Eventually I decided to run up Old Butt Knob to Shining Rock and then come down the creek. 6.5 miles, but with 4000' of climbing (and descending) it would be a challenging run. I decided to take just a water bottle, whistle, iodine and duct tape instead of the pack and was wondering what sort of condition the trail would be in when Jonathon called and asked what the weather was like. I told him and then he said he'd see me that afternoon. He was doing a group ride out at Dupont and I hadn't planned on going. But as I got closer and closer to Pisgah Shining Rock started to sound really lonely and painful and like a potentially bad idea and riding with friends in Dupont sound nice and warm and cozy.
I decided to run the dog up to the top of Black real fast and then rush home, get the bike and head out to Dupont. With no time to go all the way up Black I cheated and drove up 477 to Pressley Cove. Pressley Cove is a steep little bitch of a trail and made Black seem a little tame. We hit the intersection with Turkey Pen at 35 minutes and were back at the truck in under and hour. Only four miles but it hurt bad!
From there it was rush, rush, rush to Dupont and then try and catch up to the group Jonathon was leading. I did and then tried to settle in for a nice relaxing social group ride. Jonathon tipped me off that there were some fast single speeders in the bunch so what was supposed to be an easy ride had periods of hammering even though I was already gassed from my morning run. At the start of the climb up Jim Branch a rider said "On your left, dude" so I let up half a pedal stroke for him pass but he didn't blow by me so I jumped hard and left him in my dust! By the time the ride was over I was more than done. Fun times!
Sunday's to relax so I started the day with a nice little 10k trail run. I did the Mountains to Sea trail from Hwy25 to I26 out and back. It was early and I was tired and feeling beat up. I'd never been on that stretch of trail before and was expecting it to be flat but there were a surprising number of hills. The climb up to the Interstate really almost killed me. I was slowing to a walk repeatedly where as the day before I'd ran all the way up Black Mtn. By the time I was approaching the end I was unable to lift my shoes and was tripping and stumbling all over the place. At one point Duma unknowingly kicked a garter snake up onto my shoes but we were both too tired to care and just shuffled forward. Good times!
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