IMBA Take A Kid Mountain Biking Event

What: Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day Event

When: Saturday, October 3, 2009

Where: Rocky Ridge County Park, 400 Deininger Road, York, PA

Sponsored by: York Area Mountain Bike Association and Adventure Cycling and Fitness, 4370 West Market St, York, PA.

Details: Registration starts at 1:00pm. Rides begin at 1:30pm. The event will conclude at 4pm.

This event is an ideal introduction to mountain biking for beginners or an opportunity for a group intermediate ride for more skilled riders. YAMBA members will be present to lead each group. All rides will also have a "sweeper" to bring up the rear. All children ages 6 through 18 are welcome to attend, those under 12 must have an adult present who will also participate in the ride. All participants should have their own bike and helmet (mandatory). Rides will be grouped according to the ability of the participants and the minimum ride length will be one mile. Very beginner rides will take place on a smooth gravel path. More experienced riders will get the chance to ride on more technical trails which include rocks, logs, and dirt. Snacks, drinks, and small prizes will be provided. A registration area will be set up in the rear gravel parking lot at Rocky Ridge Park. Please arrive a few minutes early for registration.

There is no cost for this event.

Email Dan Walko with any questions! mailto:danwalko%40yahoo.com. Also check http://www.yamba.org/ for the most up to date information.

A backlog of trailwork updates - Part 1

After neglecting updating the blog here is the first of the past projects the YAMBA trial fairies have been working on recently.

On June 16 eleven volunteers joined me at Rocky Ridge for anohter maintencance day. For this particular day we tackled the upper section of trail 6 which has started to focus water down the trail tread, and removing a few fallen trees (one of which became a log ride on trail 5). Thanks to the following: Dan Bowers, Paul Burchfield, Dan Walko, Scott Ramsay, Joel Dore, Alyssa Mease, William Weismantel, Ray Michels, Skip Durgin, Susan Moury and Jeremy Haag.

I don't have any pictures from the trail work day, but I do have some crappy cell phone pics that shows that our work worked.

Looking up the trail from the waterbar. We re-angled the bar, and here you can see water is hitting the backside.


Looking down from the waterbar you can see the wash that has formed on the right from the water hitting the bar and flowing off to the side instead of running down the trail.


Here we rerouted the trail slightly uphill, and put choke stones and debris on the old trail. This serves two purposes in getting water off the main trail tread and slowing that water down as it runs off.


Another slight reroute using limbs and stone to direct water off the trail tread


Here we blocked off a braid that had formed going into the rock ride. This braid allowed water to run down to the bottom of the rock ride creating a mud pit at the bottom. By closing this braid off and cutting nicks into the braid for water to run off, we have been able to keep the bottom of the rock ride dry.

A Little Roadie Diversion

On June 7th I had the pleasure of once again attending what I simply call the Philly Bike Race. Philadelphia has held this annual road race for the last 25 years under various names. It is known as one of the best single day races in the US and draws an A list of road riders every year. The race is best know for it's climb up the Manayunk Wall, a half mile climb at 17 percent max gradient that is traversed 10 times.

In years past I have watched the race from this location, and highly, highly recommend it for first time visitors. To picture the scene all one has to do is watch some of the climbs from major European road races. The crowd is that intense. This year we watched the race from the lower reaches of Ridge Ave at the end of the pelotons decent of the climb. A totally different experience, yet just as good.

How often do you get to watch a former world champ race? Judith Arndt


Or possibly the best female road racer of the time? Ina Tuetenberg Winner of the womens race.


I got to see some of the best mens talent in Andre Greipel (winner of the mens race), Mark Henderson, Bernhard Eisel, and Edvald Boasson Hagen (2009 Giro stage winner) all of Columbia/High Road. Here the mens peleton stretches out.


This is how close you can get to the peleton


Lastly a sample of what that descending peleton feels like (edited for language)

Membership Dues Poll

At the general meeting tonight there was discussion concerning how our membership dues are divided up. Currently 100% of your membership dues go back to the York County Parks to be earmarked for trails. To date YAMBA has donated over $16,000 back to the York County Parks.

As the years have gone by, it has been getting harder and harder for YAMBA to maintain its budget out of the operating fund. Currently this account is funded by the chainsaw cookout and any above and beyond donations given to the club. With costs for insurance, tools, supplies, and postage rising YAMBA is getting pinched tighter every year.

