January 2008

Saturday, January 26, 2008

9 mile road run

I just got in from a great run. I took it REAL easy to start. Every 10 minutes I’d walk for 2 for the first hour. Total time out: 1:50. Oh, and by starting out slow I fellt like I could run forever. My knee didn’t hurt a bit! Run Club Run, here I come!

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Two days, two runs

Erinna and I just got in from a trail run. Actually, the same exact loop as I did yesterday. Not much to say really except trail is more fun than road, running with Erinna is more fun than not soooooooo, running on trail with Erinna is 1000% more fun than running on the road by myself. I felt like a puss today, my knee had me walking every 15 minutes or so and my stomach was burning from the delicious greasy potato breakfast I made for us earlier in the day…. I’ll need to take a day off after this, but it sure felt great accomplishing two great runs in two days.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 18:28:39 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Trail Run!

Well I went on m first ever trail run today. As I type this my hands are hardly working they are so cold. It was 18 degrees and sunny, some snow onn the ground, a perfect day to be in the woods…. running.

I did the black diamond and blue square trails at Biltmore, probably about 7 miles total, in 1 hour. About 45 minutes in I was starting to feel that pinching feeling in my knee so I had to walk a little bit after that. If I’m going to the Dicky Run Club thing I need to get my ass out there more often, get my knees used to 10+ miles, and learn to pace myself early on in the run. The trail was sooooo much better than the road. Why would it be any different for me? I much prefer to ride my bike in the woods than on the road…. it makes since that running would be the same!

Anyway, It felt great getting out there at all, Iam very happy that I kept it up for a whole hour in this weather….oh, especially considering Erinna and I had a pretty late evening attending a KILLER costume party last night. Thanks Thad!

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

If today’s ride was any more chill, someone would have taken a nap. We stopped and regrouped, ate, took a breather here and there, stopped and looked at the views, made jokes, talked, and oh yeah, as a group of skilled tech riders, railed every nasty root and rock infested descent we could get our tires on. Big moves were made, big smiles and laughs were abundant. What a great way to spend a Saturday in January. Mike B.and Wes M. arrived at my house around 8:30 and we met up with Mike R. and Eric C. at the PMBAR start/finish at a bit past 9AM. The idea for the day was simply to BE in the woods for as many hours as we could stand it, and that’s exactly what we did.

The route: Black->Club->477->276->475B->225->Daniel->475->Davidson->276 back to the cars

The first trail of the day was Black Mountain.
Here is the only photo I took today. (The rest are by Mike B.) Mike R hoofin’ it in the steeps. As always, the picture doesn’t do the terrain justice.

Black starts out as doubletrack that climbs at a reasonable rate. Perfect for a warm-up for a day in Pisgah. soon you realize Black is no kiddie trail…. it gets steeper, and narrowerer, and steeper again. Soon the trail gives way to rocks and waterbars that knock even the best riders off their line. THEN, the trail does it again, gets steeper and more tech once again and after a few miles of being rather warm, the top appears. There are numerous super technical moves, once on the ridge, to be had. I was on FIRE and went for almos every one. Mike B went ahead in the top huge switchbacks with me on his back wheel. He stumbled a little taking the high line and I made the most ballsy pass I’ve attempted in a loooong time by taking the even steeper inside line. I got a chorus of whoops and hollers for that one. Then I almost cleared the ‘Freestyle move’, a 180* turn threading the front wheel through small fins of solid rock… I got it with one quick dab, and after Mike’s prompting even lined up for the skateboard drop…. but chickened out. I still haven’t hit that on the hardtail. Next was the climb over Clawhammer Mountain. After a bit of walking I was out front again for the downhill. I put my foot down twice but otherwise c-l-e-a-n-e-d the tight switchbacks heading into Buckhorn Gap. On to the climb past the shelter… we didn’t regroup until after the notch log drop. Mike B. was aware enough to realize the photo potential and got a couple good shots. I saw him ready and got ‘camera courage’ and bunnyhopped at the top of the drop. I *flew* through the air, landed a little harsh but with a big smile.
Here’s Wes at that drop:

The short but annoying climb before Club had us all off our bikes and the descent into Club was one to remember. Mike B. and Wes went ahead and as the rest of us were talking about how great it was to be where we were and how absolutely beautiful the weather was…

we heard a yell from down the trail that made us smile. It was one of those uncontrollable vocal bursts of joy that only mountainbiking can produce. Everything was fine. I took off, made a bit of a sideways jump from here-to-there and found Mike B off the trail… was everything fine? and his front tire completely off the rim. The stans had blown and he was left with a tire that should have had a tube in it…. without. Lucky for him kept it under control and came to a stop unharmed…but not before his front rim was filled with mud. Needless to say, we were going to be there for a little while. We decided it was a perfect time for some lunch.

