The second day of our trip we hit Grammys on our way to Dupont. We made a loop around Reasonover Creek Trail around to Lake Juliard. I remembered to snap a picture of the lodge this time as I thought it was pretty cool. We headed on up to the old runway on top of the hill so we could take airstrip trail down. This section had recently been redone as it was very soft soil down near the bottom. At the base there were a couple of logs that we tried to ride. I don't think I made it without dabbing a foot when trying to switch logs.
We then rode down the trail to the base of the waterfall. We parked the bikes and walked out on the rocks at the base of the falls. We caught site of a snake and I almost jumped on a wasp so I took a few pictures. There was a short log ride on the trail back up from the falls that was neatly integrated with the rock. We then rode up to the stream via Shoals trail and stopped to check it out. A couple of riders waded over from the other side while we were there. We headed back up and took Laurel Ridge to Mine Mountain. At this intersection there is a log up of the ground about 4-5 feet. Jay got up on it and contemplated riding it. I am still not that confident with my balance and since we still had a whole day of riding I did not ride it for fear of falling off and not getting to enjoy the rest of the trip. We rode mine mountain and rode back to the parking lot. We really wanted to get a few more miles in so headed up mine mountain backwards with the intention of looping back around the lake. When we got to the other side we decided to go back over mine mountain again instead of riding the road out. This last time it was much easier and I even got to stop and snap this picture of a turtle crossing the trail. As there were some horses coming Joel helped it off the trail. We got back to the parking lot and ran into Woody Keen. He runs the company in charge of the Dupont trails and I believe is one of the most knowledgeable trail builders around. We talked to him for a while and he offered to be our guide for our ride tomorrow. We agreed to meet him tomorrow morning and headed back to camp to get cleaned up. We ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. It was very interesting as they could not serve alcohol because it was a dry county, but they allowed you to bring in your own "drink" for a dollar and even mix it with a virgin margarita. Something was wrong in the kitchen because we were wondering if we were going to get any food, but it finally came out after we ate about 10 baskets of chips. We headed back and had a few drinks before turnng in for the night.
Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/DupontNC2008_8_31#
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Squirrel Gap at Pisgah
Joined Jay for a trip up to NC for a weekend of riding. We drove up yesterday night and decided to hit Pisgah today as this was to be our most difficult ride. We started with a breakfast at Grammy's and I got the Big Cedar Mtn Breakfast. It had a bit of everyhting and was just what I needed to get me through the ride. We started at the parking area by the creek and rode up the road, down 476 and into the trails. We were following the book, but due to the poor markings on the trails, we ended up taking a wrong trail. It was very overgrown but ended up having a nice little descent down to the creek that was a lot of fun. Somehow we managed to get back to where we should have been, but didn't realize it and ended up backtracking the trail (South mills river) we should have come down. about 50-100 yards from where we origionally took the wrong turn we realized our mistake and turned around. This actually worked out well as the part we went the wrong direction was all uphill so we got to take the nicely flowing trail back down to the swinging bridge. This section had a few nicely bermed turns and had great flow. It was a lot of fun, but Jay had derailleur problems and we stopped briefly to get it fixed before heading on.
After crossing the bridge, we finally came to the whole reason for the ride... Squirrel Gap. This section was rated one of the more difficult rides so that certainly got Jays attention. This trail was really nice. It had a few water crossings (one of which I stopped to refill my water bladder (Thanks to Ted for allowing me to bring his water pump so I did not have to carry 2 bladders of water). I generally only last about 2.5-3 hours max on my 70oz bladder so I knew it was going to be a problem since this was to be a 5-6 hour ride. The pump weighed much less than an extra bladder so it worked out well. Squirrel gap also had a few sections that were rocky and rooty right on the edge of the mountain. It definately had me concentrating on my line.
