Yesterday my plan was to meet Mark out near Pine Furnace SP @ 2:30. I made it happen.
Per PA regs a camper must have a valid camping permit unless developed. I stopped @ the forest office on rt 30. Only open Mon to Fri. Then an LEO opened the door. We exchanged greetings my first day there. I told him about the downed trees. I sent him my pic of a tree jam. I asked for a camping permit for last night. He said I didn’t need one and he would contact other rangers about my approval. I insisted on a permit that he wrote for the entire mtn, not a specific spot.
Filled solar shower & put 3 gals in the sink tank.
I met Mark on the dot. The Michaux is his backyard. There is something to a 29ner hardtail single speed bike. He finessed rock gardens. Single speed means more pedaling which suits rock gardens where success is spelled by forward momentum. No marked trails, not mapped, just a big green spot on the map. A local or a good gps track required for navigation. Way more network of rabbit runs than Sedona could imagine. These are old school minimal trail development tread. My 31″ handlebar presented a memorable count of not enough space between trees. Won’t cut them down for the tight tree clearance but for proper fit. Very hot humid day under tree cover was 15.99 miles in 2 hrs 36 mins climbing 1956′ (the year I started first grade), I burned 1182 cals. Of the pedaling time I spent 1 hr 39 mins above theoretical aerobic threshhold bpm of 136. I like the rockiness of these trails albeit I walk in places. Rhodendron thickets, clear flowing streams and streamlets. Tight tree cover mostly regrowth. The state bought most of the land in the 30s prolly after robber barons stripped the trees and defaulted on the taxes. Also, there were 2 operating iron furnaces that demanded incredible amounts of charcoal that came from the standing tree source.
Mark told me about an IMBA epic, Rattling Creek, nearby. I spaced the connection. Today i am parked downtown Carlisle, PA w/in internet range. I researched the ride and found a gps track of a race course & downloaded it to my Edge for tomorrow’s ride.
72 degrees @ 1400′ on Piney mtn. riding in the 80s. Humid, leaf shaded no views of even the sky. It is what it is: an enjoyable experience because I can have it. Anybody can ride here in the fall w/ a light underwear top and see things and not required to perform full body tactile examination post ride. The East is enjoyable. I travel the lesser traveled roads slowly and look. Old farms, just oldness interspersed w/ newer houses. Houses made of brick, big lots of bedrooms. What was the income source? Old cities houses were built right on the roadside back when it was all about horses and no commuting to work. Row houses sharing common walls, streets not wide enough for curb parking which butts the paved sidewalk that butts the house front wall. Usually 2 stories. Must have been a common architecture style almost universally of the time. Quaint. I will chose not to live in one hard on a street. Heritage. Way of life. Farmers displaced by productivity gains.
Off to Rattling Creek over by Lykens, PA near Tower City where I used to ride my 250 WR Husqvarna dirt bike back in the mid 70s. The land had been underground coal mined and the land was abandoned.
I raised my saddle before the Sherando ride when my knee pain started. The pain was on the front of the knee which says the saddle is too high. I raised it to get more leg extension which i thought was proper. Knee pain contra indicator. Before yesterday’s ride I lowered the saddle using the sit on the bike supported, place heel flat on pedal @ lowest point while keeping the pelvis level: no rocking. While clipped in my leg is not fully extended, slightly bent sort of like firing b4 top dead center. Yesterday’s ride was chunky pedaling, non spin. My knees were mostly happy when finished.
I drank quite a lot during the ride. Back @ the van I drank a beer them 4 mugs of EFS electrolyte iced drink. Way dehydrated. And I cramped viciously in both legs when i changed sleeping positions.
Pit racing noisy ATVs in gravel parking lot. By design the grass camping opening was separate from the gravel parking lot. As long as I am first I experience nothing but clear air and only the roar of my engine. The riders are fatter than the horse riders. Motorized wheel chairs.
Mariners are playing great baseball. I catch games on XM. I prefer the hometown announcers but XM broadcasts the local announcers. Seattle home games start @ 7PM local time. Doing the math, the game starts @ 10PM. I listen to several innings laying in bed b4 I turn it off.