What do you think YAMBA should do to help raise the balance in the operating fund? Vote in the poll on the right, and feel free to leave a comment with this post. If you vote for the option "some other percentage split" please leave a comment on what you would like to see that split be.

Rocky Ridge Trailwork Report

On Saturday May 30th YAMBA had another Trailwork day. This particular day turned into a maintenance day as I surveyed the damage done by the logging and by water on fall-line trails. A crew of 10 showed up, not knowing what they had gotten themselves into. The days work included a chainsaw, bow saw, pick mattocks', and a lot of heavy lifting. We restored the side trails off of Sues Trail (trail 2) that go through the rock slot. Here we cleared the trail and put the logs back in, and blocked of the open areas caused by the logging trucks. Then we headed over to the fall line section of trail 3 where the parks have been trying to close the trail for 23 years. Here some dug tombstone pits. while others cut and carried a lot of wood to accomplish our goals.

Thanks to the following for coming out to help: Dick Mansberger, Rick Resh, Markus Houser, Dan Walko, Barry Shorts, Dan Bowers, John Funkhouser, Skip Durgin, Susan Moury, and Ed Roberts.

Pictures courtesy of Susan

PA State Park Closures Possible - Urgent action needed

From a mssg on MTBR and an action request being forwarded around. As part the proposed budget of a (unnamed here to avoid politics) political party are cuts to the DCNR that would require closing of up to 50 PA state parks and forests.

"Story at this link:

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_12465829

DCNR Press release here:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us:80/news/resource/res2009/09-0520-budget.aspx

Here's where you can find out who your rep and senator are.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/


Nutshell: Part of Senate Bill 850 is a proposal to close 35 PA State Parks as part of budget cuts. Also included is the possible closure of roughly 1000 miles of State Forest Roads. As people who recreate outside and often in PA's public lands, please write to your representatives and tell them you oppose this move.

Public lands should remain open and available to the public. Don't let a handful of politicians decide their fate.

Don't sit on the sidelines and think this couldn't possibly happen. If people don't tell the politicians they oppose this, that will be taken as though no one cares. If no one cares, we'll lose access to OUR public lands.

Don't let OUR public lands start to be playgrounds for private companies. What's the best thing to do with a closed state park? Sell it to a private company as a resort. It's been attempted before at Prince Gallitzin SP.

If 1,000 miles of forest roads are closed, who do you think will be the only ones to get in? Logging companies, that's who. F them and the politicians who came up with this idea.

Fight the Man. Send emails. Send it to your clubs.

There's a park on the list near you. I guarantee."

TNT

No not that kind of TNT! Thursday Night Trailworks. TNT's start this Thursday at Spring Valley. TNT's will be held on random Thursdays as leaders are available, starting at 6PM. This weeks TNT will meet at Spring Valley Crossroads lot and will head on over to Teakettle to work on the final section.

Teakettle Update - Trailwork 5-17-09

For this trailwork we had 8 dedicated members show up to work on Teakettle some more. They were able to finish off one section and start on another, bringing the trail that much closer to being ready to open. Thanks to Dan Walko, Susan Moury, Jody Coeyman, Skip Durgin, Paul Yeager, Lindsay Tobias, Larry Schlaline, and Dan Bowers. Also a special thanks to Gung Ho Bikes for donating another box of power bars to help fuel our volunteers.

Allegrippis Trails - Raystown Lake pt. 3 The Final Chapter

Sleeping in while group camping is not the easiest thing to do, even when you try to. The sun begins to rise and shine into the tent, the birds begin to sing and mountain bikers begin to stir. Up and out of the tent at 6:30 we slowly began to plot our day. First up was heating water for coffee and tea. Breakfast was supposed to be served at 7 AM, so we walked down to the pavilion. Noticing that that there was no food in sight we walked back down to the camp site and fired up the stoves. Out came the eggs, bacon, cheese and wheat bread as I cooked up breakfast sandwiches for the gang.


After eating breakfast we were ready to ride again by 9:15. To save some time we loaded the bikes onto the car and shuttled up to the trail head. Riding today it was just myself, Matthew, and Jim. We planned out a different route than Saturday to hit some of the trails we had missed. Our reactions to the trails were the same as the day before. We were laughing and having a great time as we hit spots such as these:




After our ride we packed up our gear and left Raystown Lake to head for home, all vowing to return again to ride these sweet sweet trails. I definitely recommend to everybody to make it up there at some point this year. The trails are well constructed and are fast, flowy and nontechnical. They only danger at Raystown Lake is speed, as too much can send you flying off one of the grade reversals. The trails are also marked excellently w/ directional arrows and trail names, and mapped out so there is little chance of getting lost. Here's a map of the rides that I did Saturday and Sunday and the official trail map.