Our next trail was Pounding Hill. It was not nearly as punishing as the name implied. However this started our series of encounters with the local wildlife. We came to a huge tree across the trail and had to hand the bikes over as it was about shoulder high. It took a bit to crawl over it and not slid down off the side of the hill. Everyone had climbed across except for Joel, and as he was crawling across he got stung by yellowjackets. Ted was holding his bike and got stung also. We all started running and I had mine and Ted's bike and Ted was running with Joel's untill he got frustrated with me for struggling with the 2 bike and dropped Joels and grabbed his so we could run. Somehow only Ted and Joel got stung and Joel had to make a detour up through the woods to get around them. We headed on our way.
We decided to take a shortcut from the suggested trail in the book and take Bradley creek instead of the fireroads. It looked a bit shorter and more importantly was singletrack which I prefer. We started to realize why this was not suggested in the book as there were probably close to 10 creek crossings that could only be done by wading through. Most of them were not any deeper than the knee, but riding with wet shoes was a bit awkward. Also, on one of the crossings as I was heading down the bank toward the water I got stung. As I was realizing what was happening I got hit again. I started running through the creek and gotr stung one more time. I was yelling at Joel so he would not get into them and waited as he had to go around that area of trail and meet back up. As we finally got back to the road by the car, everyone (well at least me) was pretty exhausted. We got back and had riden just over 25 miles in right at 6 hours. I was filthy and were going to stop on the way back, so I headed a little ways upstream and stripped down and sat in the creek to wash off. It was cool, but not cold and felt great. We had a beer and headed to a Bar in town so Joe could watch the Alabama game. We hung out for a bit and headed back to camp. I was so tired I went to bed before the game was even over.
Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/PisgahSquirrelGap2008_8_30#
After crossing the bridge, we finally came to the whole reason for the ride... Squirrel Gap. This section was rated one of the more difficult rides so that certainly got Jays attention. This trail was really nice. It had a few water crossings (one of which I stopped to refill my water bladder (Thanks to Ted for allowing me to bring his water pump so I did not have to carry 2 bladders of water). I generally only last about 2.5-3 hours max on my 70oz bladder so I knew it was going to be a problem since this was to be a 5-6 hour ride. The pump weighed much less than an extra bladder so it worked out well. Squirrel gap also had a few sections that were rocky and rooty right on the edge of the mountain. It definately had me concentrating on my line.
Our next trail was Pounding Hill. It was not nearly as punishing as the name implied. However this started our series of encounters with the local wildlife. We came to a huge tree across the trail and had to hand the bikes over as it was about shoulder high. It took a bit to crawl over it and not slid down off the side of the hill. Everyone had climbed across except for Joel, and as he was crawling across he got stung by yellowjackets. Ted was holding his bike and got stung also. We all started running and I had mine and Ted's bike and Ted was running with Joel's untill he got frustrated with me for struggling with the 2 bike and dropped Joels and grabbed his so we could run. Somehow only Ted and Joel got stung and Joel had to make a detour up through the woods to get around them. We headed on our way.
We decided to take a shortcut from the suggested trail in the book and take Bradley creek instead of the fireroads. It looked a bit shorter and more importantly was singletrack which I prefer. We started to realize why this was not suggested in the book as there were probably close to 10 creek crossings that could only be done by wading through. Most of them were not any deeper than the knee, but riding with wet shoes was a bit awkward. Also, on one of the crossings as I was heading down the bank toward the water I got stung. As I was realizing what was happening I got hit again. I started running through the creek and gotr stung one more time. I was yelling at Joel so he would not get into them and waited as he had to go around that area of trail and meet back up. As we finally got back to the road by the car, everyone (well at least me) was pretty exhausted. We got back and had riden just over 25 miles in right at 6 hours. I was filthy and were going to stop on the way back, so I headed a little ways upstream and stripped down and sat in the creek to wash off. It was cool, but not cold and felt great. We had a beer and headed to a Bar in town so Joe could watch the Alabama game. We hung out for a bit and headed back to camp. I was so tired I went to bed before the game was even over.
Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/PisgahSquirrelGap2008_8_30#
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Bad Blogging: Time to play catchup
Well I am going to try to play a little catchup. Work has been pretty bad and just getting time to ride has been a struggle.
Started out on Friday the 8th when the weather was so nice I just decided to head to Oak after work. I got there a bit late to do a whole lap but met Mitch and Corb in the parking lot. We rode up to Blood rock CCW and back to the South Trailhead. The weather was so incredible that this ride really made me want to get on the bike more.