Thanks for the photos Mike!

more later… I hope.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 00:35:26 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Sunday, January 6, 2008

oooooooooh, That’s good sufferin’

Another ride, another chance to use adjectives like ‘great’, ‘awesome’, ‘challenging’, and ‘incredible’. The rally time was 8AM at my house and Kris K., Jody F., Mike B, and I hit the trail at 9:15. The route for the day: From Yellow Gap->Laurel->Pilot->1206->S. Mills River Rd->5018->Horse Cove->Squirrel Gap->Laurel Creek->Bradley Creek->5015 back to Yellow Gap.

Time out: 6 freaking hours. Distance: 25.4 miles. Gain: 6711′.

In case those numbers don’t add up for you, We were on very very technical trails…. and never ending gravel/grassy roads of uphill death.

For now a bunch of photos:

Wet and slick tech section on Laurel…. best to walk it today:

Kris on Pilot:

Winter in Pisgah:

Mike B in a Rhodo tunnel:

There is very little color out there right now other than mosses and evergreens:

More Winter in Pisgah:

Everyone ‘rocked’ the HumVee section:

Thanks for coming out / getting me out guys! Great ride!

Map:

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 23:02:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

December 2007

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Three bike geeks in running shoes…

Erinna and I went running this morning with our neighbor Mike B., plus the pack of dogs: Floyd, Sophie, and Max. From our house-> Carrier Park-> Riverside-> Beverly-> Haywood-> Hanover.

5.7 miles, 325′ climbing, One hour flat.

This run hurt….. bad…. Mike and Erinna were ahead for the warm-up and I couldn’t get my legs to cooperate. Floyd was pulling every-which-way and I was having no fun at all. Somewhere around Carrier Park my legs loosened up, Floyd realized we were running, not squirrel hunting, and I started having fun. My knee started feeling stiff somewhere along the 4.5 mile mark though and I had to slow my pace way down….. hmmm… looking at the profile…. I wonder why??

Anyway, great run, first time out with anyone other than Erinna. Thanks for joining us Mike!

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

Unbelievably great ride today! I met up with Rich ‘Teamdicky‘ D., Bill ‘Big Worm‘ F., and Ryan ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ C. at 9:30 at Yellow Gap. It had started raining yesterday and hadn’t let up all night. When I arrived (after hauling serious ass up the fireroad in the refurbished Jeep, Thanks Mike R.!) it was still raining. Even though it had only taken 6 minutes to travel the 3 miles of fireroad I was a few minutes late. Everyone was wearing big smiles despite the rain and my tardiness. Our eventual route for the day: Laurel Mountain->Pilot Rock->Pilot/Slate Connector->down Slate->Up the non-loop part to Slate Rock->Pilot Cove->1206. Or as we call it, Outer/Inner.

16 miles, 4170′ climbing, nearly 100% pure Pisgah singletrack.

Rich decided he had to do something even more manly than driving 2.5 hours to do a 4+ hour mountain ride in the rain… He decided it would be a good day to forgo coasting all together and turned his Singlespeed into a fixed gear rig…. and yes, he was only running a front brake to boot. Maniac.

click=make big

The rain tapered off around the meeting log and we saw our first rays of sunshine shortly thereafter. We made it to Sassafrass without me even realizing we had passed The Cairns and about that time Bill pointed out the bright blue skies to the North. We got to the top in good time (6 miles of climbing later) and continued on to Pilot in high winds, temps in the high 40’s and sun sun sun.

I led out for the Pilot descent and had a super-fun run of it. Not the fastest ever but still a ton of fun. We stopped at both overlooks and checked up a couple times other than that. The best part of the descent was the Hum-Vee section, a downhill boulder field that… if you carefully pick the right line… and you’re having a good day… may be ridable… for some… I did a little wheelie drop off the slab rock and was feeling good. I took a deep breath as I went into the rocks and said out loud ‘Oh my God’ as I dropped into a nearly foot deep creek running right through the best line. I held on tight, cranked the pedals over a few times to keep up momentum, and was spit out the back end of the fray (50 yards later?) wet, upright, and whooping with joy. Bill was only a few feet behind and cleaned it, too. I have never seen that section of trail like that before. It was rad.

