Spruce Knob - just Grand, for now

Huckleberry Trail

the destination trail
from 4840' down to 3085' in about 6 miles

Judy Springs Trail,
I like to ride this after dropping most of Huckleberry.
It's hard to leave a mile of Huckleberry on the table, but the view.....

pretty easy to find your way around with all these sign and map thingys all over the place.

climbing Big Run Trail

Needed to see a lot more of these signs, on the trails specifically. It's hard to be a happy member of the hiker-biker-horser triad after seeing what we just saw.

check out the Sinks of Gandy while you're there too.
but, get there soon....

GW / North Mountain

Orange love

8 miles of ridgetop with a 1300 foot drop onto the road a mile from my dad's place.
the 1200' Orkney Springs descent was less than stellar,
the top 80% of it was on an old FS road and a gasline. no wonder this trail got "built" and added to the map so quickly. the bottom mile or so was pretty good

the ridge trail (North Mountain) was part of the GET,
wonder why the northern section wasn't signed like this?

thanks for the call

I got a voice mail from Buck about a session about 4 hours from then at his buddy's new backyard plaything. I have to say, I'd been a little intimidated just by his description of this track. Seriously. I didn't have a small-wheel bike, which this track really needs, I wasn't feeling 100%, and I thought I was having my menses, so I just needed to think of an excuse not to go.

I borrowed my neighbor's 20" GT, changed my wet panties, and hit the road thinking I was pretty cool driving up Interstate 81 with a BMX bike in the back of the wagon. Like, I shoulda been doing this at age 17, not 3o years later....

By far the most challenging pump track I've ridden (which is all of 4 of them..). It's not challenging in making it around without pedalling. The hard part is making it around without grabbing brake, and not looping out of the track into the fence. Like Raystown; speed control is it.

These boys were throwin' down. Floating, gapping, and manualling all over it. I was pretty content to work on smoothness and just stay on dirt. Got a few baby manuals late in the game to stoke the ego a hair.

Bonus was hitting Al's beer & pizza and catching Withers and Skippy there after their ride. Stone's 13th Anniversary Ale, Ten-Fidy, and Racer 5 all on tap.
a damn fine Tuesday evening.

roundup

The Franklin 225 is coming later this month to Chambersburg. Celebrates the 225th anniversary of this county. A weekend of big road riding.

*****

Do you know who Marla Streb is?
Did you know she's a graduate of Mount Saint Mary's College?
Did you know her firm is contracted by the University to build an IMBA stacked loop trail system with trailheads at the town park and the university?


View Larger Map

*****

In other news, and in my little opinion, this is one of the most important developments in mountain biking recently. Singletrack trail was built here in a National Park by Rich & Dan. Yes, a National Park, similar to Shenandoah or Catoctin. Same thing in a Pennsylvania State Park thanks to the Laurel Hills club.

*****

The next 5 weeks will be busy season. Trips to the sticky green Slatyfork, Cape Hatteras, Great North Mountain, and Spruce Knob will all be capped off at the Stokesville bash.

interesting.... I wonder why

Greetings from Slatyfork!

As the 14^th Wild 100 gets closer, make everyone aware of some changes coming up. This is the last time the race will run in its current format. Next season we will run it as a regular marked course with several check points for food and refreshments. Also, we would like to announce a few additions for what’s to come in 2010. After the Wild 100, stay for a week of group rides for all levels, trail maintenance clinics, and the Fat Tire 50K set course race.

comfortably average

It's been a long time since I've had a race that I didn't consider disappointing. I'm hoping I've covered at least one of my reasons for slowness with liquid calories. I think I did last year's Teaberry 50 with about 200-300 calories for the whole day because my stomach felt full every time I tried to eat something. Similar stories at the 100 and 101 last year. So yesterday, I drank 280 calories per hour for the first 4 hours, then ate a couple gels after the last aid. BTW, where the hell were the beers at aid 3?? That calorie drink also had caffeine in it, which was a good thing since I couldn't fall asleep Saturday night, and finally dozed from 4:00-6:30 AM. Maybe quitting the beers and drinking 3 pints of this electrolyte mix between 10 & midnight wasn't a good idea before sleep (supposedly no caffeine in there, but maybe something else)? Yea, I'm still learning this racing game, maybe I'll just go back to straight beers....

Fun Stuff
- having Barry here for the weekend and pump tracking, eating, and hydrating
- riding with Jody, Jolson, and Albert. Been several years since I could keep up with Albert in a race of any distance. Though he might have had problems yesterday, a broken frame, stem, fork, or bone might have knocked him out of the race. Either that, or he got around me somewhere without me noticing (Lollipop?) and finished, and hit the road long before I got in?
- was fun riding with Kegley & Todd
- the Campsite trails
- Kim and Oliver making it there, and Oliver winning the kids race (and saying he wants a much longer race)
- Roy Ritz

Not so fun
- Wigwam
- that trail at the bottom of Canada Hollow
- a friend's bad back being bad

Next up

Fredrock contingent

The Natural, SSO

Brie

Julie

bring your climbing game
this 40-miler will surprise
i count about 7-8 notable climbs
many of the 50s and the 100K only had 3-4 climbs

the post ride ride

A year ago, I told our Town Council in the meeting that people would travel from Harrisburg, Gettysburg, Frederick, Carlisle etc. to ride a pump track if we built one here. There is not another public pump track in this region.

