GP-NEMBA/BCM Skill Building/Beginner’s Ride #2 – Stroudwater Trail – Portland

Come join us for the second installment of the Skill Building/Beginner’s Ride series!
See the event on the calendar for maps and more details.

GP-NEMBA/BCM Skill Building/Beginner’s Ride #2 of the season on Saturday, 5/19 on the Stroudwater Trail in Portland.
Meetup at 9:45am, riding by 10am… Ages 10 and up and all abilities welcome!
On this approximately 2 hour ride you can expect mellowness, lots o’ stops, technical skills instruction, some falling, and lots of laughing.
A fun and comfortable learning environment is what it’s all about!
Meet this ride with Brian at the blue Subaru Outback with the excessively-stickered roof box in the Maine Medical Partners lot at 1577 Congress Street in Portland. We’ll ride over to the trailhead from there.
This ride is weather and trail condition dependent. Updates will be posted here, on the Rage on Portland email list, the MOAC email list, and to those who contact Brian directly.

What to bring on ANY ride (in order of importance):
* A helmet
* Water and a snack
* A spare tube and a pump or co2 inflator
* A multi-tool

Email Brian at bjdanz@gmail.com with any questions.

Trail Work Thursday Evening – Blackstrap Preserve – Falmouth

Take a look at the calendar for details on this event!

From Allspeed:

Blackstrap Trail Day #1
When: Thursday, May 17th @ 5:30pm
Where: Blackstrap Preserve entrance off of Hurricane Road
What: The Orange Trail unfortunately is susceptible to a lot of moisture, however we have surveyed the area and come up with a plan to build bridges and boardwalks that will avoid many if not all of the permanent wet spots. In total we need to build ten bridges and two boardwalks. What does this mean? It means we need to carry in a ton of wood (literally!). We need your help carrying in the materials we will need to build these bridges (no building will take place on this trail day). We should be able to get all of the materials to the individual job sites within a couple hours or so.
Why: Two months ago, the Town of Falmouth was talking about shutting down these trails, now they are letting us preserve them for future use. It is important that projects like this receive support from the mountain biking community to let the town know that WE are serious about supporting the trails WE ride. The reality is that most of you ride on Thursday evenings, we are suggesting that you give up one night of riding and come help support the trails you ride.
Who: If YOU ride these trails, we need your support! Even if you can only help out for a half hour, it’s worth it. Haven’t ridden at Blackstrap yet? This is a perfect opportunity to check it out and meet people and get to know the lay of the land.
Any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with me. Also, if you are interested in helping, please RSVP so I can get a headcount by emailing chris {at} allspeed dot com.

Thank You in advance for all of your efforts,

Chris

Another Successful Trail Work Day in Yarmouth!

We had a great turnout for the trail building in Yarmouth on Saturday! Here’s a word of thanks from the organizers… way to represent, NEMBA!

Hi Folks,

We want to thank everyone who came out for Saturday’s work day and to those who pitched in on Thursday and Friday to prep and stage materials along the trail. Over 40 people pitched in to make this the most productive work day since trail work began last year. It was a also the first time we didn’t have rain on the day before and the weather was absolutely perfect.

You all managed to clear every bit of trail we had on the schedule and installed our longest bench cut/retaining wall system ever. I’ve attached a pic of the “Great Wall” crew let by Jim Tasse from the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

I want to personally thank Andrew Favreau and Bill Buss for taking charge of prepping all the lumber and organizing so it could be delivered to the right location. We had a great crew of movers from the Parks Department and Ed Ashley and Jeremy who loaded whatever we needed and hauled it out on the trails. But we would have been stuck in the mud (both literally and figuratively) without the 40 mud mats that Warren Michelson loaned us (his entire stock!). We were up to our ears in mud on Friday and it took us a while to find the last couple mats at the end of the work day because they were so deeply embedded in the mud at the entrance gate.

As always, our friends from the Yarmouth Rotary and NEMBA turned out in force. Your expertise and enthusiasm made a huge difference.

We’ll keep you posted on upcoming weekday and weekend outings and work days.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this day a tremendous success!

-Dan