and now for something completely different:

Last night I got out for an intense evening/night road ride. 44 miles, 4300' climbing, 3:20 on the bike. I know that might not sound fast but I'll tell you but I felt like I was hauling ass. It was my first road ride since Alex @ ProBikes brazed a new dropout into the fork so.... it had been over a year since I've been on the road? My route: From West Asheville->Riverside->Monticello->Hamburg Mountain->Reems Creek->Ox Creek->BRP->Biltmore Forest->Meadow->Amboy->State. I was on the bike at 6PM on the dot with lights front and rear, no camelbak, and no real plan. The ultimate route ended up being one of my favorite rides, one I had even done when I lived in Charlotte, but backwards. Long Plunge backwards at night? Sounds like a great idea to me.

click to make BIG:
yes, Ox Creek is a steep climb 2 mile climb.


The first 22 miles took me two hours, the second took one hour twenty. The sunset was spectacular with unbelievably vivid orange and pink clouds exploding in the sky. Once I was on the parkway for the descent into Asheville the skies opened up and a heavy rain and darkness accompanied the entire second half of the ride. I stopped twice: In Weaverville for a snickers and water refill and at the entrance to BF for a gel. Oh, and there was another rider out there that I passed on the climb but then he held my wheel down the parkway descent. Great descending out-after-dark-in-the-rain-rider-dude.

Here's a shot of my long neglected mid/late '90's Torelli cyclocross/road bike. Made in Italy, lugged steel, brooks saddle and bar tape (no gloves? no problem.), xtr canti brakes, 9sp 105/Ultegra mix, Velocity/dt Rev./Ultegra wheels, Switchback 1 light...

Slow in Low....

I got out this afternoon with Wode for a couple hours of Bent Creek.
From the new parking lot->up to Boyd Branch Rd->Ingles Field connector->Ingles Field->Tony Michaels->Greens Lick->Sidehill->Little Hickory->Ingles Field->Hardtimes connector->Homestead->Deerfield->Pinetree->Campground->back to the Jeep

Wode arrived at my house at about 11am and we were on the bikes right about noon at Bent Creek. I had gone out and watched one of my favorite local bands the night before so the late start and slow pace were exactly what the dr ordered. Wode took the lead all the way to five points. I took over from there though and pulled Wode up to Greens Lick. I had changed my bike cockpit configuration the night before so the high speed descent was rather interesting. My stem was far too short so the bike was under me in a weird way and by the time we made it to the bottom Wode had not lost sight of me the entire way and I wondered if it was time to head home.... Well, without conversation regarding such we went right into Sidehill to Hickory to five points. I was also trying out the Cane Creek ST Thudbuster for the first time ever so seated climbing was different also. By the end of the ride the thud had disappeared under me, a very good sign. There was a ton of traffic on the trails so descending to Rice Pinnacle was slower than usual but the last thing I wanted was a head on collision with another trail user. We took Hardtimes connector over to the other side and continued riding for a few more miles. Once we were over at the continue-on-Pinetree-or-head-over-to-Explorer intersection Wode called it, he was done, so we heade back to the parking lot.
Thanks for getting out there Wode! That was exactly the ride I was looking for.

oh, it was also an electronics-free ride today. No camera, No ipod, no GPS... well, I did have my phone on me and actually took a call. It was Rich saying no mountains for the CLT crew on Sunday. Poop.

Yellow, Then Orange, THEN Pink, and Finally, Red.

Heartbreaker! Heartbreaker! Heartbreaker!

I got out today for Heartbreak Ridge with Mike R., Eric C., and Jared C. We went the now classic route of: From Kitsuma trailhead-> Ridgecrest->Rattlesnake->Old Toll-> Heartbreak Ridge->Mills Creek->back to the Kitsuma trailhead.


Mike R. @ the top of Old Toll:

The view 2/3 of the way up Old Toll. Which Ridge over there are we riding down again?Lichen?
Flowers at the tp of Old Toll:
Ooooh! Damage discovered.... Must have been from last week's 'Off the Trail' incident

After the nearly unwatchable Wilsons vids from the other week I decided to try out a new camera mount, this time: on the helmet. The results were great but I didn't get any real good shots because the camera was pointed a little too downward.... Next time....