A bit more fast descending later we were at the connector turn. I really felt the climbing but we made it to the next intersection quickly. Down Slate was a nice change from Pilot. Easy, twisty, turny singletrack with shallow creek crossings and small log hops.

Next was Slate back up to the rock. I walked. I walked nearly the whole thing. Rich stayed back with me and we chatted about who knows what…. then we were at the rock.

more later.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 21:51:30 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Multi-tasking

I just got in from about 3 hours of accelerated heartrate activities. I went out to Bent Creek and knocked out just under two hours of muddy singletrack. It was a cool (in the 40’s), misty, and very cloudy first full day of Winter. My route: Ledford Rd?->Boyd Branch->Sidehill(?)->Ingles Field->North Boundary->Green Slick->Sidehill->Little Hickory->Ingles Field->479E->Wolf Branch->Hardtimes Connector. Not a super fast day but a lot of fun, and a lot of struggling, none the less. The climbing was especially tough today as I’ve apparently forgotten how to ride in the mud without spinning out. The two big descents, Green Slick and Ingles Field were…. well…. slick. No jumps today, Thanks.

Headed to Boyd Branch:

On Green Slick:

Then when I got home I kept my promise to Floyd and we went on a run. I changed out of my wet jersey and put on my running shoes as soon as I walked in the door. We ran a new route, down Hanover, Up State to Pro Bikes, Haywood back to Hanover and on home. 25 minutes with ZERO knee pain.

When I got in from that I figured ‘what the hell’ and got on the floor and did 50 situps and 25 pushups. YEAH! Maybe I need to get some weights and turn this into some sort of work out routine….

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

On the road again….

I went on a fun-filled 30 minute run today. My knee started hurting towards the end so…. 30 min. is my max for the next week at least.

Anyone want to ride tomorrow (Friday)?

Oh, my Christmas wish came true! I got a new camera! I took it along on the run but found out taking pictures of yourself while running will only produce photos of yourself that you don’t really want to share. Anyway, for the sake of getting some photos going again…. a few… not of me.

Lucy wanting to go out as I left:

Frontyard Cabbage:

I might have to back and swipe those jumper cables someone left behind:

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Sunday, December 9, 2007

Farlow…. In the rain….. In December.

Mike B and I met up with Jonothan and Dennis K at 7AM at the Fish Hatchery today. The plan was to get at least 5 hours in but…. well….. we need rain bad….. and we got some today. As we left it was chilly (but not cold) and the sun was just starting to rise. The drive out there was kinda… unnerving because of dense fog. Needless to say, everything was nice and moist. It wasn’t raining when we started but that changed somewhere along Long Branch. The (my) route for the day: Cat->Long Branch->475->Pilot Mtn. Road->Farlow Gap->Daniel Ridge->475->Davidson River. Everybody else (+Kassi) continued on at this point but I was done. 3.5 hours was enough for me.

16.75 miles 4112′ climbing.

Oh and Rich, Sorry for calling you a puss. My knee hurts like mad. I’m going to Chicago for most of next week for work…and that’s perfect. I need a week off.

Notes:

1. Farlow in the rain is no joke. All four of us went down and I think I got the least of it. I did the same wreck as last week: Deep leaves+ downhill= sliding on arm and face. Jonothan: Tomato had the most spectacular crash that I’ve seen in a long time. He got squirrly at high speed, lost his front wheel, and highsided. He tumbled over-and-over, totally out of control, and didn’t get hurt! Well… until his bike caught up and hit him. Mike went down twice: Once getting a huge goose-egg on his shin and the next knocking the wind out of him. I didn’t see Dennis’s crash but as he explained it, the wet rock drop thing you’re supposed to just rail over when it’s dry… ate him.

2. I funkin railed the descent! Not fast but… Tech. Up in the steep stuff I was feeling BRAVE! Gravity is cool.

3. Pilot Mountain made me want gears. Maybe 1×9? Any 1×9er’s out there?

4. This ride kicked my ass. As soon as I got home I took a hot bath then a 90 minute nap with the cats. Could there be a better way to spend the day?

