10 June 2013

My, My, My Michaux (Happy Ending)

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A mountain biker runs up the forest road, pushing his bike while doing so. I pull the pickup truck over to the side.

“What do you need?”

“A pump. Got one?”

“I have one.”

*******

A fellow rider flatted up on the ridge, exhausted his air cartridge trying to seal up the tubeless tire, then put a tube in, only to find out that his hand pump wasn’t working.

He was on a one gear (32 x 19) hardtail, big-wheeled setup, with a sizable amount of dirt and paved roads back to where he needed to be in about an hour.

*******

“Thanks. You saved me.”

“You should be good now. Safe travels home.”

*******

I got a spin in on the new, newer Wildcat and Abby, before making my way around the reservoir. It was Memorial Day, and the state forest was filling up with recreationalists. People hiking, backpacking, kayaking, fishing, camping…

What a wonderful sight?!

I decided to cut the ride short. Back at the truck I pulled out a beer, walked to the mountain stream, found a rock in it, and sat down.

A Nugget Nectar never tasted so good.

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08 June 2013

My, My Michaux (Part 2–Lose the ‘Tude, Dudes)

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Day 2 was picture perfect weather, again. I parked at the bottom of Dead Woman’s Hollow. Knowing that thirty plus years of exploring Michaux on foot and bike was soon coming to a halt, for a while anyway, I was feeling a bit of nostalgia and sadness.

Up Dead Woman’s > 3 Mile > Up Woodrow > Rattlesnake > Over to the Blocks > Traverse > Vista > all the way back to Dead Woman’s via mostly single track along the bottom of the ridge, including some new stuff I’d not ridden before and reconnecting with single track I’d not ridden in a looooooong time.

Up on the Blocks and later on Vista, I came upon groups of local riders, most of whom didn’t even say “Hello” after I initiated a greeting. One group with several riders wearing local club jerseys were hanging out while one guy repaired a flat. I stopped, commented on the ideal weather and trail conditions over the past two days, which was met mostly with silence, except for one guy that said the day before was too windy to ride. He went on to say that “tomorrow, we’re riding with [so and so super mtber, in their minds] … 25 miler…going big. You feel it for days after riding with [local bad ass rider].”

I pedaled away, wishing them well, and getting back to my second day of 30s-40 miles of backcountry solo riding, with one more day on the slate. I was glad that I didn’t have on my local club jersey.

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04 June 2013

Post #516: My Michaux (Day 1)

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Three days of the most ideal weather conditions I can remember in southcentral PA were gifted to me and all other PA outdoor enthusiasts over Memorial Day weekend in the form of sunny, dry days with temps in the upper 60s/low 70s and with no humidity. While hundreds were gathering up in central PA for TSE, I was down at Michaux, my mtb homeland, for 3 days of backcountry solo riding. For forty miles on Saturday, I saw not another human being on the trails:

Parked at High Rock/Rattlesnake > Rattlesnake up to doubletrack to Virginia > over to Rocky Ridge > forest road up to Southern Gas > tailgate grub > dropped on other side of Rattlesnake down to Chickadee > scooted onto trail by water res intake below 3 Stooges > over newer wood bridge to horse trail up and around to parking area off the hard road > up and around and up Snowy Mountain > up to 4 Logs > down 4 Logs > up to the tower on the forest roads > down, down, down and over the rock features of Tumbling Run > up forest road to Spooge and down Spooge > back on Rattlesnake to the truck

Day 1 done. Picture perfect. Dreams came true.

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