Heartbreak Ridge from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

I got a flurry of text messages on Saturday evening: 'Ride Plan?' 'Woods tomorrow?' 'Riding Sunday?' and the plan was made to hit Heartbreak Ridge with a rally time of 8:30 at the Kitsuma trailhead. Dennis 'Race Nazi' H. was even going to make it! I was about 10 minutes late but with Dennis on my bumper all the way down I40 and we were headed towards Ridgecrest just a few minutes after I parked the Jeep. It's always fun riding with new people and this time around that was Jared C. He's done PMBAR at least once so his name and face were familure. The pace was high for the warm-up through Ridgecrest and on to Rattlesnake, except for hitting the tetter-totter in the ballfields we didn't stop AT ALL until Dennis made the surprise announcement that he had to go home. He'd explain later he said. We joked that he had left porn in the dvd and continued after a quick break at the first intersection. Jared had not done Heartbreaker before so I explained the rest of the climb: It won't get as steep as that going up for the rest of the day. We'll hit a road intersection in about a mile then it the trail/road will mellow again in steepness but.... that's not to say what happens after that will be easy. Oh, and right then I discovered a huge hole in my shorts. Great. Unless I can borrow someone's baggies I'm either going back or y'all have to see my ass all day....

Covered with chocolate sprinkles

Mike B., Mike R., Eric C., Snowpeadog, and me. Four guys. Two first names. Plus a dog.
From Bradley Creek trailhead->1206->Pilot Cove->Slate Rock->up to->NoName->Pilot Rock->1206->SMills->5018->Horse->Squirrel->Laurel Creek->Bradley Creek


mushroom MUSHROOM!


Mike B. at Slate Rock not making funny faces:
After my faceplant I was covered in chocolate sprinkles:

Pisgah Ranger 2.0 off the trail...
Eric C., off the trail....

Mike R., after returning from off the trail
Can you spot the off the trail damage to Mike R's bike?

and one final photo, of praying mantis that seemed to have hawk-like vision. I probably took 10 photos of this creature as it hopped from on my bike and off, to here and there, back and forth... It seemed curious.... but cautious. How big are these thing's brains?




Here's a quick semi-panorama of the video view from 2/3 of the way up 5018. Looking towards Looking Glass and Black & Clawhammer Mountains





Mike B., and I rallied at my house just after 7am to meet Mike R. and Eric C. at NMRC at 8am yesterday. Well, there was a bit of miscommunication about the starting point so we didn't get going until almost 9 at the Bradley Creek trailhead. Pilot Cove was first and before we reached the end of Slate Rock all four of us had gotten a bit more familiar with the dirt. We took a long rest at the Slate Rock then did something a little different at the bottom, we headed back up the other way and over to no-name/pilot to keep Sophie off the gravel as much as possible. That climb was much tougher than I had expected but at a little over two hours ride time we were at the bottom of Pilot. Gravel road right, gravel road left, gravel road left and we were climbing 5018. I had visions of rattlesnakes dancing in my head and Metallica singing 'creeping death' in my one ipod'd ear. We took a quick break at the 2/3 point then charged onward to Horse Cove. We took a lunch break there and noticed Sophie was acting like she was bonking. We pressed onward to Squirrel and that's when I realized she was in some sort of real trouble. Too hot? Not enough food? I don't know, let's get to Cantrell so she can cool off in the water. It was slow going and when we got there I noticed the pads on both of her front feet were torn to shreds. Awww poor girl, sorry, there's not much we can do for you but slow the pace…. We took another extended break at Cantrell for Sophie's sake then as promised, slowed the pace even further for the rest of the day. I would wait for her ever couple hundred yards, would watch her trot up with a big smile and wagging nubbin of a not-tail, then would continue forward, which made for very slow going, but it was all we could do for her. Galloping was not an option anymore. We eventually made it to the bottom of Laurel Creek where the high speed portion of our day was done. The easy-going climb back up Bradley went by quickly as Sophie enjoyed the constant (12 total) river crossings. We were back to the vehicles in a bit over 5 hours. A slow overall pace for the day, no one seemed to mind. Once we were back at the vehicles Mike and I had to get out of there rather quickly because I needed to get to work. A rainstorm hit just as we were saying our 'great ride' and 'see ya next time' s. Timing couldn't have been better.

