Winter Riding...

SUCKS!

I froze on Sunday and left the camera at home because they were forecasting rain. Instead it just got colder-brrr. There was a good inch of snow in Black Mo which made everything pretty and the riding fun. It was going great until I had to climb a steep hollow and couldn't keep traction. I explored a piece of the AFT that was surprisingly good. This shows promise for the 'AFT in a day' ride. However I had to cut things short because of the cold. This was my 2nd snow ride of the year - here is a pic from the first (Nov 11).

Turkey Day Ride

Thanksgiving Ride

Well, it is sort of a tradition for Big Dawg and I to ride on Thanksgiving. I think this is the 3rd year in a row. Conditions were a little warmer this year so we could show off our 'best' duds!!!Big Dawg was recovering from a cold so I figured rocks would help those clogged sinus passages and up we headed to the Charcoal Flats. We dropped in via Sand Spring where we surfed leaves until a slick field of babyheads made us dismount. After this the trail got pretty sweet excluding this deadfall!
We intersected the Charcoal Flats and I showed Big Dawg one of the rockiest trails in the forest. This trail is very cleanable but was playing rough in the wet conditions. I ran off the trail numerous times and Big Dawg perfected stuffing the front wheel! I was running out of time so we cut things short and exited down to the chimney house and climbed out on Lower trail. We finished up with 3 bridges, Carcass, and Technical Extasy. A solid ride to fuel our hunger before the Feast!

Raystown Trailwork

Good stuff is growing at Raystown Lake near my hometown of Huntingdon (the 'dun). A consortium of groups is helping build a 30 mile network of trails. We flagged the corridors last winter and now we have an IMBA crew building trails there for the next month or so. We had our first (of many) trail days there. Here's Jimbo looking strangely at home while overseeing some bench work.


Aaron Pontzer, Kevin Bergman and Don Andrews joined me in corridor clearing of deadfall, jaggers, and other bramble. Don was on chainsaw duty - we may have overworked him!





There was a ton of deadfall and it was really f***in cold. It rained, snowed, sleeted etc. I thought they might cancel but over 2 dozen people showed up! Pontzer instructed us on the most environmentally friendly method to clear a corridor.



I got a chance to hike some of the finished trails and I have to say I am looking forward to riding them. They will be fast, mostly level, and have plenty of lake views. Things are coming together nicely. With a little work, maybe in Spring central PA will have another awesome place to ride.

Fall Riding

Fall is the time of year I realize I haven't ridden everywhere I wanted so....



I get together with friends.

We make plans.

And we RIDE!

My roadie friends see this

and they are happy!

Far and wide I travel visiting favorite destinations...

<-rb winter laurel highlands->

And new ones with new friends!

Rockton trails

Fall, I guess it's not so bad???

Home Life

A crisp Saturday morning made for an excellent picture taking opportunity - my dog, Ebby, even cooperated!

Then I shot my Appaloosa - Dreamwhistle and my old buddy (the boss) Cussy!

The frost was much better about 5 minutes earlier. It changed so much at first daylight - really incredible. Kudos to my hyperphotific friends who do this stuff for a living!

Iron Cross V

IRON CROSS V REPORT

A very weird day...I started dfl in the field and was picking my way forward for the first 15 miles. Right before cp1 a deer came down the embankment and nearly crashed me. This would set the stage for a weird race day.

After cp1 my back and hips starting locking up so I eased up a bit. Here the women started catching me - 5 of them passed me including the VisitPA girl. The next section was an awesome mtn bike downhill, but the logs really sucked on a crossbike. I caught maybe 2 dozen people, mostly weenies who were scared of the rocks and drops. The trail ended onto pavement and a quick up had me catching and passing VisitPA. Being such a nice guy I pulled her to rt30 where a nearby gunshot startled us.

I continued pulling through a headwind on rt30 then eased up once we hit caledonia. After a quick chat, we started working together until we got to a fireroad climb where my back got very tight and my legs started to die. I wouldn't give up though and twice bridged to stay on her wheel - but a side stitch put an end to my efforts. As I approached the powerline/hikeabike section I started feeling very poorly - I was cooked. My friday/saturday bug was still in my system. It was now rearing its awful head and my hour and half of glory was over! My hiking training paid dividends though as the hike-a-bike went pretty well. At cp2 I forced down half a sandwich on a noncompliant stomach. 10 minutes later and about 30 places I'm back on the bike. After a quick fireroad climb I started to descend and saw 2 people ahead on the side of the road. At this point my front wheel was knocked to the right and I bodysurfed gravel to the feet of these people. The girl was an ANGEL and helped me up, brushed me off and checked my bike. I tried to walk off the burning sensation consuming my left side. I took chunks of meat out of my knee and elbow and all the skin off my tricep. I had ripped my shorts and had raspberry on my hip but I was still able to ride. On the plus side, the jolt of adrenline fixed my back!

After this I was in survival mode. I made it to cp3 where I forced down a bar and some badly needed advil. The long climb to cp4 wasn't that bad as I rode mostly with a girl from Michigan (Anne). I stopped for a cookie at cp5 and soon caught the Michigan girl and 4 other women. Somebody likes me! I was content to stay behind and chat plus I wanted to see the finish as all 5 women would surely duke it out. We navigated a rocky downhill and I flated on the very last rock - win a few, lose a few. I lost about 10 places as I fixed it, but was able to gain them all back in the final 7 miles. 2 miles from the finish a car ran through the race marshals and would have smashed me had I been 3 seconds faster - not my day, huh!

At the finish I executed a brilliant dismount/remount through the barriers and had survived my first Iron Cross! Unfortunately I wasn't able to hang out too long due to my injuries. But I did complete the course before the awards ceremony, rode with VisitPA girl, and used injury sympathy to score a extra pint glass for friend who was waiting at his home with a cupboard of medical supplies : )

For those keeping score a home thats a deer, a girl, a gunshot, a bonk, a crash, 5 girls, a flat, a car, and a finish!

HO

Saturday AM Road Rides

I've been doing a Sat am road ride to get away from the beating of mtn biking (rocks are bad for my back). They are usually lead by Paul who is a great guy and always has a great route in mind.
But I'm not sure about everyone else. At the last ride I learned most of my 'weenie' friends don't drink milk! We're from P-f**in-A, the second largest dairy state in the US. NOT drinking milk is like saying you don't support hunting! I can put up with the vegans, semi-vegans, and the no red meat crowd but no milk??? On the up side everyone liked cheese! Shame on you vegans...

My new phone

My buddy Big Dog got an awesome camera phone last year. So it was time to upgrade and I got the same phone but a newer version. So now I easily take pictures of everything since I always have it. I carry it when I ride for emergency, but I think it may cause a few accidents instead! Here's my dog ebby

Utah fun!

This is little behind the times but I met up with my riding buddies out in Utah in late August. We did a day in Park City, then a week in Panquitch, followed by 2 days in Fruita, Utah. Check out the blog of the trip at http://utahmtbtrip.blogspot.com/. I seriously enjoyed the riding. I like a variety and boy did this trip ever deliver. The elevation didn't bother me as much this year - though I did almost pass out at 9K ft on the first day! Sorry I have like 200 pics from this trip but none edited.

HO