Trail Tales

Ian F

Well-Known Member
I see Weyerbacher beers in the local Giant but not a lot. I haven' really looked for it otherwise. Since they stopped making true stouts I haven't paid much attention to them. The website still shows the Last Chance IPA as being a year-round offering. The brewery isn't far off I-78 if you really want some. Sadly, unlike many other higher ABV stouts I've bought, the Heresy stout they made hasn't aged well.

I agree with the saturation comment. There are so many breweries around here. I live less than 2 miles from Neshaminy Creek Brewing and hardly ever go there. Mostly because they also don't offer a stout option very often, although I see on the website the two yearly releases are pending...
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
I thought this was the Brighton Hill Road story. Would like a a recap of that at some point.

I think my top speed is Federal Twist. But man, woods right up to the edge of the road and potential for deer / cars....
Sure, I'll do that one! I can never remember the name of that road. I just call it "that horribly laid out road that seems designed to kill people" ... But I think it's actually "Bridgeton Hill Road" (only because that's what it seems to be on Google maps.)

So, back in May 2013, I got a FB message from my friend Gary. He was putting together a team to do the Eastern Rapha Gentlemens Ride. I knew nothing about this, but I jumped on board because ... why not? The course was 130 miles that criss-crossed the Delaware with just tons and tons of climbing and descending. For those who haven't heard of it, the Gentlemens Ride is a non-race race where you ride with five teammates and seek to complete the course the fastest. But it's not a group start - teams get sent off in intervals and certain rules apply - you have to stay together, and your team's time only counts if everyone finishes. The course itself is almost always a mixed-road deal where, even though everyone is riding a road bike, the organizer may throw in everything from paved roads to actual singletrack. There was minimal singletrack on our ride - but the gravel portion played key role in how this all played out for me. We were riding along with another team and when we hit the first chunky gravel (which included a creek crossing), I bounced off a rock at one point and heard the unmistakable "pssssssss"of a pinch flat. But there was more to it than that - a spoke snapped and knocked the wheel out of true, so after we fixed the flat, the tire was rubbing the brake. So, knowing we had something like 13K feet of climbing still to go, I solved the problem by just flipping the cable lever up. And then I forgot all about it. Because we had to fix the flat, and then a but later one of the guys on our team started having a cramping issue, we were way off the pace we wanted. So Gary got us doing a rotating pace line along Route 32, which was the only time I've ever done that and it was really awesome - we were doing 25 mph without feeling like we were doing 25 for about 6 miles. So that brought us to the monster climb up Uhlerstown Road, after which we hooked up with another team to pace ride the section that brought us to the Bridgeton Hill descent into Milford. As we started down the descent, the paceline fell apart - two of the guys on the other team jumped, and one of our guys followed. I was right behind that guy so I went to and passed Josh form my team and one of the other guys, and pretty soon, I looked down and was somewhere north of 30 mph about halfway down the hill. And as I looked ahead, I saw the hard left at the bottom. No big deal - I just needed to scrub a little speed. Except, when I went to pull my rear brake, I suddenly remembered that - being a moron - I had unhooked it. So ... yeah.

Screen Shot 2020-11-07 at 4.40.07 PM.png

The circled section here is the turn I'm referring to. At that turn, there is a stone wall in front of a house that sits there, with a very narrow (but open) gate. My first thought was "I need to aim for the opening", but that idea quickly went out the window because, well, what then? The only thing I knew for sure was that there was no way I was going to make the turn safely at my speed. I tried feathering the front brake while sitting as far back as possible, but that just felt too sketchy and wouldn't slow me down fast enough. So I made the call to do what I really, really didn't want to do - I laid it down. My only other options was to go right into the wall and I honestly thought that would kill me, so I thought laying it down was the best of all the bad options I was looking at. And so that's what I did. I slid down and slammed my elbow on the pavement and let me bike go - it slid sideways a bit and spun around before being torqued straight upward like a lever-arm and it hit the wall right on the non-drive chain-stay. I managed to stop before I reached the wall, but my elbow was fuuuuuuucked up ...

Elbow.jpg

My elbow a few days later ...

I also had all kinds of assorted road rash on my side. And yet, I popped up, cursed a blue streak from the pain for a bit, and then grabbed my bike to continue. But as soon as I moved it, I realized the frame was broken. So, yeah, my day was done and that meant my team wouldn't get an official time. I think that bugged me more than anything else.

I caught a ride back to the start finish area with Gary's GF who had been acting as our team soigneur. Ultimately, I was able to get the frame repaired by Ruckus - and it's still me road bike to this day!

So that's the story. Total rider error - I did a supremely dumbass thing and paid for it in spades. I guess overall, I was lucky it wasn't worse. Like if I hadn't tried to brake-check until later down the hill, I would probably have hit that stone wall with full force. And to this day, I felt really bad for the other guys on my team that they didn't get a chance to have an official time. They did finish without me, so at least they had that.
 

Kaleidopete

Well-Known Member
Sure, I'll do that one! I can never remember the name of that road. I just call it "that horribly laid out road that seems designed to kill people" ... But I think it's actually "Bridgeton Hill Road" (only because that's what it seems to be on Google maps.)

