Camps

2011-11-07T11:56:00.005-05:00

Paleo Man

just one of the many characters out that day

SSPBE 2011
thanks for the pixels DKeg and Jason.

2011-10-18T13:26:00.001-04:00

2011-10-14T07:48:00.001-04:00

Pump Track Version 4.0

2011-10-10T17:38:00.005-04:00

2011-10-03T07:43:00.002-04:00

North Park Freeride & Skills Park

2011-09-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

HI 2

2011-08-27T12:19:00.010-04:00

a few days after.....

2 days before Irene (Thurs)

the commute

Thurs. at the Lighthouse

2011-08-16T00:06:00.002-04:00

the only pixels grabbed at Slatyfork
the hardest Wild 100 ever
thanks to the rally car race keeping us off of 135 and Mine Roads

HI 1

2011-07-03T13:35:00.010-04:00

what an old man once-a-year surfer craves
most of the week was choppy on-shore with a wicked current.
it cleaned up a bit toward the end of the week,
the Frisco Pier has fallen apart and the sandbar has grown. Still a good low tide spot

W@W 1

2011-06-23T08:04:00.010-04:00

So nice to return to the site of former mediocrity last night and see so many old riding friends. It's great when my work day in VA matches the W@W schedule. Such a rippin' place to ride, with 3 crashes in a 1-hour race. The only one that was a goof-off was trying to manual the creek crossing.
Pulled up too hard
Got Upside down
clipped in
Wheels to the sky
ass in the water
Special

That one put a spot of hurt on one arm and and another crash mashed my already mangled other hand. Gonna be nice to head to the surf in a couple days with a couple wounded wings and some freshly removed skin.
So.Special.

Earlier crash 50-seconds into the race put me at the back of the pack w/ no hope of making up many places.Special.
I'll hope for 2 rain-outs so I can make it to the last race on the make-up date.
I'll be kickin' some ass on that night.

Germantown, finished

2011-06-06T07:54:00.003-04:00

Got Tusc?

2011-06-01T10:01:00.005-04:00

all fresh & smiley in the morning fog

things started to change

mid-ride beer and food break at the pool

Thanks Ray, Dave, and Karen for the great weekend

2011-05-26T11:18:00.002-04:00

self promo from SSO

RIP Aaron

2011-05-16T07:53:00.003-04:00

riding home from work

an incident with a car
2 weeks later headaches
doctor visit
falls dead later that day at work

a SM racer
an elite swimmer
new dad
wife expecting again
so sorry to hear this

new Lucketts Pump Track

2011-05-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

Lucketts, VA gettin' done

Germantown Pump Track

2011-05-08T20:16:00.018-04:00

Pro Design + skilled Amateur shapers = Pro Outcome

the Man of the Week takin' care of his new baby

lots of S-turns here

Huge thanks to Todd, JoeF, and MORE for pulling this off.
It's the biggest/baddest pump track I've yet seen
still some more work to do on the inside lines.
the outer mainline is rollin' fast already
lots of skilled bike-laborers out there got it going in the past few days

Is this the first/only public pump track in Maryland???

2011-04-26T11:30:00.005-04:00

this pic was too cool to not steal
full credit to the kung fu pump master here

Donuts are as good as Cupcakes,
sometimes more reliable too

easter sunday service
we will soon see just how not ready for prime time I've ever been in Spring

Pine Hill

2011-04-14T22:15:00.005-04:00

Birth of the next X-Games event here at Sea Otter?

the latest Pine Hill design
we're taking comments if you got 'em

2011-04-03T18:30:00.014-04:00

I was the wait for me guy on the sunday service today,

even bailed it short
not feeling anywhere near a 40 in me

went to check the pump track later on for the potential Monday night sesh and met a couple guys from Gettysburg there with nice DJ bikes.
glad I took a little wheel bike along just in case as a
good time ensued,
the track was riding great before this rain.

defunct

2011-04-01T14:31:00.003-04:00

finally found this video of last summer's contest at the now-defunct Cluggy's skatepark in Chambersburg.
some of these guys have actually ridden our pump track
yea, they think it's pretty lame

2113

2011-03-29T19:46:00.001-04:00

something new

2113
21 people day on 1
13 today

might be some more curve tweaking as the trail settles in and speeds up
why hit those brakes if u don't have to.
a long elevated nonequine rockway alt line to come later

new track in the works?

2011-03-04T07:15:00.017-05:00

An article in today's Public Opinion, none of the typical snarky comments yet.
Started a Facebook page for the meeting and track since we only have a month to mobilize. Facebook still confuses me, I set this up as a Community page. If you're a user, see if you can Like it or Friend it, or somehow show it love, if this link even works....

the park manager sketched this in 2005

south end of Michaux
Pine Hill Park
Waynesboro, PA

the Township Managers and Supervisors seem more charged up than the Chambersburg folk 3 years ago. One of the Supers races downhill with his kid.
They want it riding by July (we'll see...)
I'm not quite as optimistic/ambitious as they are, but it's their park, so they can really make it happen if they want it

Public Meeting for all interested bikers of all wheel sizes.
April 7th, 7:00
If you have ideas or opinions, or want to help choose the design, show up and be heard.
Pass along to interested parties, and I'll be pinging peeps directly too. Will be interesting to see how this progresses. Could it really be this easy?

for scale reference, the Chambersburg Pump Track would easily fit inside the skatepark shown.

more, please

2011-02-24T07:32:00.017-05:00

check out that speedy crust
good flow on the few downs we found

a surprisingly good run this week

a powdah morning at Whitetail w/ the grom

bluebird day turns to blackbird night - solo track skiing in the local beloved

sky full of bright stars, no wind, fast tracks;
an after work singletrack schwack with Wrenchy & SSO, seeking the very kinds of Shed lines that bikers abhor

WG v.4

2011-02-13T09:49:00.016-05:00

far better than expected
about 11" during the week
surprise cold smoke lake effect overnight

our host leads the way to a cool descent
thanks M & D

Hey, let's go ski Driftland next weekend

Philadelphia Pump Track

2011-02-09T20:08:00.006-05:00

Nice work Harlan, Heidi, and Kenn

http://www.phillypumptrack.org
Go to their Facebook site and like them. The powers are watching the interest

WG v.3

2011-01-31T09:34:00.009-05:00

Todd gettin' his first White Grass turns in

Cheryl & Julie at the bottom of what I thought was Snaggletooth.
whatever it's called, it was cool, and it looks like there's more like it nearby

untouched and untried
why??

