First off: If I relayed any info incorrectly or misspelled any names (I am usually pretty bad with names), feel free to correct me.
The second day of the trip, we headed up to ride thunder rock near the Ocoee River. We all piled in our vehicles and headed to the trail. It was about an hour away, but was a nice drive. I was a little worried because it had stormed the night before and I was afraid the trail would be very sloppy and muddy. On arriving we got ready and Brennon and Sara had driven up to meet us to ride for the day. Brennon was the crazy guy riding the single speed.
This trail started out much like the other one with a climb up some gravel road, but was a much shorter climb to get to the single track trail this time. At the top of the road, there was a bulldozer that I couldn’t resist getting on.
We jumped on quartz loop trail and did a quick lap. This was a pretty fun little loop with a bit of everything. It had some climbing, some good fun downhills and some nice views off the side of the mountain. We jumped on the bypass and rode down to Chestnut mountain trail. This section had some really nice flowing singletrack with banked turns.
Other than a few wet spots that would cause the bike to slide a bit, the trail was in pretty good shape. I generally don’t get many good pictures of the downhills as I hate to stop, but I did get a small hole in my tire and stopped to see if it would seal itself. After a few minutes, it sealed up and I headed on down the trail.
The good luck did not last for long and after a few more miles I ended up with 2 or 3 small holes in the rear tire. I had lost so much air at this point I decided it would be better if I just threw a tube in it. I thought I changed it relatively quickly, but Brian had grabbed my camera and somehow managed to snap quite a few pictures. 
There were a lot of bored looking people so it must have taken too long. We headed on our way and finally came to thunder rock express. Monty had been talking about this trail as the main reason for coming so I was pretty excited.
I fell in line behind a few other people, as this usually keeps me out of trouble by slowing me down a little. We were all moving down the trail pretty quickly and really enjoying the small jumps that were everywhere. Of course, I decided to get big at the wrong time. I saw a larger jump coming up so I got ready and jumped off the top pretty hard. About this time I noticed the person in front of me turning sharply. As time
slowed down I could see there was an immediate drop off in front of me. As soon as I landed I had the brakes locked and skidded up to the very edge. I had the bike sideways and put a foot down right as my back tire was on the very edge. The brakes were definitely worth every penny I paid for them. I could feel my heart pounding and I headed on down the trail and finished it out. As a few of the people behind me came out they were asking if everyone had made it ok and no one had fallen off because they saw where the tire had slid to the edge.
We cruised on back to the parking lot and Joe, Brennon, Jay, and I played on some of the rocks 
around the parking lot for a few minutes before getting off the bikes. At this point we certainly did not drink anything alcoholic because that was illegal (and anyone who reads MTBR knows I have a problem with my reading comprehension of warning signs). As we were standing around someone brought out a hacky sack and I attempted to play. I have never played before, but it was pretty fun. We hung out a few minutes before heading back to Mulberry gap.
That night for dinner we had BBQ, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie for dessert. Pau and her Crew joined us for dinner and we got to talk with them a bit. I got my picture taken with her, but it is on someone elses camera, so whoever took it, please e-mail me the picture.
It was getting late and we had to get up relatively early, so I skipped the hot tub and went to bed.
The second day of the trip, we headed up to ride thunder rock near the Ocoee River. We all piled in our vehicles and headed to the trail. It was about an hour away, but was a nice drive. I was a little worried because it had stormed the night before and I was afraid the trail would be very sloppy and muddy. On arriving we got ready and Brennon and Sara had driven up to meet us to ride for the day. Brennon was the crazy guy riding the single speed.
This trail started out much like the other one with a climb up some gravel road, but was a much shorter climb to get to the single track trail this time. At the top of the road, there was a bulldozer that I couldn’t resist getting on.
We jumped on quartz loop trail and did a quick lap. This was a pretty fun little loop with a bit of everything. It had some climbing, some good fun downhills and some nice views off the side of the mountain. We jumped on the bypass and rode down to Chestnut mountain trail. This section had some really nice flowing singletrack with banked turns.
Other than a few wet spots that would cause the bike to slide a bit, the trail was in pretty good shape. I generally don’t get many good pictures of the downhills as I hate to stop, but I did get a small hole in my tire and stopped to see if it would seal itself. After a few minutes, it sealed up and I headed on down the trail.The good luck did not last for long and after a few more miles I ended up with 2 or 3 small holes in the rear tire. I had lost so much air at this point I decided it would be better if I just threw a tube in it. I thought I changed it relatively quickly, but Brian had grabbed my camera and somehow managed to snap quite a few pictures. There were a lot of bored looking people so it must have taken too long. We headed on our way and finally came to thunder rock express. Monty had been talking about this trail as the main reason for coming so I was pretty excited.I fell in line behind a few other people, as this usually keeps me out of trouble by slowing me down a little. We were all moving down the trail pretty quickly and really enjoying the small jumps that were everywhere. Of course, I decided to get big at the wrong time. I saw a larger jump coming up so I got ready and jumped off the top pretty hard. About this time I noticed the person in front of me turning sharply. As time
slowed down I could see there was an immediate drop off in front of me. As soon as I landed I had the brakes locked and skidded up to the very edge. I had the bike sideways and put a foot down right as my back tire was on the very edge. The brakes were definitely worth every penny I paid for them. I could feel my heart pounding and I headed on down the trail and finished it out. As a few of the people behind me came out they were asking if everyone had made it ok and no one had fallen off because they saw where the tire had slid to the edge.We cruised on back to the parking lot and Joe, Brennon, Jay, and I played on some of the rocks around the parking lot for a few minutes before getting off the bikes. At this point we certainly did not drink anything alcoholic because that was illegal (and anyone who reads MTBR knows I have a problem with my reading comprehension of warning signs). As we were standing around someone brought out a hacky sack and I attempted to play. I have never played before, but it was pretty fun. We hung out a few minutes before heading back to Mulberry gap.That night for dinner we had BBQ, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie for dessert. Pau and her Crew joined us for dinner and we got to talk with them a bit. I got my picture taken with her, but it is on someone elses camera, so whoever took it, please e-mail me the picture.It was getting late and we had to get up relatively early, so I skipped the hot tub and went to bed.
Here is the map of our route:
Linky to the rest of the pictures:
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