After a long day of riding, we all stand around the fire, commune in exhausted happiness, and take part in random bicycle-related debauchery. This years feature was the ski chariot pull.
Frozen Fat, Day 2: It’s about the comaraderie, not the competition.
When the alarm woke me Saturday morning at o-dark-thirty, I felt like I got hit by a train. My head was pounding, my stomach was queasy, and my muscles hurt. Coffee helped, as did the small amount of food I choked down because I knew I'd need to fuel up for the 30 miles of …
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Frozen Fat, Day 1: Fires and Fries.
January can be kind of gloomy. The holidays are over, there's not much going on, the days are short, and the temps are generally pretty frigid. Luckily, there's Frozen Fat, a winter fat-bike weekend full of camping, beer, bonfires, good people, and of course, plenty of riding bikes. This is the fourth year of the …
Tussey & John Wert.
For the past few weeks, I've been really stoked on this loop in Rothrock State Forest---up Tussey Mountain Trail and along the ridge, then back down to Thickhead Mountain Road and John Wert Path. It's about 11 miles, doable in 2-3 hours, and is full of stunning views and challenging rock gardens. And, only about …
Thanksgiving.
We woke up early on Thanksgiving morning, made coffee to take in the car, and drove to the trail to get a couple hours of riding in before the family festivities and gluttony that would commence later in the day. Though it was still rather wet and muddy, conditions were much better than the day …
If you can ride in this, you can ride in anything.
That's what Evan said right before giving me a quick surprise kiss at the trailhead, immediately following a miserably soggy commute from his parents house to the snowy woods that we were so excited to ride. It was still snowing---wet, slushy flakes that turned the highways into a nasty stew of water, salt, and road …
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Just one more small climb.
Well, we did it---the around-the-lake ride we'd been planning and anticipating for weeks. On Sunday, six of us ended up partaking in the day of grueling climbs, leaf-strewn descents, and all-around good times. It couldn't have been a better group---a fun and tight-knit bunch of like-minded individuals. For some, it was a harder ride than …
Ride guide.
Yesterday, I did my first "ride guide" gig for Rothrock Outfitters. Though I've been riding mountain bikes regularly for a couple years now, I know most of the trails in the area, and I've done plenty of river guiding and have helped lead group rides a few times in the past, I was nervous. I …
Riding new trails around Jim Thorpe.
The weekend began with a driving excursion east, mountain bikes spilling out the back of my Ford Ranger, and an eclectic musical mix that included Adele and Barry White spilling from my speakers. I took us the "fun route"---one that minimized highway time and maximized miles on back roads---my general road trip MO. At the …
Broken.
About an hour after this photo was taken, I found myself lying in the middle of an alley, curled up in pain, hyperventilating, my elbow screaming, Evan standing over me, telling me to get out of the street. It had been a simple curb ride---nothing out of the ordinary or spectacular that had caused some …
helena kotala 