Saturday the 9th I went to Trussville for the workday and after a good day of working on the big mountain section we decided to test out our work. We rode 1 lap doing an out and back on the new section before riding a lap clockwise. I have not ridden Trussville since right before the Dead Dog last year and really liked Trussville. It is a really fun trail when just out for a casual ride. Jay showed us a tree near the camping area (I don't know how else to describe this spot) It gets high enough off the ground to not be able to drop a tire. I tried many times to ride it, but was unsuccessful. Jay made it across after just a couple tries. We also stopped at the parking area by the baseball fields and we rode the poles that were laying on the ground as well as down and up (yes up) the stairs. Finally there was a rock on the edge of the pavement that we jumped off of a few times. The landing was very soft on the grass and was a fun place to play. Finally we finished up with the difficult new sections. I was able to clear them on the first try with only a bit of trouble on one of the rocky turns, but was able to hop the bike back into motion. I was a bit dissapointed as I was expecting to have to study the triail and learn how to ride it before doing so succesfully. This is a difficult section, but another trail may have to be built to really give people something they have to work hard to be able to successfully clear.
Sunday the 11th I found a few people going to Ladiga. I had been wanting to plan a trip and mentioned it to a few people and they said they were going tomorrow. I was excited about going and we met at Joe's house and carpooled there. We headed out and the road bike is a completely different experience on this trail. Last time I rode it, it was not paved all the way so I had to ride the Mtn bike (the GF Sugar). I got some practice pacelining and we scooted down the trail at a pretty good pace. We stopped at the visitor center. It was not open last time and it is a pretty nice little place. Continuing on we actaully went a littel way past the line as I don't think everyone was ready to turn around immediately. On the ride back we once again stopped at the visitor center for a rest. This time the guy that rant he place was there wnd we chatted with him a bit. We rode on back and I really didn't have as many aches and pains as last time. The only thing i remember is a bit of hand numbness near the end. I was pretty pleased as I was also nto as tired as before. On the mnt bike I was so sore I walked funny for a few days but I really got nothing on the road bike. I had been considering buying a better seat (as it has a really cheap one), but I was pleased and now I am not in so much of a rush.
On Sat 8/16 I met Bump for the 3rd Sat club ride. We rode a lap CW of Oak mountain and I played around a bit and practiced riding the logs more than usual. This was a nice casual ride and felt nice after the week at work.
Tuesday 8/19 James told me to bring my bike to work so we could ride afterwards. There was some drama that kept me at work late, but we decided to go anyway. We got there around 6 and headed off CW. We were expecting to turn around as James had not ben in so long, but he just kept going. We realized the darkness was going to be a problem during the climb up the Jeep. It started getting dark as we got to the descent down to the BUMP trail. by the time we got to blood rock I had to take off my glasses to see. It was actually really fun as I could barely see down quary road down to the road. We got off on the road and it was almost completely dark. Other than almost getting hit by a car on this road (the car came off the road after me) this part was awsome. The lightning bugs were all in the trees and down the road adn we could just make out the gravel to stay on the road. I was expeccting to get repremanded at our vehicles for being out late, but no one was there so we took off quickly.
Thanks to the weather there was no riding the weekend of the 23rd. But I am soon going to NC for some serious riding. I am really looking forward to this and hop my lack of riding is not going to hurt me too much.
Started out on Friday the 8th when the weather was so nice I just decided to head to Oak after work. I got there a bit late to do a whole lap but met Mitch and Corb in the parking lot. We rode up to Blood rock CCW and back to the South Trailhead. The weather was so incredible that this ride really made me want to get on the bike more.
