Woods Report - March 27

The trail angels were at it again. And you know who you are and we can't thank you enough over and over and over again. I noticed some rather hulky logs were moved - musta been a bunch of you to move that sucker! And I noticed some ramping of logs, and some nice go-around paths starting. It's all good, and the trails are in great, great shape. Except for the tightness. Even without the leaves on the blueberry underbrush, the brush was scratching my legs. So wear your long socks this year -- at least until we get some time to start trimming back the sides. They will ALL need trimmed. The extra tight sections are on Rattling Creek -- the longest trail which will take the most time to trim. And we mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again. Weiser state forest is public land and anyone is allowed on the trails. So watch for horses. It appears someone is starting to clear Shale Run to use it, so beware if you are riding Shale Run/Preserve line. It's possible they are heading out Fawn Kill also because last year Rick and I noticed some "widening" of the trail at spots (as they did Matter which was fine with us 'cause it was less trailwork we had to do!). We're just not certain because the only contact we have with a horse group (Jim Theurer) says they stay on snowmobile trail and never use the singletrack. All in all, enjoy!

Rattling 50 Marathon Update

It's on. Registration is up at Bikereg.com for the Rattling 50 Marathon, being put on by HighSpeedCycling.com and VisitPA.com Mountain Bike Team. $70 bucks, 50 miles, or $25 bucks for 17 miles. Base camp is the Girl Scout Camp on the other side of the mountain near Carsonville. And if you don't feel like going into Bike Reg to read about it, here's the write-up -- he talks about YOU GUYS and your stellar trail building skills. Oh, and the BASH is mentioned, so get your registration in early (we are 1/6 filled already):

Weee're Baaaaaack!! That's right kids here we go again. 50 Rattling Miles is back on the schedule because I need to put on another race like a junkie needs another fix. This is a killer course. Don't believe it just ask me. Better yet, send me your money and come try it out for yourself. Or just send me your money and don't come. I don't really care as long as I get the cash. The Rattling Creek Singletrackers (RCST - google "Rattling Creek Singletrackers") have done a stellar job creating an incredible network of trails on this wide ridge in central PA. RCTS got on board with the IMBA way of trail building early on and built a showcase of what can be accomplished when mountain bikers and property owners and governmental organizations work together. Now you get to race on their creation. Thank you RCST!! Yinzers Rawk!! The trails are killer and the camp is sweet too with camping available on site for a nominal fee. Please note that the camp is ours from Friday through Saturday evening so do not plan to spend Sat night on site. And, if you like the race you ought to come back and check out the RCST Bash Sept 10-13 to ride the trails and eat chili and see if you can navigate Rock's Ridge without a single dab and become King or Queen of the Bash! There will be three checkpoints on the course for all marathon racers. We will transport bags to CP#1 which doubles as CP#3. We will stock CP#2 with an assortment of yummy stuff that you'll probably regurgitate on the climb out of there...yummy!! New for 2009 is a little Open XC race. This is mostly for fun and frolic and for those of you not into a long long day in the saddle. Prizes are small, but then so is the entry fee so come out and have a blast with us and see if you can't kick your buddies' butts.Looking for lodging for the weekend? Then check out www.visitPA.com and while you're there see what other things you might find to do in Harrisburg, Hershey or any of the rest of central PA one your way to the race or home. VisitPA.com is a killer way to find new things to do and see in PA even if you've lived here your whole life. You can also get pics of the sexy visitPA.com team members on the site and if that doesn't make you want to click on over then I don't know what will!Get reg'd up in advance because I stick you with late charges on the day of! I'm a bastard that way. $20 more if you can't sign up for the Marathon in advance and $10 more if you're too lame to pre-reg for the xc event! More info on the event website at www.highspeedcycling.com

Woods Report - 3-14-09

Things are DRY - way too dry for spring. Wolf Pond is completely dried up and the trails have very few soggy spots and at this time of the year, there's usually water running everywhere and a lot of mushiness. Wolf Pond road was the only area I saw some mud and slop. Everything else is dry, dry, dry. The woods were quiet yesterday -- very calm, little activity or visitors. All you could heard were flocks of geese heading north. I saw two backpackers (rare for Weiser), and two local walkers, a ruffed grouse and a bunch of crows. The weather station is intact, although I'm not so sure its working 'cause everytime you go into the link from this Blog, it says "off line." I expected to see it laying over or something... but it wasn't. So I'm not sure what's up with it. No other mountain bikers around - at least not where I was riding (West side).

Gotta Love Those GRIZ Mugs!

Here's a sneak preview at the 10th Anniversary BASH Mug. Yup, we got Griz working on them EARLY -- actually we got Griz WORKING instead of playing all the time. That bum.

Woods Report - 3-7-09, Thank You to Some Trail Gods!

There were about 9 or so folks riding in Weiser yesterday -- nice. Who could refuse on a such a perfect weather day. There were a handful of soft sections on the trails, but not to the point of muddy. And YOU know who you are but, but we don't - so we have to THANK YOU publicly. Someone has been cutting treefall off the trail. (Dale???) We knew there were several, but we noticed several were removed and there's now only a couple. We have the best trail riders -- they stop and clear things, replace rocks that got kicked out, and generally are simply good stewards of the trail -- thank you, thank you, thank you. At first, I thought maybe it could have been horse people, and Rick said no, there's no evidence of horses on the trails (they typically don't use Fawn Kill). All in all, we are very grateful for everything folks do to help out. You could see evidence of people stopping to throw limbs off the trail. Awesome. We also noticed some fresh blazing on Fawn Kill. We have no idea who's doing that either. Last year, DCNR blazed Rock's Ridge (at least we thought it was DCNR), this year its Fawn Kill. They'll likely do the other trails also. I'll continue to keep folks updated on trail happenings. Aren't blogs great!?

Ride, Ride, Ride!

Weekend is looking A.W.E.S.O.M.E. and the trails are clear -- except for a tree here and there -- so be on the lookout for tree fall. Rick and I will be out riding Saturday afternoon -- so we may run into you. We'll be the slow moving couple (VERY slow moving) enjoying the scenery and weather, and stopping every now and then to clear the trails.