Pioneer Valley NEMBA Chapter News

SingleTracks, December 2007

Finally, the colder weather has arrived (though today-Nov 14th was pretty nice!) and this really great fall season is ebbing into the winter riding months.

The biggest news item is that we've brokered a deal that reopens the singletrack of Northfield Mountain to biking. For those who don't know, Northfield Mountain, a popular hiking and XC skiing spot right off of rte 63 in Northfield, used to host a number of mountain bike races and still houses a beautiful network of pretty hilly and moderately challenging trails. A few years ago, these trails became off limits to bikers. But thanks to some good work by our regional leaders, the land managers at Northfield Mountain have graciously agreed to allow biking once again. In return, PV NEMBA will take over trail maintenance duties (of course). These trails will probably be subject to seasonal closures (Nov-April) to bikes. So please obey all posted signs if you visit.

In other news, our man on the scene in Hamden County (Steve Rossi) has continued his successful kids mountain bike ride series at Robinson SF. The final one of the season was Nov 18th. You can find listings for these rides on the nemba.org forums and on the mtbr.com forums in the Massachusetts threads.

Of note, there is a really impressive memorial stone bench at the top of Far East at Batchelor St. The bench memorializes Chuck Tanguay, one of the original architects of the incomparable Batchelor Street trails. Chuck passed away this summer and his longtime friends and fellow mountain riders put this together. Next time you ride Batchelor Street, please take a little time to stop by Chuck's bench, read the inscriptions, take a rest on it and pay your respects to one of the men who made it all happen here.

We've been spending a good deal of time sprucing up the trails and from Batchelor St to Wendell to the DAR everything is looking pretty good, so keep getting out and enjoying it before the snow flies.

The annual chapter meeting will be December 9th at the Notch Visitor Center on rte 116 in South Hadley/ Granby (Holyoke and Skinner SF Headquarters). We'll meet at 10am, talk shop, elect officers and ride afterwards. Hope to see all of you there.

That's it-enjoy the Holidays and try not to fall too far out of biking shape during the winter! —Liam O'Brien