Huge thanks again to the Buchness'!

2011-01-23T16:11:00.006-05:00

so good once again

more Cupcakes feel the hook

2011-01-16T10:46:00.010-05:00

2010-12-31T10:05:00.003-05:00

2010-12-25T20:29:00.020-05:00

not a bad place to ski

I left the Nikon in the car or coulda brought back some decent pixels of how much snow was away from the parking lot
glad i finally got there and checked that box. it was a good day for a quicky, and now I know what could be there

don't know what this is

but I expect it's going viral

2010-12-18T22:45:00.000-05:00

2010-12-06T11:02:00.002-05:00

"Nail"

2010-11-20T22:04:00.018-05:00

what's this, a trail ride?

from Todd's DSLR

Todd finds his boost after a few laps

Colin, the first person I've seen do the Jersey ramp.

trying to launch/double from the berm over the next roller.

Bad lighting and good rhythm

2010-11-14T07:05:00.010-05:00

End of the season

2010-11-06T22:20:00.027-04:00

Bring the Riding
Pedal Driven

thanks for the help Wendler

2010-10-30T18:24:00.003-04:00

2010-10-24T20:30:00.006-04:00

I always feel like I got away with something when leaving this place unscathed.

a 1 x pain in the ass

2010-10-04T13:33:00.025-04:00

Last chance for this 1x8 idea to work. I'm one part away from shelving this bike until next Labor Day, taking the Reba and putting it on my single-speed, then ordering a double or triple setup for the front of the EWR for next year.

3 different chain guides
nylon homemade custom spacers
many sizes of chainring bolts
a very destructible alloy ring
and an indestructible TomiRing

the funky angled downtube on the EWR prevents the pricey Paul chain guide from reaching the correct spot, and the Paul is designed for a narrow chain and no bashguard. I like bashguards and want to make this work with one. The cheapie Third-Eye seemed like it should work, but for some reason it still let the chain dive through an invisible gap. The funky EWR downtube also made it hard to get screwdriver and fingers in there to adjust it and move it clear after the chain did what it wasn't supposed to do. Dive and suck.

my new ride looks a lot less problematic
gotta get this thing over to Buck's soon...

2010-09-24T21:25:00.002-04:00

B-double E double R U-N beer run

2010-09-21T07:18:00.004-04:00

wanna play?
got your 2-beer entry fee?
Inquire within

2010-09-19T18:32:00.000-04:00

2, 4, and 24's

2010-09-15T22:21:00.055-04:00

the pump track is two years old now
the local club is now officially off the hook.
track work began the day after Teaberry 2008,
two years prior to that, at Teaberry '06, I pulled into the lot with a Suby loaded down with several skis, surfboards, and multiple bikes. It was the beginning of the move from VA to PA.
I think that was the year of the bees. Elk got stung up pretty bad. Albert and I got lit up trying to retrieve Elk's bike for him. I think Albert broke his [frame/fork/stem/bar] during that race, on that one rocky section . I think the rocks were wet that day

Riding the pump track has definitely changed the way I think about my riding,
I no longer think raw, rugged, techy, gnarly, rocky singletrack is the only way I can have fun on 2 wheels. If I don't have 2 hours for a road ride, or 3-4 hours for a mtb ride, I can always get worked in 20 minutes at the pump track.
It's led to harder stuff, like skateparks and now BMX. Yea, I sorta live a lot of my life backwards; have a kid at 40, start BMXing at 48. Terrain parks at 45 when I've been skiing since 18. I do at least have an early history in skateparks Version 1.0 from the '70s.

thoughts

carving a 20" back and forth on a half-pipe is a full-on happy quad burn
doing it on a skateboard is comparatively easy

I find myself on danscomp.com more than speedgoat.

My eBaby Watch list is all 24 stuff

makes me wonder though. Oliver is sitting here teaching himself how to write Japanese while I blog & search for BMX bikes online. And I just had the brilliant idea that possibly I need a 20" for the parks and a 24" for the tracks. anyone want to buy a road bike? I need to make some room in the garage.

I've found myself driving by skateparks. That weren't on the way home.

it feels a little perv checking out skateparks when I don't have a kid along

I just consider it like going to a gym. it's something you can do alone
I often go to a gym in Fall to prep for glisse
why not just hit the parks and call that a gym?
seems a damn good cure for the month of meh too

2010-09-11T10:06:00.001-04:00

2010-09-10T21:55:00.002-04:00

somewhere off the coast of Delaware sometime recently
source

self inflicted??

2010-09-06T13:03:00.037-04:00

the short story

when you run a 1x8, and this happens to your 1, fill in the blank......

the really long story...
About 11 miles in to the 100. First thought, damn, I'm gonna be really drunk by noon. What else can I do? Aid station volunteer? Go back to camp, change clothes and do kitchen help?
That walk of shame heading back to Aid Station 1. Judging from some of the faces I saw coming the other way, I was having a pretty good start for a change. The new bracket start worked well for everybody. Walked back to 1 and checked out the bikes there, not a lot to choose from. Hitch a ride to AS-2 where I knew there'd be some support and maybe some parts, or maybe I'd find a friend there volunteering whose bike I could borrow. On the way there we see another dejected rider with his thumb out and head down. He blew out his rear hub. As we loaded his bike onto the rack, I couldn't help but notice that perfectly serviceable triple chainring he had. I asked for it, and he said sure. I felt bad though, as I could easily give him my rear wheel and then he's back in the game. I offered to draw straws, my wheel or his chainring, but he wasn't that interested, said it's all mine. Thank you Blaine from Charlottesville. I couldn't get his middle ring off w/o crank removal tools, so I took his big ring and bolts from him. Barry had come across me earlier and we attempted to do this same procedure. Yes, BQ was willing to give up his big-ring to me. But we didn't have enough of the right size bolts to make it work for both of us.

