Right now I'm up at my folks' place in Western PA; LOTS of great riding to be had! :dance3:
The structure to the left is an old oil storage tank, left over from a turn of the century oil boom.
Village of Lucinda, PA where I grew up. Spent 6 years in the Catholic Grade School beside the church, usually walked home about a mile through the woods.
Here's another shot I took last summer from the XL - got some biiiiig air on this jump..
I have quite a few generations of ancestors buried in the cemetery to the right, going back to the Irish and German immigrants that came over in the mid-1800s; true pioneer stock as this area was still wilderness. Plenty of legends about wolves and panthers and such from the early days are passed down from generation to generation.
"Downtown" at the Lucinda train station. Up until a few years ago the tracks/station were still used intermittently for lumber shipments from Canada. The structure to the left is an old grain mill - I remember sneaking in and exploring it as a teen when it was abandoned, lotta cool stuff in there at that time. Since then it's been restored as a home/B&B, it'd be interesting to see the renovations:
I read somewhere that a few miles of RR tracks will settle down the suspension of a new bike, so... Always wanted to ride these tracks anyway.
First biff! I popped the front wheel off the rail just fine, rear wheel just didn't follow suit; scooted along the rail for a few feet and then whipped me down...
:conf44:
OK, now onto some dirt roads, plenty of these in the area:
There are countless ATV trails also, and none are gated/posted/etc. Just ride!
Nice place for a RR break. This was at the edge of a field maybe a mile from the nearest home, still semi-operational!
Oh yeah! These are all within 5 miles of where I grew up... Never had an ATV/dirtbike as a kid, so this whole day was like Christmas as I rolled along!
At the top of a long-abandoned strip mine (plenty of those in the area). Riiight in the middle is the tower of the courthouse; this is the "big town"
of Clarion where my Dad taught high school and I attended college.
Rolling down the other side of the hill from the previous pic, I found a sweet ATV trail that lead down a steep hillside to here. I can remember Dad taking us kids on an epic hike many moons ago and finding this place, never remembered where it was so I hadn't seen it in maybe 25 years. It appears to be an old abandoned hunting/summer camp deep in the woods beside a nice stream - nearest house is probably 3 miles away.
The main cabin is actually still in decent shape, although guessing it hasn't been used since the early 70's (based on some magazines found inside!
). Very nice stonework, fireplace and such.
The other two cabins are a little worse for wear:
Another shot looking up. Just out of view to the right flows the stream, beside it appears to be an old bathhouse; plenty of tiny divided rooms assumed for changing clothes. Maybe this was an old Scout camp, I'm going to ask some older folks in the area about the history of the place...
Miles and miles of this stuff!
Lots of creek crossings:
All in all the bike did fine. REALLY needs some true dirt tires and a bit lower gearing for the mud and technical stuff. The stock 50/50 tires really blow in the mud, rear end is squirming all over the place. Suspension just blows my mind, especially now that it's set up for my weight. Really liking the bike more every time I ride it.:applause:
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That's what it's all about finding the old stuff that most others will never see.
That's the kind of riding I remember when I was growing up in Illinois. Now I'm stuck with the boring flat roads of south Florida.
