Rolled into the scout camp that is the base for the Trans-Sylvania Epic Stage Race (TSE) right about dinner time. The TSE is a seven day stage race (40 miles of mountain biking each day for seven days) that is highlighting some of PA’s best trails. This was a four day “training camp” for about half a dozen folks, and one last chance for the organizers (Mike K and Ray) to review and test the courses for the various stages of the race. Having showed up late on Friday, I was there to ride just Sat and Sun, but the other folks had been there and riding since Thursday.
After everyone was clean and showered, we piled into two cars and headed into Millheim and The Elk for dinner. As a hip place with good food and good brew, I wasn’t too surprised to find Misha and Nanso there. They were finishing up their meal and heading to State College to see a John Hiatt show. Misha is the former bike shop owner turned cabinet maker. He is also sort of "hosting" one of the stages being held in the park behind his place. Back in the day he use to host the Mountain Bike Jamboree there...
So we had a bunch of get-to-know-you-chit-chat over some good food and then headed back to camp over a network of back roads. The next day, Sat, we headed west from the camp to Raystown Lake where one of the stages will be held. Vegan Rob and his wife Sara had rolled in in their camper during the night and Mike F had driven out that morning and met us at the lake, so now there were 11 of us.
Raystown Lake
They are working hard to market the Raystown Lake area as a tourist destination, including to mountain bikers. To that end they have built a network of trails around a portion of this huge manmade lake. So we were only too happy to help support such a bike friendly scene and see what this stage of the TSE would be like.
We probably went out a little too fast, pushing the smooth, rolling trails. But these trails are so smooth and so fast that it’s easy to be caught off guard by the many humps and whoop-dee-doos. In fact, Mike K wanted to make sure that they would not be scraping folks off the trees, so this stage is going to be later in the week when folks may not be gunning it quite so hard. Even at our not-race pace, we had two folks get caught by the whoops and go over the bars.
Part of what made this interesting was the “training camp” aspect. We stopped now and again and got some tips from Mike, Vegan Rob and Mike F, all of whom are very good at what they do. Tips for positioning your weight, how to actually gain speed through corners, and when to weight your front wheel versus your back wheel. Good stuff.
We then caught some great pizza/lasagna at a place in Huntington, then said goodbye to Chris and Malcolm as they headed home. The rest of us headed back to camp to clean up the bikes and the bodies. A late dinner of Thai food in State College and we were in the sack.
The next day, Sunday, we rode out directly from camp. Did 40+ miles, one of the longest stages of the TSE, using many of the same roads and trails as the Wilderness 101, one of the oldest mountain bike races around. It was a great mix of all of the different types of riding that makes central PA so great. Smooth single-track, rocks, dirt roads, paved roads, a tunnel and even a little hike-a-bike. There was also a lot of fast sketchy, gravel downhills, a little pace-lining on the road out of Coburn along Penns Creek, some beautiful rock formations, and classic stands of virgin PA hemlock.
Penns Creek near Coburn
We also came across a group of about four families out on their bikes, with about 8 or 10 little ones, mostly girls, chugging along on the rail trail. Encouragements were shouted all around. We also came across a porcupine crossing the road. I think it says something about us that, even though it was at the bottom of a nice downhill, everyone had to stop and watch it waddle away into the woods.
We followed an old railway for a while, too. But it then came up to an old train tunnel than was converted for pedestrian use. It was a couple of hundred feet long and had something of a bend in the middle of it. As a result, once inside, the light just disappeared and you could see absolutely nothing. “Don’t turn, just right straight” Mike yells at me from behind. But Laura has totally disappeared in front of me and it’s one of those situations where you can’t even tell if you’re going straight or not. I also wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the path, but it remained fairly smooth. Eventually the tight part of the tunnel broke open, back to the full original size and we came out to a small cabin on a creek with a long wooden foot bridge to the other side. Again, classic Pennsylvania stuff. I love it.
Sara at the Tunnel
From there it was mostly climbs and gravel downhills back to the camp. All in all a pretty good day. Folks showered up, said their goodbyes and headed back home (MA, VA, NC, PA). Many would return in two weeks for the TSE, the longest mountain bike stage race in the US. Should be a good time.
Stay tuned...
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