One more tweak before blazing!

Well it's high time I finish up the Gussy Trail so that I can move on to bigger and better things. I recently joined the town's Trail Committee and going to look at building an extension or feeder trail to the Gussy on some nearby, town open space. I am also looking at helping someone built a trail on some state land, also in Newtown, and if that isn't enough making an extension to the CT NEMBA's Rock & Roll Trail so that it links up with the Blue Trail that goes into South Pond.

As for the Gussy, it's high time I get out and blaze the trail because I am getting complaints from visitors that they can't find the trail to start or once on it, they can't follow it. I guess these riders shouldn't try riding the trails at Nassahegen then because they will be in for a shock.

Wednesday's ride was really fun because I rode up the trail on my Single Speed for the first time and I think I am going to start riding it this way more often because it certainly gives you a different perspective. The short climb past the armoring, that Tren and I did this spring, has been bugging me since day one and I think I have it figured out now.

When you pass through the two pines there is a nice swale with maybe a 3% slope heading up to a little hillock above the trail. On the other side of the hillock it's really flat with some nice rocks that could be fun to roll off of - kind of like a miniature golf course, only for bikes.

Going the opposite direction, I want to bring the trail through the two pines and then cut diagonally across the lower swale and bring the trail around the little basin to meet up with the existing trail right at the start of the bypass for the horses. Hopefully, I'll be able to move that tree to create a nice skinny and use some of the pieces Tom cut up as an up-and-over or an elevated corduroy.

The Leaves are down

It seems like it's been a month or so since the last time I was on the Gussy Trail. Did a quick spin on it and it's looking great. With all the leaves down, though, it's really slippery. Also of note, I have heard through the grapevine that some trail riders came up to Newtown the other day but couldn't find the Gussy so it looks like I am going to have to finally blaze the trail. Look for that sometime this month or early next. Probably be green to stay constant with what has already been done.

Fall on the Gussy

There are a lot of leaves down on the Gussy but it's still pretty dry. The leaves make things a little slippery though. Also, it looks like the Western Connecticut Orienteering Club is using the Gussy for one of their meets. I found three points on the trail.

Last time I went down the Gussy on a rigid bike I was on my Fetish 69er. This is my Soul Cycles Dillinger on it's innaugural ride.

Tire Tracks on the Gussy?

Doesn't look like an ATV and it while it wouldn't be difficult to get a car up to this point, which is about 50 yards in from the Poly Brody, I think I would have noticed matted down grass on the way that a car, ATV or a tractor would make. Now that I think about it, my guess is that this mark belongs to some sort of hunter's contraption used to haul dead deer.

Not far from those tracks there was an Oak Tree limb down across the trail. At first I was wondering if I could make it into some sort of natural blocker but it wasn't shaped right.

Instead, I did what any good CT NEMBA Trail Ambassador would do, I cleared it away and opened the trail back up.

Seems there has been quite a bit of horse traffic lately and they are doing a much better job at curbing, too. In fact at one point it appears some piles were recently kicked off the trail.

Almost only counts in horsehoes and handgrenades ...

but it appears curbing your horse appears to be a new contender to that category. Perhaps it's the relationship to horseshoes that made the rider feel that they only needed to get off the trail a little bit. I appreciate the effort but next time I hope that rump is further off the trail.

By the way, the armoring on the stream crossing is really sweet!

Stream Armoring

I took my daughter, Katie, with me today to do some work on the Gussy Trail. I really wanted to finish the Pond Brook Connecter by armoring the stream crossing. First we went deep into the forest to a Rock Store to get a few flat rocks.

Then began the process of arranging them and getting them to fit just right. I found a few flat rocks nearby to supplement, too.

Not only were my boots and gloves wet from working in the water, I was drenched with sweat.

Two hourse later it was done. Now your disc brake rotor won't get wet crossing this stream.

Not the right way to block a trail

I ran into a neighbor on his quad yesterday while driving home from work and asked him where he rides that thing, of course the simple fact that he was riding it on the road was illegal, and he knew it, but when he said the State Forest, I had to go see for myself. I don't know where he was thinking but I couldn't see any signs of ATV usage in my area of the forest.

At the start of my ride, I headed down to the Pond Brook to check out the reroute and it's looking good. Figuring I would loop back on the new section of trail and the old section of trail I came across this trail block. While I appreciate the thought just putting logs that way probably won't deter a lot of people. If you want to block the trail you have to put a lot more brush down in order to get your point across that this section of the trail is closed. And what about the other end? Not sure if I mentioned this when I was doing the reroute but I left a spot open for people who might still use the old section.

We'll see if it holds.