It's funny, we had bad mechanicals, bad crashes, an injured dog, and I fought off leg cramps at one point but the ride was still spectacular. How do you explain that to a non-mountainbiker? That's a hard one. Say: 5 hours in the woods with fun people and a great dog can bring about unexpected things but the experience is worth every sore muscle, every broken bike part, every rushed exit. Thanks for getting out there guys! What a great day.

Richmond Hill Dusk Ride

I got out yesterday evening for a fun ride with great people on new trails. I honestly didn't expect the ride to be quite as long as it was. It's official though, Richmond Hill is super-fun and is going to be a huge asset to the cycling community in Asheville once it's complete. Thanks need to go out to Mike Brown for heading the project and the entire SORBA crew for making it happen. THANKS!!!
Mike B. and I rode from West Asheville on pavement to downtown and met up with Eric K., Ian B., and Mike from FBB at BioWheels just after 7pm. We hit the streets with speed and made our way over to the school trail first then up the climb to Richmond Hill. The RH trails are excellent. The terrain is similar to just upstream at Biltmore but with a touch more elevation change. The trail tread is completely different though. Mike and crew have hand built about 5 miles of trail that connect up with old roadbed here and there. Right now it's an unsigned mess/maze but that'll change soon enough, too. FBB Mike was a little off the back for most of the ride but no one was frustrated by that, no one had a race mindset. The sun set quickly as we were navigating the tight twistly rocky rooty singletrack within riding distance from my home. We bailed out without even hitting all the trails out there and hit the pavement back to our starting points. The rest of the guys went back to downtown and I got back to the house on the West side just after 9pm. What a great way to spend a Friday evening.

Two screws short of a full deck...

Destination: Wilson's... and we ran the exact same loop as the last time I was up there. Raspberry->Greentown->Beehive->Sinkhole. 5 of us camped near the bottom of sinkhole on Friday night and another 4 arrived in the morning. The rollcall: Jut Rut, Jody F., Tomato, J, Zach 'H8' B., Joe P., Mike B., Mike R., and myself. Small turnout but a perfect sized group for traveling fairly efficiently through the woods. ZB left camp early and climbed 181 to the start. The rest of us shuttled...

Raspberry is a super fun descent and a great way to start the day, at 100 miles per hour. Jut and I took up the number 1 and 2 spots in line for the descent, as it would go for most of the day.

Here's Jut hitting the berm/kicker at the bottom of Raspberry:

(HINT: hit PLAY then PAUSE and let the videos load all the way before watching.)

Jut Rut on Raspberry from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

and if you listen carefully you'll hear me casing the rock launch after the log drop:

Oooph! from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

When the first climb came, back up to 181, I was feeling great and kept the pack in sight until just about the very top. We took an extended break at 181 then next was Greentown, the trail I've probably done more than any other in Wilsons. Jut and I took off ahead and were moving fast, we regrouped about halfway down, and then hauled ass to the creek. The climb up to Beehive was hot hot hot but went by pretty quickly. We ate lunch at the little waterfall along the way....

photo by Jut Rut:

but otherwise everyone kept up a great pace on that 'old toll like' trail. Following Jut down beehive made it much easier than the last time I was out there and we flowed down at breakneck speeds. There is zero room for error on beehive yet Jut was hitting every kicker he came across. It made for a very entertaining descent. We took a 2 minute break at the camp,

ZB was done, and 8 of us continued onto Sinkhole. By the time we got to the top of the fireroad climb I was drenched in sweat.

It was now very hot hot hot and the turn into the woods and the shade it provided was a welcome change. Once on the sinkhole descent I couldn't hold Jut anymore. In a flash he was 25, 50, 100 feet ahead of me. Another regroup at the sinkhole then down to the knife-edge benchcut descent finished our day. The time out was just about the same as the other weekend but with more than double the people. Not bad. I'd go so far as to say, it was a fast group. I was near the back (but not OFF the back) for the climbs, and I was hauling ass going down. Excellent day. Excellent people. Excellent trails.