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 22:17:35 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, December 8, 2007

55 minute neighborhood run

Erinna and I went out for a half hour run this evening that turned into a 55 minute run. I had a hard warm up but was feeling great after a few minutes. Towards the end my knee was starting to hurt so we had to walk a few times but… great little work-out none the less. BIKE RIDE TOMORROW!

6.2 miles, 350′ climbing, 55 minutes.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2007

runclubrunclubrunclubrunclub….

Chafed nipples… Sore knee… Blistered foot.

Mission Accomplished.

We (Erinna, the dogs, and I) walked back up from State Street because of the blister that was forming so, 55 minutes of running, 15 walking. 7miles 700 feet of climbing.

Who wants to ride bikes on Thursday night and/or Sunday day?

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 02:12:28 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Monday, December 3, 2007

Run Club

Running is hard.
Running is fun.
Running is addictive.
Running is hard.
and cold.
and hot.
and sweaty.
and hard.
50 minutes around the neighborhood with my sweetie and the dogs today.
Much faster and further (feeling) than the last time.
Next time I want to double my time/distance out there.

4.4 miles, 267 climbing. Sounds like nothing in bike terms.

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Saturday, December 1, 2007

DuPont State Forest!

I got in a ride today out at DuPont State Forest with Jonothan and Andrew and Chuck from Greenville. 20 ish miles of Up->Down->Up-Down->Up->Down. Great ride.

We started at about 10:30 at Fawn Lake and were out for a solid three hours. I don’t know my way around DuPont at all so a complete ride description is eluding me. (hey tomato?, uuuuhhhh what was the route?) I basically held (or tried my best to hold) Jonothan’s or Andrew’s back wheel all day. DuPont is so different than Pisgah it’s hard to imagine the two places are so close together. DuPont is full of short steep ups and downs that twist every-which-way-and-back. There is no time for rest at any point. Each uphill is just long enough to get your heartrate going through the roof but short enough that the slowest guy is always there in no time. Let’s see, some highlights: Jonothan and Andrew riding across the river crossing of death (10-12 inches of fast flowing current over a solid, continuous, rock bottom with just enough algae that it feels like you’re on wet ice), New work by Woody and Valorie, including a super bad-ass BMX style wall ride and double jumps. Watching Jonothan and following close behind on the rock wall made me laugh out loud. Plus, I cleaned the first double with style (i.e. my front wheel was a little high). It must have been a 8-10′ jump. At some point we hit Burnt Mountain trail (I did have an idea of where we were then) and I launched off the two drops like I was on a freeride bike. The first one went super smooth, I set up for the second, went off the highest point launch rock thing, and felt that weightlessness/weight of the world feeling… My bars twisted from left to right, right to left, my trailing foot came unclicked (by the grace of God it stayed on the pedal), and I felt myself *gasp* for air…. In case I didn’t say it enough that day, or in case I haven’t said it enough here…. I absolutely love Mountain Biking!!!! I’ve not been able to replicate that feeling anywhere else in my life. I pulled the drop and rocketed into the gravel road. Jonothan was right behind me and when Andrew and Chuck arrived they commented on our perma-grins. We went over to the quarry and rode a few miles of singletrack that was totally new to me. When we got to our furthest-out point I was starting to feel fatigued. We turned around and Jonothan joked that now all we had to do was retrace our steps (pedalstrokes) all the way bak to the car. Whaaaa? As I was still processing if he was kidding or not I had one of those slow speed crashes that will either wake you up, or knock you out of the game. Front wheel washed out in deep leaves and *BAM* I was sliding on my arm and face. Uuugh. Lucky for me Chuck was feeling even more fatigued than me… I was able to take a breather at the top of hill #3452 of the day and regain focus…. If we were only at the half way point… I needed to get it together. Well, we were actually at the 3/4 point (ha ha tomoto. ha ha. you must have seen me hurting). I wrapped my mind around how far we really had to go and I actually started to have a second wind. Two guys (one from Cuba, one from Greece) hopped on with us in the last few miles and brought the pace back up to… where it was when we started. We bid-adeau to them at the turn back to the parking lot. When we got back in Kristin (Tomato’s misses) was waiting for us after her own long day in the woods, reading a book. She let us know Wode had shown up around 1PM and was also enjoying the day. Chris came out of the woods as if on cue, and we all popped open beers and said ‘Cheers!’ to a great day in the woods.

