Rothrock

I headed up to the State College, Rothrock State Forest area this weekend for an annual event put on by Griz. We were joined by some of the Stoopid 50 organizing crew, some State College locals, Karl, fast Jamie , and his buddy, Dean, the Dutch Eagle. EDIT: Dean easily gets the tough guy award after eating it hard, endoing on an elevated skinny rock ladder that wasn't too well constructed, and wasn't scoped or spotted in advance. After his biff, and some reconstruction while we waited on a flat to be fixed, he hopped on and nailed it. The only one of us to even try it.

Ray gettin' skinny (not the same one Dean biffed on)

We rode some great trails, a lot of which will be in the Stoopid 50, at least the ones we rode on Saturday will be. Sunday we rode some classics like Tussey Ridge Trail, Wildcat, John Wert, and The Edge. I've only ridden up there for a couple of the 101s, and most of that riding was done with head down and tounge hanging, so I really didn't get to appeciate how cool some of those trails are. A lot of it reminded me of the sticky green, boggy parts of the Monongahela like Slatyfork, and most others were more like the high dry and bony GW Nat'l Forest. Tussey Ridge Trail was sublime, and the new trails we rode on Saturday are beyond my wordsmithy abilities to describe. I think the coolest of which was called Chicken Peter, and it was recently built by one of the guys on the ride. Incredible rock work, flowy, contours, groooovveee stuff. Every single guy uttered "wow" as soon they exited that trail, and singletrack salutes, promises of riches, beer, and future earnings were bestowed upon the master trail builder. Let's all hope this trail is in the 50!

the 4-H Camp near Penn-Roosevelt that we based from.

the windiest part of the loop is not the best spot for a safety meeting

custom holiday lights, Rothrock style

I met some more really cool PA mountain bikers. Hope to ride with them all again.