Trail Work at the Knob

From reading Rody's blog I found out there was a trail day at the Knob this afternoon.  I've always wanted to help out with some donated labor but have not been able to attend in the past.

Rody and Ryan working the dirt.

Many others had the same idea as there were at least 25 or maybe 30 people on scene to get some trail work done.

A crew attacks the Over Under.

We raked, groomed, and even cut some new trail.  On Cheater's Hill we did a reroute which should add some more excitement to this downhill section.  The trail was routed back and forth between the banks to make a kind of half pipe run down to the corner at the bottom.  A berm was built at the bottom as well.

The work gets done in a hurry when an

armed mob descends on the task.

Several guys gave the new section a test ride.  Looks like it will be a bit of a challenge to control speed, find the line, and make it through the final corner in one piece.

Dropping in at the top.  I helped with a lot of

work here, placing and supporting the log

and cutting in the trail.

Hitting the new berm at the bottom.

It was a great afternoon of work, a lot was accomplished.  I look forward to helping out more in the future.  Daniel would probably like to come out and play in the dirt too!

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

How long has it been since I've ridden a road bike?  I know it took multiple pumps to get the tires up to pressure, meaning it's been several weeks.  This afternoon was a superb time to give the Litespeed some playing time.  Sunny and 60 degrees, perfect.

I road over to Silver Road and pedaled up to Mechanicsburg Road.  It was not the first time I stopped by the pond to take a picture of a nice sky to the east.

Clouds and sky abound.

On my way to Flickinger hill I spotted the bicycle road sign near the new park and paved trail that spits out onto Mechanicsburg.

One is about to pass by.

Having never checked out the new path, I spun a lap to say I did.

No potholes, that's for sure.

Another evidence that it's been a while since I've ridden on the road: several weeks ago I bought a new pair of fingerless gloves... this was their first use.  I was tired of my red turned pink gloves that have been in service the past several years.  I figure the worst these will do is fade to gray and that's okay.

Black replaces pink.

Raystown Trip - day 3

Instead of waking up and heading to work on a Monday morning I woke up and peered out the zippered window of a tent.  No blue skies this morning, it was overcast.  Several days ago, the last time I saw a weather forecast, today was supposed to be a thirty percent chance of rain.

Flap jack flippin'.

The trusty Coleman cook stove was put into action right away.  First boiling water for coffee, then cooking eggs and cranberry-almond pancakes.  We tried Starbucks Via instant coffee packets on this trip.  In contrast to the many positive reviews I read online, I was not impressed.  French press and home ground coffee will be along for the next trip.

Seriously... that's a lot of TP.

We decided to pack up camp and drive over to the north trail head parking lot to begin our ride.  Driving to the trail head let us have more time riding the trails on the northern side without repeating the Stony trail out and back like yesterday.

All is packed but bikes.

As we pedaled away from the trail head parking lot we figured a couple hours of riding was going to be the limit.  This would let us make it home before 8pm.  We tore down the now familiar Buck and Doe Trails, headed towards the yet to be ridden by us Hydro Loop.  It was even more exciting to head out knowing how much fun lay ahead.

Now that's a bermed corner.

After plenty of fast and flowing riding we headed north on the Berry Patch Trail to a second visit of the overlook at the northern end of the trails.  The section of trail from down by the water on the Hydro Loop, up Sidewinder, and up the Berry Patch Trail seemed to be the biggest elevation gain in the shortest distance of our riding.  Even so, the uphill was broken up by dips and rollers.

Three days of dusty riding.

After a short stop at the overlook we aimed for the trail head.  The last stretch of our riding this trip did not disappoint.  We had holler-out-loud fun coming south across the Allie Trail!  There were some big dips, berms, and lots of speed in our final section of trail.  It was a sweet finale to our visit.

Halfway home.

On the way home we decided to avoid the toll road and take 22 to Pittsburgh.  There were some slow sections through towns and some four lane divided highway sections as well.  In the end we made it home in the same 5.5 hours it took to drive out but we saved the toll.

Our first trip to the Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake was a good one.  The trails were loads of fun and the camping was enjoyable.  The weather was absolutely perfect, quite a blessing with the majority of the trip spent outdoors.  On the next trip it would be fun to check out the Rothrock area as well, reportedly only an hour away.  Hey Ryan, whatcha' doing next weekend?  :-)

Raystown Trip - day 2

The distinctive sound of a pileated woodpecker banging away echoed through the woods as sleep turned to wake.  About 7:30 I sat up to look out the mesh window of the tent and was greeted by blue skies shining through the trees.  It was the start of a perfect day for being outside.

 A short ride to the shower house was the

first exercise of the day.

What to do with a pile of leftover spaghetti from dinner last night?  Ryan combined fresh eggs, vegetables, and spaghetti for a breakfast frittata while a handful of bacon slices cooked alongside.

Apparently bikes are attracted by the

smell of cooking bacon.

