dirt quest

Another spring has passed, as has another Dirt Rag Dirt Fest. This year marks the third Dirt Fest at Raystown, and the fifth overall. Spanning nearly two decades, Dirt Fest remains an event that few can really grasp or understand without attending. Dirt Fest is an event originally conceptualized in 1990 by a the fine folks at Dirt Rag Publishing. At the time, Dirt Rag was an an up-and-coming mountain bike magazine published in Pittsburgh, trying to communal fun on the mountain bike. 

Ranger Gwinn, Evan G., and Friends of Raystown Mr. Ron Rabena get ready for the tape cutting and four years of arguments, agreements, handshakes, and head shakes. 

The event started as an informal weekend away in the woods at Camp Soles, Rockwood, PA. as both a celebration of the mountain bicycle and a camping weekend with new friends. After two years at Camp Soles, Dirt Rag put the event on hold as the focus on journalism took center stage.  As the sport of mountain bicycling grew, so did the magazine, industry, and mountain bicycle trails. 

Evening of May 9th 2009, when the Allegrippis became infamous

In 2009, word of the grand opening of the Allegrippis Trails spread on the mountain bicycle internet forums. So much so, that on the day of the ribbon cutting more than 400 folks showed up ready to ride.  One of the parties in attendance was Dirt Rag publishing, whom took notice of this newly developed venue.  With the underlying goal of Dirt Fest as an event that "promotes the mountain bicycling community" and focuses on bringing new riders into that community, the Allegrippis Trails and Raystown Lake appeared to serve as the perfect venue for an event such as this. 

Man with a plan at the Grand Opening.

After the Grand Opening, Dirt Rag's publisher-in-chief Maurice Tierney contacted Evan Gross of Rothrock Outfitters and Raystown Mountain Bicycling Association, for information on the event and how things went. After a few different conversations about the culture of the sport, the new trail system, and the goal of Dirt Fest to bring riders together, it seemed a natural partnership. In the winter of 2010, the first Dirt Fest to occur in nearly two decades was tentatively planned for that May. 

Expo Central at 2012 Dirt Rag Dirt Fest.
Photo:Rob Sharer

Fast forward two years, and we have an event drawing over two thousand people from thirty-five states, four countries, and hundreds of bicycle clubs. The benefit to the community cannot only be seen in the hotels and restaurants, but with the growing pedal-friendly community riding around the towns and back roads of the greater Raystown region. 

Rebecca Rusch and the women's only clinics a huge success at Dirt Fest 2012
Photo: Rob Sharer

Prep night with Raystown Mountain Bicycling Association Members and friends. Atop the houseboat HQ.
Photo: Rob Sharer

Late Winter? Gravel Grinder

Perfect Century Weather-

After a long Saturday at the shop during the 50 degree sunny day, I reckoned it was time for a long gravel loop through the greater Rothrock area. The weather was looking like high 30's,  moderately sunny, with strong winds, a perfect day for long gravel miles. With the winds supposedly exceeding 30 mph gusts the gravel roads offered welcomed shelter from the regular exposed ridge roads and long flats through farm country.

Last weekend Paul Tony and I traveled (by plane no less) to Minnesota for a weekend at our distributor, Quality Bicycle Products headquarters, for some seminars, clinics, facility review, and product introductions. A bit out of place in an entry about a ride in Rothrock but here I was exposed to a number of different mountain touring set-ups and products. Already convinced by Salsa Cycles mantra of "adventure by bike" I was anxiously anticipating the set-ups for the ever intriguing and versatile Fargo. Their mountain touring set-up- wide drops, upright and relaxed geometry wonderful rigid steel bird (they fly) with more braze-ons and rack options than a Bilenky Tinker Tandem. As I am a self proclaimed bag freak I can accross a rather simple affair- Outdoor Research Bottle Parka #1 - Having never heard or found the need for such a device I had never envisioned such a thing.

