Woke up anxious to ride and awaited my 2 "newbie" friends from mass. They arrived right on time at 7:30 am. After unloading we were ready for the 2nd annual "Lempster" ride...last year they rode 60 Miles here.
My plan was to focus more north and east after reviewing trail conditions. Our 1st stop was the Acworth general store where I've become accustomed to breakfasts weekly and am considered a "regular" now...headed towards Marlow then west towards acworth, I was very pleased with the trail conditions...all flat, good base and no surprises. We arrived and ate a well rounded breakfast. Headed north on 5, I went against my plan and headed more west to reach Perry mountain to share a great local view. The trails still had good base and snow but I could see a few hazards starting to show. Trails were all used and still in great shape surprisingly. Heading up to the view point was a little steep but the "newbies" made it without a hiccup. At the top all I heard was wow, what a view!
I later found out they weren't picked and had worn tracks...it took some skill to get up there so they've earned some great riding points.
We headed down and decided to make our way to Claremont...again not so much east but I figured in true WPR fashion, I wanted to do a loop vs back tracking. If we could make it to Claremont and gas up, we could then head east and enjoy only better trails...even though everything was ok still as far as trails. Being Presidents Day, we saw a fair amount of riders and again, other than a few thin spots, I was happy with the conditions in the spots I was most worried about.
After a stop at Cumberland farms in Claremont, we ran the gauntlet of lights headed east on the main drag. We got onto the sugar river trail which was getting thin at the start but ended very nicely as we went further east. Once in newport we ran into more riders and my plan was to head towards Goshen for some speed runs to check my new clutching. Once in Goshen, we ripped across the reservoir a few times and then headed into Pillsbury State park...conditions were A+ and I turned up the speed to a steady WPR groove with a ear to ear grin.
Working through Pillsbury, our last stop was the vista view from the windmills, one of the sleds was starting to have a secondary clutch issue but we were close to a great view and made it up there without an issue. The view was incredible and a few other riders joined us...one with a redone 03' F7 which we had a great conversation about.
Heading back "down" towards home, we encountered multiple riders making their way up to the windmills for what must have been an incredible sunset. Working our way through the connector trails we finally made it home with exactly 100 Miles logged in for the day. They guys loaded up a little tired but they had that familiar smile of satisfaction. #388
