Last Day at Dupont

We got up relatively early so we could eat then be at the tailhead by 9 to meet Woody. We made it right on time (which was a small miracle for us). Jay had a route planned out and Woody took that and added a bit onto it. We started out and headed out and towards the power lines. Unfortunately I was at the rear of the group and someone must have run over a yellow jacket because I got stung a couple of times. Of course I quickly moved to the front of the pack so it wouldn't happen again. We cruised up the power line trail and it had a few steep climbs that I could not ride up. We came out and rode up cedar rock and stopped at the top to enjoy the view. We then headed down the steeper side which was a lot of fun. There were a few nice drops in the trail that really make it interesting. We took Shole river trail (this may be right) and made a loop out so we could ride burnt mountian. This trail was incredible! It flowed incredibly well and had some perfectly spaced hills that you could jump. Woody told us a bit about the changes they had made when redoing the trail and it really opened my eyes to the a few of the subtlties of the trail. There was a climb up an old road that had been turned into singletrack. It was amazing how well it was routed to shead water, but still flow well enough to allow a fast pace but nowhere near a straight line. Jay had said how much he liked the downhill of this trail, so I was pretty excited when we reached the top. We started down the trail after a warning to be careful (I actually like hearing a warning because I know I am going to enjoy myself). The downhill was excellent with a lot of rock armoring and a few nice drops. it kept getting progressivly more difficult untill we got to the bottom.
At the base Joe said he had no brakes. Since he had a spare set of pads he changed them and we headed on our way. We rode back around to Cedar rock to climb back up the steep way. I started up and made it to the technical rocky section. Joe was in front and he hit a big step up and almost lost it. Soemhow he hopped the bike around and got up it. I tried to go a different route and it did not work out for me. I had to put a foot down. I remembered the rest of the climb being pretty tough, so I just continued on up the hill. However this time the climb seemed much easier adn I had no trouble making it the rest of the way. I kindof regretted not going back down to see if I could clear the whole climb. Once again we rested at the top and when we were about to take off Joel realized he had a flat. He quickly changed it and we took Big rock back down to the parking area.
We headed back to camp, packed everything up and showered before heading home. Once again it was a great trip and I am already lookng forward to coming back.

Pictures Here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/DupontNC2008_9_1#