I took a 50 mile ride in Woodford yesterday, and figured I'd post a report, even though there's already been a big snowfall since then, so the conditions are already different.

We left the heartwellville parking lot a little before 10:30. At the time, there was only 1 other truck parked there. The trail out of the parking lot was crap... a huge water hole right at the bottom, and a bunch of water bars. Once we got beyond this first 2 mile stretch, things improved drastically. There wasn't another water bar anywhere in the woodford area. Trails were flat and smooth, but rock hard. We rode slightly off trail a few times to keep everything cool. By noon-ish we started seeing a lot of riders, and the hard trails had been broken up and were more of a sugary consistancy. Handling was good, and now the snow was flying into the rear suspension more. We did the glastenbury loop, but went no farther north since the cops were said to be at the lake, and my riding partner's insurance company goofed and sent his insurance papers with his old sled's information instead of the new one. We played it safe and stayed away. Once back in woodford, he decided he wanted to ride home via Tru's store. That trail sucked. Lots of open water, and bumpy as hell.

Overall, the riding was good if you stayed in woodford.

Last night we received about 10" of snow in heartwellville. Woodford probably got between 10-12". Once groomed, the trails will be pretty good, but I expect to still see some open water out of heartwellville and on the smaller trails. With another similar snowfall coming tonight, trails should be great mid/late week once groomed, but enjoy them because next week it warms up again. I'm expecting the trails to be PACKED this weekend, so if you can get some mid-week riding in, you'll be better off.

Nice report Jim

I forgot to mention (and can't seem to find the "edit" button anymore) that when we came out of the woods at 2:30 the parking lot was nearly full. There were a lot of riders on the trails in woodford after noon, but in the morning they were practically empty.