Hey folks:

Yesterday I spent about 4 hours on the trails at Schaeffer Farms in Germantown, MD. The weather was perfect; sunny and about 85°. The trails were all super hard-packed, tight and flowing as usual. If there were any kind of gripe I could lodge it might be that the trails were almost too dry. Some spots were so dry that the dirt had been churned into the finest powder. I had been wanting to take my new cross bike there for quite some time, so yesterday I went and had a blast. Photos below.

Arby.

Below: In the woods it was nothign but dusty trails and shadows. The shade was cool. At one point I rode past this leaf and had to go back and take another look at it. Things like this are what I really love about riding offroad.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer1.jpg

Below: The corn fields reminded me of a Windows Desktop Wallpaper.... The singletrack along the edge of these fields were awesome... big ring, in the drops, Mr.Speedracer.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer3.jpg

Below: So fun, so fun...
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer4

Below: Just some more awesome trail.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer5.jpg

Below: This was one of the driest spots. So dusty.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer6.jpg

Below: Zipping along the edge of a corn field.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer7.jpg

Below: More.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer8.jpg

Below: Sunny sunny day.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer9.jpg

Below: Tons of deer at Schaeffer Farm. They're almost tame. I had just come around the edge of field and nearly ran right through this group of fawns. There were 3, one is off camera.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer10.jpg

Below: Beautiful day to be riding beautiful singletrack no?
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer11.jpg

Below: More good stuff.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/images/schaeffer12.jpg

That is incredible looking. After I get current project bike finished I think I'd like to take it out there.
Great pictures. What are the details on the bike itself?

That is incredible looking. After I get current project bike finished I think I'd like to take it out there.
Great pictures. What are the details on the bike itself?

Z:
You should take a ride out there sometime. It's really a blast.

My cross bike is an '07 Giant TCX. Aluminum Frame, Easton full carbon fork, Full XTR drivetrain with Ultegra shifters/brakes. Love my bike... need to reposition the hoods on my bars though, I can't seem to get them comfy.

Arby.

Looks like a helluva ride. That fourth shot is positively killer and makes me want to get out of the house and go find some trails just like that one. :)

Looks like a helluva ride. That fourth shot is positively killer and makes me want to get out of the house and go find some trails just like that one. :)

That is the one that got me too.

Sometimes we ride from home, do a couple figure 8 loops of Schafer Farms then ride home. It really isn't all that far from DC.

On one memorable nasty windy winter day we took the Metro to Shady Grove, rode to Schafer Farms then home with 50mph tailwinds. It is a nice place to ride.

BTW Arby, the west coasters would laugh at what you are calling dry and dusty. They have a name for the conditions you rode in; they call it a wet summer.

I might actually ride my mountain bike if I had trails like that to ride on. As it is, I generally ride my mountain bike about once a year. Nice shots.

That's awesome MB1, you know how fun the singletrack at Schaeffer is. It be awesome to meet up there sometime for a nice ride. Zeytin and I were talking yesterday while at Artscape (Baltimore Art Festival) about riding there sometime. Maybe we could convince Mark S to put some Knobbies on his cross bike too...

Schaeffer is a fantastic network of trails. Big props to the folks at MORE.

www.more-mtb.org

Schaeffer is a fantastic network of trails. Big props to the folks at MORE.

www.more-mtb.org (http://www.more-mtb.org)

Exactly! I forgot to mention that MORE did do a fantastic job with the trails. At every trail head/junction there was a helpful and acurate map. Easy to navigatge and easy to remember where the best sections are.

Arby.
http://www.phattire.net/blog/2007/schaeffer/schaeffer.jpg

BTW Arby, the west coasters would laugh at what you are calling dry and dusty. They have a name for the conditions you rode in; they call it a wet summer.

That is exactly what I was thinking. While technically not the west coast, Front Range Colorado is extremely dry.

I'm glad to see more Arby posts. Great pics as always. I'll also be interested to hear how the new ride does in Fall.

nice ta see your posts back in teh mix.
what tires are you running? i like the tread pattern

That was one of my favorite dirt rides when I lived up that way. Mostly smooth single track, maybe a few logs but nothing very technical so you can ride fast as heck or just soft pedal and zone out among the trees and corn fields.

MORE is a good group. I had some great weekends helping build trails and then being the first one to ride newly cut single track. That is truly an experience everyone should have.

Thanks for bringing back some great memories. I'm always looking forward to your next report!

Ahh, now that is living! nice pics...

Sweet. I work near there and have taken the MTB there, but haven't tried the cross bike yet. Looks like fun. Not far from the towpath and some of those nice dirt roads along the river, too.

You bet it's dry--Loch Raven is so dusty that the trails are getting to be slippery with dust.

Sweet. I work near there and have taken the MTB there, but haven't tried the cross bike yet. Looks like fun. Not far from the towpath and some of those nice dirt roads along the river, too.

You bet it's dry--Loch Raven is so dusty that the trails are getting to be slippery with dust.

Awesome, I'm planning on hitting Loch Raven tonight at 5.

nice ta see your posts back in teh mix.
what tires are you running? i like the tread pattern

To be honest I can't remember. I got them in the middle of cross season last year and they're the knobbiest tires I could find. I'll post later or PM you when I take a look at them later. They were great last season though.

I still love to look at yor pictures because you were the first person about 4 years ago that inspired me to take commute photos.

I still love to look at yor pictures because you were the first person about 4 years ago that inspired me to take commute photos.

That's very cool, because you actually inspired me to start a mural project! I've been working on photographing murals thruought Baltimore ever since you mentioned showing some photos to your students a while back.

lol... RBR... a source for inspiration!

Wow I would love to see the mural pictures! I would like to show my current students sometime. I think its wonderful that you are posting again!