Wild Turkey Ride

Thanksgiving gave me the opportunity to get a little riding done in West Virginia.  And by little, I mean one ride.  Eh, that's ok I guess.  Good times with family, good food, and a good ride equals a great holiday vacation.

So I rode a trail Sean had previously taken me to right in Morgantown, WV.  It was Sean's "home court" as it was literally in his backyard.  I recalled the general route we took years back, and that's where I started things off.  The trail is called Bakers Ridge, and it runs up behind the WVU farm.

View of the pastures from the trail.

What I really loved about the ride was that it was an undirected exploratory ride.  No one way trails, no predetermined loop, I was free to take any turn at anytime, and ride the trail in either direction.  Back to the basics, and it was good!

I ended up finding some sweet new trail up there.

New hard packed trail up on top of the ridge

Nice steep section with a jump (from the bottom)

And there was even a seesaw to boot!!

Bottom line, Morgantown is lucky to have such a sweet trail system right in town.  The trail isn't overly technical, but there are plenty of log crossings (with and without up and overs) but not too much rock - a few small gardens here and there.  But it's a great place to keep it moving, get some climbing in and rip some fast downhills... just watch out for the low trees and sneaky drops!

Tree hanging across the trail on one of the longer downhills... I was BARELY able to squeeze under the far right side - after I slammed the brakes of course!

A blue ballon marked this turn off which abruptly led to this beauty of a drop

Overall, it's a great cross country place, but with the new steep/jump line, big drop, and some other useable terrain, it could be a fun place for those big hit folk.  There was one jump built (but appeared neglected) and I noticed the MOST perfect line to hit on the way to the jump.

You could see remnants of a line.. but there appeared to be a lack of love shown for this section

Rock outcropping above the jump.  Rock on the right is the perfect roller into the jump

Rock on the right - from the side

It's nice to know there is an easily accessible trail anytime we are visiting family in WV... not enough time to get to Big Bear? - no problem, I'll be just fine at Bakers Ridge!