Allegrippis Trails - Raystown Lake Pt 2

After our long ride in the morning we were starving. The organizers did a great job and had a hearty meal waiting for us. There were also vendor tents and test bikes that could be ridden on the trails in the lunch area.



We meant to ride again in the afternoon again. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it was the good food, and the warm sun but we never did make it out. Before we knew it, it was supper time.




After dinner we noticed people walking past our site. Then more people. Well we had to see what it was. Turns out it was the PA advocacy meeting. Here Frank Maguire the Mid-Atlantic IMBA rep and talked about how the Alegrippis Trails came to be. Then the IMBA Trail Care Crew came up and gave a motivational speach on trail and club building. It was a very informative session.



Notice the Troegs van in the pictures above. They were kind enough to bring three kegs of beer along. Thanks to them there are no pictures fit to show from Saturday night. We again lit a fire and sat around drinking, laughing and having a good time. The last of us turned in around 1:00 AM to get some rest before another early morning ride.

to be cont.

Allegrippis Trails Report- Raystown Lake Trip pt.1

What a weekend it was. The grand-opening of the Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake was great time. Last Friday six YAMBA members and a few of their parents set up camp in the Big Meadow camping area for a weekend of good food, good riding, and good times.

Skip, Greg Spath, Jim Gable, and Susan Moury were able to get a ride in on friday before Matthew Houseknecht, and myself were able to make it up to the camp site. Their report had me excited to ride the next day. That night, as we sat around the campfire laughing and listening to music, we planned to get up by 7 AM and ride by 9 AM.


Bright and early the YAMBA crew rolled out of their tents thanks to the "racoon" that set off one of YAMBA's car alarms. Skips dad took over grill duty and Greg cooked up the eggs for a hearty pre-ride breakfast. There was one of us though that was feeling a little under the weather and couldn't eat, he shall remained unnamed.



We only missed our target ride time by 15 minutes and head out for the trail head. Everybody had a great time, evidenced by the giggling, laughing, whooping, and hollering as we head downhill hitting the rollers and berms.




to be cont.

Special Thanks

First to Scott Ramsay and Joel Dore for clearing out a mess of downed trees on the Goat Trail at The Lakes back in the middle of April. These trees had completely blocked one of the switchback sections and they did a great job opening it back up. They also blocked off a braid coming onto the trail from a nearby private property.

Second to Dick Mansberger who put in over 6 hours of work this past weekend at Spring Valley. Dick finished off benching and tamping the section of Teakettle that we were working on at the last trailwork.

Thanks guys!

Teakettle update pt. 2

On Saturday May 2, nine YAMBA members joined up at Spring Valley for the first morning workday of the year. They were able to put in extra time due to the early start and blazed their way down the hillside. Thanks to:

Dan Bowers, Susan Moury, Alyssa Mease, William Weismantel, Sherry and Dave Hahn, Markus Houser and Dick Mansberger.

Teakettle Update part 1

On April 19th, eight dedicated individuals met at Spring Valley to extend Teakettle over the ridgeline and down the hill. There was a new face in the group that joined us from the Our Gang riding club in Maryland even. Thanks to the following for putting in a hard afternoon of work:

Linda Reider, Susan Moury, Dan Walko, Dan Bowers, Jody Coeyman, Marcus Houser, Skip Durgin, and Dick Mansberger.

Lake Raystown Weekend Info

Quote below was taken from the registration page at BIKE REG

"Come on out and join us in celebrating the grand opening of the trails at Raystown Lake, The Allegrippis Trails. Located at the Army Corps of Engineers Raystown Lake Project, this 32 mile, purpose built, designed for mountain bikes, trail system is unique on the East Coast. Designed and built by IMBA Trail Solutions, these trails are a direct result of a partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and IMBA started in 2002.
The event weekend includes vendor expos, bike demos, a ribbon cutting and volunteer appreciation lunch, group rides, beer and barbecue. This event is part of the Dirt Rag World Tour and will feature demo bikes from Trek, Cannondale, Scott, and more. The Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew will also be on hand.
Your registration fee covers camping for two nights, evening food and libations on Saturday and light breakfast Sunday. If you only want to come out for the day and ride, there is no charge, but the event weekend is a fundraiser for the Raystown Mountain Bike Association, so please consider chipping in for the cause.
We hope to have an exact schedule for the weekend finalized by April 1st. but rest assured, the event is happening and will be well worth traveling for."