A perfect fit in a Salsa Anything Cage

In my effort to keep all the weight possible of my back these simply bags have provided near endless storage for second layers, light systems, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and just about everything else. Slightly insulated and sorta water proof with a rubberized top and bottom. The bag was stuffed with a Canon D10 camera, Light and Motion Seca 300 Light, Sport Legs vial, and an extra wool base layer. On the opposite leg 24oz of water. On the main frame two 24oz bottles of water, an old fav. the Jandd Mountaineering frame pack stuffed with nutrition and Purple Lizard Rothrock map.

I headed out Route Penn Street and jumped on 26S at the State Correctional Institution Prison  and took Alexandria Pike. With Alexandria Pike passing by two state prisons, the wardens house, Pulpit Rocks, and ending with a gravely switchbacked downhill into farmland, it is a phenomenal way to start a day of riding. The surface is largely pocked and cobbled tarmack with no lines and minimal traffic. I hate road riding so if I'm going to do ride it better be exciting.
River Road all the Way to Alfarata.
Alfarata to Water Street On the Lower Rail Trail.
Jump Onto 45 towards Spruce Creek.

Just after the massive farm mansion on the left make a right onto the unmarked road heading into A portion of Rothrock State Forest known as Colerain. The road quickly turns to gravel and climbs up the back of Tussey Mountain just above with great views of Spruce Creek as the road winds up the mountain. The gravel goes from better to worse as you get to the top eventually intersecting with Tram and Mule Roads. They where just that. Tram Ways and Mule Roads.

Back in the golden age of central Pa's mining and timbering activities. Fortunately trams and mules done like overly steep grades, so they are long and gradual but demanding none the less. The #4 gravel and occasional washout made for a great grind up Tram, than Harry's Valley all the way to Pa 26 North. Here is where the first snow started falling. Giant quarter dollar flakes fell on the road suddenly I was in 2" of fresh wet snow. It was a WTF I'm wearing knickers and mid spring gloves and have only one extra layer in the Jandd kangaroo pouch.

After bombing 26 to Pine Swamp the snow stopped, the roads where clear, and the sun came out.  Climbing up into Bear Meadows onto some mountain bike trails back on to gravel roads I made it to the top of Bear Gap Road and watched a white out storm blow in.

The storm took this grey gravel road and left it with another 2-3" of giantic wet white flakes by the time I made it down the mountain. The elevation here is approximately 2000 feet the descent is back down to 800 over the course of several miles. Back at the bottom only dampened roads and spirits. Despite the snow, rain, gusting winds, and my poor attitude,  I still was able to make it out to Penn Roosevelt, Allen Segar, and Greenwood Furnace.

After getting this far I figured it was probably time to start heading home before the storm started heading east as it appeared to be blowing. I made my way out of Greenwood up Turkey Road towards the Martins Gap Area, another long relentless gravel climb that is as deceptive as the come with several quick switchbacks ending the climb at Allensville Road.

I eventually took Murray Run make to route 26 South headed into Huntingdon. The ride despite the weather was a absolute success. Chalking up just under 96 miles of gravel during the daylight in February was a much welcomed release from life at the shop and night riding day in and day out. I must say the stand out device of the ride aside from Shot Bloks and fresh bake goods was my new rear fender.

After despising fenders for years because of rattle and wobble issues on any fendered gravel/ mountain bike, I figured I'd craft something functional for this rides specific needs light fast and functional. Bits and pieces of several old take-offs left me with a sensible sized hardly noticeable spray killer.