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November 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Maybe I should rename this ‘Every time Eric gets his heartrate above 150 Log’

Erinna and I got an excellent run in tonight. 45 minutes around the neighborhood with the dogs. I asked Erinna to ‘pick up the pace’ (she was pacing me the entire time) for the last few hundred yards and suddenly I felt my strides double in length and we were flying! I’m sure I’m going to feel that for a couple of days.

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Dicky isn’t the only one running…

Erinna has been running 3 times or more a week for the past couple of years and I’ve not joined in on that particular brand of torture until… very recently. Drawn by the idea of exercise from the front door, and an alternative means of raising my heartrate in the cold months, I decided to get off my butt and start running. A few weeks ago I got out for about two miles and came back hardly able to walk down stairs. Erinna and I did the same loop a week or so after that and whatayaknow, I didn’t hurt as bad as the first time. Progress? Well, we went to Williamsburg for my sister’s birthday / Thanksgiving and inbetween feasts we got out and went further than I had run since I was in the Air Force…. Maybe 5 miles? I was mentally unprepared to go that far that day… but as it turned out the run to Colonial Williamsburg was just far enough to get a good, solid, warm-up in. The miles up and back on Duke Of Gloucester Street were fun, slow, and not all that hard. The run back to my sister’s house kicked my ass though… and my knees were feeling rickity for a good few days.
Today I decided to go at it again. Fresh off the longest run in 13 years I got in a solid hour around the neighborhood and down to the mellowdrome park. The sculpture show is still going on so the run around the park was slow since I was taking in the sights… hell, it was slow because the pace Erinna and I kept in W’burg was slow…. and that’s a fine pace for me for now.

Rich has challenged me to join him for a big run in January…. if I keep this up I just may do it.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 19:08:59 | Permalink | No Comments »

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Solo Trace Ridge Night Ride

Well, it’s taken me a few days to process this ride enough to write it down. I’ll just quickly summerize: Mojo? None. Head in the game? Not at all. Skills to pay the bills? waaaaaaaay in debt.
I just couldn’t get it together. Every root knocked me off course. Every leaf hid a gnome ready to throw me to the ground. I walked the uphills, I never properly warmed up. My light seemed inadiquate on the downhill, like I was traveling 50 feet per second and it was only illuminating 35 feet ahead. I lost the back end during a tech section and I started to fishtail like… a motorcycle out of control…. I almost highsided. I was so happy to be in the parkinglot when I got there because the real danger was behind me. I tried to salvage the ride by putting the hammer down up the gravel back to the Jeep and ended up with a solid time of 56 minutes for the loop…. and I got out of there as quick as I could…. before something bad happened!

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Just a nice Sunday afternoon….

Erinna and I got out for a fun Bent Creek ride Sunday. She had tons of studying to do but I felt it was my duty to pull her away from the books (after 5 solid hours) and go enjoy the fine Fall afternoon we were having. We took Sophie dog along and started at Hard Times trailhead. Homestead->PineTree->Explorer->get a little turned around->Lower Sidehill ended up being the ride, 75 minutes or so of fun. Highlights: Thomas M. and his (5 year old?) little boy ripping it up, Trish S. and her dog at the bottom of Sidehill, and Sophie reaching 18 mph! on the campground connector. Oh yeah, and realizing that Erinna and I are in a place where we don’t have to go far, like 15 minutes or so, and we’re riding trails that most of the nation would kill for…. and we have so many more trails at our disposal…. that are even better.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 02:00:36 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Mechanical issues….

Saturday I met up with Scott from Indy, Jonothan L., Valorie N., Dennis K. and Clay F. for what ended up being a short ride for me. The plan was to do the classic Big Creek loop but mechanical issues held me back. Dennis and Clay hauled ass up 1206 to Yellow Gap and I was pleased to find Jonothan and Valorie content with keeping a slower pace up that three mile fire road climb. They were talking trail politics, tomato and I talked racing, we had a chill fun warm up to the gap. We picked up Scott from Indy (after a tour of his campervan/mobile palace) and hit Laurel at full steam. Dennis, Clay, Jonothan, and I were having a great go at it and eah time we stopped to check up, Valorie and Scott were right there, one twist or turn behind. About the time I decided Clay was having a much better day than me and I let him around … my chain dropped… and I thought back to a few nights ago at the shop…. when I noticed my chain was loose…. and I proceded to strip out one of the sliding dropout set-screws…. F$@%!…. I put the chain on and watched the train leave the station. I got back on and tried to catch back up and…. ooomph! the chain dropped again. OK, that sucked….. I got back on and tried to spin nice and steady… keep it rollin’….. hit the techy rootyness just before the gap and… it dropped again. I got to the gap feeling defeated and decided it would be best to head back down the hill, get over to Pro Bikes before they closed and have Jason or Alex start drillin’…. so…. that’s what I did. After a series of ‘oh wells’ and ‘next times’ I retraced the ride back down to the car. I hope everyone had a great ride after I turned around, I was having a blast!

