-Trip Report- Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest: The Silver Line (November 2011)

After the leaves have fallen, the Silver Line magically appears.  Pressed from the foliage, the tannins retreat into the soil bringing relief to mountain bikers fumbling along leaf covered trails.

For a few fleeting weeks, it lends a helping hand until the snow claims the forest floor.

Thank you, Silver Line.  Thank you, Mr. November.

You can read my full review of the trails here.

More photos after the jump.

Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest (September 2011)

If you're anything like me, you've been marvelously uninformed about Lowell.  Where I pictured an industrial wasteland lies one of Massachusetts' best mountain bike trail systems.  If you haven't made the trip, it may be time to check out Lowell-Dracut-Tyngsboro State Forest.

The Waltham Rail Trail

The Waltham Rail "Trail" as seen from the Goodyear Blimp

Sometimes there's a pot of gold and a plucky leprechaun at the end of the rainbow.  And sometimes there's just a smelly hobo lying in an explosion of empty liquor bottles......kinda like the time I went to find the Waltham Rail Trail.

One Down. Two to Go.

The squiggly blue line is much more fun than the yellow lines.

I set three goals for my non-skiing adventures this off-season.  I'm happy to say that this week I checked the first of these off my list.

I mountain biked to work.

Russell Mill Town Forest: Packed Full of Flow

Follow the bedrock road.

Recently I had a chance to make the trip up Route 3 to Chelmsford, MA and explore the offerings of Russell Mill Town Forest.

I discovered what many of the Metrowest mountain bikers already know.  Russell Mill has some of the best singletrack in the region.

Beyond the Minuteman: Whipple Hill (August 2011)

A Fells-ish spot at Whipple.

I was upside down, completely underwater and with my bike on top of me. Despite the thought of being trapped, I found it hard not to laugh at my predicament.

It was the summer of 2008 and I was biking the Nanamocomuck trail with a couple friends who had gotten far enough ahead of me to be out of sight.  “The Nan” was a wild trail, littered with blow downs, running along the Kancamagus Highway.  A long section of the trail ran atop an elevated berm with occasional water crossings. The first few of these crossings were only inches deep.

Beyond the Minuteman: Landlocked Forest Unlocked

Paint Mine Area:  Good place for biking.  Not so good for flying kites.

A short time ago I lived in a world where an evening ride at the Landlocked Forest in Burlington, MA required me to first drive through rush hour traffic on Route 128.  Well I’m happy to say that the world as I knew it has ceased to exist. 

In its place is a better world.   One where you don’t need a car to go mountain biking; where you can ride for hours while avoiding busy roads with drivers who would rather make you a hood ornament than arrive at their destinations thirty seconds later;  and a world where you DON’T have to listen to Metallica on the way to Yoga class.

Welcome to the world just beyond the Minuteman.

Bedford Isn't The End of the Line: Part II (Taking a Right Turn)

An Ewok threw a rock at me after I took this.

My exploration of the sylvan byways of Metro-West Boston continued with a ride on the Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail in Bedford.

Wendell State Forest: Getting Hooked on Dual Suspension

It's Wendell, Not Wendal.

Wendell State Forest in Massachusetts is much like her hot sister Leominster.  Rocky, hilly, wild and large.

Why the people of the Commonwealth chose to name her after an annoying Arrested Development song is beyond me. 

Bedford Isn't The End of the Line

You can get here from downtown Boston using bike trails.  Really.

Okay, so I'm getting a little obsessed with finding "wilderness pathways" in the Boston suburbs.  Maybe it's my mortal fear of road biking around Boston drivers, but my quest to find bike paths linking different parts of the suburbs brings me way too much enjoyment.

Leominster State Forest: In the Diving Bubble

You got your rock wall on my trail.  You got your trail on my rock wall.

Leominster and I go way back. 

Back when my idea of mountain biking was riding the fire road freeways at Blue Hills, I found a place that challenged my idea of where a mountain bike could go.  Every Thursday my buddy Gered and I made runs down the spine jarring, bone bruising, glorified streambeds that Leominster calls trails.

Did I mention that we used to ride there at night?

The Western Greenway Expands: A Dream Is Born

My mountain biking universe just got a little bigger.  Walnut Street used to signify the edge of my nightly ride in Belmont, but two weekends of volunteer trail work by NEMBA has changed everything.

-Trip Report- Mt. Greylock: Thunderstruck

Few trails are steeped in history like the Thunderbolt on Massachusetts' highest mountain: Mt. Greylock.  Sitting above the town of Adams in Western Mass., the mountain was a mecca for backcountry skiers in the 1930's and 40's. (Except in those pre-lift days they were just known as skiers.)  It remains a popular destination for skiers and boarders: expecially when the Berkshires fill-in with snow.