• frozenfat delivered Frozenfat was our first go at a winter event.  Turned out to be a pretty good time. With around 25 riders representing five states showing up over the course of the weekend for the fatbike fun. Despite the long road to hosting the event with DCNR permits and other fancy forms of approval, the weekend flew by.  Friday night was the informal start of the saga with beers and several locals meeting up at the now infamous McMurtries Bar. Only to be followed by a raging fire with a fat bike fire ride. Yes over the 4x8' burning sheet of plywood. Fortunately, everyone rode away unscathed by the flames. Leaving only several holes in Jeffs new down jacket. John G. showed up early to get a in a full weekend of centralPa fun.  Despite the night time low of 8 degrees, Ellis was lacing up the fat front to his K Monkey around 1:30am Friday night. The Saturday am ride departed shortly after 10am with some 15 riders and 10 additional folks making up the support.  As was promised we began to have "much fun," right off the bat with some shale pit point and shoot. To fun watching riders come screaming down stuff like this.  Cold temps left downtubes coveedr in a thick ice coat and bottles frozen solid. John's Salsa Mukluk.  Bikes scattered across the trail at the top of the mountain waiting to be ridden back down. You'll notice Justin's fancy Surly Pugsley with a ultra fancy Shimano Alfine 8 IGH. Plenty of both QBP brands represented at this east coast gathering. No surprise with the recent availability of Fatback and 9:0:7 being so limited.  lots of winter fat. not a bad reason to spend the day outside with 20 of your closest fat friends. Yes the bike on the far right is a half and half with a fat front end and skinny rear. Funky but functional. Oh yes and it has a Hope rear hub that happened to hold up for the whole weekend. The Acera rear derailleur was not so fortunate.  Part Two to Follow Shortly---->

circumnavigate the lake

December 25th generally marks the day when I pack the up the dog and bike and head east towards the homeland (Valley Forge/ Phoenixville.) This year I got the pass from the family to stay in the huntingdon area for the holiday and enjoy Christmas in my own way.

Now before I start into this, let me say that I am not the grinch and I don't hate Christmas it is just not the holiday for me. But the traffic and idea of driving three hours is absolutely horrifying. Having spent so much time on the Allegrippis Trails, Rothrock State Forest, and the areas countless miles of gravel I felt it was time to revisit an old advasary: Terrace Mountain Trail.



Last summer I was dumb enough to attempt the ride on a traditional 29er singlespeed mountain bike with 80mm of suspension. To say the least it was a pain having a bike during that hike. During the twelve hour ride around the lake I vowed never to ride the TMT again (unless with the right bike.)

Set-Up:
For most people the Terrace Mountain Trail is simply the trail on the otherside of the lake. But know little about it really. The trail is 30 miles long and ranges from gravel roads to near vertical ascents, covering the entire length of Lake Raystown.

The Bike:
Salsa Mukluk Fatbike with Jandd Frame Bag and Knog Frog Lights for getting home in the dark.
One Bottle Cage.. regretably.
Osprey Hydration Pack

The Ride:I left the shop in Huntingdon around 9am and headed out to the trailhead on Corbins Road about six miles away. After rolling for 20 minutes I hit the yellow trussed bridge that marks the beginning of the Corbin Road climb a long grinding gravel climb that weaves for 2.5 miles up the side of terrace mountain. Corbin road is a great warm up climb as it never gets overly steep and has some great views facing south down the lake. After climbing three quarters up the mountain there is a large rock on the side of the road covered in yellow paint.

This rock apparently marks the start of the Terrace Mountain Trail at the north end. Not much of a welcome mat. Beyond the rock there is a short rough road that winds down the mountain a few hundred feet till opening into a large pad....parking lot?

Misleading Start- Off the bat I was making great time with recently cleared trails and flat rolling trail. This only lasted about two miles.

 Very peaceful meadow just off of the Hawns Road portion of the Terrace Mountain Trail.

Despite the big meat there was plenty to push over.

Very cool peninsula the trail runs down to the lake making a large sweeping turn into the hillside just beyond the red patch in the center. Plenty of briars for everyone!

 


Very cool bridge section just outside of Trough Creek State Park. There where some very cool bear tracks across the first bridge. Smudged pads with heavy claw marks.

Bottom of Trough Creek. this is the old road bed that connected over to the town of Aitch.

I cruised my way up the old road bed into the park. Over the bridge back to the trail. After getting to the resort It started getting dark and I stopped taking pictures and rode! An amazing trip, I am currently looking to evaluate what needs to be done to save this trail. As it is currently in horrible disrepair.  Maintenance is just the begninng this trail needs a makeover. The value of this trail to the local community, the outdoor community  and the potential for the area is amazing. 

tis the season. merry xmas!