So, back in May 2013, I got a FB message from my friend Gary. He was putting together a team to do the Eastern Rapha Gentlemens Ride. I knew nothing about this, but I jumped on board because ... why not? The course was 130 miles that criss-crossed the Delaware with just tons and tons of climbing and descending. For those who haven't heard of it, the Gentlemens Ride is a non-race race where you ride with five teammates and seek to complete the course the fastest. But it's not a group start - teams get sent off in intervals and certain rules apply - you have to stay together, and your team's time only counts if everyone finishes. The course itself is almost always a mixed-road deal where, even though everyone is riding a road bike, the organizer may throw in everything from paved roads to actual singletrack. There was minimal singletrack on our ride - but the gravel portion played key role in how this all played out for me. We were riding along with another team and when we hit the first chunky gravel (which included a creek crossing), I bounced off a rock at one point and heard the unmistakable "pssssssss"of a pinch flat. But there was more to it than that - a spoke snapped and knocked the wheel out of true, so after we fixed the flat, the tire was rubbing the brake. So, knowing we had something like 13K feet of climbing still to go, I solved the problem by just flipping the cable lever up. And then I forgot all about it. Because we had to fix the flat, and then a but later one of the guys on our team started having a cramping issue, we were way off the pace we wanted. So Gary got us doing a rotating pace line along Route 32, which was the only time I've ever done that and it was really awesome - we were doing 25 mph without feeling like we were doing 25 for about 6 miles. So that brought us to the monster climb up Uhlerstown Road, after which we hooked up with another team to pace ride the section that brought us to the Bridgeton Hill descent into Milford. As we started down the descent, the paceline fell apart - two of the guys on the other team jumped, and one of our guys followed. I was right behind that guy so I went to and passed Josh form my team and one of the other guys, and pretty soon, I looked down and was somewhere north of 30 mph about halfway down the hill. And as I looked ahead, I saw the hard left at the bottom. No big deal - I just needed to scrub a little speed. Except, when I went to pull my rear brake, I suddenly remembered that - being a moron - I had unhooked it. So ... yeah.

View attachment 142920
The circled section here is the turn I'm referring to. At that turn, there is a stone wall in front of a house that sits there, with a very narrow (but open) gate. My first thought was "I need to aim for the opening", but that idea quickly went out the window because, well, what then? The only thing I knew for sure was that there was no way I was going to make the turn safely at my speed. I tried feathering the front brake while sitting as far back as possible, but that just felt too sketchy and wouldn't slow me down fast enough. So I made the call to do what I really, really didn't want to do - I laid it down. My only other options was to go right into the wall and I honestly thought that would kill me, so I thought laying it down was the best of all the bad options I was looking at. And so that's what I did. I slid down and slammed my elbow on the pavement and let me bike go - it slid sideways a bit and spun around before being torqued straight upward like a lever-arm and it hit the wall right on the non-drive chain-stay. I managed to stop before I reached the wall, but my elbow was fuuuuuuucked up ...

View attachment 142921
My elbow a few days later ...

I also had all kinds of assorted road rash on my side. And yet, I popped up, cursed a blue streak from the pain for a bit, and then grabbed my bike to continue. But as soon as I moved it, I realized the frame was broken. So, yeah, my day was done and that meant my team wouldn't get an official time. I think that bugged me more than anything else.

I caught a ride back to the start finish area with Gary's GF who had been acting as our team soigneur. Ultimately, I was able to get the frame repaired by Ruckus - and it's still me road bike to this day!

So that's the story. Total rider error - I did a supremely dumbass thing and paid for it in spades. I guess overall, I was lucky it wasn't worse. Like if I hadn't tried to brake-check until later down the hill, I would probably have hit that stone wall with full force. And to this day, I felt really bad for the other guys on my team that they didn't get a chance to have an official time. They did finish without me, so at least they had that.
if only.......
california-drag-chute-muscle-bike_1_70c97a03bc17710145d87b9760dd3256.jpg
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Wow... another one in the "plus column" for Campy Ergopower - the release to open up the caliper is actually on the lever and all it really does is move the lever away from the bar a bit further and thus the pads from the rim, but doesn't actually change how the brake works.
 

Ronnie B

Well-Known Member
Maybe it was one of these guys:


They have a show on Discovery, one episode took place in NJ. These guys are a thing. My brother works for a major corporation, and in one of his meetings he joked around about the BFRO. After the meeting, he got some feedback from his boss that he offended a couple of people. Two of the guys on the other side were members of the BFRO, and we’re about to leave on an expedition to go squatch’in in Washington State.

EDIT: There’s another expedition in NJ scheduled for 2020, open to non-members if you want to get to squatch’n. Pete’s intimate knowledge of Wayway would probably be very useful here.
Interesting irony here - while you were writing this post I was at the same time actually out in Washington state looking for Patty (nickname of the Bigfoot in the PGF film), we were south of Mount Rainer, here is me with Mount St Helens in the background. Cliff Brackman from Finding Bigfoot joined us for one night, some of the people I go with are connected to BFRO. And they're not kooks. Though I might be one lol.
 

