The riding

Saturday the plan was to hit DuPont.  As we gathered in the practically empty parking lot (which was completely incomprehensible that more people wouldn't be out in such a perfect day) talks about the route started.  One route was mentioned and everyone seemed happy to jump on board with it so we hit the trails as one big group.  We had done the same route on a previous trip, so I was pretty familiar with where we were going.  The trails were great, if not a little dry.  We stopped to check out the water falls and cemetery and whatnot.  But I was bummed that my butterflies - although visiting with us as we rode, were not out en masse to great me like last time.

Perhaps they were frightened the legend of my capture of their king on my last visit?

Thanks to TheMutt for putting his life in danger to capture this epic battle National Geographic style.

While out on that very same rock a singular blue butterfly did come out from the trees and landed on my arm.  Unfortunately I did not have my phone with me to document some actual Butterfly Kingness.  We continued on and finished down Ridgeline - where everyone had a blast!!

The groups broke up here.  Some headed into town to grab some lunch, while others were itching to ride some more.  A bunch of riders headed to the other side of DuPont to get some more riding in, and a small group of us decided Ridgeline needed another go.  We climbed up Jim Branch where Good Guy Greg nearly cleaned the bottom rock section twice.  Ending, again, on Ridgeline is about the best way to cap off a ride out there.

Sunday Tom Tom was headed out to meet some fast guys, I immediately excluded myself from that group as I only brought a 20 out for the weekend - great for DuPont, not so great (depending) on your route in Pisgah.  PLUS I was fully rigid, which can also suck depending on your descent in Pisgah.  Even the route that TheMutt was talking about had me wondering if I would skip the ride and hit up a trail on the way home myself.  I finally just sucked it up and joined the clawhammer/black mountain/thrift cove ride.  I figured I'd be ok on the climbing, it was fast descending over rocky roots goodness that would have my hands and arms screaming.  

I kinda enjoyed the climbing, although I'm sure much of the group did not enjoy the fact that I had to push the pace a little bit in order to stay comfortably on top of my gearing.  We stopped at the crest of every climb (pr at intersections) to regroup anyway.  We weren't out there for speed, but for fun.  But it was a good group of riders so we kept things going pretty well.  We climbed for a long time... over 6 miles by the time we got to the very top.  

Little Miss Sunshine finishing the last bit of climbing before it was all mostly downhill from there.

The first section of Black was filled with rocks, roots, and drops.  So that part actually wasn't too bad on me as speeds weren't excessive.  I did have to walk a couple as this was my first time on this decent and I didn't want to get in over my head on some of the drops without suspension.  But I enjoyed the technical challenge of picking lines and trying to ride as much as I could.  We regrouped briefly and Good Guy Greg asked me how my arms were doing.  I explained that I was feeling good, but when things are fast and rocky/rooty (Like Heartbreak is), that is when the chatter starts getting to me - so thankfully the trail wasn't like.  And... I seemingly spoke to early, the next section of Black was exactly that - fast.  Luckily it wasn't covered with leaved like Heartbreak had been when I rode it, so I could actually see and prepare for the rocks and roots I'd be hitting.  But I was thankful to hit the intersection with Thrift Cove.  Thrift cove would be a wide open and faster decent than continuing on with Black.  We enjoyed the speeds, but had to be mindful to check around blind corners as we had met two groups of riders climbing the trail towards the top.  

TheMutt was leading the way and I heard his bell ringing as we came around a corner.  Good Guy Greg was splitting a couple so I slowed up as much as I could without skidding out (we were flying).  The guy was on the left side of the trail facing the rock wall (peeing I presumed) the woman had left their yellow bag in the very middle of the trail, and she was standing on the right side of the trail eating trail mix it seemed.  A very odd scene indeed.  I said "how are you?" as I passed and let back off the brakes to try to catch back up.  The rest of the trail was uneventful - if you consider nice kickers, berms, and speed uneventful!!  It was a blast.  

Again, a great way to end a ride - and another perfect example of the magic of mountain biking.  Even after climbing for over 6 miles but the time we were back down I had forgotten all about the climbing and was ready for more!!  (clearer heads prevailed and we did not further torture our legs that day)

As we regrouped at the bottom, the rest of the crew informed us by the time they passed the couple the guy was full on squatting... VERY interested spot to choose to poop.  I'd say OFF the trail in some brush might just be a better choice for all involved, but hey, that's just me!

Great day indeed!!  We hit up a local Mexican place to eat and then we disbanded back to Charlotte.  I would also like to mention that breakfast and dinner was provided for us by the Trailblazers on Saturday, and breakfast again on Sunday.  I managed to snake a turkey and cheese sammich from TheMutt at DuPont (I had planned on a gummy worm/clif bar and beer lunch myself) so food wise I was pretty much set all weekend!  

If you are local, I'd strongly recommend that you consider joining us on our next camping trip - it was a great time all around!  

  

Some day?

Media Fridays

We'll post videos or photos that will hopefully inspire trail shredding weekends.

This is one of the first "big" races I became aware of years back thanks to Thom P.  Its all the way on the other side of the country, and just seems to hold some sort of magical place in all that is mountain biking.   Will I ever ride it... who knows.  I think I should start with some of the other big guys in my back yard, ever hear of Pisgah?  

Anyway, the Breck Epic is coming... here's a little overview of the whole deal.