These trails have been described as like riding a roller coaster on a bike, or a pump track on steroids. Check out an early review HERE. There are already about five YAMBA members signed up for the camping weekend. Lets get some more.

There is no fee if you want to just come for the day on Saturday, but they do ask that you sign up so that they have a head count. Also, there will be a free lunch on Saturday. This is being prepared by a separate organization and they ask that you sign up HERE so that again there is a head count.

Skip and I will add more information as we receive it. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below and Skip or I will answer as best as we can.

Get out and ride some new trails

The trails at The Lakes were in near mint condition yesterday. Over the last year YAMBA has constructed three new sections of trail at The Lakes. These are trail 2C, a reroute of Trail 4, and the recently finished reroute/extension of Trail 1. Each of these new trails are in great condition. Trail 4 is finally dry and bedded in, and the berm rips! Trail 1 is bedding in quite nicely this soon after being fininshed and has a good flow already. The forecast rain has held off, so the trails should be open through the whole long weekend hopefully, as long as Saturday mornings showers are light. Check out the new trails, have fun, and keep the rubber side down.

Results w/ pics from 2009 Gutbuster

A big thanks to Spud Racing for taking the lead in organizing this great event for the second year in a row. Here are the results for 2009.

Overall winner
Andy Hoover




Womens Overall Amy McCullough




Beg course Men:Jim Diffendal




Beg course Women: Michelle Rudy




OVERALL best time: Andy Hoover - 12:20
2nd place open - AJ Dixon - 12:25
3rd place open - Russ Blake - 12:30
4th place open - Mike Funk - 12:42
Dave Raymond - 12:45
Mike Laub - 12:47

OVERALL best time (woman): Amy McCullough - 14:32
2nd place women open - Janice Morris - 15:40
3rd place women open - Sandy Reynolds - 22:20

First Place Beg course Men; Jim Diffendal - 12:12
2nd place Beg course men: Mark Houser - 13:04
3rd place Beg course men: Chuck Simonds - 14:11

First Place Beg course Women: Michelle Rudy - 13:53
2nd place Beg course women - Joan Slawick - 20:32

and the rest...
David Raymond - 12:45 o
Mark Lentz - 16:44 o
William Graves - 13:44 +10 for broke egg 23:44 o
Kevin Hardy - 16:14 o
Michael Nardelli - 14:55 o
Kristian Hains - 18:34 o
Matt Orlando - 17:30 o
Sean Mealy - 12:49 +10 broke egg 22:49 o
Clark evanitus - 13:45 o
Lee Curry - 15:29 b
Tyler Kovoch - 15:59 o
Matt keller - 12:58 o
Adam Hall - 18:43 o
Clyde bitner - 13:12 o
Mike Hoffman - 15:24 o
Darin Benson - 15:30 o
Joe Gordon - 15:33 o
Joe orsini - 15:59 +10 broke egg 25:59
Dusty Gordon - 20:34 o
Bill Kearney - 14:36 b
Chuck Simonds - 14:11 b
Darren Aldinger - 14:00 o
Matt Groff - 18:49 o
Frank Halbleib - 17:52 o
Barry Shorts - 15:13 o
Daniel Kaldas - 24:17 b
Craig Thompson - 15:53 o
Ken Stradden - 16:56 o
Dave Stauffer - 13:16 o
Mark Kilgore - 14:15 o
Rob Scroggin - 14:05 o
Scott Podurski - 14:09 o
Matt Schiffen - 16:38 o
Nathan Murry - 14:35 o
Randy Dabler - 13:19 o

Rocky Ridge Trail Map

All of the legal trails at Rocky Ridge. A Hi-res file is available here. Right click and save as.

Tea Kettle Trail

Today was the second workday on Tea Kettle at Spring Valley County Park. Tea Kettle will eventually run from Line Rd, near the bridge over the creek, to the current Trail 1 near Ridge Rd. Tea Kettle can currently be found by climbing Trail 1 from the trailhead at Line Rd and Park St.

Dick Mansberger, Alyssa Mease, Larry Schlaline, Lindsay Tobias, and Susan Moury joined me in extending last weeks work further up the hill to the ridge line. We were able to get a lot of work completed considering the small size of our crew. Thanks for coming out guys and gals.

Dick and Larry did an awesome job with the rock work on the hi/low section

The gang working on the bench cut