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I don't know why I came here sooner.  It's a beautiful park and far enough from the hustle and bustle to make it seem like I am in another state.  The reservoir is huge!

 

I check out the options which is hard since there are no trail maps posted.  I see two trails on each side of the lot, the Pine Tree trail marked in blue and the Cashetunk trail marked in red.  I opt for the blue, not knowing the red is really the one I want.  I consider it a warm up and lesson learned.  It just follows the water to the boat launch area.  It is a small loop so I stay low at the start and come back through the high route.  Some rocks, but not technical.

That short fest out of the way I point myself to the Cashetunk trail.  It starts out pretty lame with gravel covered fireroad, but the view from one of the high points is nice.

Finally, some singletrack but it's all up hill from here.

 

There are some great switchbacks that I captured in the video of the ride.  Nice little section that eventually goes downhill to the backside of the reservoir.  The earth wall holding the water is mind boggling.  Amazing engineering that I didn't take a picture of.

Crossing over an access road you begin the climb up Cashetunk mountain.  It's a long steep climb, and with the heavy bike granny was my friend today.

 

Then it appears!  Rocks and lots of them.  Loose ones, babyheads, and tombstones.  I'd compare it to American Standard in Jim Thorpe only with a lot more climbing.  Now the ride is really fun and there are no lines to choose because the bike just soaks it all up.

 

I remember when I used to be nervous about these stupid hard objects.  I used to ride so slow that I would hit a babyhead and go OTB at least three times a ride.  I finally learned the faster you go, the easier it is.  after a few miles of climbing this stuff, I check my coordinates.  The trail is supposed to be 9 miles in and 9 miles out, but I wasn't sure if that included the Pine Tree trail.  After a while the trail started to level out.  It was then I noticed that my rear brakes were very soft.  I was almost touching the grip.  It doesn't look like the bled them when they built the bike.  At this point I turned the bike around and began to forget about the brake.  Going back down the rocks was a blast!

 

It sure made that nasty climb all worth it, even with having to climb up the switchbacks.

 

So, it looks like I missed about four more miles (2 in and 2 out).  Next time.  And there will be a next time!  Summer should be great because you can swim in public beach at the reservoir.  I bled the brakes when I got home and it seems there were quite a few air bubbles.  Now they work great.

Here are the GPS details.  Video coming soon.

 

I had a plan today. Since I was off from work, I would go somewhere to ride that I have never been to. Of course, I still wanted to keep the distance reasonable, so I Google mapped my directions to Round Valley State Park. The directions said an hour and a half, but I was figuring more due to morning rush hour traffic. The park which is named after the reservoir it surrounds is located above Trenton in the middle of the state. It’s the Piedmont Plateau region which is known for rolling hills and rocks. That was also part of the plan. Bring the new bike to the rocks.

After loading up the car, i was surprised that the trip only took 1:15 even with traffic. Wow! It’s as close as the Deleware trails I have been riding. The other surprise was hills. Yes, climbs over 200′ for a change.

The weather was a little gloomy when I arrived, which was unexpected. But no rain.

(continue reading…)