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| Middle Run is becoming my favorite biking area. Just north of Newark DE, it has long singletrack trails, few steep hills, several neat stream crossings, and some nicely-maintained wooden bridges. Here's a Google Earth shot of the track from a ride on 11/11/05. The track is shown as a thin blue line on the map. Below it is the elevation profile of that ride. There aren't a lot of difficult climbs, but the trail begins with a series of small uphill and downhill sections that will certainly help you warm up. Note - clicking on any of the pictures will open them into a full-screen view. If you're using Internet Explorer 6 or better, the picture will scale itself to your screen. After a few seconds you'll see a yellow button appear floating over the picture. Pressing that button will expand the picture to full size, allowing viewing the maps in greater detail.
If you have Google Earth, this will give you the view: images/Middle Run.kmz If you don't have Google Earth, go immediately to earth.google.com and download it for free. For more information about using a GPS for trail tracking, see images/GPS_tracking.htm
April 2006 Here are shots from the ride on April 29. We did the normal Lenape Trail loop (about 5.6 miles). At the stop, Jess got directions to a "Skills Park" that had been constructed nearby, and we set out to find it. WOW, was that cool! Wooden bridges, log droppoffs, and a "teeter-totter" that scared off many of us. Thanks to Lisa for taking many of these pictures. Here's the first leg of the ride:
Here's the "Skills Park". It opens with a suspended bridge with a dropoff and a steep downhill.
This narrow, winding bridge goes over a flattened tree base, then up to a steep downhill. No one did it successfully.
Here's another ramp that goes up slowly but ends in a VERY steep decline.
Here's the teeter-totter. It's hinged in the middle - you ride up it past the hinge and then you STOP until the front part can shift to the ground. Jess made it alone. Lisa and Rich used "spotters" in case they fell.
Here's a platform that comes up gradually, then moves to a steep right turn (oops, that's a LEFT turn).
Here's a cool action shot of Lisa coming off of that ramp.
Here are a couple of shots from the end of the ride.
Group Ride - November 2005
Here's the group - Donna, Tom, Greg, Jess, Jon, Bob, Lisa, John and Erin Getting ready to ride
Note: this is a PG website. Shots of the "nature break" at the end of the parking lot have been eliminated... There are lots of narrow wooden bridges throughout the park. Here's one that opens up into a field. This is Tom, Lisa, Erin and John coming through.
Here's a nice stream crossing, a little too deep to ride. Usually you have to carry your bike across, although sometimes you can get someone else to do it...
Here's a neat stream crossing. The water is a little deeper -and a lot colder - in the fall. This is Greg, Lisa Tom and Jess riding across.
Here's a nice group shot in the woods, just uphill from the stream crossing. |