So, backtrack on the road to AS-1, and then get back to where I was and back in the game. Enter the Lynn Trail climb behind the 3 sweepers starting to take down arrows, solidly in 550th place. At the bottom of Wolfe Ridge Trail, I was in 546th place, and the rescue litter was headed up for the one girl I passed in that section. Dropped my chain off the outside numerous times down Wolfe and even a few times on the gravel after Wolfe. It took me a while to learn I could only use the 2nd and 3rd cogs on the back if I wanted the chain to stay on. The gear killed me on the paved climb to 2, the sharp edge of cramping with a lot of race left. Passed a few more people and realized that all those I'd been passing were planning to finish in the dark and had their lights in their drop bags at 5. Started worrying about 4:20. If I missed that cutoff I'd have to scavenge or borrow some lights.

When I rolled into 2, they were happy to see my #61, as there was some radio chatter about that rider. That paved hump right after 2 was wicked in that gear, and I easily passed a few people on it. I figured I'd have to walk almost all of the Hankey climb, which I'd actually been looking forward to doing this year with my bling 1x8. I also figured I'd walk all of the Braleys climb, and most of the end to 5. Couldn't get 4:20 out of my mind. Up Hankey I started catching riders in tennis shoes, a rider with a pop-40 radio blaring, some noisy old bikes, and other riders with their own tales of woe. 4:20, 4:20.

Found my 3rd savior of the day at AS-3 in Jeffro, the uber-busy neutral support friend who gave me the middle ring and bolts off of his own bike and we made beer plans for later for the swap back. Found Crouse and Nick at 3 getting ready to hit Braleys, they had a beer hookup and latched on with them up 250 to Mountain House. Things were all good then, I had the right ring, all 8 gears worked, the chain stayed on, stomach's working, and only needed to think about 4:20.

Braleys was great, and I rolled the Dire Wolf road section really fast singing that song in my head (pleeeeaaaase, don't murder me.....). Slowed a bit on that middle section, thinking about the right turn and 4:20. Humped it up the last 5 miles to 5 as fast as I could. Our buddy Marshall was the man in charge at 5, and he laughed when he saw that I was the rider #61 he'd been hearing about on the radio.

There's no way in hell I would've finished if I hadn't had the 32 put on. If I had to walk most of the 25 miles to 5, I wouldn't have made the cutoff and my mental game would've gone down with the legs. I was very lucky. I benefited all day from the kindness of many people. Lucky. Thanks people.
Congrats to Mike and Barry for #12.

2010-09-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

Ya shoulda been here Wednesday
from Surfline

2010-08-30T09:27:00.002-04:00

Hagerstown
in his high-zoot hand-me-down Fox threads

Hatterask

2010-08-18T22:37:00.037-04:00

caught the first real wave I paddled for on Tuesday,

a nice clean longish left, it opened up a little for a nice little ride. but it was a left, so I didn't make much of it
I got a few more like that during our best go-out so far.

north swell & light winds in Buxton, no swell reaching around the corner at the house.
it was clean, like yesterday at the 1st groin, maybe cleaner, and less crowded,
I could grab some of the shoulders of the peak waves that the original riders had either kicked out of or closed out of. Leftovers were all I could muster. The 8-10 guys & gals dominating the peak were catching them at the groin and riding them 100-150 yds. I'd jump on when they were done or on those they skipped.

Next day was smaller and cleaner and we got there well after dead-low tide. All of the better surfers must've been on it earlier in the tide cycle as the peak was only about 5 or 6 mostly longboarders, and from a quick look at the lineup, I thought it looked mostly like a bunch of guys like me, plus one girl who was totally killing everyone. She caught anything she paddled for and rode most of them 100 yds. Thick strong body, blond hair, black bikini, symmetric art covering much of her tanned skin. She easily dominated the lineup, catching4-5 good waves to everyone else's one. I kept getting in her way the first few waves I paddled for, even though I had position on a couple of them. She gave no quarter and expected none as she paddled around us and caught whatever she desired. She kept staring at the beach while waiting on the sets, as if she's keeping her eye on her kids or something. After schooling us for a while, she paddled in and went to play with her friends in the shorebreak. They were an odd looking bunch on this beach. Pale, skinny, inked, learning how to bodysurf the shorebreak. Looked like it could be their first time to a beach. Then she dropped her longboard down and grabbed a cig. Not that I was staring at her or anything..... I was on the beach by then letting Andy have a paddle-out.

Barry arrived late in the week as the winds picked up out of the wrong direction,
Tom & Julie brought their Stand-Up Paddleboards, which were a lot different, and not easy.

the kids all got plenty of water time in, and often were literally and figuratively in way over their heads. they all got their scare on a few times, and were all thoroughly entertained by Tom on the SUP ocean tours. a lot of kids can fit on one of those things.

you could hardly say that we surfed our brains out all week. we had 2-3 marginally decent sessions at best. Andy did well for his first time and got himself into decent position at the 1st groin peak and paddled for a few waves. he took a board to the lip, but managed not to put anyone else in danger. Barry/Tom/Julie got skunked on surfing, but brought other water toys to use instead. It's a tough sport, and a tough place. Swell, wind, and tide all need to coincide to produce the great conditions. If there were no wind, you could at least have ridable surf every day of the year around Buxton. But, Hatteras Island without wind? There would not even be an island if there were no constantly opposing winds.

