Pisgah Weekend Pt. 2

After Friday's ride, Brad and I headed into town to hit up the Barbecue joint at the entrance to the forest. My buddy, Billy, made plans to meet up with us and camp for the night and ride on Saturday. Our traditional loop of Long Branch, Cove Creek and Daniel Ridge were in effect. We took off up 475 to get to Long Branch, and tore off towards the Hatchery.



Long Branch is one of my favorite trails simply because you can get into a rhythm, and the mountain laurel trails definitely don't hurt.


After the rest of the descent we were at the Hatchery and were onto the climb of the day; 475B up to the top of Cove Creek.




On our way down, we were greeted by a couple of people riding up the trail without helmets. After seeing how Brad's helmet was dented in a couple of places after Friday's ride, I was in awe of how incomprehensibly stupid people can be...baffling! When we got to the bottom of Cove Creek Brad's hip was starting to tighten up, and Billy was feeling pretty beat up, so we decided to just ride the gravel back to the campsite and skip Daniel Ridge.





Up the gravel road a little ways and I saw someone at the parking area waving frantically...lo and behold it was none other than EEEEEEEEEEEEEE. He had come all the way, and missed us by only about 30 minutes. He had instead opted to ride Daniel Ridge a couple of times and hope to eventually run into us. Billy and Brad headed back into camp, while Erich and I decided to get some short rumbling in on Daniel Ridge. We tore off up the trail as fast as possible since Erich had a limited amount of time to be out in the woods. I felt bad, because I would have loved it had he been able to join us for the ride, but with no cell reception it was hard to get into contact with one another. Even so, like one of the wise men, Erich came bearing gifts for the post-ride; libations...

Pisgah Weekend pt. 1

My brother Brad and I met up this past weekend for our yearly camping/mountain biking/flyfishing trip to Pisgah. Plans fell into place to meet up Thursday night which would allow us to have three full days of riding instead of the typical two. On Friday, made the decision to ride up to the Buckhorn/Black Mountain intersection and continue over towards Buckwheat past the shelter.




We made relatively quick work of the climb and stopped in at the shelter for a snack. The descent off of the ridge to Club Gap is a great one, interspersed with enough rocks and roots to make you focus, but still chill enough to be able to charge through everything.




Our goal for the day was the descent of Avery Creek. The top of Avery is pretty technical and requires some decent moves, but we stayed upright until it opened up a bit more. I was chasing Brad down one of the fast sections and saw him have a massive high speed wreck. Bike and limbs were everywhere tumbling and I thought for sure that he was going to be pretty badly hurt. In mid wreck he catapulted his bike, and the only thing to show for this spectacular crash was a bit of a scratch on his forearm. He laid there laughing on the ground for a bit while I checked on the bike, everything was golden.



We got back on and I was following him again and witnessed what seemed to be a simple over the bars wreck. When I got there, though, I realized it was not. Right alongside the trail where he wrecked was a downed tree and his hip took the full brunt of his weight. When I got to him, he was in pretty bad shape and I had the fear that he may have broken his hip. After a few minutes of panic trying to decide what to do, he convinced me he was okay by standing up. The rest of the descent was a smattering of walking and coasting the smoother sections. We finally made it to the gravel road by the stables and I took off back to the visitor's center to grab the truck. I thought for sure that he was done riding for the weekend when I saw the hematoma on his hip, it looked like someone hit him with a baseball bat. BUT, he rode again on Saturday...and Sunday!

MST Work

Some great things are transpiring at the Moore's Springs Trail. I was able to make it out for a couple of hours to help Tony and the crew today cleaning up the old campground. Plans entail that the campground will reopen first to groups, then later to anyone to stay overnight. With plans to build a significant amount more mileage, and a few other races/events, this will be a great place to spend a weekend. Already, the bridge is back into action, some of the fields are back in order, and the huge concrete slab that served as an outdoor amphitheater are cleaned up.


I was able to talk with Tony briefly about another race idea that Erich and I had...perhaps an early Spring/Late Winter Autodrop event in the works!


With Mitch off racing in Chattanooga this weekend, Erich hanging with the family, and everyone else off in their own directions, my ride tomorrow will be a solo affair. Hopefully it will be slightly less windy than it was today, I'm hoping for some good mileage as the CLM100k is fast approaching!

Pilot

It seems the standard is becoming Saturday morning rides from my place. With Lisa graciously baking for us everytime we ride from here, no one seems to want to upset the balance! Today's riders; Jim, Mitch, Whit, and myself. We headed out an alternate way to get to Pilot, which included one of my local favorites, Bowens Road. We hit Pilot pretty hard, I'm guessing somewhere in the 16's probably. I was able to keep Jim and Mitch in sight all the way to the top. I actually felt pretty decent on the climb, normally I get dropped like crazy. We regrouped at the top, made quick work of a pepsi and mello yellow and descended back down. We chose to include Pinnacle Hotel and Mt. Zion on the way back. Mt. Zion is a great road, pretty tough, and Mitch was setting a blistering pace. Back onto Spainhour Mill and we ran into another cyclist, Shaka! He tagged along for the remainder of the ride down Donnaha and up Reynolda. Back to my place for some brownies and cookies...all was right with the world!

MST part deux

Brad, Erich, and I hit up MST. Much fun was had aside from some broken parts here and there.

Emm Ess Tee

E-rich and I hit the Moore's Springs Trails tonight. Just as we were leaving my place a slight drizzle started, but a quick check of the radar let us know it was just a passing shower. We continued with the plans of hitting MST, and were glad we did. The trails were perfectly tacky, just the right amount of rain fell to knock down the dust, and make for great traction in the corners. Impressive berms, and great rock work is the norm on these trails! Oh, and also, some great views!

Catsup.

As in ketchup, or catch up. I've been quiet here in the past few days, but have still been riding. I broke another spoke on a Saturday ride with Whit and Mitch, and had to be picked up. Curtis made it back from DC for a MNRR, which was great. Afterwards we hung out at the old shop for a while just shooting the breeze and catching up. This weekend plans are coming together for a day in Boone with mi esposita, Mitch, and Amy. Mitch and I should be able to get in a good ride...maybe the Boone Roubaix course?

Curtis' new bike...rocking Chorus 11 speed. Mad!




Riding into the sunset




And Whit's dirty dangly bits. oh. man.