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 01:50:13 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

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Monday, November 12, 2007

Ian ‘The Pony’ L. and I went on a fun ride yesterday: North Slope->Black->Thrift->Grassy->Sycamore. Yes, very simular to the ride I did the day before but hey, when you’ve got something good going on, why do it just once? Plus, Ian isn’t in the best shape these days and when he expressed interest in heading into the woods, I knew it was best to plan a non-epic. We arrived at the PMBAR start/finish at about noon and went over to Davidson River campground first. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day: clear skies, temps in the 50’s, and most of the leaves were still on the trees. The color is starting to wain though, even though we’re having a LATE fall….winter IS on its way. Anyway, I have only been on North Slope a handfull of times and had never navigated it sooooooo the plan was to putz around and figure it out. I realized during the first climb that I must’ve always been totally anerobic when arriving there because I just followed the signs and found the way easily but… with no recognition of ever being there before. Well, that is until the Art Loeb connector, on the ride the day before we had stopped there for a breather. Ian and I made good work of the rollers to the descent (Ian went back and tried every tech move a second, even third time if he chickened out rolling into it) and rolled into the ampitheatre quicker than I had anticipated. Next was Black-> Thrift. We rolled right past the truck and attacked the hill. Ian stayed on the bike nearly the whole time spin spin spinning his way up in granny gear. I would ATTACK!!!! then get off and rest, then ATTACK!!!! then rest. ATTACK!!! rest…. ATTACK!!! rest… Well, that got us up to Thrift in great time. A bunch of yahoo’s (edit) were headed down Black as we were headed up and they must not have gotten the memo…. downhill riders yield to uphill riders…. anyway, the hotwheels track, er, I mean Thrift was next and we R-A-I-L-E-D down it. Thrift is so much fun from the top. It’s 4-6 feet wide with big swooping turns that you hardly need to even brake through. Jumps, berms, swoops, straightaways at a 30* pitch…. scary-fast. Next was grassy road to Sycamore, then Sycamore Cove Loop back to the pavement. Ian had neverbeen on Sycamore so it was definately a treat for him. I had been there just the day before and was feeling pretty confident. I continued the theme of ’scary-fast’ but this time on 3′ wide singletrack and across creeks, with big rocks, logs, drops….. fun fun fun! Ian was nearly right on my tail for the whole descent and as we flew towards the road Ian let of a YEOW! scream and ding ding ding his handlebar bell, I sure sign he was having fun. Thanks for coming out Ian! You always come up with the craziest shit to say…. It’s great to see you on the bike again.

So no pictures until I get a new camera…. if anyone want to know what I want for Christmas….. how ’bout a waterproof, shockproof digital camera like one of these beauties:

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

Seasonal Trails are OPEN!

Yesterday I met up with Tomato, stiched up Kuntz, SingletrackPig, and G’ville Sam(antha) for a nice three hour ride. The meeting time of 8:30 felt especially early to me as I had gone out to a show the night before (Rev. Horton Heat, Hank III, and Nashville Pussy) but after a little ribbing about the fact that I looked like something the cat ragged in….. we were on our way. Our route: Thrift->Grassy Rd->Sycamore->North Slope->477->Bennett

photos stolen directly from Biking in a Zen Manner:

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 12:49:00 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

October 2007

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Big Nasty

The ride today had all the elements of a great day, no matter what you’re doing… Great friends, Great weather, Great scenery, Hard work, Hard play, Laughs, Applause, Cussing, Sweating, and when it was all said and done, a since of accomplishment. We had completed…. Something many folks aren’t able to do. Ian ‘The Pony’ L., Ian B., Mike B., Wes, and I rode some of the very best trails in Pisgah today… The Big Nasty…. From the PMBAR start/finish->Black Mountain alllllllll the way up and around to Club Gap->Buckwhat Knob->Bennett Gap->477->276

13 miles, 4790′ of climbing. (!!!)

