Wildlife: Turkeys

It may seem a bit odd to write a post about turkeys because they look so nonchalant and move fairly slowly and deliberately.   However, they can get aggressive and they often travel in packs.  You don't want to get attacked by six turkeys at once.  As turkeys get habituated with humans, this aggressive behavior is likely to increase every season.

The primary time when a turkey is most likely to be aggressive is when there are chicks around; as you might expect, turkeys will get aggressive if they think their chicks are in danger.  The season for chicks typically begins in early May.  Some chicks can hatch in April.  So, chick time is essentially from about mid-April through the end of the year.  Essentially, always be wary that chicks will be somewhere near turkeys. 

If there is a turkey or turkeys in the trail and you can't get by, do the following:

  • Be loud and aggressive with your words; turkeys will avoid dominant species.  The turkeys are likely to move on into the woods.
  • If the turkeys won't move after yelling at them, spray the turkeys with your water bottle.  This is one of the few species of animal where this could actually work, like cats, turkeys hate water.   We haven't ever had to do this.  However, as stated above, as turkeys get more comfortable with people each season, they are likely to get more aggressive. 

Aggressive turkeys are no joke; be aware.

 

Maneha 250: Tour Divide Preparation

One of the original intentions behind Overland Base Camp's Maneha 250 ride was to create a warm up test for those brave souls riding the Tour Divide.  The Divide is one of the rides to which we aspire; it's a 2,745 mile mixed-terrain ride that rolls from Banff, Canada, south to the Mexican border at Antelope Wells, New Mexico.  The ride follows the Great Divide.

The Maneha 250 is the only organized ride in New England that is a suitable gear and body test for the Tour Divide.  The Maneha offers every type of terrain, every kind of riding possible, and about as many miles each of the two days - 125 miles - as the better Divide riders complete each day.

The primary reason that the Maneha 250 offers two ride categories - one being Bikepacking - is for the express purpose of testing your equipment in a setting similar to Tour Divide.  You carry everything you'll need for the Tour; we're certain you'll learn a thing or two about how to improve your setup - what not to bring, packing more effectively, how to attach gear so it won't rattle lose, and more.

Make no mistake, the Tour Divide is unlike anything else in the United States, and the Maneha makes no claim to compare to the Divide.  But, if you're rolling the Divide in June, the Maneha is the only ride in the area that provides a platform for testing body, mind, spirit, and equipment in a setting similar the Divide.  fortunately, the Maneha provides full support so you can push harder and further than you would on a solo test.

We chose the weekend of May 9 and 10 because it's a month before Tour Divide.  This provides nearly five more weeks of modifying and fine-tuning your gear setup after a hard test on Maneha.

If you're doing the Divide this year, join us on the Maneha 250!  We think you'll find the investment worthwhile.

Prepare to ride on.

Robert Frost Poem: The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

     --  Robert Frost