Blazed and Confused

Before I start this rant:
1- Allegrippis Trails are on federal land
2- It is legal to hunt on federal land
3- I am not a hunter but undersand others do utilize hunting as a form of gathering food and a form of sport. And fully support the act of respondsible hunting fishing etc etc.
4- Hunting seasons extend year round and cannot be defined simply by a set period of dates.
5- Mountain Biking or hiking doesn't impact the safety other users directly or remotely while participating in said sport. And also does not require other users to change there activities based on actions of others. ie. closing the entire woods to any other non hunting user.
6-Mountain Biking does not generally leave game mamed or without a head in the wild.
7- I am yet to come across a individual who maintains the Allegrippis or Old Loggers trails strictly for the purpose of hunting.

I walk my bike past a group of four white males dressed in bright orange and camoflage....seemingly contradictory. I offered up a simple "hey guys hows it going." Only to be berated by this group of fellow trail users. Although not necessarily mountain bikers these guys still were using the trail as a hiking path to stalk there game....whitetail deer.

"WTF are you out here."
"You know its hunting season."
"I've been hunting these lands for 30 years!"
"The game comission closed these trails for us."
" You cant ride here."

Well instead of being my usual bull headed and blunt self as I had no big gun and no fancy orange camo vest...I kept walking (I was however wearing bright orange jersey that was designed to be legal during hunting season.) And gave them a simple "take care."

So let me set the facts straight.

Keep in mind this group of simple minded users was indeed walking on the very trail which I work to maintain both before, during, and after hunting season. I know its hard to imagine a time when hunting isn't leagal. Never had I seen any of these users at workdays, trail related meetings, or clean-up days. I did however find more shotgun casings on the trail than clif bars, gel packets, or hiking/ biking related trash combined... in just two weeks!

 The game comission (which despite being publicly funded)  has yet to offer up signage to appropriately sign the trail as an open hunting area and it is not ever maintained as a "hunting trail." And we had to go asking for appropriate signage to protect the non-hunters out there....as hard as that is to believe.

I personally voted to close the trail for the two week deer season.....not for the safety of the rider but for the integrity of the hunt! Sort of a good neighbor policy. Only extending the welcoming arm of the Corps which opens most their gates for hunters.

Part Two:
So after riding out on the Allegrippis Trails which are open to hunting I decided that I better not interact with anymore "trail users" and decided to ride the trails in town (Huntingdon) which are closed to hunting as it is technically in a residential district.

Instead I rode out the trails I ride year round (not just during hunting season) only to find a beheaded deer carcass strewn across the trail on land that is not legal to hunt. You'd think with so much State Game Lands and Federal lands you would have enough land to "hunt/ sit and wait." Apparently not, this large buck was shot and killed only to have its head taken to the local taxidermist as a "trophy." Not only a disgrace to hunters but also to our small town.

After continuing the ride and jumping back on the roads I noticed a large black trash bag at the entrance of the game lands. Yep you guessed it more deer carcass leftovers. Awesome! So I guess its standard practice to berate other land users, dispose of blooded carcasses, trash public land, and poach whitetail.

You might have guess I'm not supporting this whole Sunday hunting scene.

Meanwhile, "recent research suggests" $850 million would be put into the PA economy if we allow Sunday hunting. Is this really the land use that we want to see? So instead of allowing the non-hunters one day a week we are going to take all of that away from all users. How many volunteer and paid hours need to be spent to clean up after each season?


So in an effort to increase mountain biking opprotunities remember:
Next time you get a flat just pitch the tube in the woods.
Next time you have a Clif bar leave the wrapper where you ate it.
Next time you park at the trail head empty your cigerrette tray and case of 22oz PBRs in the parking lot.
Next time you go ride make sure to complain to the other users why the shouldn't be there. And if they don't listen threaten them while holding a weapon.
Next time you ride do it on trails that are band to mountain bikes.
Next time you ride make sure to put obstactles in the way of other users with the intent to injure them.
And always take more from the area that you give back!