Not a bad Sunday afternoon….

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 23:23:59 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Laurel / Pilot in 2:15!!!!

Holy crap did I just get in from a great great great ride. I took my time this morning, missed all the planned rides and decided to head out to Laurel Mountain around noon. I decided to start at Yellow Gap. When I got there Matt F. and Brad K. had just arrived aand were almost ready to do Laurel/Squirrel so I asked if I could tag along for the Laurel/Pilot section. What was I thinking?!?!?!? Oh yeah, Mr. Totally Out of Shape wants to hop on with the winners of the Double Dare, 2nd at PMBAR…. Well, I took up the third spot in line and went for it. The pace started out way over my head, and mellowed to just incredibly fast. I hammmmmmered and did my best to keep within 10-20 feet of Matt’s wheel, or Brad’s wheel, whoever in their rotation was in second. We passed a small group of fast guys and ent for every tech section on lower Laurel. They caught up to us while Brad was trying a tech spot again and then we rolled like a freight train of five all the way to the gap. I told Matt I needed a break there so we stopped and took a breather. The two others rolled on. After only five minutes we hopped back on and started the steep stuff. Just when I was thinking DAMN! we are freakin’ movin! Where are those other two? We ran up on their back wheels and passed. We each tried the overhang rock twice (Brad got it) and soon after we ran up on another group. We passed them and hammered into the final few gaps. I was feeling great and in great spirits… I was actually hanging on with these guys! It was a busy day on Laurel and as we hit the false $2000 climb we passed a third group. Not wanting to faulter at this stage of the game I really tried hard to keep up. We got to the real hike-a-bike and Brad definately didn’t want to faulter… I’ve never seen anyone clean that much of THAT climb…. he is a freaking MONSTER. We got to the top and I thanked the guys for dragging me up the hill.

13.5 miles / 2990′ climbing

We took the two lefts and were ready one of my favorite descents, Pilot Rock. Matt took the lead, I followed, and Brad took up third. I had never ridden with either of these guys before so as we started I wondered if Matt was going to pull away and Brad was going to run me over…. or what. Matt flew into the switchbacks at the top and once we hit the straightaways he hit mach 3 at least. I held his wheel though and that made me rather pleased with myself. Brad had dropped back a little but as soon as Matt and I arrived at the overlook he was there. We took a breather and I ate an Emergen-C and a gel. Right about the time we were scoping out the line off the rock / back onto the trail the big group we passed at the hike-a-bike came ripping through. It was a showcase of badass full suspension rigs and all but one of them cleaned the double switchback. We waited a minute for them all to get a good head start down Pilot and when we got moving again it was Brad in the lead, then me, then Matt. Brad had just been holding back on the upper section, I guess, because once we got moving we hit dangerous speeds. He not only was hauling, he was showing great technical skills, as well. He hucked off the slab rock and rocketed into the Hum-Vee section and smashed his way through. I slowed wayyyyyy down and picked my way through carefully. That section can eat man and bike alike…. I made it through clean, too. Matt was there moments later and didn’t quite make it through but…. he didn’t get eaten. One, Two, Three more switchbacks, the last straights, an over the bridge and Pilot was done. At this point I said goodbye and headed back to the Jeep, they went on to do S.Mills->Squirrel->LaurelCreek->5015. Freakin’ Studs.
I started to think that I was looking at a personal best time for the Laurel/Pilot loop so I put it in overdrive for the gravel road back. The climb back up from Bradley Creek to Yellow Gap went on fooooooorrrrrreeeeeeevvvvvveeeeerrrrrr but… I still made it back to the Jeep in a total time of 2:15. My best time ever was 2:30 from the bottom, so, not my fastest ever, but a damn good effort none-the-less. A great day in the woods, too.

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 21:19:14 | Permalink | No Comments »

Saturday, October 20, 2007

‘The Two Hour Ride’

I went on a great little road ride today:

From W. Asheville->Biltmore Forest->Blue Ridge Parkway->Town Mountain Road->Downtown->Clingman back to W Asheville.

28.5 miles, 3830′ climbing.

