tapering….

While everyone else was at Cohutta getting in one last training ride before PMBAR the closest I came to riding a bicycle this weekend was a one mile round trip ride to the grocery store. A cold or allergies or something had me wanting to do nothing and feeling like crap all weekend.

Friday after work I decided to take Duma up to the top of Black but by the time we got to Pressley Gap I was tired and we turned around. Driving into the forest there were a two different large groups of mountain bikers on 276. Both groups were riding 3-4 abreast and chatting and weaving in the lane. A little scary and something I would never want to be a part of…. Though short the hike was good and we had fun. My attempt at drying my camera in the oven might not have worked after all as it was acting up the whole time and was almost impossible to use. This picture of some nice old trail work did manage to come out though:

A couple of locust logs that seem to be doing a good job of directing the water. It is worlds different than the brand of trail work that seems to be being pushed in the local mtb world but is very much Pisgah. The bridges on Pressley all have had recent work done to them. New handrails and logs where needed. I’ve also noticed lots of bridge work on Pink Beds and Coontree among other trails. Someone is doing a shitload of work in Pisgah that goes beyond just clearing dead fall….

Anyway once we hit Maxwell Cove I called it and we headed right back down. Notice the open to bikes symbol on the sign, it is pointing to Maxwell Cove Rd. not Pressley which is clearly signed closed to bikes on the other side:

Saturday I felt like crap but on Sunday was due for some adventuring and sunshine so Terri and myself loaded up Duma and headed for Pisgah. Since the seasonal trails are closed I picked Coontree Loop and we decided to do it counterclockwise so we climbed the steep stuff instead of descending it. I wasn’t overly surprised when we encountered bikers coming down as we climbed up. It was one of those waterbar/root infested steep pitches near the top and I told them to come through fast since Duma likes to attack bikes that I’m not riding but they clearly didn’t have the skills to ride it. The first guy came through okay but his friend took forever and barely made it. As he finally went by he told us “I wouldn’t recommend trying that” to which I replied that the trail was seasonal and closed to bikes. I wasn’t going to say anything but figured a friendly reminder was better than making fun of him for not having the skills to ride the trail he was poaching. Later on Bennett we encountered another biker also moving slowly and I kept my mouth shut. All the carsonite signs have been defaced so it is hard to tell what is open and what is not but ignorance is no excuse….

Some of the first wild Iris’s of the season:

The hike hurt way more than it should have and I was very relieved once we finally made it back to the truck. The hardest 3.7 miles that I have done in a long time!

Saturday when I didn’t feel good enough to do much I did manage to go shopping and picked up this new pack:

It seems like the most popular blogs are all about products instead of bikes or hikes so I figured I’d better show off a product. I have big plans for this pack but instead of talking about them I should mention all the cool things about it like the built in whistle and light saber….

Posted by clay at 03:03:36 | Permalink | No Comments »

Friday, April 24, 2009

Earth Day in Dupont

Late Tuesday night my bike looked something like this:

I was somehow able to get it all back together again (including a rebuild of my hubs) and made it to Fawn Lake for the Wednesday Night Drinking Club. It was just Jonathon, Dennis and myself and we headed straight for Pine Tree to investigate the recent trail work that was done. I still have not managed to ride across Little River this year but kept most of my body and my hubs dry. Dennis didn’t fare quite as well, he went almost completely under water. The only thing that didn’t get wet was one shoulder. Here he is emerging from his bath:

The ride was an out and back with very little variation and even though I bitched about the lack of a loop I have to concede that it was a lot of fun. Perhaps too much fun as somehow now I have what seems to be the beginning symptoms of a cold. Just one day to get well before the weekend!