Big Rocks, Mike B took a shortcut, I smashed my head on a low hanging tree. Lower Sinkhole:

rocks mike b headsmack from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

Following Jut down Raspberry:

Untitled from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

Here's a vid following Jut down the Sinkhole chute and into the benchcut:

Untitled from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

Usually I'd start at the beginning.....

but today I have to start at the end:






On the way down Black Mountain trail from Club Gap to the shelter Ben P. got in a freak accident and broke his ankle? leg? If he's lucky it'll just be a really bad sprain.... but everyone doubts it. (UPDATE: his tibia is broken just above the ankle) His foot was set back from his shin by almost an inch, he almost passed-out from the pain, Mike and Ian had to carry him out, and as you can see the rescue squad opened the gate at the bottom of Clawhammer road and came and got him. Mountain biking can be dangerous. Especially when you obtain speeds like Ben does, or that I do for that matter.

Today's ride: From Black Mountain trailhead->276->475->5095->Long Branch->475->5003->140A->Farlow Gap->Daniel Ridge->225 Connector->225->475B->276->477->Club Gap->Black Mountain->Ben's accident->Clawhammer->276.

46.2 miles, 8440' climbing. Pisgah Rangin'!




Mike B. was at my house at 830am and we were in the Jeep to meet Ben P., Kris K., and Ian B. at Black Mountain trailhead by 900. We started with pavement to the Fish Hatchery and Mike led out with a nice easy pace the entire way. Davidson River was our first singletrack and my first view of what I'd see again and again today, the bio-train leaving the station. We regrouped at 475 then again at 5095. We took our first break at Long Branch, just less than an hour into the ride.

I once again dropped into fifth place in line and granny gear for the climb up Long Branch. I was a bit behind the fast guys on the climb so I didn't even catch them on the descent in the middle. Kris had something interesting to say about that that I won't repeat here. After Long Branch was the quick climb to Gloucester Gap than onto 5003. Mike held back with me for that roller-coaster mostly buff doubletrack climb to 140A. We took our next break there, almost an hour had once again passed.
The bio-train took off after the break and I didn't see them again until Farlow Gap. The climb up 140A was frustrating for me until I decided I didn't care about how fast those guys were going and I turned up the music in one ear. I realized 'I've got a bike, a water filter, food, ipod, and my own vehicle at the start/finish. I'm allllll goooooood.'
Battles, Phish, Pretty Lights, Pink Floyd, Medeski Martin and Wood.... the Ipizzle chose perfect random outer-space music for me as I spaced out and let the time and miles and elevation gain pass. I ran out of water about 20 minutes from the top (without a water source to be found)and by the time I got to Farlow I was about ten minutes behind the fast moving pack, parched, and in great spirits.

Ben took the lead for the Farlow descent with me on his tail. I have not followed such a clean line down the steep in a very long time. Ben and I cleaned EVERYTHING all the way to the first creek crossing. Awesome. I led out for the off-camber bench-cut steep part of Farlow and the pace was high all the way to the waterfall. We walked down to below the falls and took our next long break there. It was 3.5 hours into the ride at this point and my legs were getting rather fatigued. After the climb through the campsite I experienced some of the best descending I've been a part of in a while. I was number four in a train of five downhilling in Pisgah. The sight was incredible, watching the lead react to the trail then the next react then the next then I'd react then I'd hear the bike behind me lip off the jump, rail through the roots, whatever we were all reacting to. We finished Farlow and took Daniel to the 225 connector. Then 225 to 475B to 276.

The climb up 475B had me wondering if I was going to be able to finish the ride or if I needed to bail back to the Jeep. 276 to 477 to Club Gap was tough as my inner thighs were screaming and felt ready to cramp. We took another break after the new section of Club and I watched as my calves wiggled and squirmed like there were worms living in them.... uhh ohh.... but surprisingly after an emergen-c and a gel I was on the bike and climbing to the gap. I let everyone know I was in for the whole ride and we continued on Black towards the shelter. Ben's accident came as we were just starting the second descent. The crash itself wasn't very dramatic, he didn't fly off the edge or spin through the air, he just came to an abrupt stop and was laying on the ground. 'Aaaahhhh!!!! It's broke' were the words I heard and were the signal that the riding portion of the day was done.

It was a scary situation. Kris and I shuttled the bikes out as Mike and Ian carried Ben down from about a half mile above the shelter. My crackberry got a signal and before we started we called 911. It took both Mike and Ian 35 minutes to get Ben to the shelter and for Brevard Rescue to get to Buckhorn Gap via Clawhammer road. They drove a 6 wheeler to the shelter for the extraction then put him in the back of a pickup for the ride to the ambulance at the horse stables.

All things considered, we're lucky that the day didn't turn out much differently.