After putting in some road miles this past Saturday, I headed to Northeast Connecticut on Sunday morning to do some mountain biking. A friend who lives there decided we should explore the trails around West Thompson Lake. If you know the area, it’s just off I-395 in the Northeast most corner of state. Thompson CT borders both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Neither of us had ever ridden there, so it would be a new experience.
For the most part, it was moderately technical single track. I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners as it was fairly rocky and steep in sections. We managed to stay on our bikes for the majority of the loop.
There were bridges and wooden structures throughout the ride to get us over the creeks and particularly wet section. These are always fun to ride (and bunny hop off of).
Some of the trail was hard packed and fast, nice and narrow without the large rocks that donned the rest of the trail. These sections were particularly fun to really put the pedal down.
At various times, the trail crept out of the woods for views of Thompson lake, but it also passed various smaller ponds, creeks, and wetlands.
I’m pretty sure there were aliens spawning from this body of water.
It was a solid day of riding. We were both on Montague folding bikes (Paratrooper not pictured), so we were able to drive to and from the trail head with both bikes in the trunk. When I headed back to Boston, I had my road bike and my mountain bike comfortably in the car as well.
Montague is a good option between a normal and a folding bike, easy bike to fold and store in the car or home and not feel the size difference as when you go from a normal bike to a folding bike. But to do mtb routes, how it works? gives the same performance as a conventional mtb?
Hey Oscar,
Our mountain bikes really ride like a normal hardtail mountain bike. In addition to full size wheels and standard components, our bikes also use a very different frame design from other folders. The two halves of the frame rotate around the seat tube, rather than breaking the tubing with a standard hinge. When they bike is unfolded, the two halves overlap. Mountain Bike Action Magazine said in a review “You forget that you are in the saddle of a bike that can be stored in a closet.” No lie!