Posted by clay at 02:46:18 | Permalink | No Comments »

Monday, April 20, 2009

The High Life

I can’t figure out how people get lost in the Shining Rock Wilderness. Or maybe I can… Friday came and Duma was due for an adventure so we headed for the deep woods. Shortly after crossing over into the designated wilderness we encountered a group of almost lost Boy Scout leaders. They had spent most of the morning looking for the same trail we were headed for - Greasy Cove. They were equipped with walkie-talkies, GPS’s and a single paper 8×10 photocopy of part of the #780 map. After checking my map I explained I was confident that the trail was just on the other side of the river and to the left side of the other branch. All we would have to do was cross the river and then poke around a little and there would be a trail. They weren’t so convinced and were trying to figure out why there weren’t any trail signs and which way West. So I pulled out my compass and told them the poles had been reversed so we would have to read it backwards. That was too confusing so their leader pulled out his compass and proceeded to try and figure out how to use it. He was just sort of waving it around looking for the ever elusive West so I decided to move on across the river. He wasn’t sure how they would be able to cross the river (Where is there a bridge?) and thought I was crazy for plunging across with my yellow dog. I told them once I found the trail I would blast my whistle once as a sign and went on my way.

Well, as soon as I crossed the river there was the trail. Finding it was not an issue: it was right there. So I walked back the river bank and yelled/signaled that the trail was right there. They looked at me like I was crazy so I went right on up the trail. A few hundred yards later when I was 100% positive I was on Greasy Cove I blew my whistle once. They were in a group of 20+ - a clear violation of wilderness regulations and I was tempted to alert the rangers but figured if they ever got out of the woods alive they were unlikely to ever enter Shining Rock again so I left them to their own fate and climbed my way up to Shining Rock with Duma leading the way.

Starting from Graveyard Fields our route for the day was:

Connector > Mountains to Sea > Bridges Camp Gap > Greasy Cove > Connector > Art Loeb (out and back to Grassy Cove Top) > Connector > Greasy Cove > Graveyard Ridge > ???? Graveyard Fields maze

We stopped for lunch at Grassy Cove top and soaked in the 360 views. By the time we made it back to Graveyard Fields the place was packed with dozens and dozens of cars. Somewhere along the way I had picked up no less than five empty milk jugs and everyone was looking at us like we were crazy (which we probably were). Graveyard Fields was a maze and getting out of there was the hardest part of the day.

Once we got back to the truck Duma jumped right in and went to sleep - always the sign of a good hike!

Saturday came and I had to work for a little bit and then it was off to sneak in a quick bike ride. But where to go? Dupont and laps around Pine Tree? Nope, too many people… Cove Creek to Daniel Ridge? Fun but not quite feeling it… And then it hit me, Trace Ridge - how long had it been since I hit it? Always good for a fun hour or so and the decision was made.

I started from the campground and decided to do things a little differently from normal. I headed up 5000 then took a right on Bear Branch and climbed Bear until the first left hand turn which I took, then a quick right on the first road then back down Bear. There is a lot more going on in the Bear Branch area than the map lets on and the blue blazed trails seem to come and go from all different angles. Definitely worthy of more consideration. After that it was just more of the same and my ultimate route would be:

1206 > 5000 > Bear Branch > 5001 > Bear Branch > 5000 > Hendersonville Reservoir Rd. > Wash Creek > Trace Ridge > Spencer Branch > Fletcher Creek > Hendersonville Reservoir Rd. > Trace Ridge > Fisherman’s

Trace was a tough but fun and SHORT climb. The top section of Spencer was very technical as I had remembered and Fletcher had enough rocks to keep me awake as well. Two hours and a fun ride on trails I don’t usually ride: whatever that means!

Here is some guy I snapped a picture of coming down Trace as I was coming up. I tried to warn him that the trail was way too technical for big wheels and a rigid fork but he kept right on going:

Everyone loves a little Beaver action:

Posted by clay at 03:40:12 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wednesday Night Drinking Club

Someone has himself a shiny new singlespeed Drunken Monkey and is on a three week training plan for Cohutta and PMBAR. Week 1: Base mileage/endurance. Week 2: Speed and strength. Week 3: Taper. He is somewhere in week two which made for a fun afterwork Dupont ride. 20 miles in two hours or thereabouts.