Todd's annual guys trip in October is a possibility if I still wanna get my surf on back there, and if I can motivate some driving partner(s). anyone?? It's a long way to go to drink beer at a campfire. If there's surf is the only way I'd decide at the last minute to go.

the Sound was pretty tame on an east winds day

Andy gets the fam ready for an epic lunch run, or, as Oliver called it, the Wild 100 of kayaking

oh yea, and the Wild 100 if anyone or I still care....
it was harder/longer than usual
rained for a few hours after checkpoint-1
it got cold, we took it easy, no show-off moves.
didn't know where 6 was going to be until we got to 5 at the top of Props. we knew all the non-Plus racers were heading straight down Props Run to the finish. we didn't know how far we'd get sent to find 6.
lots of comments at the post-race party about the length. Andy and I were out for 11:19 I think. We were about 20 minutes behind the winners of the 2-man Plus. Those 20 minutes could've been from my map reading failure, a failure to notice the extra pink-highlighted line indicating a legal stretch of pavement we could've taken. A stretch that's never been legal to use before, and when we got on the parallel singletrack, it was so overgrown, unused, and filled with blowdowns, we wondered what was going on. It pays to look closely at the map, even when you think you know everything already.
Even though we did an extra checkpoint, we still got in before most of the non-Plus racers. Most of them were well over 12 hours. Many finished in the dark. Many had rides of woe, of missed turns, extra climbs, bad choices. Looking at the map in the morning, I thought it again looked like a simple straightforward course like last year. That everyone would take essentially the same routes. I was certainly proved wrong on that, which is why many of them finished in the dark. Knowing Gil, we expect next year to be shorter again. Will I be there??

EWR v IF

2010-08-04T20:13:00.012-04:00

have only rolled it around town so far
hops great
manuals great
wheelies easier than the IF
what else would I expect from a Jay da Hey designed frame
surely these attributes will translate into a shorter 100 time, right Jamie?

I remember a long ago Spring Maximus, probably cold and rainy, as we rolled down Bendersville Road to stage. I was in a tight pack, Jay is right in front of me and pulls a manual. I got nervous as I had nowhere to go if he went over or back. I had to keep telling myself there's no way in hell Jay deJesus is going to crash on a paved road. He sat down on the saddle, and wheelied the whole descent and cruised to a stop at Log Sled. Watched him feather the rear brake and keep the front afloat the whole way down.

these pics are for my benefit, I know most folks never liked geometry
I should be able to get at least one Michaux ride on it before the SM100.
have races the next 2 weekends and this new ride will probably be staying home. But Teaberry?? this bike is all over Teaberry. we'll see if the driver is though one week after Shenandoah

2010-08-04T07:25:00.001-04:00

EWR OWB

2010-07-30T20:51:00.006-04:00

ephemeral playthings dropped at the end of our alley thanks to some street improvements

cleaned a certain flat rock in Meeshow for the first time last night after watching Howard work it out. it's one I've half-tried before, and have watched 2 others nearly get it. hope I can still pull stuff like that on the new ride

OSG

2010-07-09T07:45:00.017-04:00

I got to sit in with another band last night. Hooked up with the Frederick Five for a gig in the north Shed. Being early July, I'm well into my Old, Soft, Grumpy stage of the bike season. A week of 100 degree days had me dreading the thought of a slow rock crawl over trails with icy names. Driving up Route 15 towards Mountaindale, staring at the dark clouds west and north, hoping for a shower to knock the dust down on the gravel drive up the mountain. Turned out to be about a 45-minute most welcome downpour which dropped the temp about 25-30 degrees. Soooo nice. Wet rocks, yeah, whatever...

Riding Iceberg right off the gate, and right after a rain shower is like being handed an automatic Mulligan, a pass, an instant excuse. You're never gonna clean it when it's wet, so you may as well relax and not even try to kill yourself.

Ended up with several great runs, cleaned more spots than I usually do, and was even given a couple of solos by the frontman. This trail, and it's neighbor F2, are a lot like parts of Buzzard Rocks Trail, where if you can stay on your bike for 75 yards at a time, you're thrilled. I'm pretty sure I hit 80 yds on a few occasions last night. Some of the large angled rocks were grippy when wet, some of the flat ones weren't. Hard to know which rocks were gonna hold you. Hard to believe that that didn't stop us from trying the angles. It's cool that the skills can still grow while the fitness and body fades....

Soooo, I'm in need of some opinions/suggestions/links etc.
I need a fork. a 100mm one, preferably reallll simple, and cheep (though I've been told cheep and forks are not a good combo (like parachutes or something). How 'bout used? Old? Closeouts? I'm pretty sure any fork is gonna feel different for me, and I doubt I'd appreciate all the blingyness of the latest $1000 offerings from Fox. I know about as much about springy bike things as Ghana know about taking penalty kicks. And I don't really care to learn that much about them. I don't like taking forks apart, and I like putting them back together even less.
Help a rider out

2010-07-06T18:48:00.011-04:00

an increase in the bear population in the north end of town
easier to follow than deer trails

top of Michaux Rd
is this operation finished? if this is what's left after a sale, it doesn't look too bad

getting reacquainted with the love
I'm on deck

got to ride this recently too

I heart the SGOakVaRattlePunch
hard to understand how riding something that looks like 5 buff miles on the map takes 3 hours

creek week

2010-06-24T14:35:00.006-04:00

if Ch-burg were ground zero

2010-06-23T08:32:00.003-04:00

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

NorSouChaux

2010-06-20T09:52:00.010-04:00

It's been done before in various incarnations, and the idea of a Trans-Michaux ride continues to pique interest in the local factions. This kind of ride comes with many compromises and it seems that knowledge can be your enemy.

