creek week

if Ch-burg were ground zero

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/

NorSouChaux

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?

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

a southern gas kickin'

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

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

Perry County Boys Ray and Dave always deliver the grin

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

Overlap

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

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

Bike to Work Day

Limited exposure

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.

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

bunny loop

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

Perry County boys in the hood

they learn fast

they leave DNA

the end

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?

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

who knew

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