Wild Wild Wilson's

Scott from Indy and Paul from Canada arrived at my house at about 8:30 and we were on the road in two vehicles by 9:00. Why two vehicles for three people? We were headed to Wilson's for the XC shuttle ride: Raspberry->Greentown->Raider's Camp->Sinkhole. Along the way I texted Jody from Swannanoa and he was game, he would meet us at the gas station at exit 100 and join in the shuttling fun.


aaaaaand what a day it ended up being. To start the day off there was a semi overturned on I40. The accident must have happened minutes before because the backup had just begun for the westbound lanes. Once we made it to our riding destination we dropped the Jeep at the concrete bridge at Sinkhole then piled into the ICS shuttle van / mobile palace for the 9 mile uphill drive to the start.
We started to unload at the top I noticed something peculiar. Well, more like something straight up wrong, I had Erinna's front wheel. Shit. After a bit of hemming and hawing and rotor changes I was ready to roll with a much smaller tire than normal, a much thinner rim than normal, and a rotor that was exactly 10mm too small. Luckily Erinna and I both run 20mm thru-axles. Anyway, a bunch of freeride types walked out onto the road just before we left (one of them was wearing his little sister's jeans) and after some brief hello's and conversation about equipment choices our crew hit Raspberry full steam.

Raspberry is in excellent condition right now and Jody and I switched out who was taking lead. We stopped for a breather/checkup and the big bike guys were suddenly right there with us again. We took off as they regrouped but during the little ups and the technical sections we could hear the big bike guys right behind us. We stopped for a while at the jump at the bottom knowing they were going to hit it:

Skinny Pants on Raspberry 1 from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

Skinny Pants on Raspberry 2 from pisgahproductions on Vimeo.

then proceeded to very quickly knock out the climb back to 181. After only the quickest breather we were descending the Greentown plunge.

That trail is so super fast and so super tech and so much fun I won't try to put it in words. Raspberry is fast, tech, and fun. Greentown is fast, tech, and fun in a different way. We rode on the edge of beyond safe and really, any faster... you might actually die. OK, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

Then was the Old-Toll/Daniel Ridge area feeling climb back out from the creek and to our next trail of the day. The singletrack climb was a nice change of pace from the last gravel climb. Then... without much thought I felt my jersey pocket for my keys. Wait. they're not where I normally put them. It hit me like a blow to the chest, I knew my keys were in the van at top. I stopped, tore apart my camelbak, and then confirmed, I did not have my keys. The bottom of the hill shuttle driver.... shit.
I had been climbing with Paul when I made the discovery and told the others as soon as we caught up to them. Scott gave me a look like 'OK, what's the punchline?' and when I had none, the reality set in that we very well may be climbing the 9 miles of pavement back to the van after a 25 mile ride. I also informed them that was a 50/50 chance that I had a spare in my bumper. The thing was I could NOT actually recall putting the key BACK after the last time I used it. Shit. For the rest of the climb and for Raider's I was beating myself up inside and it felt like morale had dropped throughout the crew until Jody blurted out 'This may be the best ride EVER! I feel like I'm in Crested Butte'. I could see that everyone had absorbed the information well and that indeed, we would figure it out. 'I'll just thumb my way back to the van' Scott even said. Well, right about then we were near the bottom of Raider's and something again seemed amiss. See, this was the first time I had been the sole navigator for a Wilson's ride and suddenly things didn't seem right. A creek? Wha? I thought this just dumped out into the parking lot?!?!? Shit.
Then, across the creek I saw a rider. I splashed across then called the crew to cross. I knew right away we were on the right track. A group of CLT riders were regrouping after their own descent of Raider's and were also headed to sinkhole. As we were all together I noticed something very odd about one guys bike:

sheet metal, hose clamps, zip ties, self tapping screws, and water bottle cage bolts:

He had home engineered a fix for his broken frame! and was trusting it to stand up to Wilson's!!! He explained everything he had done and why he would trust it for another five years at least....'Except this part here is a bit jigaboo'd up' and we were all in tears from laughing. Oh my god, did he just say that?
Once we were on the right track and headed to the parking lot all seemed right in the world. We all cleaned the lower nasty stuff, I had my directions memory verified, and there were people everywhere enjoying the absolutely beautiful last weekend of summer. Temps were in the 70's with bright blue skies overhead.