Brett's to Old Forge, 36 miles, 7 hours, with a lot of time not moving. The pic below shows one reason for downtime at our drop stop

enjoying some more non-moving time here after fixing a tire slice from possible trail sabotage?

when we hit the truck for the commute back north, we all felt a bit of unexplained underwhelming blah. None seemed sure why though. How can 7 hours in Michaux not be good?
Why do these point-to-points feel so different from loops?

2010-06-07T18:10:00.008-04:00

so sooo nice to have this guy back in the woods,
and back as a Wild teamy

a southern gas kickin'

2010-06-03T07:45:00.006-04:00

Holy Hell!
how can such a seemingly flat line be so grueling?
a Weds night killer on what was thought as a baby loop
I guess there aren't any baby trails in this vicinity
any mile of this stuff that gets added to the race needs to take 5 miles off somewhere else

Hunkerson Gap attempt

2010-05-30T21:47:00.027-04:00

the view from the house

Oliver, dad & friend shuttle me up

long GW ridgetop underused love

Mike rode all day in chaps and earplugs
he cut a couple dozen trees out before I had to bail off the front and run for home
[....we got maybe 75 total, which was 3 chainsaw tanks of fuel...]

I never found Hunkerson Gap Trail. I didn't make it far enough along the ridge and thought I already passed it. Things weren't looking right, so I turned back toward Mike and Susan still sawing a mile or so behind me.
greatly enjoyed the fruit of the freshy cut ridge back to Orkney Springs Trail.
they were out for 8 hours sawing and riding the ridge
peeps oughta get some traffic on that trail now while it's primo.
put it in le Tour

genteel lap around Tomahawk Pond

preTTT

2010-05-30T21:32:00.010-04:00

Perry County Boys Ray and Dave always deliver the grin

caught the pre-game for Ray's annual shindig in the Tuscarora

Overlap

2010-05-27T10:16:00.005-04:00

work and play intersect,

mountain biking led me into maps in the first place
if anyone thinks there's any need to finish this map of the Rattling Creek trails, comment away

Trailbuilding School, PA

2010-05-23T19:32:00.014-04:00

this place is so unlike any other place I've ridden
it's not like anything else,
not like Michaux, the GW, the Shed, Stokesville
not like Raystown, Marysville, Schaeffer, Fountainhead
not like Canaan, Slatyfork, or Douthat

2010-05-21T09:30:00.003-04:00

Bike to Work Day

Limited exposure

2010-05-09T19:22:00.007-04:00

was the idea

park at the top of Canada Hollow

a short gradual twisty downhill singletrack

to an easy fireroad climb back to the car

it didn't seem that easy following O

there was a long push section on the trail I didn't expect

and the fireroad climb wasn't a snap either

he didn't seem to mind the push in the woods, chatting the whole time about the inventions he'll make when he moves to Japan

there was a pretty high level Freestyle BMX contest at one of the town's skateparks today. damn impressive stuff. pretty funny seeing so many of the competitors filling up their extra-large Burger King and Long John Silver cups with the Natural Light that was under the emcee's table.

2010-05-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

2010-04-24T20:25:00.003-04:00

2010-04-13T18:17:00.002-04:00

this is all the evidence I have from Jake's ManCamp,
the rain should take care of the rest
Happy Times Jacob!

Saturday at the park

2010-04-06T10:17:00.002-04:00

bunny loop

2010-04-04T11:50:00.012-04:00

A most Hoptical finishing trio of trails.

a day known for the resurrection of the rabbit.
Countless opps to get your bunny on
over this quality shorty loop

ran into 2 of the fastest fellas in the forest Big E and Big Goat (rode there from Ship)
shared a couple trails
first 2010 ride with other humans
4 rides in 2010, all in the past 9 days

Slowly coming out of ski season, enjoying that 1% muscle crossover. My group-ride-clock has not been re-calibrated, missing several group rides this week by many ticks of the sun.

the bunny moves come back before the fitness from playing around town

2010-03-25T20:58:00.006-04:00

Perry County boys in the hood

they learn fast

they leave DNA

the end

2010-03-22T07:49:00.017-04:00

what a season

the suby eeked out one more family trip to the Valley to finish it off (the season, or the car?)
party atmosphere everywhere
6 pair of skis taken
5 pair used
a 3-hour tour for K & O

camping was chill,
in the 20s chill

arriving home it was obvious the earth has turned
the wool weekend garb changed to sandals and short sleeves
daffodils and tulips well out of the ground
saw not one speck of green in WV other than the spruce and moss

anyone have an Outback they want to buy, sell, or trade?

2010-03-13T21:26:00.004-05:00

I skied this water 4 days ago
it's the hair boaters turn now

who knew

2010-03-06T19:50:00.028-05:00

Snaggy morning

Nice having had a full month of snow deep enough in the local. Watching the snowpack and surface change through the stages of freeze & corn. Usually our snow only goes from fresh to worse. It doesn't usually corn cycle for 3 weeks. It doesn't usually get better over time.

The woods were totally solid in the mornings.
Hard to get an edge hold with the skinny gear, the down off the ridge meant traversing and snaking down and up, down and up, around trees, over the logs, around the rocks. imagine doing this same line on wheels

warmer became edgeable, dance on a skinny ski, p-turns, t-turns, step turns miss the trees. skiing overbooted on the pavos was a good idea.

this line bore repeating many times and a return visit
the return visit showed snow snakes coming out of the month-long hibernation, more rocks poking up. but everywhere there was snow, you could depend on it, and only used the top few inches of a still solid base

Hope everyone got out and got some of this,
it won't be here next weekend,
maybe good for one more paddle out there.....

the 10 & 14 day maps look good
the base will not

journal styley

2010-02-28T20:31:00.016-05:00

looked like another record day at WT on Saturday,
good snow for the few runs we got in
the terrain park lift was down since Friday night (evac'd)
that made for extra size crowds on the high-speed
which promptly broke down too

every chair looked to be 4-full
and getting down the hard way again

hardly anyone was at Blue Knob today
missin' out they were
the best I've ever caught it there

not many takers in the woods other than us
the snow was too good to get many pixels
rippin fun
new ideas of what is 'skiable'
base will do that

Evil, like only a true local skis it

Meeshow Nordic Central

2010-02-20T19:30:00.016-05:00

wonder bowl?

didn't see any down tracks

groms have no problem staying on top of the morning crust

snaggy glades

5 XC skis in the past 3 days at 4 different spots
nice to have this sticking around and be able to scope and not be in such a rush
if only every year.....

schwackin

2010-02-18T11:26:00.006-05:00

a night-time ski at the local with Todd

Last Weds, when I was stranded in a store all day, my friend/neighbor made this. He lives at Whitetail during the season, and it looks like he and his 'troller buddies were about the only people there on Big Wednesday.

