more on trails

Anyone who's looked at this blog since we moved to Chambersburg knows of my zeal to learn the mtn bike trails in Michaux. It would help greatly if I weren't always at the back of the pack. I'm lucky that someone actually waits for me at all the near-invisible turns and junctions. If I could get up front, then maybe I could stop once in a while and get a good look around. The locals here know the trails by name far better than they know them by map. I guess since the trail names aren't on any maps, that makes sense. I'm also learning that the trails are like "here today, gone tomorrow". They can be destroyed by logging, closed off for huge deer exclosures, ruined by ATVs etc.

The trail names are interesting and sometimes revealing, like they're named after who built the trail, or a certain scary creature found on the trail a few times, or so-and-so's career-ending crash trail, or someone's trail to town 100 years ago. Names like Spooge, Buckets, Black Andy's, Turtle, Heislers, Carumba etc.

A typical ride, like yesterday's, starts off late week with an initial e-mail proposing a parking lot to start at, and a loose outline of trail names to be followed. Then, a flurry of replies about the start location being too close to someone's house, or, we started there last week, suggestions concerning folks' sexuality, frequency of sexual activity, the type of sexual partners, and other humorous and important input. Somehow, a parking lot gets agreed upon and we all show up on time. Get dressed, conduct safety checks, and then, the "where are we riding" discussion begins, usually, as we're all just riding circles at the cars. It goes something like this (of course, these names are just random, cuz I still don't know how to connect any of these trails).

"Why don't we go down Turtle, over to this, do that, and then Buckets..."
"Why would you go down Turtle, what the hell would you take to get back up....?"
"Up Narrows??, who the fuck would want to climb Narrows..?"
"No one, but it'll piss the single-speeders off...."
"How 'bout Spooge?"
"Spooge has been trashed by the fucking loggers.."
"WHAT!!! "

Eventually, someone just starts riding away, with the others yelling, "where the fuck are you going...". And the ride is underway.....