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Kaleidopete

Well-Known Member
This is kinda a trail tale. I don't usually see any other people out on the trails,
but this afternoon I went to the park to fix up a trail I like to ride. I'm really
kind of selfish that way, just maintaining "my" trails. Anyway, this trail is in a
more popular area and sure enough, a couple of ladies spotted me and said
"Hi, what are you doing with the bucket and shovel"? Gardening? Ha ha. I replied,
No, I'm filling in this muddy spot on this trail, the whole trail is pretty good, but
this one spot is real low and doesn't drain well and it's always muddy. Their reply
was "well thank you for that, we really appreciate that".
I'm always surprised that hikers usually always have something nice to say when they
see you're doing trail work. This has happened a few times before too. I have to remember
to be that way too, if I see someone doing trail work. I don't think I would normally think to
respond with a thank you. But it does make you feel good and is appreciated, even if it is my
own selfish little trail.
 
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Ronnie B

Well-Known Member
Last Friday I was riding through Claypit Creek going from Hartshorne to Huber, about 40 yards before the road into the new parking lot I heard a lot of movement to my right and sure enough I saw two little does (both could have been fill-ins for Bambi) racing about 15-20 feet in front of me heading towards the trail and I was like WOW!! Rarely see one doe but two! Just as they hit the trail the one closest to me took a sharp left and headed straight for me, it was clear it had no idea I was there as its look of shock was probably equal to mine! All we both could do was brace for the collision as it was going to fast and was too close to change direction, the doe's instinct was to put its legs out which in turn one of them got stuck in the stokes of my front wheel. It was so freaking surreal at was happening. It started crying and I was clueless what to do but it got itself out without damage to itself (I hope!) or my stokes.

As it raced past me I could see the mother was about 20 feet behind me watching it all. Afterwards I was wondering if they playing or were spooked by maybe a fox. A couple of the stokes had hair stuck to them.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Last Friday I was riding through Claypit Creek going from Hartshorne to Huber, about 40 yards before the road into the new parking lot I heard a lot of movement to my right and sure enough I saw two little does (both could have been fill-ins for Bambi) racing about 15-20 feet in front of me heading towards the trail and I was like WOW!! Rarely see one doe but two! Just as they hit the trail the one closest to me took a sharp left and headed straight for me, it was clear it had no idea I was there as its look of shock was probably equal to mine! All we both could do was brace for the collision as it was going to fast and was too close to change direction, the doe's instinct was to put its legs out which in turn one of them got stuck in the stokes of my front wheel. It was so freaking surreal at was happening. It started crying and I was clueless what to do but it got itself out without damage to itself (I hope!) or my stokes.

As it raced past me I could see the mother was about 20 feet behind me watching it all. Afterwards I was wondering if they playing or were spooked by maybe a fox. A couple of the stokes had hair stuck to them.
I personally think that Bambi was stoked...well played!
 

Kaleidopete

Well-Known Member
So here I am finishing up my ride today (Saturday) that's when all the loonies come out.
As I turn onto Hoeferlin Trail, there is a picnic in process right in the middle of the trail.
It's so funny I just had to laugh and say "have a nice day".

Dsc08320.jpg
 
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BPaze

Well-Known Member
So here I am finishing up my ride today (Saturday) that's when all the loonies come out.
As I turn onto Hoeferlin Trail, there is a picnic in process right in the middle of the trail.
It's so funny I just had to laugh and say "have a nice day".

View attachment 185973
These have got to be the same people that have picnics on the side of the Garden State Parkway.
 

Kaleidopete

Well-Known Member
Went to clear a tree off a trail and found it was tougher to get through than I thought.
Making my cuts and using my wedges I was 95% through but it just didn't want to go.
Then POP, it went. That's when I realized the tree was under pressure, sprung.
I've never come across a "sprung" down tree before.
The section on the right is where the section on the left was attached. when it sprung
it wound up where you see it in the next photo. Wow.
Dsc01130 - Copy.jpg
Dsc01131 - Copy.jpg
 

johnbryanpeters

Well-Known Member
Went to clear a tree off a trail and found it was tougher to get through than I thought.
Making my cuts and using my wedges I was 95% through but it just didn't want to go.
Then POP, it went. That's when I realized the tree was under pressure, sprung.
I've never come across a "sprung" down tree before.
The section on the right is where the section on the left was attached. when it sprung
it wound up where you see it in the next photo. Wow.
View attachment 229214View attachment 229215
That's the sort of situation that can kill a sawyer...
 

TommyF

Well-Known Member
I had a similar trail tale, came across a tree down on Blue at DM during a night ride. We decided that we could pick up the end and push it into another tree, snapping the end that was laying over the trail. Three of us started pushing it, I was on the inside, two guys to my right. We heard it start to crack so we pushed harder and bang, it snapped. It snapped right between me and the two guys on my right. As the rest of the tree sprung back, I was sling shot all the way back to my bike. Wish somebody had their camera going, was a sight to see for sure !!!
 
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