Tuscarora Enduro Enlightenment

Today I went mountain biking.  I go mountain biking quite a lot, but today was different.  

Blake and I drove out to Fowlers Hollow State Park in Blain, PA to meet up with Zach and his friend to pre-ride the Tuscarora Mountain Bike Enduro course.   This race replaces the original Michaux Mash which was held in Michaux State Forest on an absolutely fun course years ago.  Due to circumstances beyond my know, it’s no longer held there.  So, Zach being the innovator that he is found a new venue to keep the Michaux Mash tradition alive, in the form of the Tuscarora MTB Enduro.   I wanted to get in a preride of the course to determine if I wanted to do the race single speed or on my geared bike.   I’ve never ridden in the Tuscarora State Forest, so I had no idea what to expect.  Zach told me to bring my geared bike, I did.  The other 3 guys were on single speeds running various gears. 

When Zach, Joe, Blake, me, Lona & Bella (2 of the most awesome trail dogs I’ve ever met) set out on our ride today, temps were close to 20 degrees with a real feel of 13 degrees.  I was dressed in 3 layers of clothes head to toe and wore my balaclava for the first time ever on a ride.  It was a chilly day, but luckily Mother Nature was keeping a firm grasp on the wind factor.

Camping Spots

Zach was kind enough to give us a quick tour of the state park grounds before we set out to ride the course.  The place was desolate other than our group which I quite love.  I’m a social person, but I prefer the serenity of semi-solitude in the woods.  The park is great and I assume its remote location is the only reason it’s not a hot spot of activity.  I was immediately smitten with the beauty of the place.  There are pristine camp sites available for race weekend that even have electric hook up!  I’m hoping for mild weather the weekend of the race so I can score one of these sweet campsites along the creek.

Steep Uphill, I will be hike a biking this

The course started with a solid climb.  Strategically placed to spread out the field to avoid the annoyance of a singletrack bottleneck.   Said climb is about 3 times longer than the Airplane Hill climb at Lake Redman for all the York folk who are familiar with that, but the grade isn’t as steep.  This picture is a climb that is after the initial entrance to the single track. After the first climb,  there’s a bit of a downhill on double track then you hang a hard right into a short steep section of single track.   It’s a tough way to start the single track section and it validated the necessity of the initial climb.  It’s totally rideable if you hit it with enough speed.  I however did not and was relegated to hike-a-biking the short way to the top of the hill.  We regrouped and were off again.  I was then met with trails that were anything but pristine.  They were validly marked trails, but not something I would normally consider a mountain biking trail.  The trails got a harder to navigate the more we trudged on.  Keep in mind I am a well traveled TRAIL SYSTEM MOUNTAIN BIKER finding myself riding on trails that have not been intentionally maintained on a regular basis by human hand.  My initial frustration with it all was quickly thwarted by the realization that these trails were created by the way nature intended.   It certainly is not ‘trail system’ mountain biking of which we all so comfortably become accustomed to.  It immediately made me think that these are the kind of trails that mountain biking originated on.  Well before organized groups of mountain bikers built and maintained trail systems…this is how mountain biking must have been many years ago.  There were no berms, no rock gardens with a clearly passable line, no hard packed easily passable trails, no dirt to be seen in the single track.  Mother Nature herself created these trails for everyone to enjoy.  In her own way, fabricated through years of drought, wind, hurricanes, freezing rain, snow, and everything else she can throw our way.    It becomes almost a challenge of you versus her (Mother Nature), the supreme being.   These trails call on your strength and they wake up your technical riding skills that you so skillfully train on mountain biking ‘trail systems.’   It’s a call to arms.  At some points along the course I felt like she was saying, “Here you go, let me see what you got.”   I threw down my best.  My triumph was short lived and sporadic.  I lost more than I won versus ‘her.’    You can ride maintained trail systems all you want, hone your skills the best you can, and these trails are a test of ‘what you got.’   

For a long time I’ve always thought that Zach and I had absolutely opposite ideas of what a ‘fun’ ride is.  He thinks of climbing up Rhodedendron in the Long Pine Classic as ‘fun.’  It afforded me 3 asthma attacks without an inhaler in sight (short coming on my part.)  Our difference in opinion of ‘fun’ is another reason why I wanted to pre ride the Tuscarora course before registering for the race.  I wanted to see if his idea of fun would somehow miraculously mesh with my idea of fun, for once.   I still can’t say that our ideas of what fun mountain biking is has meshed, but I can say now that I understand where his idea of fun comes from.    It took me a long time to understand it, but now that I get it, I am grateful and humbled.  Thank you Zach!  Thank you for stepping outside of the realm of trail system mountain bike racing and getting down to the true grit of what mountain bike racing really can be.  I know of no one else in this area that has the guts to do what he does.  He endures a lot of flack from people who come to his races and complain about the trails not being ‘clear’ or a climb not being rideable that you had to hike-a-bike.  Well…that’s mountain biking, but maybe not what most would expect from an organized race.   If you can’t clear a trail, then you’ve lost the battle between yourself and Mother Nature (in essence).   Quite possibly you should venture off the beaten path of your regularly maintained trail system and get a load of what Mother Nature can dish out.  That’ll tune up your skills in a jiff.

There certainly were some sections of the race course that Zach clearly states he intends to work on.   I think in his vision he sees with a couple hours of clearing up some run off sections, not only will they make part of the course rideable, but it will also help the natural habitat to flow a bit better.  With the intent to push some of the pooled water into other dry areas that need the water.   Lending a helping hand to the ecosystem and in turn creating an easier passage for those traveling through via two wheeled transportation.

Fire Road descent to the finish

As a whole, the single track sections of the race course are tough.  It’s a little less than a 6.0 mile loop (per my garmin edge 705) with pretty much all of the (1,100 feet) of climbing in the first 4 miles.  There are some sections of double track mixed in among the single track that afford you with a lot less rolling resistance.  It’s just enough of a break to keep you trudging on.  Once you get the first 4 miles done, the rest of the loop is some fun downhill that will make the first 4 miles worth it, and you’ll be ready to head out for another lap.  This picture makes the downhill loop like it's uphill, but that's just my bad camera angle.

Bridge right before the feed zone

I’m hoping for better trail conditions come March.  The ground was very uneven today due to the moisture in the dirt freezing and bumping up a lot.  It made a lot of what would be easily navigated more of a physical challenge.  By April, that should thaw out and hopefully create easier passage on the single track.  And if it doesn’t, it’s just another challenge presented by Mother Nature for you to slog through.   This picture is a bridge you pass over at the end of each lap, make sure you take a gander on either side of the bridge as you roll across.  It's truly beautiful.

If you’re looking to do a 4 hour endurance mountain bike race on March 25th, I highly suggest coming out to the Tuscarora Mountain Bike Enduro at Fowlers Hollow State Park.  Come ride off the beaten path and truly test your skills, but leave your pristine white Sidi’s at home.