Week Night Group Ride at Rockland Preserve in Madison, CT

Описание: Like most people I know, I’ve had a core group of riding friends for a while now. And while we are always good for a ride on the weekends, busy schedules can keep some of us off the trails during the week. Luckily I got myself added to a ride email list which has over 20 riders which almost guarantees that if you want to ride you’re bound to find at least a few other people willing to join you. Today about 10 people responded to the call and we are riding in one of my absolute favorites places to ride: Rockland Preserve in Madison, CT

The full tour of Rockland weighs in at just over 15 miles. I’ve painstakingly imported my Strava ride of this epic into MTB project, so if you are looking to do the whole thing check out the description of this video for a link to that page. Unlike most trails in CT, Rockland is extremely well maintained, trails are marked, and there are maps at nearly every major intersection.

For today’s ride we decided to serve up a smaller portion of trails which include the newest trail Rishy that features skinnies, rollers, and a bunch of fun jumps. From here we rode a few connector trails up to Summit Station and then onto Mary’s Ghost. Mary’s Ghost starts fast and twisty and features a big drop which, up until today, I’ve aways rode around. I decided to follow one of the more skilled riders who normally hits the drop to see if that makes a difference

After Mary’s Ghost we continued onto Thunderdome, a staple of Rockland, a bad ass trail name, and the backbone of the blue loop. We didn’t ride the entire thing but couldn’t help taking a few runs at the roller and two jumps before turning off onto Dirt Church

We soon decided to move onto Dirt Church. When this trail was first cut I preferred to stay on Thunderdome, but as it has evolved the decision to split of onto Dirt Church or ride the rest of Thunderdome has become much harder to make. Dirt Church is mostly downhill and as a result has a bunch of excellent berms and recently a few little kicker jumps have been build which are a welcome addition. Dirt Church wraps up with a fast, fun, rip roaring good time of a downhill which drops you at the start of dark side.

Darkside, the second to last trail for today’s ride. If we are totally honest with ourselves, Darkside is a cross country trail through and through, but somehow the way it was built makes it feel like something else. There is just enough playtime and breaks from climbing that over the years it has become one of my favorite trails to ride.

And here we are. A quick blast half way up Bambi and onto Mag 5. I sometimes find myself using the same terms to describe trails, so for this trail I’ll read a short blurb from the town’s website:

“Mag-5 represents the 5 magnificent trail segments that make the loop.  Riders wind down and around a bony, jarring and exciting 2+ miles of the most challenging terrain within Rockland Preserve.  Mag-5 has plenty of stunt options along with steep climbs and descents along rock-lined ridges.“

And just before we finished the first trail segment I had a little mishap on this little feature I’ve done multiple times before. Luckily everything was fine, which is good because I wouldn't want to miss the channeling, technical downhill that wrap up the first third of Mag 5.

Mag 5 continues beyond what we've seen today, but because we were losing light I decided to not record the rest of the trails, with the exception of this big rock roll at the end of the 2nd large section.

And that’s just a small taste of what Rockland has to offer. If you are within driving distance of Madison and you haven't been here get in your car right now and check it out. Thanks to everyone who came out on the ride today and to you for watching this very long video. Now it’s your turn, get out there and ride!

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