From the Mountains of UT back to the Mountains of PA

This is Jon's post re-capping Ben's bachelor weekend which I was supposed to post like over a month ago and just got around to doing now. Sorry!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jenn and I flew back east for Sara and Ben's bachelorette and bachelor parties. The girls were having a fun night in Baltimore, while the guys went up for an all weekend Bachelor party to Suits Us - the Hess's cabin in the middle of Bald Eagle State Forest. We drank a lot of beer out of the creek, shot a lot of .22 rounds, and manage to go offroading, make squirrel bbq sandwiches, and do some mountain biking as well. Despite the best attempts by some participants (who shall remain nameless) strippers would no be attending. 

 I certainly love the majestic mountains of Utah, but the Appalachians sometimes can't be beat. Lush greenery. High humidity. Small cool mountain streams cascading over bottles of Yuengling and Straub. On saturday Dr. Schmidt, Jason, Jarkon, Pony, and I rode the classic Cowbell Hollow loop, which coincidentally is the closest trail to the cabin as well as the best trail I have found in the area. Of all the trails in the 200,000 state forest, I've ridden this one the most. Thanks to my overwhelming amount of mountain bikes, I was able to leave one of my trusty steeds in Pennsylvania with my brother - my custom painted WVU Cannondale 29er singlespeed. I sure did miss it. It performs beautifully in the wet, rocky, rooty, trails back east. This weekend was no exception. We cranked that loop out in 40 minutes. Saturday night I got to witness first hand Andrew's Exterra get airborn. We bucked through some mud puddles while offroading with Jason and Dad in the jeep, and all of a sudden I thought I heard what sounded like a tire bursting. I notified the driver, "uh oh you blew a tire". Instead it was a 16oz Lager can that burst open. I updated the driver, "it was a beer can and your sleeping bag is soaked." Andrew then informed Pony and Me, it was Shitass's sleeping bag he intended to use that night. Hilarity ensued.

On sunday we traded Andrew for Shitass, and got around to riding a bigger loop. First we would pound a few beers playing Awesome Frisbee - we are the top 7 ranked players in the sport - and my diet consisted of ring bologna and longhorn cheese. Not exactly an athletic fuel. We set out to recreate the rest of the 2011 Transylvania Epic stage 5. However, bonking, navigation issues, and thunderstorms had us heading back to the cabin a little early. We still got in a good 3+ hour ride. You can check out both rides on my Strava.

Monday came and the saddest part is having to leave the cabin, but the best part is taking a shower. I think Jenn appreciated that. And I appreciated the short 3-day weekend spent with those Pennsylvania woods amongst the finest of men.