Last night, it finally happened. Had a large group with peeps from all of the above mentioned cities. Thanks to the organizer (it wasn't me) for getting the word out. I think there were so many people last night, that the hot local stars were a little bummed at having to compete for a clear line.

stole this pic from what looked like a pretty fun stage event here

visuals

Found myself in a new place this weekend. Haven't seen the Granny since 2001, and hadn't seen Big Bear at all.

Big Dog, a little unsure of the protocol at a 24-Hour event. Comfort and familiarity found on their right.

Thank You I.F.

I cracked my fork a few months, or maybe even longer ago. Rode it long enough for the first small crack to rust a bit. Then a second small crack on the opposite side of the crown appeared a month or two ago with noticeable creaking.

Started researching forks, rakes, A-C lengths, prices, availability etc. from Niner, Vicious, Igleheart, IRD, Salsa, Wily, Willits, Walt and more. Decided to call IF and ask about their prices, lengths, and delivery time. While talking to Kevin the sales guy, he asked if it was an IF fork that cracked, and said that it could be a warranty replacement. I told him I probably voided any warranty by having Chuck B. weld on some lawyer tabs to the dropouts (not having any safety there often made me nervous). Kevin said if it didn't crack near those welds, send it in and he and Lloyd would check it out.

Cut to the end of story, a shiny new fork arrives a few days ago in my original color. Thank you Kevin, Lloyd and Independent Fabrications. The new one has small lawyer tabs, I like that. And thank you Kegley for loaning me that sweet Vassago replacement for the past month.

Now, if I can just get this frame to crack, maybe I can get a disc tab and a hanger put on the rear.......

File Photo

This interview with Mr. Outlaw popped up on one of my Google Alerts this morning. Pretty interesting background on one of our local icons...

NC legends

I got to ride on different days with two Asheville stars this week. The pump track maestro visited early in the week, and we took him on a tour near Caledonia, ironically, on mostly blazed trails.

Yesterday, one of the original SS crew, Si, showed up at the MBM ride. He tasted some of the handiwork in the south end.

Some time was spent moving rocks. This may incur the wrath of 'tard. We call it a "cooler" line, it certainly isn't an easier line. Maybe the kind of line the original architect would've created if he had more bodies and time to do it. Only two tried riding it, and only one cleaned it (not me). This trail continues to have my number. I learned it's definitely not a trail to stop and session stuff on. I have to keep rolling if I expect to have any flow and mo at all. And with no flow, I'm not going to clean even the most benign looking section

lulled into the buff

Lykens

the only kind of shot I could get without a really long lens.

3 daze weekend

5 cookouts
3 pools
2 Forests
2 mtn bike rides
out of tubes
out of beer

Southern 'chaux trails start from this guy's driveway.

volume

bike park F2

We showed Jessee's plan to the Recreation Board tonight. Unanimous approval to move on to the next step. Which is: show more details, more photos, drawings, plans; get the grants started; and get ready to take it to the Town Council for the real step.

If you have any plans or good photos of jump parks or street parks, send them this way.

more cool content

stealing content again

Two more quotes....

Something like 27 of 35 miles is "launchable".

... I think I spent more time in the air than on the trail. ...

Economic Experiment

If it's built, will you come?

I don't have the words in me to describe the new Raystown trail experience. There were so many great quotes overhead this weekend, and there was a lot of stout flowing, so most of them are forgotten. A few of the quotes are scattered below. A few pics, though most turned out too blurry. I need a faster camera to capture the flow and speed of Raystown, something that isn't much of a problem shooting someone cleaning a slow techy section in Michaux. There will be plenty of other stories and photos about the weekend out in the interwebworld, especially from Dirt Rag. Search those out if you want the full story.

There were more than 200 riders there, and it was like we were all little kids waiting for a new amusement park to open so we could ride the big roller coaster.

two of the many master coaster builders involved here

"uncontrollable giggling"

"Michaux: more ghetto than you"

Jody knows how to rail a berm.
"Best use ever of my tax dollars"

Look who's the cover boy for the brochure. It's the drunken chute documentary producer. They used Kegley's photo, and one of mine of the Big Dawg on the inside.

Check out this video, the crash at the end. There are 100s of rollers like these all over the 30+ miles. You get a lot of chances to smack a tree. "...the only technical thing here is your speed..."

I even discovered there are some rocks on the Raystown trails, and allegedly even more on the southern section which I didn't get to ride. But it's certainly not the rocks that are the draw here. For me, it's the speed and flow, and the numerous opportunities to eat bark (Ride Good or Eat Wood?).