Missed the window... missed the turn

Thursday morning I was heading out to meet up with Sean for our mountain adventures.  As I was about to get on 277 I realized I left the garmins by the computer!! YIKES!  So I busted a quick turn and back to the house.  No biggie (I thought) as there was nary a car in sight.  Run in, grab the computer and back on the road... to hit every light and battle traffic.  Apparently when I left (the first time) I was in the sweet spot before commuter traffic.  With the turn around and re-start I was in commuter traffic.

balls.

Got up to Sean's a little later than I had anticipated, but really no big deal because we weren't on any hard set schedule.  On the ride out things weren't looking as nice as the weathermen had promised.  It wasn't raining, but it looked like it could.  I kept reassuring Sean (and myself) that it was merely misting and everything would be fine.  It never did rain for real, but it indeed did "mist" a bit while riding (and had apparently rained earlier, thus the slick roots and mud) - maybe I should be a weatherman?

On the ride out it was also determined that this was a pretty easy drive and many more (frequent) trips will need to be had.  At the conclusion of our trip it was vowed that (at least for the NC boys) we would at least be back out quarterly.  I'm thinking we can do better than that as it is close enough (at least for Sean and I) to hit it up for even just a day trip.

Sean and I were the first to hit the area so we hit up Pisgah.  As I mentioned earlier, I did some internetal investigations and found us a ride.  As we were driving through Brevard on the way to the trailhead we passed a bike shop - do we need to stop in for anything?  Nah.  I had directions for what trails to take - we should be all good.  Ok, first rule of riding Pisgah - have a map.  This being a weekend of dick and fart jokes, camp fires, beers and the Kraken there were no rules... so we hit the trails with no map (and of course no cell service to retrieve a map if needed).

For the most part it wasn't hard to follow the route.  BUT, there were two turns that did prove confusing.  The first was when the mileage listed didn't seem to align with our mileage ridden... took a little backtracking and logic to determine what to do, but we prevailed without too much trouble.

"mother f***en waterfall" we passed after finding our way back on trail

The second came towards the end of the ride when the directions indicated a left turn around a gate onto an unnamed fire road....  as we were bombing down a service road we did see a gate and fire road around the mileage our turn should be, but this one was labeled 471D (all other turns on our list were labeled as unnamed or indicated their trail name/number) so we figured this couldn't be our turn.

Instead we enjoyed the downhill speeds and actually saw a black coyote on the trail.  Upon first glance it appeared to be a German Shepherd, but as I got closer I realized it was no dog.  It looked up and ran off around the bend, and as I cleared the corner it started off again away from us - eventually ditching the trail into the bush.  The other wildlife we saw was a Wild Turkey.  After it jumped off trail we came upon a hunter just up the trail so I pointed him in the right direction and about a quarter of a mile later gun shots ran out.  I thought about heading back to claim a wing for pointing him toward the bird.

Eventually we realized we are WAY past where the turn should have been and we resign to climbing back up (after already ignoring my first suggestion that we stop and turn around).  The climb back up wasn't that bad and we decided to try out 471D to see if it was in fact our turn... it was.

that little dangle-down on our loop was that damn miss on 471D

Even with the extra climbing it was still a blast.  The singletrack was amazing.  And we only scratched the surface.  Definitely a lot of fun to be had... and a lot of suffering I'm sure.  But beautiful scenery, lot's of climbing, and great trails - can't ask for anything more!

What a GREAT way to start the weekend!!  We headed to camp, cracked a beer, set up camp, showered and got the fire going.  From there others arrived, the Kraken was let loose and eventually sleep was had.  The adventures continue tomorrow - stay tuned.

And we're off!!

Today we are heading out early to get a ride in before setting up camp.  I did a little research and found a sweet ass compendium of rides throughout Pisgah and Dupont.  For my purposes I was researching a ride for Thursday in Pisgah.  Since it will be the first day of our riding weekend we didn't want to go overboard so I picked a nice intro to the area - it's my first time!!!

So today we will be riding what is referred to as "Well Seasoned Butter."

The rest of the itinerary as dictated by Sean:

10/18 Thursday
-Meet at the campsite and set up shop
-Dinner: Campfire Chicken/Rice Soup
-Beers

10/19 Friday
-Ride: either Mills River or Bent Creek
-Leave straight from trails and head up to Asheville to meet **** ******
-Dinner @ Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria
-Beers: Fill up some Growlers and head back to Camp

10/20 Saturday
-Ride: All day at Dupont State Forest
-Dinner: TBD- Provided by the ***** and ****: Most likley sausage.
-Beers

10/21 Sunday
-Ride: TBD
-NC Boyz Depart

(names withheld to protect the innocent)

The weather continues to look perfect... a bit chilly in the mornings, but beautiful afternoons.

I'll be bringing the camera along - we'll see about footage... I'm feeling like it being my first time in the mountains here in NC I may just be focusing a bit more on riding and enjoying than worried about filming.  But we shall see.

I'm sure I'll have a story or two to tell upon my return!!  Until then, get out and ride!!

Getting back to it.

Media Fridays

We'll posts videos or photos that will hopefully inspire trail shredding weekends.

Now is as good a time as any to get back to the old format... welcome back "Media Fridays."  Part of the revitalization is due to the fact that I do believe I never posted the footage I got from Warrior Creek....  as you see, it isn't up not either.  I still think I have to put some music to it and possibly tweek it a bit.  It's nothing special (camera angle wasn't the best), so don't get too excited.

Here is a little sneak peek (more for me than for you) of some Pisgah trails - got a camping/biking trip coming up in a few weeks out there and I am EXCITED!

Top of Kitsuma from John Degnan on Vimeo.