[bacolmm]

It's raining today and I want to ride tomorrow, where's the quickest drying ride in Western PA? Please see my choices below. I would think Moraine or Roaring Run might be ok, because they are so rocky. Someone said that Bavington's Pine trees keep a lot of the rain from making the ground. I would say Settler's Cabin is probably one of the worst for drainage in my experience. Let me know what you think...

Moraine
Roaring Run
Hartwood
Bavington
Boyce
7-Springs
Laurel Highlands
Hidden Valley
Settlers Cabin
Mingo Park
North Park
Brady's Run

 

[skywaybuzz]

Moraine will be muddy, Bav. shouldn't be too bad, but it has its muddy spots.anywhere where not alot of riders use should be ok, like anywhere up in the Laurel Mts. Mingo doesn't get alot of use. Have fun!

 

[bikeboyjeff]

Ride on the road because they're all going to be bad! The trails were bad before we got all the rain. Boyce hasn't dried out all summer. I road Laurel and Seven Springs earlier this week and they were pretty messy. Western PA is really sucking this year. Have fun wherever you dicide to go. Just plan on getting muddy.

 

[bacolmm]

Thanks for the input guys! Here's my post ride report. I went to Mingo (It's really close to my house) on Saturday evening for a short ride after it cleared up. I have only ridden there about a half-dozen times and I'm still learning the trails. I tried something new and started out from the horse trailer parking area. Not sure what the rest of the trails were like, but this section was just about unrideable!! It was a complete mess. All of the soft areas (and there were lots of them) had been completely destroyed by the horses. I got back to the road the first chance I got and called it a ride. After spending some time Saturday night cleaning my bike, I met a buddy at Hartwood on Sunday morning. It was my first time riding there and his second time. The trails were in 150% better shape than Mingo. There were a few little muddy areas but just about all of them were rideable. The mud interfered very little with the riding. There's definitely some good stuff there and I'm looking forward to going back soon. Here's my unscientific ranking of places to ride after the rain...

#1 Hartwood
#2 North Park
#3 Roaring Run
#4 Settlers Cabin
#5 Mingo

 

[bulC]

general advise

Stick to ridgetop trails, where the soil will tend to be rocky and sandy. Clay sediment, which forms the kind of mud that stops your wheels from turning, settles in low points.
Moraine, don't know the trail, but the name tells me the soil is glacier-deposited rock and likely contains evil bentonite clay, the kind you can't ride when wet.

 

[extensive]

bacolmm i noticed you said you lived close to mingo. where exactly do you live? im around that area too. let me know if you want to ride sometime.

 

[aspang]

My friend and I went to Mingo Sunday to see if we could ride. Sure enough, when we got there, the trails looked so bad that we turned around and went to South Park. Now I have ridden South Park in much better conditions, but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was that I lost my front brake (problem with the caliper), and my friend had terrible shifting problems (most likely needs a new chain and cassette). We ended up getting 10 miles in, and were a little muddy when we finished. But at least we got that in. Would really like things to dry up around here so that we could get some good riding in. We are riding in the Seven Springs 24, and I hope that the course can dry up before the race. I still haven't had a good ride at Mingo, too many horses there. If it's wet, forget it! At least that is my experience.

 

[bikeboyjeff]

My friend and I went to Mingo Sunday to see if we could ride. Sure enough, when we got there, the trails looked so bad that we turned around and went to South Park. Now I have ridden South Park in much better conditions, but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was that I lost my front brake (problem with the caliper), and my friend had terrible shifting problems (most likely needs a new chain and cassette). We ended up getting 10 miles in, and were a little muddy when we finished. But at least we got that in. Would really like things to dry up around here so that we could get some good riding in. We are riding in the Seven Springs 24, and I hope that the course can dry up before the race. I still haven't had a good ride at Mingo, too many horses there. If it's wet, forget it! At least that is my experience.

The course at Seven Springs isn't too bad. I've ridden there the past couple of weeks. There are a couple of stretches that are really muddy, but over all, it's pretty good. If those muddy sections get a lot of traffic, they could get pretty nasty.