2010-02-15T16:29:00.003-05:00

safe & sound
no drama trauma

2010-02-11T13:58:00.004-05:00

This is not the outcome I hoped for.
This is not how and where I left it, but I'm not too surprised it ended up this way. Looks like a bucket loader had to pick it up and move it off Route 30.

It was about noon today that I was finally driven out there by Fire to pick up my car. I saw the UPS guy still there, and another of the store dwellers rode out with Fire and me to get his car. The road was still not opened up yet, and was still worse west of us toward Fort Loudoun. Crazy stretch of road there, people said drifts were 14' high. Also heard that Whitetail used their groomer cats out on the roads to scoop up stranded customers/citizens. And that they decided to close today. Wow

Kim's brother and nephews have the good body shop in town and they have started drying it out and will replace the damaged parts.
What a mess.
So, who can give me a ride to the next ski??
Let's start looking at that next storm...

blower

2010-02-10T21:29:00.023-05:00

It's not easy to be a powder skier. I've been loving all the opportunity this season living in an almost true snow country locale. I've also been working on tightening my shit. First tracks at Whitetail may never happen, as first chair is proving pretty elusive enough. Among other things like work, powder comes with a lot of shoveling. For these past few storms, I've been shoveling the sidewalks every 4-6 inches or so to somewhat make it easier (and avoid the boro's fines). I've also been driving the car laps around the alley and the block to pack down the alley and bust out the ends so hopefully I can get the Suby out in the mornings. I only did one session of laps last night and noticed the new snow on top of the Saturday snow was a bit trickier in the alley.

A bonus of all this snow is that my work changes me to night shifts for these events, which frees me up for some daytime fun if I can get some sleep overnight. So it was like that that this day dawned with swirling flakes in the eyes and powder dreams on the mind. Kim and O wanted to stay home, so I was all solo and hit the road a little late around 8:30 or so. What follows is a pretty hard (and long) story to convey, and pretty freaking embarrassing too. Feel free to cast your stones, I can take it I know I became part of the problem.

All's good leaving Ch-burg heading west on Route 30 taking the safer route to Mercersburg, and then to WT. My normal route is a little too twisty and hilly so when it snows I take the more common route on bigger roads. So I take the left off 30 onto 416 and immediately am in whiteout conditions. I slow way down, and try to find some kind of road edge markers. I can see glimpses of asphalt and double-yellow line, but mostly I see nothing. For reference, this is the spot Brett had some fun in the Land Cruiser last Saturday on the way home. I come to a stop, windblown snow, no visibility at all. I can't see. I can't sit there exposed and unseen to other vehicles. I move forward and I think I get stuck off the right edge. Jerking the gears around gets me out quickly and I inch along some more. I'm going so slow and can't see shit, that I went off the right again and wasn't moving and didn't even realize it. Hop out, shovel a bit, and get moving along again. Can't see anything, creeping along. Then see a driveway and house on my right, so I parallel park right in front of this driveway and think about knocking on the door of the farmhouse. Instead I see a pole barn and head for that to get out of the wind and take stock. I spook a pack of leashed dogs in the pole barn and head for a small tool shed instead, dogs barking wildly and I can barely hear them.

I hang out in this shed for a while wondering what options I have, and will the wind ever stop so I can see to drive. I need to pee but don't want to leave yellow in this farmer's shed. Can't resist, and needn't have worried about a mark because I ended up peeing twice while I was in there, and the yellow was quickly covered up. It wasn't exactly an airtight shed. I hear the dogs start barking again and wonder if the farmer is out there. A few minutes later he walks past that open window and I yell out to him. I tell him what's up and it looks like he was trying to feed some animals and noticed this green car sitting in front of his house. He had an emergency to deal with right then and said he'd be back later. I asked if he needed some help and he told me to stay put. He said something about a broken window. About 20-30 minutes later I think I see someone at the back window of his house, so I go out to see if he needs help. It turned out to be just some cloth flapping in the breeze so I turned back and trudged through the drifts back to the shed. A few minutes later he comes to the shed and brings me into the house. I walk inside and see blowing snow all over the inside of his house, all over the piano, all over the furniture. I take off my gloves, hold out my hand, and say "pleased to meet you, I'm Larry". Greg makes his way to the couch, takes his shoes off, lays down, and grabs a blanket. Wife comes downstairs and tells Greg "...if he wants anything, tell him to help himself...". She went out to try to feed some animals after Greg had given up earlier. Greg turns on Fox News, and I settle in to a chair, for possibly, the rest of the day??? I stare at the photos of kids on their walls. Daughter went to the same high school Kim did. Daughter is now an international trade attorney living in New Zealand. The house I'm sitting in is a mess, kitchen, bathroom, windows, structure, and not from this storm. These folks have a lot more to deal with than fixing house on a daily basis.

