The Chambersburg contingent sans cupcakes rallied at the Mark house to chase Larry's good isobars South - way South to Buzzard Rock's in Virginia to be precise (click church photo to enlarge).
Martin had mysteriously lost his spacers so we had a little tweaking, the hammer and large screwdriver type tweaking. It was cold and misty in Chambersburg as we left.
As we crossed from Pennsylvania to Maryland the rain picked up and in West Virginia it was overcast and threatening more precipitation.
Virginia featured some dismal gray skies and more rain. I was thinking that trailwork at Raystown Lake was the good option for the day and that we had possibly made a mistake. But, Larry had read the isobars and I only the icons. As we turned off I-81 the rain stopped, the skies opened, and the sun began to peek through.
Services began at 10:15 on dry pavement and crunchy leaves.
3 miles (1 hour) up to the saddle where we turned onto the Buzzard Rock trail. 
Which we rode out to a very nice vista through challenging rocky technical sections.
This is the domain of the fully rigid SS 29'er.
Fort Valley - North
Fort Valley - South
Fort Valley - Down
Buzzard Rock's features tight ledges, ups and downs, on a skinny ridgeline with a high penalty for failure and magnificent overlooks.
A vista.
A move.
We rode this fine trail out the Massanutten East side and hit the hard road for a few miles to our second major climb of the day. 
About a half an hour into this gem I got a call from my sister Daphne. Since I was hiking with my bike on my shoulder anyway, we worked out some Thanksgiving holiday plans and she said that it was cold and sleeting in State College. So that Raystown trail day was definitely not the way to go - kudos to Larry and his isobars.We rallied at the top for another nice technical ridge ride. This one had less exposure but some nasty little ledge drops and numerous skinny stone staircases. On one particularly nasty one, as he was walking down, Martin says "that's rideable". Ok, snap, highside save, and creak - then this:
A double whammy - the carbon fork was unscathed, but I was officially hiking from here on out (about 3 miles downhill). After about 20 minutes both tubes broke clear through and I had to carry it on my head and shoulders.
I purchased the frame on August 27th so it doesn't even have three months of use yet. Time to see how On-One's warranty program and customer service rate. We grabbed some Mexican food in Strasburg and headed North to PA and back into the rain.
Despite the frame failure, this was a great service - a five hour one. I highly recommend reading Isobars chapter 3, verse 7 or attending a service with Pastor Camp soon.
After sweating some water pipe at my sister's house, HO and I were treated to suprisingly good weather and decided to take advantage of it before the tailgate. We jetted out to Tussey Mt. and rode some new-to-me stuff near Shingletown Gap. I renamed the trail Cagney & Lacey, due to its healthy blend of beautiful and nasty sections. Back to the Suchanec's for a quick shower and we rode the bike trail to their tailgate.
Charlie perusing the chips and chocolate section.
Eric taking a break from stirring the big pot of chili. 
My niece, Hayden, and I as game time nears.
Beaver Stadium on our way in.
This is HO and Otto's Jolly Roger Imperial Stout a 10%'er available in 22oz bottles. It is much better (and stronger) than their reasonably good Black MO Stout. CAUTION: Tis much better to drink AFTER a ride.
Saturday morning we awoke to coffee, bacon, waffles, and fruit. After a quick breakfast, we headed out to the Tussey Mt. ride start (with a stop at Starbucks, of course). We had Mike & Brenda Mucker, Martin Kell, Aaron Hofelt, Eric Lensig (SP?), Kevin Bergman, Aaron Pontzer, John (LHORBA), Mike Steininger, and me (10 total).
Aaron and Kevin put together a nice collection of Tussey classics including the uncleanable John Wert Path, the fearsome Wildcat, and the always beautiful Tussey Ridge and Croyle Trails. HO actually rode the big rock garden on Wert clean, but failed to get the entire trail - I mean PATH.
Sunday morning I awoke to my nephew Eric who said that my friends (Mike) thought we should get moving. Mike was concerned about making the 10am ride start. It was 8am! Michele and I were just wrestling with Henry anyway, so I got up and moving. Plans changed several times, but we finally got under way (with a stop at Starbucks, of course). This stop had Mike convinced that we were running late and that we should call the others. I was still positive that were would make it on time and held out (I had told everyone to expect me at 10:05 anyway). Long story short, we made it to the Tussey lot at 10:01. In my own discreet way, I tried to let Mike know that the stress and worry about being late for the last two hours was entirely unnecessary - he was a good sport. We rallied and drove a convoy of bikers over to the shale pit. At the shale pit we were greeted with some hunter types (no hunting on Sundays in PA) who were sighting in their high-powered rifles across the shale pit and over top of the parked cars. I trusted that they were good shots and parked - they kindly ceased firing until we left the area.
Big 'E' was up from Tennessee and he is always fun to ride with. We left town via Wilson College and a dirt road (all good road rides have a little dirt).
We proceeded out to the Mongul Hill circuit on beautiful roads and little traffic.
Nadine wonders where the hell we are going.
The climbers on the front.
Henry and Thomas were hip to the idea as well:
We rounded up the boys, dusted off the boats, and headed out to Long Pine Reservoir. I could scarcely remember how to tie two boats onto my car. I had the ropes, but the knowledge was rusty. 
As we left Starbucks and headed for the lake, William Nealey's Kayaking bible started to come back to me - slowly. The many trips to WV began to revisit me, the chasing flood stage creeks in PA, SC & WV began to seem familiar again - in a weird way. 
Martin was laughing.
and, ready to try again.
Another great day - 364 to go!
