Biking a fun fall activity
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Rain drizzled down over Lake Arthur on Tuesday morning, Sept. 23, coating the Moraine State Park Bike Trail in a layer of water and a little bit of fog.
But it wasn’t the worst weather Bob Gropp has bicycled in. Not even close.
As autumn sets in to Western Pennsylvania, Gropp said he gets more excited to take his bike on rides because fewer people crowd biking areas during what others might call inclement weather.
He said he probably would have preferred colder temperatures than what the area experienced that day, but Gropp was still prepared to lead the Butler Outdoor Club on the ride.
“Fall, wintertime, if you have the right gear, if you have the right cycle, the right clothing, it’s like going ice fishing,” Gropp said. “It looks like it would be crazy, but if you’ve got the right stuff, it’s not so bad.”
The Butler Outdoor Club has group bike outings about every other week throughout the year, only slowing down a little when snow sets in. These group outings are not meant to be too taxing physically, just long enough that people may see a new locale they hadn’t noticed before.
Gropp, who plans many of these rides for the club, said the social aspect of the rides is just as important as the physical activity part of it.
“A lot of times, we’ll keep it a social event. We’ll ride and then get something to eat,” Gropp said. “It’s not a race. It’s not a competition. It’s all designed to be social.”
Butler Outdoor Club has been around since the mid-1990s, and Tom Vayansky, president of club, said it has stayed active because people continue to be motivated to get outside by the allure of group outings.
The club organizes hikes; biking outings; camping and backpacking trips; kayaking excursions; and, sometimes, cross-country skiing trips. They can take place in the parks around Butler County and Western Pennsylvania, but the group sometimes travels to other parts of the state and other states for certain activities.
Official members of the group who participate in the monthly planning meetings pay dues to be in the club, but anyone can join a hike or trip by just showing up, Vayansky said.
The bike outings get a lot of participation, especially when the weather is nice and the trip is at a unique location. The ride Tuesday was a more routine location compared to some of the club’s rides, but it still attracted two riders who have never accompanied the club on an excursion before.
Vayansky credited Gropp with coming up with good biking trips, which have led him to riding in places he said he never would have made it to otherwise.
“The Turnpike tunnel, never thought I would have gone there. Never would have rode in Pittsburgh, if it wasn’t for Bob,” Vayansky said. “The Emlenton ride coming up, that’s going to be a really nice ride — should be a lot of color in the leaves then.”
Gropp said he is never hurting for a good place to bike. As a Western Pennsylvania native, he has biked all over the area, as well as other parts of the state and in eastern Ohio. He said even when planning a trip for the club, he has a lot of options for a trip within a 50-mile radius.
“We’re so trail-rich in Western Pennsylvania, it’s really unique,” Gropp said. “Nothing gets to be boring. We can always switch around and take on any trail. So that’s how we keep it interesting.”
The social aspects of the bike rides are often improved by the exploration side of the excursions. Gropp said people in the Butler Outdoor Club also contribute ideas of where to go, and he can craft a ride out of suggestions or requests from his peers.
“We’ve gone as far as Breezewood to do the abandoned Turnpike tunnels, so we’re always looking for something kind of unique to tie into the ride,” Gropp said.
Although Moraine State Park has a bike rental service that is situated between trail heads on the North Shore, everyone attending that day’s ride brought their own bicycle. Gropp said riders pretty much always bring their own bikes to club outings, but they don’t need to be the fastest or outfitted with the latest technology. The bike he took down the trail he has had for about 20 years and other bikers were pedaling their own trusty rides.
Gropp and Vayansky said they might have called off the ride on Tuesday due to rain, but went ahead with the ride anyway. Vayansky said rain and any temperature under about 50 degrees usually turns him off from a bike ride.
“My cutoff for biking is probably about 40 to 50 degrees and when it rains,” Vayansky said.
Gropp, too, was not psyched about the weather, but said it would probably be more ideal for the ride because it would keep the trail from getting too crowded. That section of the bike trail has some challenging routes, so the lack of other traffic made things a little safer.
“It’s got a lot of 90s (90-degree turns), a lot of twists and turns,” Gropp said. “When the summer comes, it gets a lot of use. Because it twists and turns so much, I kind of back away from it and go where there is less traffic.”
Vayansky said he is a regular hiker and as president of the club, he helps coordinate some of the group’s hikes. However, his enjoyment of biking might slightly edge out his enjoyment of hiking in the summer because it is a faster way to traverse ground than stomping through the heat.
“For me, hiking is more difficult in the summer months with all the growth, the weeds and, nowadays, you have to watch out for the ticks and everything,” Vayansky said.
Gropp said biking is his first passion. He spends a lot of time riding throughout the entire year because it’s a good way to see the world, or at least local scenery.
He said the Butler Outdoor Club is a good way to get used to riding in different areas and terrains, as long as a rider has the right gear.
“It’s like anything else, as long as you prepare,” Gropp said.