Saturday the 9th I went to Trussville for the workday and after a good day of working on the big mountain section we decided to test out our work. We rode 1 lap doing an out and back on the new section before riding a lap clockwise. I have not ridden Trussville since right before the Dead Dog last year and really liked Trussville. It is a really fun trail when just out for a casual ride. Jay showed us a tree near the camping area (I don't know how else to describe this spot) It gets high enough off the ground to not be able to drop a tire. I tried many times to ride it, but was unsuccessful. Jay made it across after just a couple tries. We also stopped at the parking area by the baseball fields and we rode the poles that were laying on the ground as well as down and up (yes up) the stairs. Finally there was a rock on the edge of the pavement that we jumped off of a few times. The landing was very soft on the grass and was a fun place to play. Finally we finished up with the difficult new sections. I was able to clear them on the first try with only a bit of trouble on one of the rocky turns, but was able to hop the bike back into motion. I was a bit dissapointed as I was expecting to have to study the triail and learn how to ride it before doing so succesfully. This is a difficult section, but another trail may have to be built to really give people something they have to work hard to be able to successfully clear.
Sunday the 11th I found a few people going to Ladiga. I had been wanting to plan a trip and mentioned it to a few people and they said they were going tomorrow. I was excited about going and we met at Joe's house and carpooled there. We headed out and the road bike is a completely different experience on this trail. Last time I rode it, it was not paved all the way so I had to ride the Mtn bike (the GF Sugar). I got some practice pacelining and we scooted down the trail at a pretty good pace. We stopped at the visitor center. It was not open last time and it is a pretty nice little place. Continuing on we actaully went a littel way past the line as I don't think everyone was ready to turn around immediately. On the ride back we once again stopped at the visitor center for a rest. This time the guy that rant he place was there wnd we chatted with him a bit. We rode on back and I really didn't have as many aches and pains as last time. The only thing i remember is a bit of hand numbness near the end. I was pretty pleased as I was also nto as tired as before. On the mnt bike I was so sore I walked funny for a few days but I really got nothing on the road bike. I had been considering buying a better seat (as it has a really cheap one), but I was pleased and now I am not in so much of a rush.
On Sat 8/16 I met Bump for the 3rd Sat club ride. We rode a lap CW of Oak mountain and I played around a bit and practiced riding the logs more than usual. This was a nice casual ride and felt nice after the week at work.
Tuesday 8/19 James told me to bring my bike to work so we could ride afterwards. There was some drama that kept me at work late, but we decided to go anyway. We got there around 6 and headed off CW. We were expecting to turn around as James had not ben in so long, but he just kept going. We realized the darkness was going to be a problem during the climb up the Jeep. It started getting dark as we got to the descent down to the BUMP trail. by the time we got to blood rock I had to take off my glasses to see. It was actually really fun as I could barely see down quary road down to the road. We got off on the road and it was almost completely dark. Other than almost getting hit by a car on this road (the car came off the road after me) this part was awsome. The lightning bugs were all in the trees and down the road adn we could just make out the gravel to stay on the road. I was expeccting to get repremanded at our vehicles for being out late, but no one was there so we took off quickly.
Thanks to the weather there was no riding the weekend of the 23rd. But I am soon going to NC for some serious riding. I am really looking forward to this and hop my lack of riding is not going to hurt me too much.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Four laps of Oak. OK maybe just 2
I carried my bike to the bike shop yesterday evening to schedule getting the rear hub fixed. They scheduled me for Monday, so I took my bike with me so I could ride for the weekend. I will have to get it back to them Sunday before they close, but I did manage to get a ride in today. At the bike shop I ran into Brendan and he said a few people were meeting Sun morning at 7:00 to ride. This is one reason I took the bike back. I was actually planning on meeting the Montevallo riders for a road ride as I though I would be without the Motolite. I am glad I kept it as I was wanting to ride at Oak.
I was a few minutes late but met Brendan, Lee, Jay and Ted. Lee was talking crazy talk about doing 4 laps, and I thought I might be good for 3 so I said I would try to hang with him for as many as I could do. We rode a lap Clockwise and moved at a pretty good pace. We stopped to ride on or over just about every fallen tree near the trail. As we didn't start till almost 7:30, Brendan had to take off when we hit the Jeep trail to make it to work at 9. (I don't think he could have made it iin time unless he was flying. I wonder if he bailed out on the road or was late.) There was a fallen tree across the road near the green trail intersection on the top of the ridge. Lee was trying to cross it at a pretty high point and got caught in his pedals. He gouged his palm and I am sure was in pain the remainder of the ride. Ted showed me the hip jump coming down from bump where you can jump up on the wall to set you up for the turn. I attempted this and managed to get on the wall a bit. Definately something I can look forward to practicing going this direction. Ted had also set up a new log ride in foreplay that we tried to ride. I was only able to ride it successfully in one direction, so I will have to try again next time. At the parking lot, Lee's bike was not shifting well and we were unable to fix it, so he ran it by the bike shop.