While eating breakfast we had a look at the trail maps.  A local guys named Evan has a blog revolving around the Allegrippis Trails.  I found and printed a map from his blog highlighting a specific route.  The plan for the day was to follow Evan's route.

The bikes are ready to go.

Gear on, hydration packs full, lunch in pack... ready to hit the trails.  Yesterday I said we chose our campsite to be close to the trails.  To elaborate: hop on bike at campsite, pedal three times, and we were on single track headed into the woods.  Nice, I wish there was a trail access point within 15 feet of my front door at home!

See?  The trail was literally right next to our campsite.

Today we rode the same initial trail as yesterday but turned our attention to the northern trails.  The Stony Trail connects the two halves and it contains a few sections living up to its name.  On the whole there are very few rocks on the Allegrippis Trails and, as we are told, this is unusual for Pennsylvania mountain biking.

Ryan charges into a rock garden

on the Stony Trail.

The rough life of a front tire

on a mountain bike.

My turn.

Further into our ride we were once again flowing, pumping, and speeding along.  Great fun.  I began locking out my front fork to pump the terrain and corner more directly.  The trail is very trustworthy.  The trail builders didn't throw in any ridiculous surprises.  If you lifted over a bump to catch some air there was no worry about an appropriate spot to land, nor were there fast sections leading to unexpected or abrupt corners.

Hard to catch in pictures, the trails

were full of flow and fun.

Some trails were more of a roller coaster ride than others.  There was no extended climbing to speak of.  Even if the trails went uphill they were still full of rollers that assisted elevation gain.  A couple times we came across signs warning of undulating terrain ahead.

Endo stick man.  Note the threat against

stealing the sign at the bottom.

The Ridge Trail delivered us to the most dramatic view to be found on the entire trail network.  Through the trees we were looking several hundred feet down to Raystown Lake and the distant view of mountains continued to the horizon.  It was interesting to see the rock strata on the opposite shore of the lake turned upwards.

Enjoying the view.

This overlook is the place to have a break, eat some food, and be thankful for the wonderful creation we get to ride bikes through.  Next up, a trail section called Ray's Revenge.  This was probably the wildest and fastest section of the Allegrippis Trails.  Let's just say there was a definitive point where I made myself brake hard, slow down, and reconsider just how fast is prudent to ride down a trail on a mountain bike.  All smiles when we regrouped at the bottom.

Self portrait at the overlook.

At some strategic point in the ride we decided to not add on an extra loop.  It was a decision to save some trails, and legs, for tomorrow's ride.  We worked our way back to the connector trail and rode right up to our campsite, unclipping beside the tent.

Pick a trail, any trail... you'll have fun.

We dug into the food and drink to begin replenishing spent energy.  Next stop was the shower house to wash off the accumulated grime of sweat and dry, dusty trails.  Tonight's dinner plan was to drive north to Huntingdon, the nearest town, in search of some good food.  This proved to be a bit of a challenge as it was Sunday evening and many places were closed.

Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.

A guy at a gas station tipped us off to Kelly's Korner as being good food and lots of it.  Salad and soup bar, bread, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn for $10.50.  Throw in a Yuengling Octoberfest on tap and we were stuffed walking out the door with to go boxes.

Once again we sat outside in the dark staring at the sky.  There was a much better display of stars tonight thanks to the clear sky.  It seemed like there were a hundred times more stars on display than an equal night back home.  I planned on sleeping good after all the riding and big dinner.

And sleep good I did until some time in the middle of the night when I woke up hungry.  No worries, I sat at the picnic table in the dark and chowed down my leftovers from Kelly's!

Raystown Trip - day 1

It's been a couple weeks since a blog post.  It's also been a couple weeks since I've felt well thanks to a cold, so there has not been much riding since the Manatoc Experience.  That changes this weekend.

Several weeks ago Ryan and I decided a fall trip was in order.  We discussed options closer to home than our previous trips that have taken us as far south as Georgia.  Without too much searching we zeroed in on Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania.  Consistent reports of fast, flowing trails solidified our choice destination.

Our plan is a three day weekend of driving, riding, camping, riding, camping, riding, and driving.  The Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake consist of about 33 miles of bi-directional trails.  I figured most of the trails could be covered, in at least one direction, in three days of riding.  This morning we kicked off the trip with some driving.

After loading Ryan's gear into the car and securing his bike to the rear rack, we left Apple Creek at 8:05 this morning.  This was the first road trip in the Mazda3.  We made the most of the hatch and rear seats, filling both with camping gear, cycling gear, food, and a cooler.

The sun was low in the sky as we drove east.

We took 250 then 22 to Pittsburgh in about 2.5 hours.  It's the first time I've been through Pittsburgh, at least as an adult, and I thought the city looked pretty nice as we passed through.  We saw evidence of the bicycle friendly reputation the city is gaining.  There were miles of bike paths visible along the highway.

