A cautionary tale

When the universe is telling you to slow the f down, the best course of action is to do just that. I got out for a quick ride this evening over at Trace Ridge and around every corner I was reminded to slow down and enjoy, don't rush. I started at Bent Creek Gap and took the parkway to the top of Trace. I walked down to the sign and then let the newly refurbished SS rip. I attacked the first climb and the wheel slipped to one side as soon as I pushed hard.... I guess one side wasn't tightened well enough... then, on the first descent, I immediately knew I need to switch out the tires that are currently on... but I didn't listen to myself and I went down hard. I brushed myself off and hopped back on without a rest and continued the descent only to break a stick that was hanging in the trail with my face. Uuugh.
I picked my way down the singletrack and decided to try to turn the ride around on the climb. It was there that the SS did its job because I was immersed in total silence, at least as total as it can be for me. The single speed felt so.... right... like I was gliding up the hill.... also, just like that, I was at the first gate, Spencer, the third gate, then the top. 1:03 moving time, 1:18 total, including photo stops, bike adjustments, and dragging my ass out from the underbrush.


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I love my wife!

Erinna and I got out for a great ride today. Of course it was great, we got to ride together. The original plan was to go to Heartbreak Ridge but after the over-the-top-tough-feeling warm-up of going up Old 70 made us reconsider. After my ride just yesterday and after Erinna not riding mountain bikes much at all lately we decided Heartbreak may take longer than we had time for. We had to pick up Zoe eventually. The route we chose for the day was interesting and hard as hell. From Old Fort picnic area->Old 70->Ridgecrest->Paved Road of Death->Adventure Trail->Rattlesnake->Ridgecrest->Kitsuma->back to OFPA.


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The view from the Old 70 overlook. Yes, it was a hot and humid day.

Erinna and our Waltworks bikes at the Adventure trail overlook

The Rhodos are in full bloom at just the right elevation....

Adventure trail is much harder than this photo suggests...

Mr Toad, when will this wild climb be done?

Rattlesnake down!

The happy couple

Erinna wasn't the only one wearing pink today

Kitsuma has climbs?!?!?

The trailwork on Kitsuma has bedded in and it actually has a nice flow. The rocks are coming back out on the climb and the bike-eaters are about gone. A number of old-school tech features are history though....

Thanks for getting out on a ride with me Erinna! Thanks for taking care of Zoe, Dawn! Thanks for taking care of Biltmore, Andy! What a great day.

Jamie, that road is stupid.

Jamie at ProBikes told me about a road a couple of months ago and has been bugging me since: 'Have you done that road yet? Have you climbed that road yet? When ya gonna ride that road?' Well today, I rode the road. From West Asheville->Clingman->Hilliard->Biltmore->College->Town Mountain->Bartram's Walk (the road)->Wolf's Cove->Beaverdam->Webb Cove->Blue Ridge Parkway->Elk Mountain Scenic Highway->Beaverdam->Merrimon->WT Weaver->Riverside->Craven->Waynesville->back to Westville. The droid powered down along the way so I don't have maps or stats but.. I do have a few photos.... more on the ride later... maybe...

the end of the (paved) road

Day Lilies on Webb Cove

yes, a big smile for getting out on a Monday

speechless at Buzzard Rock...

Deep in the heart of Pisgah....

....the squirrels are white

I got out this morning with Sophiedog the Brave for a fun dog-friendly Pisgah loop: South Mills->Cantrell->Squirrel->Bradley-> back to Turkey Pen parking.

Sophie and I got started just after 8AM after I changed the ride plan en-route. I decided that a bit of deep Pisgah was a better choice than the inner-loop, for Sophie's sake. The singletrack down to the bridge was a great bike/confidence check and the flattish 5K or so of South Mills River was an enjoyable warm-up for the both of us. We took a quick break/photoshoot at the Lodge then proceeded up Cantrell.


