35 mph on Trace? Hotdamn!

I had the morning off from work today so I took the opportunity and got out into the woods for a little while. From the first gate on 5000->Spencer->Trace->Wash Creek->Bear Branch->5001->5000. A fun 90 minute tour of the Trace Ridge area.
The warm-up today was similar to the last, my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest, but after about 20 minutes I was feeling in the groove. The climb went by quickly even with the hard warm up and a few texts coming in (I had to stop and check them, I was kinda playing hooky). At the Spencer/Trace intersection I snapped a quick photo:


and didn't take a real break until after I climbed the little hell hill to the Trace descent. In the first bit of Trace I passed a family and their two dogs but otherwise I didn't see a soul all day. By the time I was at the real Trace Ridge descent I was feeling great and was ready to put the hammer down. Trace is one of the fastest off-road descents that I know of and today I was flying. The trail isn't even in great shape right now but there is something to knowing every foot of a trail, where to brake, where to pedal, where to coast, how hard to pull up, how sharp that next turn is... that allows you to go faster than what's probably safe. When I rocketed into the parking lot I checked the GPS: 34.8 mph was my max speed. Holy crap. Lower Trace to Wash Creek to 5000 was next then I made the decision, based on my wife's recommendation, to climb Bear Branch trail to 5001. Where as I know Trace like the back of my hand, the opposite is true for Bear Branch up. Pisgah is an amazing place. After all these years of riding I cannot recall one ride that included riding up Bear Branch. What a trip. It was a fun climb through a pine stand with a few steep spots to contend with. Not bad! Down 5001 was slick in every corner and the climb back to the gate, and the Jeep, was over in minutes. I wish I had the time to keep moving at that point, I was feeling pretty darn good.

Pavement->Gravel Loop

I just walked in from an excellent ride on the 'ole orange multibeast. I was called into work just as I was preparing to go so I didn't get the super-early start that I had planned. No matter, it was just a little hotter at the end than it otherwise would have been. It turned out to be a beautiful day with highs in the low 80's and sunny skies after the last of the morning mist burned off.
The route for the day: From Bent Creek Gap-> Blue Ridge Parkway->NC276->FS1206->FS5000 back to the gap. 33.2 miles, 5200' climbing, 2:58 time out.

The warm-up on the parkway caught me off guard. It felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest or maybe just come to a sudden stop like an engine locking up. After about two miles of climbing though I was able to start to stand and hammer.

The climb up to the Pisgah Inn still went by a little slower than I had anticipated, just under an hour, but I did stop and take in the views a couple of times. I guess just under an hour actually wasn't that bad.

Just past the Pisgah Inn the parkway was under construction and a group of cyclists were milling about waiting for the light to turn green. I met this guy, John G., who was riding this bad-ass old StumpJumper way up on the parkway. Actually, what looked like his entire family was along on all his old bikes. Pretty cool.

The NC276 descent was a freaking blast. I had a carrot ahead of me by a few hundred yards, a big ole truck that I hauling through the corners. I slowly reeled him in and he broke off to the left to let me pass right in the final straight-aways to FS1206. The way I pulled away I must have been cruising about 45mph or so.


So, the turn onto 1206 was next and during the 5 miles of mostly flat gravel road I was absolutely flying, or at least it felt like it. The 53x12 max gearing and 80* of pressure in 28mm wide tires flies just about anywhere. The whole 'Monster-Cross' concept intrigues me because the descent to Bradley Creek and down from Yellow Gap to NMRC were equally scream out loud scary and 'whoop' out loud fun on the 28s. I want a bigger tire F&R, but with the same road-bike handling I've got right now....

I stopped at NMRC for more water (I consumed 5 tall bottles by the end of the day) and turned onto 5000 for the return trip to the parkway. Once I was up the pavement and past the Trace Ridge turn it really felt like I was flying on the flats. I was pushing the big ring as far as I could, which ended up being right about the first gate... The road gets steep for a while there and I was unable to get out of the small ring for the rest of the climb. I had looked at my phone at NMRC and I knew I had about 40 minutes left to beat my 3 hour goal and when I looked up and noticed I was at the Jeep... 38 minutes had passed. Excellent.

Slummin'

Last evening Erinna hosted a ladies-only clothes-swap party at our house so I had to get out of there for a couple of hours. I loaded up the SS for a bit of Bent Creek with the idea of finishing the route Sophiedog was unable to complete on Monday. I arrived to find I had forgotten to refill my camelbak after my last ride so I bummed just enough from a loyal ride-log reader, Jeff, to make it through an hour and a half of SUPER high paced riding. It's amazing how just changing things up a little bit can rejuvenate my excitement for riding. Not that I haven't been psyched to do 4+ hours of over-the-top-technical slow-moving deep-woods Pisgah riding on a 5+" forked /geared machine but..... 90 minutes of buff singletrack and gravel as fast as possible on the single speed at the local recreation area was exactly what I needed. Let's see, some highlights: Realizing I was going to have to really pick up the pace if I wanted to catch the badass girl runner that passed me while I was taking the above butterfly picture, catching a little too much air coming down sleepy gap, descending past the SORBA crew at mach7 as they were climbing Explorer, helping a brokendown rider only to realize I had left my tools at home (with a bolt on front wheel and tubes! yikes!) and making the spur of the moment decision that, no, I was in fact not done yet, and knocking out another 30 minutes of fastfastfast riding at the end. Yup, that was exactly the ride I was looking for.

