Pleasure cruise down South Mountain in MD/PA

[ParkRNDL]

Yesterday a few of our ride group got together and hauled our bikes up South Mountain for an all-downhill ride to a local creamery. We missed a turn, so we ended up pedaling a little more than we thought, but it was still a pretty cool downhill cruise. I mounted up the knockoff GoPro that my kids got me for Christmas to memorialize the event. This is the video I ended up with:


Did it on last year's RRBBO bike, my 26" Speedster done up as a BMX cruiser.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Nice! I'm looking into some shuttle cruises around here and need to convince some people to go with.

South Mountain, makes me think of Phoenix, AZ and dirt.
https://www.mountainbikebill.com/blog/?tag=south-mountain

 

[ParkRNDL]

Nice! I'm looking into some shuttle cruises around here and need to convince some people to go with.

South Mountain, makes me think of Phoenix, AZ and dirt.
https://www.mountainbikebill.com/blog/?tag=south-mountain

Hahahahahha yeah this is NOT that South Mountain. This is in Western MD, and if I'm not mistaken, our route down crossed the PA line and came back to MD at some point.

 

[clamdigger]

I like it ! Noticed all rim brakes. Are those Kool Stop Salmon brake pads on your ride? I imagine a coaster brake would have had brake fade.

 

[Swampthing]

Nice.
I used to live right there. In a little town outside of Boonsboro.
I Thrashed my Gary Fisher Montare while out making my own trail. lol
I ended up building my first single speed on that frame.

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Hahahahahha yeah this is NOT that South Mountain. This is in Western MD, and if I'm not mistaken, our route down crossed the PA line and came back to MD at some point.

Dig multi-state rides. One of my borderlands singletrack routes here dips me in and out of Wyoming (not Wyoming County, PA). What kind of vertical do you get on that descent?

 

[ParkRNDL]

Dig multi-state rides. One of my borderlands singletrack routes here dips me in and out of Wyoming (not Wyoming County, PA). What kind of vertical do you get on that descent?

According to Google Maps, if we had followed the route we originally planned:

Now, we actually missed a turn and had to pedal uphill for about a half mile in the middle, but it was still a pretty cool experience. Coasted for probably close to 20 minutes.

I like it ! Noticed all rim brakes. Are those Kool Stop Salmon brake pads on your ride? I imagine a coaster brake would have had brake fade.

Yep, Kool Stop Salmon. We figured a coaster-only bike might be a bad idea for this trip. At first I didn't know what to expect and I thought it might be a little squirrely on a 20" bike, but the 4 Fastbacks in our group seemed to have no problem. The guy on the orange Fastback and the girl on the purple Fastback actually did a thing in Colorado a couple years ago where this tour company shuttles you to the top of Pike's Peak and lets you ride one of their rental bikes down. All the rentals are disc brake bikes; one of the guides told them that they had problems burning up brakes and blowing tires on rim-brake bikes. Our little ride this weekend was obviously nowhere near that intense...

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

1200ft is totally respectable, especially since some of our friends in the flatter states have high points way less than that. Where I was yesterday has new pavement and I'm in the process of coaxing a couple of friends to hit it in the next few weeks. It also has a dirt option that parallels the new pavement, further back in the forest.

Pike's is probably one of the biggest paved drops in CO. There are too many great hills in my 'hood to make the drive down to The Springs, unless I get a jones for Germo food. Edelweiss in Co Springs is the goods and their Sauerbrtaten is amazing.

 

[Mesquite Hugger]

Nice! I'm looking into some shuttle cruises around here and need to convince some people to go with.

South Mountain, makes me think of Phoenix, AZ and dirt.
https://www.mountainbikebill.com/blog/?tag=south-mountain

What's a shuttle cruise?

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

What's a shuttle cruise?

Using vehicles to shuttle bikes up the hill and then cruising down.

 

[Mesquite Hugger]

Oh, it involves elevation changes! (We don't do those around here. )

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

Oh, it involves elevation changes! (We don't do those around here. )

A weekend in Ruidoso could cure that.

 

[Mesquite Hugger]

It would indeed!

 

[ParkRNDL]

Updated video! I got some alternate-perspective footage from another rider who also took a GoPro.