If you've never done Cantrell up you're missing out. The trail never gets too steep but it is tech tech tech all the way to Squirrel. The water was surprisingly low so I even smashed my way across a few of the creek crossings. It was turning into a beautiful last weekend of Spring day. Temps rising out of the 70's, a bright blue sky, and the sun was still at at lower angle than I'm used to seeing in the woods since it was only 9:15 or so when I hit Squirrel.


The stretch of Squirrel from Cantrell to Laurel Gap is one of my favorite. Classic Pisgah at it's best, even after the trail work. Some of the tech features are gone but the flow is out of this world.... and it's still beautiful and tech.
Sophie was starting to feel the lack of rides somewhere around Poundingmill and I had to let her catch up again and again. At least she's not the type of dog that runs until she absolutely collapses, she slow to a trot, shows up with a smile, and soldiers on to the end. Good dog.
At Pea Gap I decided to head down Squirrel rather than Mullinax just to get to the river more quickly for Sophie and when we arrived she was grateful.





A slow spin on Bradley was followed by my best attempt at climbing the singletrack back to the parkinglot that I've accomplished in a looong time. I almost cleaned it. The sweat was pouring off me when we arrived at the Jeep and whattayaknow, Kris and Ariane K. were just starting a ride of their own. Did you just go swimming? Kris asked. Nope, just finished an awesome ride.



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Birthday Ride!

Happy Birthday to me! I just got in from a great two hour road ride. I don't know the names of the roads or really how to describe where I was because I just followed the Wheel Ride for Food route from West Asheville, out to almost Marshall, and back on the river road.

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After this past weekend's festivities I needed just a little something to shake the cobwebs out of my legs and the dust from my lungs. Oh, and speaking of that little festival I went to, I might as mention this: I tracked my wanderings on Friday and I walked a total of 12 miles. Multiply that by four days and that's actually ride log worthy as a work out!

A few photos from this past weekend:

An Incident in progress

Home sweet home

Late night hooping!

The dusty masses

photo from flickr.com. I can see my camp on the left edge of the photo, center.

Trace Ridge, on an early Wednesday afternoon, in 56 minutes.

I got out for a great little ride this afternoon. After a few hours at work this a.m. I decided it was time to play hooky and hit Trace Ridge. I started at the first gate on 5000 at 1:15 and was headed to Spencer. It's been an unusually hot last couple of days and the temps were hovering right around 90 when I decided to walk through the steep field. I got into a good rhythm after that though and was pleased with my time to Trace.
One thing that kept the pace high today was my mind was hardly on the ride. As I left the Jeep one of the powered windows decided to stop working while it was still down. What's a guy to do? Pull the plug because of a little material goods insecurity? No way. Well I was second guessing myself the whole time and blazed over the top and down the ridge. I kept seeing beautiful flowers along the way and had to convince myself to stop. I had to say to say to myself more than once, 'stop. enjoy the scenery.' before I actually did.
Anyway, I otherwise didn't stop and kept a speedy but not over the top pace down the hill. Oh, I realized when I got out the camera that I didn't have a tube with me.... so, as I was saying, not over the top speeds all the way to the parking lot. I said thanks for getting me to the bottom without crashes or flats and was immediately on the way up 5000 to the jeep.
When I arrived everything was just as I had left it, of course, but the little fire under the ass got me through the loop in 56 minutes. Not bad for me.

Makin' time

Starting at 8:30 PM at Spencer. 5000->Blue Ridge Parkway->276->1206->5000




View 2011-05-28 20:18 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 52.87 km (32.9 mi)
Total Time: 3:34:23
Moving Time: 3:03:55
Average Speed: 14.80 km/h (9.2 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 17.25 km/h (10.7 mi/h)
Max Speed: 65.19 km/h (40.5 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 712 m (2334 ft)
Max Elevation: 1513 m (4965 ft)
Elevation Gain: 1513 m (4966 ft)
Max Grade: 21 %
Min Grade: -14 %