Posted by clay at 03:23:19 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Seasons Change

With just days left to enjoy the seasonal trails David Cook, Jonathon, Yuri and myself headed out on Saturday with a goal of hitting all the seasonal trails. Jonathon is a big fan of warming up so we started the ride with a quick ‘warm up’ around Sycamore Cove. After that it was just Pisgah and lots of it. Eight hours and 40 miles. Our route was:

Black Mtn. > Thrift Cove > Sycamore Cove > 276 > Black Mtn. > Buckhorn Gap > South Mills River > The Pink Beds > 276 > 477 > Club Gap > Buckwheat Knob > Bennett Gap > Coontree Gap > 276 > 475 > Davidson River > 475 > 5095 > Longbranch > Cat Gap > Horse Cove Rd. > Art Loeb (HIKE) > North Slope Connector (HIKE) > The North Slope

Black:


Pink Beds:

A new Club Gap:



Buckwheat Knob:



Bennett Gap:


Fish Hatchery:

Easter Sunday came and Terri’s plans for a first mountain bike ride in Bent Creek with friends fell through so I did the right thing and decided to take her out for a ride myself. Bent Creek sounded too crowded and Dupont seemed too far away and I wanted to take Duma so I headed for the only logical place - Pisgah proper.

Pisgah is full of hidden secrets and I took her to one of my favorites: Foster Creek. Not a lot there but enough for a first ride or two and enough to last atleast an hour. We stuck to the ‘road’ which is more like a trail near the end and Terri did much better than Duma who seems to enjoy being rammed up the ass with a 29″ tire.

Check out this totally sweet ride that Terri borrowed. It has shocks and gears and all types of stuff. I’m more than a little jealous:

Is it a road or a trail?

Pinche perro!

Posted by clay at 02:27:50 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Passover Begins at Sundown

Dupont on a Wednesday. Fast Fast Fast.

My camera somehow got wet when I didn’t quite make the Little River Crossing. Will it ever work again? Is this blog destined to be imageless forever?

Posted by clay at 03:16:51 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Monday, April 6, 2009

All work and no play

For the first time in a long time I worked all weekend and was not able to get in a long ride or a hike. I’ve been building a shed for Valerie and after getting rained out for a week we had to put in some long days to get it dried in before she left town for a week today. Normally I like to spend most of my weekends playing in the woods but her property is very close to the forest gate so when we finished up last night just before 7 we headed out for a quick ride. We did Black Mtn. > Thrift Cove > Grassy Rd. > Sycamore Cove. Since we weren’t headed very far up Black I made it a point to stay on the bike for the entire climb and felt pretty good with my 20t cog back on the back. We took the short way down Sycamore and it was tight, fast, sketchy and good enough that I was left wanting to ride the other half and wondering why I don’t ride it more.

Today there were just a few small things left to do the building and after we finished them I once again headed to Pisgah for a quickie. The time is very limited to enjoy seasonal trails so I did a nice loop out of the Coontree Picnic Area: Coontree > Bennett Gap > 477 > Bennett Gap > Coontree.

Since it was to be a short ride I was determined to see how much of Coontree I could ride. Except for a dab near the bottom I made it all the way to where it starts to get really steep and nasty. There was a group of riders slowly pushing up and I lost my momentum and had to get off and push up one of the steep waterbar filled hills. As soon as the grade let up a little I jumped back on and managed to climb my way up to Bennett. It hurt really bad and was probably a bad idea but felt good when I finally made it to Coontree Gap. I think 32×20 is the perfect ratio for me - it seems as if I am able to climb more with it than I am with my 21 or 22.

477 is a grunt of a climb and I really don’t care too much for it. I like to climb but for some reason 477 feels a little wrong to me. No worries as it doesn’t last long and after gazing up at Black and Clawhammer mountains for a while I was at Bennett Gap. I didn’t make any of the really technical moves on Bennett and didn’t really care to try. With limited time and a neglected dog at home I was more interested in keeping moving. The painfull climb up Coontree makes for a sweet descent coming down and I was pushing my fully rigid bike to its limits and I was back at my truck in just an hour forty five minutes after leaving.

Shortest weekend of rides in a long time!

Posted by clay at 02:46:47 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Silent in the Morning

How lucky am I to be able to live and work in a place where I can do things like hit The North Slope in the morning before work?

After tackling the counterclockwise climb without a problem I thought I was going to be able to ride the whole trail without even a dab but then I came across this bridge which I had forgotten about:

After that it was just another day at work. Here is Valerie working on some locust braces for her shed that I am building:

Posted by clay at 00:46:16 | Permalink | No Comments »