Bridges and high rises on display.

Now the question was how to get to Raystown.  We chose the PA turnpike for the outgoing drive.  $10.15 later we exited the turnpike, backtracked west on 30, and turned north on 26.  It was almost exactly 5.5 hours after leaving when we rolled into the campground at Raystown Lake.

Warp speed through a tunnel.  I was loving

this picture as soon as I took it.

Prior to the trip I had done some research to learn the Ridge Camp section of the campground had the quickest access to the trails.  Upon arrival it also seemed to be one of the more nicely wooded sections.  We setup camp at site 14.

Getting ready to ride.

After some mid-afternoon lunch we saddled up and head out to ride the southern trails.  It didn't take long to discover the trails are very well marked.  We were using a pamphlet from the campground office which split the map of the trail network between front and back sides, but this was very usable for route guidance.  Every trail intersection had a 4x4 post with the trail names displayed.  At strategic points throughout the trails there were full blown maps on the posts.  Many posts had a two letter code on the top that could be looked up on the map.

Strangely enough, there was absolutely no

"you are here" type of indicator on the map.

We rode the Shade, Alleghany, and Barrel Bay trails.  In short order we understood the reviews and commentaries we had read about this place.  Lots and lots of flow, like riding a roller coaster.  There were no technical challenges to speak of but fast trails with dips, bumps, and berms to put a smile on your face.

Our first good view of Raystown Lake.

To add some more miles to our ride we turned around and rode the loop backwards.  I always like how a trail feels completely different ridden in reverse.

There were some rocks to be found.

In our final couple miles of the ride, coming across the Hollow Trail, Ryan abruptly stopped ahead of me and announced he had flatted up front.  We speculated about whether or not either of us had every flatted while on a mountain bike ride together.  I think the answer was no and this was the first.  The flat was changed in short order and we rode back to camp.

One ride, one flat.

The shower house was a short walk from our campsite and offered a seemingly endless supply of hot water.  Showered and refreshed we cooked some dinner.  Spaghetti piled with sauteed vegies and meat sauce got the job done.  The sun was dropping fast as we cleaned up camp for the night.  Fleece pullovers and stocking caps were in order as the temperature dropped to the low 50's.  We sat out beneath an overcast night sky listening to the cicadas sing, looking forward to some more riding tomorrow.

Winding down for the day.

New toy! (without wheels)

A Google Nexus 7 sits in my left hand while I peck with my right index finger.  It seems to be a useful and fun device, but this is a slow way to make a blog entry!

Manatoc Re-Experienced

For the second year I made it to the Manatoc Experience.  Last year I couldn't spell it correctly. Unfortunately this year Ryan was not able to make it.  Right up to the morning of the event I debated if I was going to fly solo or wait until next year for a re-visit.  These trails at Camp Manatoc are only open to the public once a year.  I'm glad I went.

After paying the $5 entry fee I parked in the gravel lot near the boy-scout's lodge.  There was a good crowd assembled for the festival. A lot of people were there to ride and every few minutes I saw bikes headed towards the trail.  As I pulled my gear out of the car I saw OCC rider Keith Feeman riding circles in the parking lot on his new Groovy bike.  We headed out with his friend Lisa for a lap of the course.

Keith's custom Groovy hardware.

I quickly realized I have not been on my Paragon for many weeks. The squish up front felt comfy but inaccurate at the same time.  I frequently found myself unnecessarily attempting to soak up roots and transitions.  The new carbon bars may have also contributed to the added comfort, I know they did in terms of sweep angle.

Part way into the lap I jumped on with Ryan Knopf and Mike Chapman.  We finished the lap together and meet up with some of the other Soupcan guys near the festival area.  I felt pretty good on the first lap and was enjoying the fast course conditions.  Just like everywhere else around, it's been dry at Camp Manatoc.

Starting my second lap.

I headed out on a second lap following Jason, Wes, Mike, and another guy I do not know.  It was good to ride with faster riders and see their lines.  I lost contact in the second half of the course but enjoyed the ride.

Back to the car I was about to dismount my bike when asked by several ladies if I could take their picture.  Rather than use one of their phones I took the picture with my camera and promised to email it to them. We chatted after I took the picture and they headed out for a lap.  It was nice to meet some new people on mountain bikes and I'm glad the picture came out well.

Smiles for the upcoming miles.

Forgetting about demo rides, I changed clothes and stashed my bike and gear in the car.  I walked over to the expo and had a look through the displays.  I guess I didn't really have a need to demo ride as I'm not bike shopping in the near future.

The expo area.

Trek and Felt were the manufacturers at the expo as well as a couple bike shops.  There were some interesting things to see.

The Trek booth.

A Kona fatbike at a shop's booth.

I met a guy and his Karate Monkey, the only

one I saw today.

Found a sweet cross bike for you Ryan!

All the while a log pull event was in progress.