 

[skywaybuzz]

I got Mingo confused with Thompson Run State Park in WV, Ya Mingo was beat from Horses last time I was there

 

[davis]

RE: Mingo

Just remember, the trails at Mingo were built by and for equestrians. They pay for the privelege to use those trails, bikers don't. If you can't deal with the equestrians, go somewhere else.

 

[bacolmm]

Just remember, the trails at Mingo were built by and for equestrians. They pay for the privelege to use those trails, bikers don't. If you can't deal with the equestrians, go somewhere else.

Your point about the trails at Mingo being horse trails is well taken, but if you had seen them last Saturday you would not say it was a privilege to ride them. They should have paid me to ride on those trails. I went back there today and it was much better. There's good riding there, it's just not the place to go when it's wet...

Man the weather just couldn't really be much better than it was today. Mid 70's with low humidity and then down into the 50's tonight! It sure was nice to get out there and ride today!

 

[Jettj45]

south park

If you live near mingo, you should check on South park trails, they are up behind the wave pool and also over on the other side of corgan drive. They are usually fine the day after a storm. However they are not very long you can probably ride almost everything in an 1hr 30min. Lately ive just been over there building up some jumps and making new trails with some decent drops.

 

[bacolmm]

If you live near mingo, you should check on South park trails, they are up behind the wave pool and also over on the other side of corgan drive. They are usually fine the day after a storm. However they are not very long you can probably ride almost everything in an 1hr 30min. Lately ive just been over there building up some jumps and making new trails with some decent drops.

Jettj45, I'm definitely planning on checking out South Park. I really enjoy riding new places. I rode Boyce Park this morning and it was pretty nice. Doesn't seem to be lots of miles of trails there, but definitely some fun stuff. Lots of tight, short switchbacks, and we did one really fun roller-coaster down-hill.

 

[Jettj45]

South park

I'll probably see you there im there pretty much every day either riding or building more trails/jumps. The trails behind the wave pool are the most fun, then there are more on the other side of Corgan drive.

 

[bacolmm]

South Park

I'll probably see you there im there pretty much every day either riding or building more trails/jumps. The trails behind the wave pool are the most fun, then there are more on the other side of Corgan drive.

Jettj45, I finally made it over to South Park and I really enjoyed the riding there. I think I found a few of your jumps and almost killed myself on one of them (I'm a lot better at jumping my Honda CRF450 than I am my Hollowpoint). The trails there all seemed to be in pretty good shape and they seem to dry out pretty quickly (Which is important with all the rain we've been getting). South Park will be my new go to area to ride. Here's my updated unscientific list of places to ride in PGH after it rains.

#1 South Park
#2 Hartwood Acres
#3 Bavington
#4 Settler's Cabin
#5 Mingo

 

[Jettj45]

Sp

Yea, There fun, im workin on lengthining that trail where i have that run of 3 doubles, has a fun drop 3-6 feet depenting on how fast your going into at somewhat dry stream now. I'm sure ill get some more jumps up.

 

[team dude]

i haven't been to the south park area since my bmx days... i rode PUSH trails when i could get a ride out there... but it's awesome to hear that there's actually some freeride type stuff being built around here. let me know the next day people are building, i'll be happy to come out and lend a hand.

 

[Jettj45]

Sp, Push

ive been there everyday this week lengthing the trials and i build a jump going over this somewhat dry creek bed im guessing 10ft across. almost didnt clear it, gona have to make jump bigger obviously. I dont think im going tomorrow im quite sore, ill probably be there saturday if i decide to go ill put something up on this form. the entrance to the trails is in the wave pool parking lot however its closed and the entrance to the pool is blocked off, so i drove over that hill off to the side, just my luck a cop drives by. Apparently i was not suppose to be doing that.... Yes i have heard of push. I heard that it got cleared out a while back b/c a lot of ppl were getting seriously hurt, not sure if that is true. Also heard that its back. Were is it??