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1st Trip to White Clay Creek, Newark, DE

96K views 712 replies 113 participants last post by  Puddle 
#1 · (Edited)
So I drove down the New Jersey Turnpike for 45 minutes or so, and I found myself at White Clay Creek in Newark, Delaware. I was supposed to go a few weeks ago, but I was sick and couldn't make it. Well, I made it down this past Saturday, and I must say, this is a fine place to ride! I printed Ken Cox' map earlier in the day, and wouldn't you know, I forgot to pack it. Fortunately, the trails are well marked and the place is fairly easy to navigate.

I did the Lenape Trail, Bryan's Field Trail, the skills trail, the Earth Day Trail, and one other which I can't recall. I was thoroughly impressed with the skills trail. I've seen several photos of the skills trail on various forums, and I always thought that it looked rather "simple." Well, this was the first time I rode any type of stunt or obstacle, and I have a new found respect for those northshore riders. This is not as easy as it looks. To be honest, I think the mental portion of it is the toughest to overcome. Riding it wasn't extremely difficult, although I had some trouble on the skinnies next to the suspension bridge. I walked through the skills trail the first time just to see what was there, etc... I was kinda sketchy about the suspension bridge, so I opted for the skinnies on the left. I nearly endo'd on the first teeter, just before the suspension bridge. It seems like it is missing 1 plank or something. I hit it twice, and it happened each time. I dunno...maybe I'm just hitting it wrong??? Overall, the skills trails was really nice, and I can't wait to hit it again.

I rode for about 2 1/2 hours, until it starting getting dark. Ran into quite a few friendly people as well. I had a great experience here and can't wait to hit it up again to explore everything I missed.

Zig Zag Bridge....not as easy as it looks.
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Suspension bridge...yeah, you don't see too many of these out on the trail. Weird to ride it.




choices; A) Long skinny, B) Whoops, or C) Rock Garden


Earth Day Trail


Bryan's Field Trail
 
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#104 ·
Sinker said:
Sloppy wet the past few days, but supposed to be down to about 28 tonight. Think it'll be frozen up enough for an early Saturday morning ride?
I rode middle run Sat (12/13/08) from 3pm to about 430pm...It wasnt that bad at all...The Delaplane Manor Hill....the Mountain Goat and the Corkscrew were fine.Anyplace on the trail where the sun hits was a little damp & muddy but not too bad.
 
#105 ·
Has anybody tried the new log pile next to the long "Skinny" at the top of the corkscrew ??
It's located on the trail that branches off at the very beginning of the corkscrew...It's about 8ft long...3 or 4ft high at one end & kinda crosses the 3ft ditch same as the other log...

After about 5 trys I rode the log pile on the downside but did not try to go up it....Its pretty steep and if you dont hit it just right you could be in for a world of hurt :eek:
 
#110 ·
Manicmtbr said:
It was frozen solid at 5:30 this morning. :thumbsup:
Still frozen at 8:30, but a few spots were getting snotty by 10:00. Ran into Vyper at the church parking lot, but I was done and he was just starting, so we didn't ride together.

Hope we get another freeze soon....the spin class is better than nothing, but it sure isn't the same as riding singletrack!
 
#114 · (Edited)
I rode Middle Run yesterday (1-1-09) from 2-3pm and the trails werent muddy at all...There were two downed trees that I ran across,one of them was at the beginning of the corkscrew.When I got there it was about 29 degrees with hardly any wind...not too bad at all...

On a side note...I ran into a group of 5 younger guys (< 21) with 2 of them wearing shorts,I said to one of them," I cannot believe you guys are wearing shorts in this cold ",he said, " I fee fine,I'm good." I said "Nice"

oh well...Anybody else go riding ??
 
#115 ·
Went to white clay for the first time today. I grew up in DE but didn't start riding again until I was living in Philly and riding Wissahickon Park/Valley Green 3+ days per week for 2 years or so. I recently moved back here and was sad that I would have to drive an hour or more to ride Valley Green. Turns out white clay is awesome riding (so far as I can tell now). I have been off the mountain bike but road riding only for about 2 years now and was excited to get out. I parked at Judge Morris and meant to ride over to the snow goose trail to make my way over into the park. I ended up riding the whole chestnut hill trail by accident which was a good warmup but nothing significant really. Really beginner trail here but that's probably what I should be on right now until I get my legs and skills back. I ended up riding over to Snow Goose and then to Lenape. I must have made a wrong turn somewhere because I was trying to get to the Whitley Farms trail but ended up back around by the double horseshoe trail which I rode. There were a few little obstacles that I practiced a few times to see if I still got it... I do but i'm nowhere near as fluid or fast (or strong for that matter). All in all I road for 1.75 hours including all the stop time to check my map and scratch my head. I plan to ride every weekend I can and weather permits. I may look into the trailspinners as well as I was always interested in doing some trail maintenance.
 
#118 ·
TripleStageDarkness said:
Has anybody had any issues with fishing line, and or rope across the trails behind JCC? About a year ago when I rode there, I hit some pretty low test fishing line just below neck level right behind the JCC. Thank god it was low test, and broke quick..
I think your talking about The Jewish Community Center up in the Brandwine Valley. I ride out there at at least once a week and have never seen anything like that.You'd think with all the walkers, runners, & bikers it wouldn't be there for long even if someone was putting it up on purpose.
 
#124 ·
vyper005 said:
Anyone going to brave the cold temps and ride ??
It's not cold!! I rode last night at MR and saw quite a few other folks out there as well. Seriously, as long as my toes, fingers and ears are warm I'm good to go. I almost forgot it was cold out until I went for a drink and discovered that the sip tube of my camelbak was frozen.

FYI: There's a Trailspinners work day scheduled for this Friday at Middle Run. Meet at the McGlynn's parking lot at 9am.
 
#125 ·
Sinker said:
It's not cold!! I rode last night at MR and saw quite a few other folks out there as well. Seriously, as long as my toes, fingers and ears are warm I'm good to go. I almost forgot it was cold out until I went for a drink and discovered that the sip tube of my camelbak was frozen.

FYI: There's a Trailspinners work day scheduled for this Friday at Middle Run. Meet at the McGlynn's parking lot at 9am.
It wasn't too bad last night despite the 25 degrees. Trails were fast and frozen (along with my water bottle)
 
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