May 2008

Friday, May 30, 2008

Green’s Lick -> Lower Sidehill

Excellent ride on a beautiful day today. It was sunny and warm, but not hot, and with the rain we’ve had in the last few days the trails were in perfect shape. The route: gravel to Ingles Field->North Boundary->Green Slick->Gravel->Bent Creek Rd->Lower Sidehill. The warm up was as hard as to be expected considering the time OTB. I walked a bit of the singletrack heading to 5 points but was ready to tackle the poison ivy road. My bike was making a funny creak creak with every pedal stroke and focusing on that made the climb to Green’s Lick go by very quickly. I was reminded of the recent injuries amongst local friends as I dove into Green Slick, I almost wiped out right away. I had another close encounter, this time with a downed tree, about a third of the way down. The bottom bit was fast and smooth; I even got a little airborne, despite my reservations. I let a bit of air out of my fork before the gravel downhill run and on the climb to Lower Sidehill I realized I may have dropped a little too much pressure. The climb to the singletrack was as hard as ever but over in no time. A touch more climbing then the rolling descent that is Lower Sidehill finished off the ride. Like I said before it was a beautiful day and during a good portion of the ride I was thinking about not only my noisy bike but about how lucky we are to have so many quality trails so close. I forget sometimes how kick-ass Bent Creek can be. Check out this video of the lower portion of Green’ Lick. (Music by a longtime friend) Quality after work riding here folks. Quality.

Wow YouTube really messed up the compression this time. Anyone know of a better video hosting site?

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 00:58:35 | Permalink | Lower Sidehill">No Comments »

Saturday, May 24, 2008

6.3 mile run

My sweetie and I just got in from a fun paced 6.3 mile run from the house. We started with the dogs but dropped them back home after a 20 minute warm-up. Erinna kept the pace nice and high for that. Next we went for another loop that took us about 45 minutes. Temps near 80, BRIGHT blue skies, low humidity, a few thunderheads in the distance…. Late Spring in Asheville. Perfect day to be outside doing something.

Anyone up for a Wednesday Pisgah Ride? As in… mountain bike ride?

Map and profile from today:

6.3 miles 318′ of climbing

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 20:39:04 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

runrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrun

Erinna and I went on an easy paced neighborhood run yesterday. 4.5 miles in about 40 minutes. We took both dogs and our boy Floyd was feeling it. I need to get him (and myself) out there more often.
Maybe a goal would help…. AREYOUINQUIRINGABOUTACHALLENGE?!?!?!?

RUN CLUB WEST. AUG. 2. Laurel/Pilot. Starting at Bradley Creek. Who’s in?

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 11:55:07 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Final ‘08 PMBAR CP pickup

Erinna and I just got in from yet another excellent ride. We met up with Bill ‘Big Worm’ F. and Josh ‘the Wonderboy’ N. at 10AM. We started at Yellow Gap and our route for the day: 1206->S.Mills River Rd.->5018->Horse Cove->Squirrel Gap->S.Mills River trail->Buckhorn Gap->Black Mountain->Club Gap->276->1206 back to the Jeep. Erinna and I picked up the last CP out there from last weekend along the way. We ended up having to take 6 of 7 checkpoints in and 3 of 7 checkpoints out. whew.

30 miles, 6000′ climbing

and the same exact video without music… damn blog.com… not letting me delete an embeded vid…

So, what happened today? Erinna and I were running late so rather than buying gas we trudged-on, met up with Bill and Josh, and made it to the top of the hill. We decided to park at the top… no reason to get any further from the gas station. The plan was to pick up the PMBAR Club Gap CP and climb Pilot/ descend Laurel. Rain and temps in the 50’s greeted us for the first descent… and the first climb…. and the next descent…. We made it to SMR Road and turned onto 5018. 5018, by the way, is definitely a road you want to know about. (i.e. the grassy gravely road of never ending death….)
Anyway, the climb wasn’t full of death and we made it to Horse Cove in no time. Next was Hores then Squirrel to S. Mills. Bill took the lead and soon had the most spectacular crash that I’ve seen in a long time. His front wheel washed off the side and his body’s first impact site was 10+ feet down the hill. It was almost like he was laughing along the way as he bounced once, accelerated, and flipped again down the hill. When he came to a sudden stop I knew he was OK. Sometimes you just know when it’s bad, even before it’s over, and when it’s not.