Me and Ted decided to do another lap as I was feeling pretty good at this point. We headed Counter-clockwise for this lap and he set set a good pace at the start. I started to lag behind climbing up quary road but pushed myself a bit harder than I should. I had to rest at the base of Blood rock but luckilly Mark came by and we chatted with him for a few minutes. This gave me a chance to rest and we headed on . I was feeling a bit better for a while and enjoyed the ride down the jeep trail. Ted picked up the pace and I started struggling a bit to keep up. He kept up the pace and I tried to keep up as best as could, but I could tell I was holding him back. I really started struggling on the Garret's Gulch climb but kept going and finally made it back to the parking lot. I really don't like being the slow one, but appreciated the ride and the motivation to push myself to ride faster. I definately need to do this more often and hopefuly I can get a it faster.
I went to McAlisters after the ride as usual and met Steph for lunch. My legs (Hams) tried to cramp a few times while I was siting there so I had to keep my legs stretched out. I drank 3 glasses of tea trying to rehydrate. I got home and took a cool shower and feel much better now. I think three laps would have killed me, and am happy I quit at 2.
Also: I put links to the pictures of the rides for the past few (that I had forgotten). All my public galleries can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm
I was a few minutes late but met Brendan, Lee, Jay and Ted. Lee was talking crazy talk about doing 4 laps, and I thought I might be good for 3 so I said I would try to hang with him for as many as I could do. We rode a lap Clockwise and moved at a pretty good pace. We stopped to ride on or over just about every fallen tree near the trail. As we didn't start till almost 7:30, Brendan had to take off when we hit the Jeep trail to make it to work at 9. (I don't think he could have made it iin time unless he was flying. I wonder if he bailed out on the road or was late.) There was a fallen tree across the road near the green trail intersection on the top of the ridge. Lee was trying to cross it at a pretty high point and got caught in his pedals. He gouged his palm and I am sure was in pain the remainder of the ride. Ted showed me the hip jump coming down from bump where you can jump up on the wall to set you up for the turn. I attempted this and managed to get on the wall a bit. Definately something I can look forward to practicing going this direction. Ted had also set up a new log ride in foreplay that we tried to ride. I was only able to ride it successfully in one direction, so I will have to try again next time. At the parking lot, Lee's bike was not shifting well and we were unable to fix it, so he ran it by the bike shop.
Me and Ted decided to do another lap as I was feeling pretty good at this point. We headed Counter-clockwise for this lap and he set set a good pace at the start. I started to lag behind climbing up quary road but pushed myself a bit harder than I should. I had to rest at the base of Blood rock but luckilly Mark came by and we chatted with him for a few minutes. This gave me a chance to rest and we headed on . I was feeling a bit better for a while and enjoyed the ride down the jeep trail. Ted picked up the pace and I started struggling a bit to keep up. He kept up the pace and I tried to keep up as best as could, but I could tell I was holding him back. I really started struggling on the Garret's Gulch climb but kept going and finally made it back to the parking lot. I really don't like being the slow one, but appreciated the ride and the motivation to push myself to ride faster. I definately need to do this more often and hopefuly I can get a it faster.
I went to McAlisters after the ride as usual and met Steph for lunch. My legs (Hams) tried to cramp a few times while I was siting there so I had to keep my legs stretched out. I drank 3 glasses of tea trying to rehydrate. I got home and took a cool shower and feel much better now. I think three laps would have killed me, and am happy I quit at 2.
Also: I put links to the pictures of the rides for the past few (that I had forgotten). All my public galleries can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm
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