Raystown recap.

Let me start by saying, you have to go there. The trails we rode were some of the funnest trails I've been on. Great downhills, moderate climbs, whoops, whoops whoops and banked turns.

I was the first to arrive out of the Pittsburgh people, and had my tent setup when others started to arrive. It tried to rain a few times, but all we got was a sprinkle for a few minutes. More people showed up and base camp was setup. Mountain bikers were given a large camping site with individual areas. The whole area was pretty densely packed with tents. Over 200 mountain bikers signed up to camp, and even more came down Saturday.

We started to relax Friday and have a few drinks when it was decided (Joe) that we should go for a ride. We ended up doing a nice 9 mile loop and made it back just as the sun was going down.

Saturday was the day of the events. There were some press events and vendor booths for Trek and Cannondale, plus other outfitters and of course The friends of Raystown Lake which are the ones who put in the trails. There was a Ribbon cutting ceremony with Colonel Mullen from the army core of engineers. I had a helmet camera with me and have some great footage. Rick had one also.

So lets talk about the trails. Even though the trails are relatively new they were pretty firm and there were only a few areas were there was mud and those areas will probably always be muddy due to springs or streams, but they were very brief. The trails were very well laid out and even though you feel like you've been running downhill for miles, there was never a really a bad climb. You always seemed to get a break from climbing right when you needed it. There was one or two short easy rock gardens, but nothing like Laurel Mountain or Big Bear. These trails are all about flow.

The trails are marked and the map is excellent. The trail map is color coded with easiest, moderate and expert, but instead of technical difficulty it more of a speed thing. We rode Rays revenge and it's a blazing fast downhill with jumps that you would expect at a gravity park. I think even an average rider could ride this trail, although at a slow pace. We rode almost every trail on the east side. The west side is still being developed.

We rode around 20-22 miles, I'm not positive as I broke my gps handle bar mount at about 17.5 and I did an extra loop that the others didn't. I was the only one to suffer a flat and even I think it was a freak thing. I believe I hit a small rock on a fast down hill that jumped up on edge and started rolling, then my back tire ran over it. It cut about a 1/4 inch hole in the tire and went flat in about 2 seconds, spitting slime at the same time. The hole was too big to for the slime to seal my tubeless tire, so I took the tire off wiped the slime from that area and applied a couple of patches. Pressure inflator and I was ready to finish the ride.

Back at camp we cooked and ate and then went down for the provided spaghetti dinner, ate some more and liquid libations were had. The wind really picked up and there was tent carnage everywhere, but still no rain. I think it drizzled a off and on a few times during the night, but not even enough to wet the ground. We did did have some tick issues. Dan found one on his leg and I discovered one when I got home today. It was smaller then the head on a straight pin and was trying to attached in my arm pit. It's to be expected when you are camping and romping through the woods.

I can't say enough about how well these trails are made and how much fun they are to ride.

Watch for a lot of video footage soon.