Author Archives: Matthew Smith

Pennsylvania is known for a couple things. First, we’re the Keystone State. Yuengling beer is from here and we’re known for our dirt. Well, in the bmx world at least. People travel all across the country to ride different sets of trails and it seems the popular opinion is that the northwest part of the country and the northeast both have favorable dirt. Fortunately I got to grow up in a town that had a trail scene. Knowing that PA dirt is to be desired made me want to ride trails even more. We had a couple different spots throughout town but the VA trails had the best dirt. If you wanted anything better you headed out to Minersville where the jumps got a lot bigger.

The VA Trails were named because they were across the street from the Veteran’s Administration. A hospital for people who serve in the military. Back then, Lebanon didn’t have a public park. There was also the local BMX race track down the road a few more minutes. From what I’m told, local legend Frogger, found them and started the digging process, also along with him is old head, Corey Martin. Corey’s not really that old, He’s 30. but He’s been riding longer than anyone else I know from Lebanon. (that I know of)
(click photos to enlarge)

One day I think it was in 2005, Corey and I were there digging when we hear someone come down into the trails. It’s someone who obviously doesn’t ride. He tells us that the trails are going to be plowed in two days and to get all the stuff we wanted out of there. We didn’t believe him. I knew if he wasn’t bluffing I would need to snap some pics. So I quick drove back into town and picked up a disposable camera. I snapped the following photographs with intentions of putting them into panoramas. Two days later they were sure enough. plowed.

Everyone pretty much called this set the “first line” or “the line when you first come in” as when you first enter the trails. You would walk down a hill and blindly be standing in the bowl out so you had to be carefull. Once I jumped the first jump from the 44ds, everybody told me I was ready for the first line. It was hard at first, you had to get one crank as hard as you could before you went down this bumpy hill. It was like a ski jump. After that it was smooth and fun.

Here’s an angle looking back up the set from the berm.

The angle turning around and looking at the last jump. This thing was awesome. You could really yank back and ride it like a spine. This was also the only jump I could trick over. It was a table top since it criss crossed another jump. One-footed X-ups!

The Lil Jons were the second set I helped start with some other locals that weren’t ready for the big jumps yet. We needed something bigger than the Shepps but not as big as the mainlines. Jason, Dooks, Monkey, Baker, and I just to name a few, worked on these. They slightly hipped to the left.

Here’s a view looking back up the LiL Jons. The jump between the trees was one of my favorites. I felt like it had a cool vibe fitting perfectly inbetween the trees and hipping left.

The 44ds were the longest set. They ran from the top of the hill all the way down into some really big jumps. The first jump on the 44ds was actually the first big jump I ever went for. I could never get the whole way through though. The third jump shot people to the moon. Our buddy Pat, snapped his headtube off barely casing the second jump. He ended up with a broken nose and the jump was deemed cursed ever since.

Here’s a side view of them, that’s the 2nd jump on the left and the 3rd on the right. That third jump’s lip was always so well manicured. Too bad I could barely get past the second jump. haha.

The Shepps Set. When I first started coming to the VA trails all I did was help dig. Because all of the jumps where too big for me at the time. Eventually I got to start my own line so I could work up to the bigger ones. Everyone helped blaze the trail but one day when I was gone the guys built a shit load of jumps into it. I just wanted a few! This line was one of the funnest sets we had. Small, fast and lots of burms. It was named after Matt Shepps (RIP). Shepps was one of the kids from the younger generation of riders. This line became the gateway line to riding everything else there. If you were scared or needed to warm up, you started at Shepps’.

This is where the Shepps spilled out at, that berm was a lot fun to whip around, the jump after was hard to clear and the set ran out after that.

This is a look back up the set. Every jump was a table top, roller, or berm, But the first jump had a gap to it. So you still had to have the marbles to get the line started. After that it was gravy. Lots of fun on this.

This is possibly the biggest jump that existed there. I know it was over 20 feet and Corey and Dane tried it. Beyond that I’m not sure. There was also a set called the DJs that I didn’t take pictures of. That set was more of a straight line between the first set and the lil jons. They were big. I know Justin and Greg favored them. I ran out of exposures on the disposable camera before I could get to them.

Well there you have it. The VA Trails. A ton of people would come ride them during the summer. They weren’t the best by anymeans but it was a cool place where everyone met up and rode. A lot of times we would ride into town to ride street at Harding afterwards. I wanna give a special thanks to everyone who helped build them and anyone who had a chance to enjoy them. It’s things like this that I’d love to have around again.