We stopped at the fountain for water and I made the climb to Sinkhole sound absolutely horrible just so everyone knew what possibilities lay ahead. (In other words, don't attack this climb, it's tough, and the nine miles back to the van ARE going to suck if we end up having to do it) We turned before the concrete bridge and were soon headed up to the saddle. Along the way my front brake was scrubbing the rotor (remember the wrong wheel/rotor issue?) and mechanic extraordinaire Scott took care of it. Then, without warning, without much conscious thinking, but with great meditation on the idea, it hit me like the opposite of being punched in the gut, I knew EXACTLY where the spare key was and EXACTLY when I put it there. YES!?! I told Jody but also told him to keep the revelation quiet, I didn't want to look like a flake x3 if by some off chance the key was not there. The climb to the saddle took exactly 2.5 minutes, or at least that's how it felt after the weight of not having a key to the Jeep was off my shoulders. We took a long breather at the saddle then were onward towards Sinkhole. I had told Scott and Paul along the way that I was saving the best trail for last and my route choice did not disappoint. Sinkhole is again different than Raspberry, Greentown, or Raiders. Steep does not adequately describe the terrain. Neither does backwoods, organic, or fast, fun, and tech. We oogled THE sinkhole, all cleaned the chute, were in awe of the knife's edge, and were laughing out loud by the time we hit the bottom. 100 yards later we were at the Jeep and it was the moment of truth..... drumroll please..... the spare key..... WAS THERE! Once we were loaded up and headed to the van Jody repeated what he had said earlier: 'This may have been the best day on the bike EVER!' Well, maybe so. Great people, Excellent terrain, emotional baggage brought and left behind, no bonks, no wrecks, no mechanicals..... Yes, I have to agree, that was one of the best days.

Thanks Teresa!

Thanks Teresa for watching Zoe this morning and allowing Erinna and I to get out to Bent Creek. It was a beautiful late summer morning with the temps in the high 60's, zero humidity, and sunny skies, a perfect atmosphere for zipping around the local recreation area.

Our route for the day: From Rice Pinnacle->Hardtimes connector->South Ridge->Sleepy Gap->Explorer Alt.->Explorer->Pinetree->Campground connector->Hardtimes connector. The GPS says we went exactly 10 miles.


All is right in the universe. Erinna and I are riding together again.

Perfect (dog) ride.

Mike B and Maximillian-the-overdrive rallied at 9AM at my house today for a dog paced ride, something Sophiedog and I were all about.



We parked at Turkey Pen and our route for the day was singletrack->S.Mills->Cantrell->Squirrel->Bradley->66 jumps.


Just real quick, highlights of the day: 1.The warm-up on S.Mills. I felt great from the first to the last pedal stroke of the day. Sophie and Max were ecstatic to be in the woods, too. 2. Cleaning sooooo much of Cantrell UP. Mike and I were ON today.

(pictures more or less unrelated to text other than that they are from today's ride)

3. The tech section between Cantrell Creek and Laurel Gap on Squirrel. Two or three dabs the entire way for each of us. That section of trail is so unbelievably technical I cannot find words that does the scene justice. Oh, who's up for a September Dragon's Back, VA camp and ride?

4. The downhill from Laurel Gap. Holy Hell. Mike was up front and we were hanging it all out. Then, without warning, Mike would just accelerate. I thought, 'Well, I guess I can go faster, too' and would reel him in. Then he would do it again! and I did the same thing, all the way to the point that I almost let my front end drop off the edge, and I knew I needed to stop chasing if that was going to be the speed of the day, and we were at the intersection of Mullinax just like that.

5. Finishing with Squirrel all the way to Bradley. The dogs got the water they needed, the views were spectacular, and Mike even got a swim in at the end.


Thanks for joining me for another outstanding day in the woods Mike B., Max, and Sophie.

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.