Epic Weekend. Day 2

Day 2.

  The rain had quit overnight, and we awoke to a clear and crisp morning.

  We discussed riding options over breakfast and coffee.

  There were several options for riding right where we were, but I was jonesin' to hit North Mountain Trail (aka Dragon's Back).  Dragon's Back is one of the most rugged, difficult trails around.  Extremely rocky and technical ridgeline riding with constant views.  Joel was down with that, so we packed up and headed south.    We parked at Stone Coal Gap, which is where North Mountain trail intersects with Broad Run forest road.  Our plan was to ride Broad Run forest road to Wildife Road then on to Grouse Trail.  Climb Grouse to North Mountain, then ride the "Dragon's Back" all the way back to the truck.    This would cover much of the Dragon's Tale Race Course.

  We got our stuff together and set out for some adventure.  The ride started with a long, gradual descent on Broad Run.  There were several crossings of the run but the water was at a good moderate level.  I have memories of racing the Dragon's Back race a few years ago when some of these creek crossings were 2-3 feet deep.  The scenery was really nice along Broad Run and continued when we turned left onto the gated and closed Wildlife Road.  We meandered back and forth, up and down on Wildlife Road until we got to Grouse Trail.

Grouse is a 1.5 mile steep climb up to the ridgeline and North Mountain Trail.
 Looks easy enough on the map.

We worked our way up the climb, riding much more of it than we thought we could. 



  Once upon the back of the Dragon, we took a short break, before rolling the narrow,rocky spine.

I wish I would have taken more pictures on the ridge.  Here are some more that I ripped off. 
The views are constant with the leaves not having popped out yet.
Looking east across the Catawba Valley at Tinker Mountain.  You can see "Tinkers'Cliffs"  The Appalachian Trail goes across it.  I camped on the cliffs backpacking a couple years back.  Also Carvin's Cove is on the other side.

Roanoke Cement Plant.

We stopped to clear a tree.

  We reached the end of the ridge and enjoyed the final descent down to Stone Coal Gap and the truck.  Another awesome ride.  Perhaps the best in a while.  I realized that both rides of the weekend both started and ended with downhill.  We had no mechanical problems (not even a flat), and no crashes.  Hard to beat.  We loaded up and headed for home.

Epic Weekend. Day 1

Finally getting around to another blog entry.  Kind of got bored with it.

 Spring is springing, and with the weather guys calling for sunny and 80 on Friday, there was no way I was going to miss out.  I was really itchin' to get out to the mountains for some good riding and the first camp out of the year.  After hitting everyone up, Joel G., my can-do man, was up for some fun.  Not particularly being morning go-getters, we were heading west out of town only slightly later than we wanted, and arrived early afternoon at our awesome free campsite in the National forest not far from Douthat SP.

  This campsite is located on an old mill site on Wilson Creek.  It is in sort of a canyon with rock faces along the creek and a cascading waterfall.  One of the best campsites I have ever seen. 
  After quickly making camp, we mapped out a nice loop to ride catching the best of the Douthat trails and some national forest trails to get us back to camp.  We rolled some fire road and pavement back to the park and climbed Beards Mountain on Ross Camp trail.  Continuing on Mountainside Trail, we noticed that someone, perhaps park folks, had been doing some re-bench cutting.  Mountainside had gotten really narrow and I liked it that way.  They have widened it out to 3 feet in places.  It is all still fresh and soft and spoiled the ride a little.  I only hope it will repack and return to how it was with time.  They really should check with me before they decide to do this stuff. 

  We were relieved to find Brushy Hollow Trail untouched.  It was as awesome as usual.  Definitely one of the best trails in the state, perhaps the universe.

  We stopped to clear a couple of downed trees.

Swinging bridge over Wilson Creek.

There was a good amount of water flow in the creeks and we had fun splashing through Stoney Run as we started climbing Middle Mountain.  We took a break at Stoney Run falls before tackling the long climb up to the ridge.

  We made our way up the 9 switchbacks and over to the cabin at Tuscarora overlook.  The views were sweet as always.

  The sun was starting to set, so we made our way on up to Middle Mountain Ridge trail and enjoyed 5-6 miles of fast, rugged single track followed by the steepest descent with the tightest switchbacks I have ever seen that happens to dump us out right at camp.    After Rib-eyes and IPAs, we contemplated a night ride to enjoy the moonrise, but clouds and eventually rain drops sent us to bed.  Joel hit the tent, and I opted to hang the hammock in the van.  My entire sleeping set-up took 15 seconds.  I fell asleep to the pitter-patter of rain on the roof and the sound of the waterfall on the creek, wondering what to ride the next day.

Too Much Time On My Hands

  Well, with the weather, holidays, and slow economy, I have had my share of free time lately.  I'm sad to say that I have only worked a couple of days in the last month.  The free time is nice, but that nagging feeling of getting more poor by the minute is not.  It has provided the opportunity to do a little work on the house and I have been getting in a good amount of time in the saddle.  Despite the cold and muddy trail conditions, I have been riding almost every day.

  Got in a nice spin downtown with Michele the other day.  Started at Huguenot Flatwater, rode Riverside through Pony Pasture/Wetlands, Forest Hill Ave. to Riverside, Floodwall, Slave Trail, Canal Walk, across Belle, access road to Nickel br., and return.  We avoided the JRPS trails since they were a muddy mess. 
  Monday it was a 30 miler on the cross bike combining back roads to Pocahontas SP, fire roads through the park, and back. 
  Tuesday I snuck in a mtb ride on the trails at Poca.  The trails were actually in great shape considering the snow and recent rain.
 Yesterday, I set out on the cross bike at high noon.  I have been wanting to find a great route to get from the house and hook up with the Old Gun/Cherokee/Riverside route.  With the help of Google Maps, I have discovered some nice shortcuts.  I ended up getting in a fun 50 miles.  It was actually a very nice day out. 

Badd@ss Single Speed Banditos

Although I don't really strive to be a badass, I would never argue with the rules.  Rule 9 specifically:

Rule 9:

If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass.  Period.

  So on New Year's Eve day, I found a pair of Joels, and we set out to end the year with an urban adventure on our single speed cross bikes.  Okay, so the weather was really not bad at all, but there was plenty of ice, snow, and mudd around to qualify us for at least semi-badass status.

Dirt Joel was definitely head badass since he was riding fixed.  For non-cycling peeps, that means if your rear wheel is rolling, your pedals are turning.  No coasting.  Tricky enough in a level parking lot, but add slick conditions, steep grades, and obstacles such as rocks and logs and it becomes insane. 

  Our ride covered just about everything imaginable including slick icey trails, dry roads, muddy gooey gravel roads, wet snowy roads, etc.  We basically covered both sides of the James from Huguenot bridge to about a mile east of I-95.  A very interesting and scenic ride.

   Joel G. and I have been doing some exploring lately and have found some new and interesting places to ride.