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!
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