Get Off

This is an all points bulletin for a Raystown Lake bike trip this fall. If you don't know much about Raystown then do yourself a favor - prop your head up on a pillow and suffer through the next paragraph.

Raystown is supposed to be first-class buffed-out singletrack of the same ilk as White Clay, only more and better. Online reviewers consistently say it is like an M. C. Escher drawing - you finish where you started but somehow ride downhill the entire way. It has received rave reviews from every mountain biking magazine to which I subscribe (more that a few), and Men's Journal named it "one of the top 4 mountain bike trails in North America." It took IMBA and Army Corps of Engineers 7 years to build these trails specifically for mountain bikes - this is not a "rake and ride" operation.

The only knock I have heard against Raystown is that it is not very technical and there are no killer climbs. Seriously, ask Andy Sokol who was the first (not the last) person I heard say this. So it's all about flow and rolling. Oh, and it is more than a 12 minute drive to get there so it's probably a single overnight, but we'll sort that out once we gauge interest.

So to get things going, let's look at a couple of weekends this fall when foliage should be kicking in:

• September 25-26
• October 2-3

TBD if we would do an overnight, Friday vs Saturday, etc but what's important is that you get off the couch for this ride. It is not a sufferfest and you've got plenty of time to get rid of the rust. Google it if you have to, at least you're doing something. Then check with the wifey and email me with level of interest and preferred weekend.

Chris

"Better to wear out than to rust out"