I don't know how long I was in the house, maybe an hour or more? We see a plow go by toward Route 30. A few minutes later we see it come back by and I see that as my best chance to get out of there and head back to home (yea, eff skiing for this day, I have to work tonight...). I easily spin my car around and head back to 30 with decent enough visibility. I turn right onto 30 and the car stops suddenly. WTF??? I hop out and see I drove right into a drift I couldn't see, and I also see 2 Nat'l Guard Humvees, 2 state police cruisers, and several assorted trucks at the store on the corner. All but the Humvees are also stuck. I try to shovel out and immediately know this ain't working. Jump back in the car and just sit there, waiting for whatever help is coming for those other vehicles. I leave the engine running and crack a couple windows to ventilate. After a while a trooper and guardsman come over and tell me to go into the store so he can tell me the plan. I turn off the car, leave the flashers on, and head in. The store is packed with others stuck right there at this well-known windswept intersection. Three construction workers, 2 women, a UPS driver, several state police guys stuck in 2 cars, and about 6-7 other people. Most of them in Carhartts, none of them in fancy Patagonia ski pants.

The plan, was to get some heavy equipment there, plow this intersection and store parking lot, get some tow trucks there to yank our cars off the road, and then open the road up so that they can get out to Apple Way to rescue some women with kids stuck out west a few miles. A road grader and a quarry-sized front loader escorted the Humvees out to Apple Way to grab those people and take them to the St. Thomas Fire Hall. Somehow, these equipment managed to squeeze around our stuck cars w/o running them over as they sat getting more and more drifted in and more invisible. We were in the store about 50 yards away and most of the time could not even see the cars out there with the windblown snow. The Humvees need 2 trips to extract the people from Apple Way, and there are still plenty of others stuck out that way. Then the hummers come back for us in the store and take us to the fire hall. I don't volunteer for the first trip, still hoping for some better outcome. Thirty minutes or more later, the humvee and a fire truck come to pick up some more of the store dwellers. I also let this one pass, as I try to ride with the UPS guy in his 4-wd pickup since he's going all the way back to Ch-burg. Unfortunately, we couldn't get his truck turned around and unstuck either, so back inside we all go. About 3:30 a police SUV comes and grabs all the stranded troopers and takes them away, and with them, our communication. It's now about 4:00 and daylight fading fast, so I need to jump in the last humvee to leave the store. I go out to my car to grab my backpack and find my car full of blown snow. I forgot to shut the windows when the trooper pulled me inside. I tried to raise them, but the battery was dead (the flashers!). I bought some duct tape from the store and tried to tape the gap, but it was useless and didn't stick.

I get a ride in the hummer, actually all the way to Chambersburg since they were heading in for a shift-change. Jody picks me up, and gets me home on easy to drive roads. What a total difference just a few miles from where I was. No high winds in town, no drifting, no problems for Kim or Jody at all to get around. Kim drove to the pub in her tiny Honda Fit and came back with a couple sixes and we finished shoveling our sidewalk and the car chute.

So, I'm now home obviously, working overnight while my car still sits in the middle of Route 30 filling up with snow and getting buried deeper. I called the guy at the store around 8PM to see if anything had changed. One large truck got unstuck and left, but several others (including the UPS guy) were still in the store planning to spend the night there with the employees. He said the wind was still howling, even though there was no wind at all in Chambersburg (a theme we heard all day in the store).The store itself was cold and had lots of blown snow inside it as well, and the canopy over the gas pumps was tweaking and flexing like a kite and looked like it was gonna launch off. Glad I'm not there right now. I wonder what will happen with my subaru? Tune in tomorrow for the rest of my self-made mess. Hopefully nothing happens out there tonight since the road is still closed, other than my car filling up with more snow. Light, dry, powdery, windblown. Blower, I think skiers call it

2010-02-08T19:58:00.003-05:00

I usually only ski this spot at night, so I haven't noticed some of the extra-curricular potential. The snow was too slow and heavy to try any today. This will create that nice base we need to make the off piste doable. Back scouting a couple more low-angle shots tomorrow...

fresh

2010-02-07T08:42:00.009-05:00

fresh content

DonnaDoubleDiam

scratch

2010-01-17T17:05:00.011-05:00

This map shows the snow melt of the past 24 hours.
Looks like our nordic world is on fire. The next 2 weeks look like even WG will be down to brown. I saw something that said the next month looks colder and drier. Only the base will be lost. Rebuild from scratch.

O is a lot wobblier on the floppy freeheel gear

w.o.w.

2010-01-10T23:10:00.007-05:00

not much I can type that can justly describe this weekend.
thank you B's and all the White Grass people for having us in your world

continuing

2009-12-31T18:49:00.015-05:00

in report mode...

surprised to wake up to a few inches of dry enough snow,
didn't think skiing would be in the mix today
thought that warm layer would be in place
quickly rallied the boy and drove up under a quiet sky
unlike yesterday, no crowd on the gravel or the white

nice soft snow again
it's tough to keep Oliver out there even when it's good
after an hour, he's asking how many more runs before we can go home
found an interesting tree run and some snacks in the pocket to eek out a few more runs
Oliver skied the big lift better than ever, and did the Drop In to get back to the car with little trouble
happy enough to call it an early day
having that pass is key to short bursts of guilt-free enjoyment

WT's new glade

pic by Julie
yesterday, w/ the famous Outlaw couple, there was good snow and a big crowd.
these folks on this lift missed a lot of time, and came down on the evac rope.

2009-12-30T08:28:00.002-05:00

Wonder if this will ever be skiable?

wonder if I'll be able to get the Suby close enough?

something

2009-12-27T17:12:00.019-05:00

Always worth a paddle out. After a few days of forced recovery and rainy holidays, something was needed to reverse the calories in:calories out ratio. The mtn biking couldn't have been any good, and the 20+ hours of fog we had sucked most of the snow up into the lower atmosphere and destroyed the fledgling XC base. That fog also kept it too warm for the snow guns to work overnight, and kept the boilerplate away. yin yang

Couldn't rally the fam, so a solo to Whitetail sufficed. A fresh batch of tunes arrived from the north. Pizza boxed bootlegs, mellowing to a Led Zepp Cap. Centre '77 on the drive.

