Thanksgiving sucked. Not only did I oversleep and miss the annual thanksgiving bike ride organized by the local club, the entire day was far more sad and depressing than I imagined it would be this year. Even surrounded by my family, cousins, grandmas, etc, I just couldn’t get into the spirit of it. And if that was thanksgiving, I really don’t think I can bear Christmas.

Old Trexler roadbed

Thankfully the day eventually came to an end and Friday was a new day and a chance at redemption. Sunny and warm, I finally got out for my ride. The Trexler Nature Preserve is literally right around the corner and across the street from where my folks live, so I did a little ‘ride to the ride’ exploring to figure out the best way to put together a solid ride.

Poor covered bridge isn't doing so well...

First I rode over on back roads and private alleys, crossed the busy highway, and then rode over to the parking area and trail head via the closed covered bridge and the roads. This was a great warm up and delivered me to the trails ready to roll.

Dozer trail

Rolling, fast, smooth Schnecksville shale. They’ve made great progress on the trails since my spring trip. They’re still new and a bit raw, but a ton of fun. Several Sidewinder-esque sections and lots of great berms to play with. On the way home I ended up exploring some of the old roadbeds for an alternative route, much better than the road.

The barely used white trail

The ride was well worth it and since the weather forecast for Saturday was just as good if not better, I went back for a repeat. It’s so awesome that these trails are so close to the house, literally about 2-3 miles from the garage door. There are now several great options for riding in the Lehigh Valley, but the ride-to-the-ride option will always win out. From the Valley Mountain Bikers website, looks like they’ve got permission to really develop a big network of trails there and that’s exciting.

After my Saturday ride, K and I got back in the car and headed back to VT. There was much slack to pick up and mental gears to change to get ready for school and work on Monday.