A Good Weekend Ride
Before I get started on the ride subject, I'd like to express my deepest sympathy for those in San Diego (German for a whale's......). I used to live in North County, am very familiar with the area, have some very good friends that are now on the run, and some that are still in harm's way. Be safe guys, I'm thinking good thoughts for you.
The original title of this post was going to be "The Evil Leaf Strewn Rock Gardens of Pennsylvania".
We spent the weekend in PA, visiting family. As always, we brought our bikes. I'd heard of some trails that we hadn't ridden yet, and it was there that we decided to look for some of PA's
secret gems. We have been exploring Jim Thorpe for a couple of years, but have yet to stumble across anything noteworthy. Mostly fire roads, with a couple of technical sections here and there, but nothing "exciting". Don't get me wrong, we always have a good time, but I'll be honest, it ain't Vermont.
If anyone reading disagrees with me, I invite you, no, challenge you to prove me wrong about Jim Thorpe! There just has to be some awesome singletrack out there. We just haven't found it yet.
I'd heard of some trails in Salisbury from a customer. After some diligent web surfing, we'd gotten directions and some sort of ride plan.
We started on top of a hill just north of South Mountain, in a sketchy park, with absolutely no indication that mountain biking was nearby. As I was pumping up the tires on Red 5.1, I notice just how dirty the parking lot was. Yuck.
Once we got into the woods though, we were able to navigate the trails with the well placed yellow, orange, red and blue blazes that took us on our 2 hour ride. I'm pretty sure we rode everything out there.
Lots of challenging rocks, some fun stunt type stuff, and very well constructed, benched in singletrack. Absolutely no standing water on the trails whatsoever, despite the massive deluge of rain we had the previous day. Kudos to the Lehigh Valley MTB Club for all their hard work. What fun! I'm pretty excited to go back and poke around some more now.
It was rough on my body though. I have sat the last 2 weeks out for some self imposed recovery, and my IT bands were screaming again after just one hour of relentless PA rocks on the singlespeed. Also weird, was the constant noise of trains, and who-knows-what-the-heck they were doing on the valley floor. It sounded like they were dumping huge boulders onto hollow steel decks with massive machinery. There was a constant racket, punctuated with the occasional low flying helicopter. I guess I've never been mountain biking in an urban setting such as this before.
The cool thing is, is that those trails are there, and a total hoot to ride.
Now go get some.
The original title of this post was going to be "The Evil Leaf Strewn Rock Gardens of Pennsylvania".
We spent the weekend in PA, visiting family. As always, we brought our bikes. I'd heard of some trails that we hadn't ridden yet, and it was there that we decided to look for some of PA's
secret gems. We have been exploring Jim Thorpe for a couple of years, but have yet to stumble across anything noteworthy. Mostly fire roads, with a couple of technical sections here and there, but nothing "exciting". Don't get me wrong, we always have a good time, but I'll be honest, it ain't Vermont.
If anyone reading disagrees with me, I invite you, no, challenge you to prove me wrong about Jim Thorpe! There just has to be some awesome singletrack out there. We just haven't found it yet.
I'd heard of some trails in Salisbury from a customer. After some diligent web surfing, we'd gotten directions and some sort of ride plan.
We started on top of a hill just north of South Mountain, in a sketchy park, with absolutely no indication that mountain biking was nearby. As I was pumping up the tires on Red 5.1, I notice just how dirty the parking lot was. Yuck.Once we got into the woods though, we were able to navigate the trails with the well placed yellow, orange, red and blue blazes that took us on our 2 hour ride. I'm pretty sure we rode everything out there.
Lots of challenging rocks, some fun stunt type stuff, and very well constructed, benched in singletrack. Absolutely no standing water on the trails whatsoever, despite the massive deluge of rain we had the previous day. Kudos to the Lehigh Valley MTB Club for all their hard work. What fun! I'm pretty excited to go back and poke around some more now.It was rough on my body though. I have sat the last 2 weeks out for some self imposed recovery, and my IT bands were screaming again after just one hour of relentless PA rocks on the singlespeed. Also weird, was the constant noise of trains, and who-knows-what-the-heck they were doing on the valley floor. It sounded like they were dumping huge boulders onto hollow steel decks with massive machinery. There was a constant racket, punctuated with the occasional low flying helicopter. I guess I've never been mountain biking in an urban setting such as this before.
The cool thing is, is that those trails are there, and a total hoot to ride.
Now go get some.
Labels: 29er Ride, One 9, Salisbury PA
posted by mandy at 8:20 PM
3 Comments:
Oh my old stomping ground. I have been on those trails before but it has been years, since I lived there. I am thinking of riding there when I go to visit family for Thanksgiving. You'll have to fill me in on the good stuff.
Seriously, what kind of grips are you running on R5.1? I must have some white lock ons. I just bought the specialized white lockons, but they are so soft that they have become sort of an ugly tan now. Fill a kid in... Please?
Hey Kevin, we should totally hook up for a Turkey burner out there.The big wheels make all the difference.
chickenhuntin, those are Azonic Lave Handles. They are not lock ons, but they are white and not that soft.
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