After that Josh and Bill took the lead while Erinna and I wallowed in our lack of fitness behind. Squirrel Gap is one of the best sections of singletrack in Pisgah and big smiles were all around after the fast descent into Wolf Ford. S.Mills to Buckhorn was next, 3.5 miles of eroded sandy doubletrack then 2.5 miles of hardpack old roadbed (with the greenest views ever) to Buckhorn Gap. Bill accessed the morale and condition of the troops along the way: Me: Moving slow after yesterday’s ride, but in it for the duration. Erinna: She mentioned that, well, she was bonking. We stopped at the shelter and took a long breather. Forward to Club Gap where we packed up the PMBAR CP. We had a great series of downhill runs to and beyond the gap. We stopped again at the Pink Beds to get some water and to drop of the trash from the CP. We decided then that the Pilot/Laurel portion of the ride was a bit ambitious since the guys had Mother’s Day commitments back in the jar. We had 9 miles of rolling fireroad to go to get back to the Jeep. Erinna was looking pale and well done when she told me that whenever the road pitched upward she was ‘miserable’. Well, as if on cue a familure Volvo drove up behind us and started to fake-heckle us. It was Park B. on his way to his own Sunday afternoon ride. ‘Dude, Park, can you take Erinna to Yellow Gap???’ SURE! was the answer and lickety-split she was loaded-up and rolling in the vehicle. Bill, Josh and I were at the Jeep about 20 minutes later. Great ride guys! Thanks for coming up, going on our ride, and for not being afraid of the rain!

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 22:13:54 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, May 10, 2008

The most ‘not dangerous’ ride ever

I just got in from a great ride with a crew of folks. Dennis K, Jeremy A, Valorie N, Jonathon L, Steven J, David G, Jody F, and I met up at the Kitsuma trailhead at around 8AM and rode Heartbreak Ridge via Montreat. I took the video camera along so I’ll try to get some footage up here soon. For now, a few photos…

You can always tell when I’m getting my ass handed to me on a ride: when I don’t have a chance to pull out the camera. Here’s the first shot of the day, at the 2/3 of the way up the climb overlook:

Puffy flowers and Pinacle at the overlook:

Hey guys! Wait up! Old Toll Road…. Long. Not Impossible. Relentless. (to quote an Old Toll virgin today)

More flowers…. The woods were beautiful today. At the top Valorie mentioned how at was still winter up there. There were no leaves, no flowers, a cold wind….. but as we descended it got warmer, and greener, and the flowers were everywhere! Mid-Spring in the mountains:

Thanks for the photo Jeremy! Yours truely, on Heartbreak Ridge.

Here’s a shot of Tomato (w/ David G behind) rockin’ at the bottom of Heartbreak Ridge:

Look! It’s a flying Goat!

And finally, the ride profile courtesy of David G:
26.5 miles, 4600′ of climbing

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 20:55:18 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, May 8, 2008

I can’t believe it’s not butter!

I got my rebuilt fork back from White Brothers late Friday afternoon an today was my first chance to ride it. It was converted from the magic to the fluid…. and it feels like butta.

Erinna and I picked up 2 PMBAR CPs this afternoon. The route: 66 jumps-> Mullinax->Squirrel to Cantrell->Back on Squirrel to Laurel Creek->Bradley Creek->66 jumps back to the Jeep.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 01:18:54 | Permalink | No Comments »

PMBAR CP Set-up ride

I went on a nice easy paced ride on Friday with…. Floyd the dog! Floyd hasn’t been on a ride in YEARS and the length was just about perfect for him. From Turkey Pen parking lot->66 jumps->S.Mills River to the mandatory CP->back to Bradley Creek->to the Laurel Creek CP->Bradley Creek back to 66 jumps->back to the Jeep. Floyd did GREAT for an out of shape 5 year old 80 pound dog. He was feeling it by the last river crossing and his pads were in rough shape the next day but…. I think he had a great time.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 01:15:51 | Permalink | No Comments »