I decided to head out around 2PM. I called Erinna so someone would know where I was going to be and she knew exactly what I meant when I said ‘The Two Hour Ride’. Right from the get-go I was feeling pretty good so by the time I got to Biltmore Forest I was ready to hammer. That stretch is always longer than expected but I still felt like I made good tim through there. It was a beautiful Fall day, temps in the 60’s, strong breezes, a cloudless sky, and leaves *almost* at their peak color. Next was the Blue Ridge Parkway headed North. Everytime I stood up on the bike it made a click click click sound but I put in (what felt like) a heavy duty pace all the way to Rt70. After crossing the Swannanoa River I knew waht was next…. I mean come on….. rivers aren’t at the TOP of mountains, now are they? By the time I got to the overlook I felt like my heart was going to leap out of my chest and run away screaming He’s Crazy! He’s Crazy! So about 100 yards later I took a break. A few deep breaths and a drink of water later my heartrate was back down into the lower 200’s so I peddled off up up up to Craven’s Gap. Once you’ve done a route a few times (and you don’t use a computer) you find landmarks that let you know how close you are… or how far you are…. from the top. I sure was happy to see the ‘beware of sudden icing’ sign because a little more up, then a nice relaxing down later, I was at the gap. upupupupupup one more time and then the fun had begun …. downhill all the way back to downtown Asheville. I had one car pass me up at the top but other than that I had the downhill lane all to myself. I pushed HARD at the bottom and came flying into the final big swoopy turn so fast….. the bike was leaned over so far…. oh…man…. I passed the road of death (where drivers can’t see you swooping through that turn at 45mph)…. and looked up and saw the downtown skyline, with the mountains behind, still traveling at 30+, and thought to myself…. I’m so thankful to be here…. and to able to do this. A quick jaunt through downtown was next, followed by one more climb from the French Broad River back up to W. Asheville, and I was done.
Oh, and time from start to finish? 1:55

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 23:15:35 | Permalink | No Comments »

Thursday, October 18, 2007

TOOT! TOOT!

The Pisgah MTB Adventure (the race Erinna and I thought up and produce) was voted one of the best cycling events in WNC by the readers of the Mountain XPress!!!!! How cool is that?!?! Thanks everybody!

Mountain XPress ~ Best of WNC ~ 2007

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 14:00:52 | Permalink | No Comments »

Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Bunch of People

camping, riding, and hanging out for a weekend….

photo by teamdicky

photo by Jonothan

It’s now Sunday afternoon and Erinna and I just got in from an excellent weekend in the woods. Mike Brown and I arrived in the forest around 9AM Saturday looking to go on the scheduled ride with all the fools camped out at White Pines, but luckily we didn’t have any rush on…. the 9AM ride didn’t get going until 10 til 11. A freakin huge group started up Clawhammer and at Buckhorn Gap 12 of us split off of the ummmm 50? rider ride for the LOOOOOOONG loop. The crew out for the biggin’: Beefcake, Tomato, Broussard, Teamdicky, SingletrackPig, Valorie, Mike B., Dennis K., Brain N., David G., Steve and Eric from Michigan, and myself.
The route for the day: 477->Clawhammer->Black->Turkey Pen->S Mills. Val, David, Rich, Mike, Steve, Eric, and I broke off from the rest at this point and continued on Mullinax->Squirrel->S.Mills->Buckhorn->???->Avery Creek->477 back to the camp.

34.6 Miles 10,000 feet of climbing. (!!!)

Erinna had her own great ride yesterday. She had to work until the afternoon so she rode from Asheville to White Pines…

47.5 miles 9600′ climbing dayuuuuuuum! After a LATE night she even got up and went riding with Mike and Kassi for Clawhammer->Maxwell->Black with Sophie and Max. Way to go Sweetie!

Plus, with weekends like this the opportunities for great photos come up. My nomination for photo of the year goes to Brado for this one:

Great time guys, let’s do it again in the Spring!

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 21:49:34 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Saturday, October 6, 2007

smallbrowndog ride

I just got in from a great day in the woods. I met up with Rich, Bill, Josh, and 12 others for a big ‘ole day in Pisgah.

From White Pines->477->Clawhammer->Black Mountain->Club Gap->477->276->475B->225->Cove Creek->475->Davidson River->475->276->477 back to White Pines.

31.5 miles, 6200′ climbing

Posted by Eric Wever / Pisgah Productions at 21:57:29 | Permalink | Comments (1) »