Mike L, Jeff, Frate and myself hit up Borderland State Park in Easton, MA on Monday for some hot and rocky riding. For a small park this place packs plenty of techy NE riding in spades. I'd try to recommend some standout trails but really they are all great fun to ride, with the NEMBA trail showcasing the talents of the local trail builders in the SE MA area. The long rock armored section of the trail is one of the most fun features to ride in the park. Other standouts include the aptly Granite Hills trail and the Split Rock trail. We spent around 3 hours out there and managed to completely drain our Camelbacks and eat all of our food, and we only had one crash. Frate was really digging the Altitude 29er and crushed some of the technical climbs and longer rock gardens. Big wheel bikes do perform well in Borderland due to all the gaps and techy rock gardens. The rocks in Borderland are generally pretty grippy, and even with some humidity sticking around in the woods the traction w

A lot transpired in the last week or so since the last transmission from planet Blackstone. One half of the shop made the trip "all the way" up to the Redbones Bike Party in Somerville . This event was a blast with a ton of bike minded people of every ilk and vice imaginable making an appearance. It was great to see so many familiar NEMBA folks and a host of others in attendance. The raffle prizes were ridiculous; an ANT bikes complete bike, a $500 gift certificate from Geekhouse bikes , Highland Mountain Bike Park prize packs and a whole lot more. The good folks at Harpoon were there to compliment the super awesome Redbones BBQ . Check out the pics from the event, you might see a few people you know here and there. Consider heading up to this event next year as it is a great time, and it is one of the few events where all kinds of cyclists come together in one spot for a few good causes (Massbike and NEMBA). Now on to the Big River segment of this report... Mike Iafrate

Yeah, so, we're sorry about this. Not to sound too much like the non-stop cyclocross daydreamer that is Gewilli , but I just took receipt of a new Redline Conquest Pro and I felt compelled to post a few words about it here. I'll try to keep this brief so we can all go back to our regularly scheduled summertime cycling escapades. Simply put this is the nicest 'cross bike someone such as myself should be allowed to ride. One as ill equipped in the fitness department as I am should probably be relegated to singlespeed 'cross bikes (for the convenient poor performance excuses), or really low end bikes that can handle stupid human tricks. That said the first few outings on the Conquest Pro involved plenty of dirt, some mountain biking inspired stupidity and some real random "trails" north of the shop in the vicinity of Cumberland and Manville . The bike comes with some tubeless ready Hutchinson Bulldog 34s that are pretty comfy even with tubes, and they sport