No lines, good soft snow, everything open. Even the new 1/2 pipe was open and pretty fun.

Always trying to get something out of everything, working on stretching out the transitions, to not be in such a hurry to make that next turn. Don't slam it, feel the nothing in between for a bit longer. Take a breath. Visualize what OMW and Buchness look like, both arms punching down the hill, ride the back pinky toe. Some clean runs down Bold and the Drop, some cleanliness in baby soft bumps, back to the 1/2-pipe for some carves, another try of the big gap.

It got warm after noon, started sweating out some white-chocolate bacon. Warm soft = Sticky. Work it harder. Get something out of everything. The pipeline and slope at White Grass are often sticky and rarely perfect. Ski the crap and ski it straight. Something.

a good start

2009-12-24T17:30:00.003-05:00

feels odd
the day before the big day
counting several xc jaunts, have put planks to snow on 7 of the last 8 days
I'm probably forgetting to do something important, but skiing keeps me from remembering what that was

thanks Ullr

2009-12-19T21:05:00.015-05:00

The best two days of Pennsylvania skiing I've ever had

lots of nice playgrounds

fun skiing w/ mtn bikers yesterday at Liberty, which had good snow deep into the weekend.
Sat. was Oliver's first day of powdah skiing at Whitetail. Can't say he's a huge fan of the deep, though Jody and Kim somehow twisted his arm enough to get him to try a few more runs before giving it up.

Where were the crowds??

Normally, this sign is spelled C-L-O-S-E-D, but Liberty decided to open a few runs with natural snow only, no grooming. I give 'em a ton of credit for that. You don't get that around here much, and it made for some fun terrain despite a few rock bites.

opening day

2009-12-13T11:39:00.003-05:00

a low-key opening day
cold dry snow
good surface early

2009-12-08T06:17:00.004-05:00

running home after the first day as a 2nd-grader

winter rules

2009-12-06T20:24:00.010-05:00

the ratio of ride time : post-ride time has been shifting over the past few rides

backyard in PA

2009-11-24T10:59:00.006-05:00

Just had to post this,

this was done with all hand tools
with no imported dirt
steep fast buff
voluptuous, it has been aptly described

ephemeral lines

2009-11-22T18:16:00.012-05:00

the timber sale

Dysfunkshun junkshun

the sale from 3 years ago

4th Street

2009-11-21T21:23:00.008-05:00

desired terrains

2009-11-15T19:21:00.008-05:00

BQ
noon patrol
high road
low road
creek trails
sought and missed the Lion

urban

2009-11-12T20:18:00.009-05:00

More stuff on the way?

"Two hundred years of American technology has unwittingly created a massive cement playground of unlimited potential. But it was the minds of 11 year olds that could see that potential." C.R. Stecyk

IMBA Epic

2009-11-12T14:03:00.007-05:00

Looks like our our trip to Spruce Knob a couple months ago bore some fruit and helped result in a designation of "IMBA Epic", which will hopefully keep the Big Bad W from blowing down that house for a while.

Pretty sure this is Joel, taken by Mumbles last Fall

Helmet

2009-11-10T18:28:00.013-05:00

Helmet smacked earth hard. First time hitting anything other than a low branch. Thought of all those laps I've done at the pump track w/o a helmet on. First lap, lofted over the first double roller, hit the second one OK I thought, but I slid off the side and the front wheel turned. There was none of that plenty of time to think on the way to the ground on this one. Nanosecond.Crunch.WTF
Sore jaw, really sore arm, sore shoulder, lat and neck. Lucky.

I should mention that the Man, Jessee, is in the pump track design-build business. I know many peeps have asked me about who can build these things for them. He can do it. Landscape Architect, free rider, downhiller, pump tracker, xc-er. He knows how to get it done. Just add dirt.

PT v. 2.0

2009-11-06T10:39:00.033-05:00

My new ride

new things to ride

When that last heavy chunk of clay rolled off the tri-axle dump on Wednesday, I hit the panic button. How is this huge load of heavy-ass dirt gonna get moved and spread and shaped into fun ridable jumpy things? By Saturday? I start calling friends with skid-loaders and asked questions like, "So, um, hows it going? Do you happen to have a Bobcat and a skilled driver available?.. like this afternoon, ...and willing to do it for free......?" Those calls proved pretty unfruitful, so I rented a skid-steer for a few hours to move one pile into smaller, better located piles.

Superhero Jessee arrives on scene with skid skillz, tape measure, flags, paint and gets to work laying it out. He's not sure about my S-turn idea, but we go ahead and dump several buckets and a few hours on it while the clock and daylight tick away. We finish it and try to ride it, and it wasn't happening at all. Triple-check the Pump Track Nation diagram, shake our heads and do a little more shaving and tweaking. A few more test rides by us and some kids that showed up, and we're doing more damage to the S every time we try to ride it. The entrance to the S is real tricky, and it now affects the original non-S line as well. We give up on the S for a while and start moving dirt for the new rollers.

the Man

The rollers went in pretty easily, helped along by 3 locals who stopped by and helped at various times during the 3 days. The original gaps were looking a little big and the first test rides showed that. We softened the landings, knowing that everyone was gonna come up short for a while. Jessee built a drop-in that helped get some speed, which then proved to be a little unnecessary by Saturday. By Saturday the S had miraculously turned ridable too.

cool to have the PA Mountain Bike Club leaders here to burn in the new lines. It's like we have a brand new pump track now. Thanks to everyone.

Ben set up a cool trials demo for the club leaders to watch and brought a couple spare trials bikes to try. Most of it was far tough for us gutless xc riders.

2009-11-04T10:07:00.005-05:00

36 degrees this AM

Oliver's been asking to ride his bike to school several times lately,
hard to say no to that

the school is just up the hill a few blocks from this