeo.

It looks like the FMBA accepts memberships from individuals sort of like the IMBA.  I’m not sure what you get out of it though.  It costs 25 Euros.  Google says that’s $30.

The FMB tour doesn’t actually create new events, it just links current events and ranks riders.  A lot like the World Cup.  There have already been 6 events with 12 more before the year’s out.

Current top 5 are:

1. Sam Pilgrim
2. Szymon Godziek
3. Jamie Goldman
4. Martin Soderstrom
5. Ray Samson