Bent Creek with Sophiedog

I just walked in from a half day of work and a quick jaunt around Bent Creek. Sophiedog came along for it all. Unfortunately, she wasn't feelin' the high-pace of the route I chose: South Ridge->Sleepy Gap->Explorer... By the time we arrived at the gravel road to head over to Lower Sidehill Sophie was spent. We turned around and went back to the car via Explorer->Pinetree->Campground connector. Sophie is great on slow technical trails but I'm afraid Bent Creek may be just too fast for her anymore.
Despite the short distance the ride was spectacular. Temps in the 80's, sunny skies, talkative folks in the parking lot, and more riders/runners coming from all directions than I've seen in a long time. Plus, you know, I was on my bike in Pisgah with the dog. Not much beats that.

More fun than we should be allowed to have

Erinna, Sophiedog the Brave, and I went on one of the most fun filled mountain bike rides EVER yesterday. Ian 'The Pony' L. and Calum R. rallied at our house in the BigAssTruck at about 10:30 after a huge morning rainstorm had squelched our original 7:30 ride plan.

Our route for the day: Davidson River->Cove Creek->YellowBlaze->225->Daniel Ridge->Davidson River.

This ride was the first time Erinna and I had been off-road together since she was 4 months pregnant and a fun route, understanding crew, and slow pace was to be the order of the day.


The ride started with a pace higher than I was expecting on Davidson but as soon as we hit Cove Creek the real fun began.

We slowed to a crawl and picked our way up that rooty, non-tech climb while talking and laughing the entire way.



Calum and I were hitting the creek crossings with abandon but he was the only one to try this one:

Calum R on Cove Creek trail from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

Its funny how group dynamics work. When we hit 225 nothing was said, there were no visual cues, no nods or winks, everyone just picked up the pace and we hammered to Daniel Ridge.

Erinna was even in the chase, standing and climbing, until again, with no warning, nods, or winks, we all stopped at a ripe blackberry patch, dropped our bikes, and were collecting handfuls of fruit. It was just one of those days when everyone was in synch.



The turn to Daniel Ridge came quickly and we decided to take the clockwise (longer, less tech) way down. Calum was on his monstertruckbike so he went first for the descent. That man is F-A-S-T when the front wheel is lower than the rear. He hit every here-to-there jump the trail had to offer and drifted into corners fast and furiously. We would regroup every chance we had and the group arrived at the waterfall at the bottom together. After a quick dip in the cleansing waters of Daniel Ridge falls

we were back at the BAT in a little over two hours. Thanks for coming out guys! Thanks for watching Zoe, Mona! Thanks for getting back into the off-road saddle Erinna!!!!

Spiders, Horseflies, and a Huge Blue Heron

plus a wide assortment of mushrooms, some large unidentified creature crashing through the woods, grouse, more birds....
Vinyard->Riverside->Bradley Creek->Laurel Creek->Mullinax.

Long Farlow

Davidson River->475->5095->Long Branch->475->5003->140A->Farlow Gap->Daniel Ridge->475->Davidson River

Ian 'The Pony' L., Mike B., Matt F., Dennis 'DjD' D., Ian B., and Kris K.:

Let's see, it's now the next morning and after a great night of sleep maybe I can scribble (peck?) out a quick summary of yesterday's ride. The whole crew rallied at my house just after 7AM and after a cup of coffee and loading 6 people, bikes, and gear into two vehicles we were headed to the Fish Hatchery. Matt F met us there upping our roster to 7.



We were on the bikes by about 8:30 and the weather was cooperating perfectly. The temps eventually topped out in the mid 80's for the day with humidity just shy of turning the ride into a swim through the air. The gravel and doubletrack climbs to Long Branch went by quickly with no stragglers. Up Long Branch necessitated the use of the granny gear for the first time of the day and Ian 'The Pony' L. and I took up the last two positions for the climb.

During the downhill in the middle Mike B had a flat, then his spare was flat, so it took us a while to get up to Gloucester Gap. He had waved me everyone on as they flew by so it took a bit for the word to get forward that he needed another tube. Up 140A followed with Mike, Ian L., and I off the back of the pack. That was absolutely fine with me as Ian and I stopped and took in the sights and tastes the forest has to offer in mid-July. Flowers abounded as did ripe blackberries.

Riding up 5003 is much more tough than 140A and that's the reason I had left some reserve fuel in the tanks. The climb to Farlow Gap gets much steeper and technical after the turn. Ian was a bit off the back but Mike and I would take our turns hammering forward then waiting to make sure he was doing fine. DjD was soon spit off the back of the 'A' group and joined in for the fun of cruising to the gap with the 'B' group. We arrived at the gap just as the 'A' group was breaking out the lunch boxes. A long breather/lunch break/glove change preceded the reason for climbing for THREE HOURS: Farlow Gap.

Mike took the lead for the rock garden descent and cleaned it. I was tailgating a little too much and had to come off the bike as he picked his way through the gnar. I decided to take a few photos of the rest of the crew descending then realized that Yes, indeed, I do need a new camera. Not a single photo came out OK. Anyway, We took the time to go to the bottom of the first waterfall for a quick dip


Then railed the rest of Farlow. We all were on our A game at that point and had a blast in the tech sections. I saw Ian B pull some impossibly tight bike handling moves and after watching Mike hit the BIG set of steps with ease, had to go back and try them myself. With DjD acting as a center, or maybe linebacker ready to block me back into the trail I lost my inhibitions and went for it. One of the hardest moves I'm comfortable trying that deep in the forest.


Everyone was just about out of water by the time we were at Daniel Ridge and Matt must have been the most thirsty since he took the lead for the final part of the descent. When we hit the open road I had to look at him wide-eyed and say :'Matt, I knew you were fast but damn! I could hardly hold on!' It was one of the fastest feeling descents of Daniel that I can recall.
We finished with the cruise down Davidson and were back at the vehicles in 4:45 hours out.
Great ride everybody!!!!!