Pennsylvania Dutch

"In all thing in nature, there is something of the marvelous." Aristotle

And yes it was marvelous......

Last week, my friend Holly Carson and I headed off to a little town called Wrightsville, PA to spend a week mt biking. Wrightsville is outside of York and is in a beautiful part of PA. The local mountain biking group (York Area Mt Bike Assoc.) was helpful in directing us to riding areas. The local ride coordinator, Jeremy Haag, was able to hook me up to a Monday evening group ride on the first day there.....but I get ahead of myself....

We stopped in CT before heading to PA and rode with some old friends(and John and Carl) I met on a trip to Utah. They took us to a place called Middlesex in Middletown (confusing...) to ride the first day. It was slick and tricky riding that day. Holly managed to hang herself from the China Wall....the bike lodged between two rocks being the only thing that prevented her from falling all the way off the wall! Dave Wells managed to save her....and the bike....and the derailleur....and the trip was not cut short....unless of course you take into account the fall the next day at Trout Brook that resulted in what we thought was a broken hand. But alas, just a sprain....and the riding continued!

We rented a cabin for the week in Wrightsville. AND.....the best and most helpful bike shop was located a mere 5 miles down the road! We were in the shop so often that they gave me the locals discount on a pair of gloves. I wish I could import those guys up to NH!

Monday we rode at The Lakes, just South of York. We didn't hit a lot of the singletrack, but what we found was awesome! On Monday night I rode with the locals at Rocky Ridge....some nice techy singletrack and some climbing (out of the gut....referred to by locals). Holly and I rode there again on Tuesday, but I was unable to retrace the ride from the night before.....and we definately had a long (wrong way) climb back out.

On Wednesday we drove 2 1/2 hours to Raystown Lake. IMBA has built 30+miles of sweet singletrack. Someone described it as 30 miles of a pump track, and I'd have to agree! This place is a must ride for everyone. Don't worry about suspension....you don't need it! Speaking of places to ride.....check out White Clay Creek Park in Delaware (where we went of Friday). This place is a multi-day epic ride. We have still only ridden about 1/2 of it and we've been there twice!

On the way home on Saturday, Holly dropped me off at Huntington (in CT) to ride with John and our CT buddies. Again, slick, but fun! Broken derailleur and endo in the first mile of trail....but it was better after that. I think the rocks were a little scary after all those days of riding rootless, rockless trails in PA and DE!

Sunday dawned cloudy after a night of rain, but that didn't stop John and I from driving to NY to attend the Blue Mt Fat Tire Festival. The sun come out in the late morning. We again rode with the folks from CT. We were able to get two rides in before we called it a day. Blue Mt is a great place to ride.....and I'd encourage all to attend the festival!

And now it's back to the local trails.....