And with all of that maybe they'll extended mountain bike season into hunting season because clearly by trashing the world in which we live we gain more respect for our government.

All users have rights to the land until they abuse those rights.
It's probably less than 30% of the users but really everyone I've happened to bump into seems pissed I exist as another land user.  

daily wanderings

The last several weeks have been filled with to much trail work, to much rain, and not enough trail riding. After getting pissed off at the Pa One Call Guys and fed up with the BS of the contracting world I decided to get some pictures of what had been completed in the short span of several weeks.

One of the several culverts along the new, yet to be named connector trail. This is at the powerline cut, which despite having to call the PA One Call number and have 9 different companies approve the scrapping of topsoil, turned out to be a pull-line: meaning it is empty and designed for future use. Pa One Call is the service you have to call if excavating, in at any depth.
This is a portion of roughed in trail approximately 1/4 mile from the visitors center. As you can see the flow of the Allegrippis has been preserved in this new trail.

As I stated earlier the rain and work never seemed to end. This is a section of "traditionally" well draining soil along this new trail. (This was for research purposes only and the new trail is not open to the public.) In an effort to minimize our impact on the new bit of trail Jake and I took to the water.

The Salsa Mukluk as I have said before, consistently amazes me in terms of both its capability and personality. In this particular case it really shined when a small stream had formed a steep rock walled gorge that had some awesome water from the recent storm event.

Jake in crusing a slide at the top of the stream. Photos never do justice so let me just say it's super slick.

This is just after I came through the gorge and happened upon a ragin' hole. Just out of the photo is the next picture.

The large pool of water that was way cold but def. rideable. Just out of view is the water fall that created this large pool. Seen in the picture below.

Getting ready to drop the falls pretty wild the first time through. Any way we wrapped up about two miles down stream at the lake. My battery died and well that was it for pictures that day.

Pedal America TV came to visit the trails this past week bringing with them a seven person crew and cast. Many cameras, laughs, and horrible lines. Be sure to catch the episode when it airs on PBS and several other stations in the spring.

Camera, sound, white balance, and lines all in tact up at the Dam overlook.

On the berm headed down Dark Hollow there was a three person crew taking pictures and video with cameras that cost more than my truck.

At the Sleek Dog crossing on Susquehannock Road, RMBA club member Charlie Hoover and Pedal America host Ira Levy ride up the road to the crossing for some good conversation.

Some times you just need to have some fun.

Connector Trail Progress

As most of the folks in the area are completely unaware of the new connector trail I figured I'd add some photos to introduce the new section of trail being completed as I write this. The trail will link the Visitors Center at the Seven Points Recreation Area, to Ridge Campground, and continue over to the Dark Hollow Trail on the Allegrippis Trails System.

Trail construction is currently following the same process as the original trails as not to take away from the quality and personality of the entire system. Long sweeping turns combined with cleaning spaced grade reversals will make this a great addition to the current 32 miles of trail.

This is one of the long open corridors where the trail will be constructed. Shannon Cotrell is off in the distance tying a flag to identify the intended path of the trail. Much of the area was recently timber harvested and was quite thick with tops of trees and logging left overs.
This Wednesday was the annual Day of Caring where we had 40 volunteer students come from the Huntingdon High School to assist in removing all of the slash and leaf matter from the surface of the new trail. This is done to eliminate the debris from the soil mix that will comprise the trail tread. If there is any amount of biomass trapped in the trail bed it begins to rot and cause pock marks, ultimately creating more work down the road.
The students followed the flags with their tools approximately 1/4 mile and really did a great job of what they where asked to complete. Sure there was some whining when it start to rain, but that's to be expected!

First pass with the SWECO mini-dozer cut a really nice bench in the soft clean slope. After a second pass with the dozer and a third with a stand behind rig, the trail will be completely roughed in. After the roughing in with machine, the five foot wide corridor will be ready for hand finishing. - Photos to follow