About us

Jane, CODA and Murray

Jane and I bought Grouseland in 95 and established Grouseland Tours in 98.  When we first saw the property it had an abandoned cabin shell and an impossible driveway. But it held tremendous promise. Since then we have turned the ransacked cabin into a comfortable place to live. We cleared the field and made a campground there, planted 70+ fruit trees and bushes (apple, pear, cherry, peach, plumb, nectarine, apricot, gooseberry, and blueberry) so that eventually, when ever our guests come, we will have fresh fruit for them. The pond now has a shaded dock with hammock and two kayaks. Of course we also put up the bike shop, cut 10 miles of trails and got the business going. Since then we have become friends with hundreds of  wonderful people interested in biking. On that end alone it has been well worth our while.

Jane levitating our cabin using only her will.

(I've learned not to oppose her will)

Still under construction but now a comfortable place to live.

ESPN

Tony Barr, Chris Fox and myself with the Barrett Crew

In late July of 2002 2 cameramen and a sound woman working for Barrett Productions came to Grouseland to film a section for ESPN II's Destination Outdoors which aired on Feb. 2 2003. We were the last day on their schedule and the crew was hot, (it was in the mid 90s') tired and a bit cranky from having to put up with "Local Talent" all week (yokels who flub their lines and constantly stare into the camera). Fortunately Tony is one of the most out going, friendly and funny people I know, and Chris was a world class and Olympic runner (he is now the running coach at Auburn University). They even realized after a while that I knew what I was doing and by the end of the day we were all getting along great and having a good time. Our Smart Person's Guide to Mountain Biking contains the 5 minute section that was aired on ESPN.

About the name Grouseland

Elvis on our driveway.

When Jane and I first got the property, we were constantly given heart attacks by Grouse exploding at our feet. It was obvious that there were a lot of Ruffed Grouse on the land. We also knew that the Ruffed Grouse is the Pennsylvania State Bird. And even though President William Henry Harrison's home estate is called Grouseland, he just didn't serve long enough to warrant our not using the name. Especially since Jane and I have had a running joke about Elvis ever since we met. Our Mascot is named Elvis and where else would you find Elvis A Grouse than at Grouseland!

Our star pupil

In the summer of 2001 Debi Sheets, her husband Al, and their grandchildren Nicolas and Kyle came out for a weekend of lessons and enjoying biking. They were some of my very favorite guests here but even though they all seemed competent, there appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. By Christmas Debi called and said that she had really gotten into mountain biking (caught that obsession thing) and had competed in a 6 hour race. She had done well and loved it. She had also signed up for a 12 hour race and was thinking about a 24 hour race. But before she did that she wanted to take an intermediate lesson here. By mid summer of 2002 she had competed in 4, 24 Hours of Adrenaline races as a solo rider. A second place finish earned her an invite to the 24 Hours of Adrenaline Solo World Championship. She was ahead by close to an hour when she crashed, yet despite 50 mph winds, freezing temperatures and several inches of rain, she persevered and finished 15 minutes back. When she returned in 2003 she took the crown that was rightfully hers. Not bad for a grandma who had not mountain biked before coming here!