What is an Allegrippis? A new plier-type tool from Sears? Someone who complains all the time? The phonetic spelling of a one Mrs. Ally Grippis? Not close. It is a Native American word variant of Aliquippa which is a Delaware or Seneca Indian name that is a title of a female leader. This was after Queen Aliquippa, pictured and sculptured above. She had a friendly meeting with then-Major George Washington who quipped in his journal, "I made her a Present of a Match Coat and a Bottle of rum, (the latter) which was thought much the better present of the two."
The extent of Queen Aliquippa's and George Washington's riding ability are unknown. I imagine they rode oaken hard tails and during especially grueling rides in the spring they would suck sap from the sugar maple trees as Gu gels were still a few years off from being invented.
In only four-and-a-half hours we made it to Huntingdon, PA and the luxuriously-appointed Comfort Inn along the banks of the Juniata River (Juniata is loosely translated from the Native American Seneca language as "swiftly-running Yoo Hoo").
We met some friends at the trail head parking lot on Sunday morning. The lot was packed; always a good sign. It was sixty degrees and sunny and off we went.
I'd heard that the trails are one continuous pump track but thought that was a healthy chunk of hyperbole. After a short ride down the first trail my suspicions of rider-embellishment were starting to be realized until we hit some whoop-de-doos. It turns out that the trails are comprised of serial whoop-de-doos and banked turns. With nary a root or log in sight it was like riding on a carpet.
The first thing you notice is your constant, silly grin. Then you notice everyone elses' silly grins and then you think you are going to go hoarse with all the "Woooooooos!", "Woo Hooooooos!" and other similar exultant monosylabbic shrieks of glee. If you ride you will feel a good 20 years younger...unless you are 19.
Our friend Mike turned to us and said wryly after our first dose of fun, "You didn't think I'd take you just anywhere did you?"
It definitely is like a pump track but faster and without the gerbil on an excercise wheel feel. It has oodles of flow and as our friend Rody said, "It makes you want to go faster." You bury yourself trying to get to the next set of whoop-de-doos. There are over 30 miles of trails. We did 17 miles in two hours.
It is equal parts surfing, downhill skiing, boogie-boarding, Parkour, sledding, and riding a rollercoaster. You can take the rollers any way you like. Big air, small air, no air. I grabbed some extra-medium air at one point and landed sideways on the uphill side of the trail and burped all the air out of my front wheel. At least I missed the tree.
The trails are smooth and reminiscent of a sine wave. The line could be used to represent the scale of the trails' rollers from the side or map it's serpentine wending from overhead. For those who haven't flexed their cerebrum in the mathematical gymnasium of trigonometry since high school I give you the sine wave below. Drum roll and please hold all applause until the function is complete.
Rody (pronounced roadie) stands with his newly built bike in front of a group of admirers below. The man in the green t-shirt couldn't control himself in the presence of Rody's impressive fully rigid, 29er with Rohloff hub so he started drinking quickly to reduce his custom-bike induced delerium tremens. If you are equally impressed check out his works of functional and rideable art at http://groovycycleworks.com/default.aspx Mike and Rody's son Kalten said this group worship happens wherever they go. It happend at least twice that I saw in two hours of riding.
Part of Raystown Lake below. For some reason I'm sporting an explorer pose, perhaps Vasco da Gama with a touch of Henry Hudson. In any event parts of the Lake are seen from many of the trails. This place is begging for an Xterra.
Kitima and Mike on the Doe Trail.
After a few minor adjustments Rody catches up. He slapped the bike together that morning. I had problems with the hotel's waffle maker that morning.
Mike, me, Kitima and Rody's son Kalten. I had three heart-attacks trying to hang onto Mike and Colton's (teenager!) wheels. While I was chasing them Rody and Kitima went on another trail that was all downhill, complete with valets, aid stations and a refreshing pine scent.
Typical trail below.
Kitima rippin' it up!
Kalten: the baby-faced assassin. He tore up the trails like a hobo on a ham sandwich.
Mike on his Rody-built steel hardtail with frame couplers, Rohloff hub, killer snake paint job, and 650b wheels.
"You've got to ask yourself boys...are you a buck or are you a doe?"
Below are several videos of varying cinematic value. Enjoy. We are planning on going down again in two weeks so if you are interested...
