First Trip to Lake Lurleen

I wanted to get a ride in today, and I noticed BUMP was having their monthly trail ride at Lake Lurleen in Tuscaloosa. I met them at McDonalds this morning and we headed down to the trail. Once there we got ready and hit the trail. I believe we went Clockwise and the trail started off pretty flat. After a run in with a jogger that would not get out of the way we finally all regrouped at the dam. Heading on we went down a hill and had a decent climb back up the other side. I was led to believe this trail was pretty flat, but I was pleasently impressed. It is definately easier than Oak Mtn, but it had some uphills and downhills that made it a fun ride. Me and Doug (the guy who writes the bike column in the paper) rode ahead and took the long trail at the wye. This section had really good flow and we were scooting through it pretty good (for a trail neither of us had ridden before). We made it back to where the trail joins together. After waiting for about 5 minutes we decided to circle back and ride this short (2.5) mile loop again. We figured it would put us in the back and we could try to catch everone else. We looped around again, this time attacking the trail a bit more agressively than last time. After this the trail had a couple interesting bridges and really good flowing sections. There were a couple whoopties that you could easlily hop and get a bit of air. There were a few small down and ups that reminded me of Swayback as well as a good down and up about 10 feet deep that led into a fun fast downhill. The trail came out on the road for the last bit and we met everone back at the vehicles. We sat around for a few minutes and had a beer as well as some Sushi that Mickey brought. I also tried a wasabi peanut and I am not really sure I liked it. I enjoyed the ride with these guys (and Girl) and will probably join them in the future for more rides.

Moran had been mentioning joining BUMP for a while, but with my busy schedule I kept putting it off. There are some things I would like to see at Oak Mountain to make it a bit more difficult and the best way to offer these suggestions is if I am helping with the changes. I am probably going to join shortly.

Oak Mountain 2007_11_17

Met with Tommy and Moran for a lap of Oak Mtn. We met about 10:15 and rode Clockwise. The autum leaves were still looked awsome and luckily they have not completely covered the trail yet. I am without a camera for the weekend as Stephanie loaned it to her parents since they went to the Alabama game and they wanted to take some pictures. The first part of the trail was at a casual pace and I really enjoyed just being on the bike after another week of work. Everything was going well untill we were riding up the Jeep trail and were almost at the top. Tommy heard a loud pop and realized his front derailler did not work anymore. At first we thought it had just slipped on the frame but we couldn't seem to get it fixed. We got it where it would shift so he could finish up but shortly after it got stuck in third. After we "Adjusted" it one last time it halfway worked. We rode down the bump and Moran tried to get me to jump all the rocks going down to the Bump trail but I pussed out. There is a small rock at the top that should be a good launching point if you hit it just right. It would be a huge jump for me and I don't think I am quite ready for it yet. Maybe after I can climb Blood rock, that will be my next goal.

I have really started liking the jump after the descent from blood rock. The line of rocks across the trail has one rock I can jump off of very well. We hassled Tommy a bit about wanting to take the road back and he decided to take the trail the rest of the way. We rode on out and finished in record time (well not quite). Tommy and Moran had to head back, so I headed to McAlisters to get something to eat. It was a good day for riding.

Raccoon Mountain Day #2

I was extremely excited to get back out to Raccoon and ride some more. After a nice ham, egg, and cheese from Hardees I was ready to start. We started from the visitor’s center again (mainly because we were warned that many cars were getting broken into and we figured it was the safest of the parking lots with people coming and going). Tommy and Moran were with me at the beginning and we headed back onto the trail this time heading clockwise. There was a nice technical descent to get started and some short climbs. We were passed by a bunch of people I see pretty regularly at Oak Mountain. They were moving pretty good, so I didn’t get to chat with them, but did snap a few pictures as they were descending a rocky section at the same time I was taking pictures of Tommy and Moran. Setting a leisurely pace we were enjoying this ride tremendously. The weather couldn’t have been better and the trees were fully changed and had just started dropping leaves (the trail was still clean of leaves).

We came upon the part of the trail Tommy dubbed the Shire, so we had to get a picture of him riding through. I believe every trail we have ridden has had a Shire except for Trussville. Usually this is a section where there are many trees grown close to the trail. Tommy keeps threatening to one day buy a bunch of garden gnomes and set them out in the woods at Oak Mountain. I think it would be a great addition, but don’t know if it will ever happen.

Brian (Ansel Adams) Moran took control of the camera at this point and shortly after wrecked twice. I also noticed that almost every picture he took is blurry. I think he was mad because my camera did not have a sport mode.

We came back to the dam and this time the camera battery was not dead. There were a few whoopties in one section before the trail went back into the woods for a while before the trail crossed a rock bridge over the bottom section of dam. Unfortunately we met a huge group of riders at this point and me and Tommy had to wait for them to all cross before we could go across. I was actually a little supprised at how rude some of the riders were at the park. There were a few times when we should have had the right of way they basically pushed us off the trail. I am not complaining as most were nice, but I don’t usually experience this at Oak Mtn (Of course I could be considered the rude one there and we were just out for a comfortable lap today so it didn’t really matter). I had managed to burp my tire on a landing I had jumping off a small ledge and landing leaned over because there was an immediate turn afterwards. I quickly refilled my tire with CO2 not knowing I had greater damage.

We got another few miles in before Tommy and Moran had to head back. Tommy had prior engagements later that day so they had to cut the ride short. At this point I kept going and began to explore a bit. I noticed my rear tire was rolling on me around turns and I stopped at the overlook parking lot to examine the damage. I first saw there was a small hole in the tire and I kept trying to get the Bonty juice I had in there to seal it, but it would not seal. I was a little frustrated as this was a small hole and it should have worked. At this point I also saw that air was leaking from the rim bead. I figured I had gotten some dirt or something in the bead which was keeping it from sealing. I borrowed a floor pump from some bikers in the parking lot and I let the air out, tried to clean the bead and re-aired it up. It still was leaking, so I just gave up and threw my spare tube in it. I aired it up and thanked them for the pump.


I rode backwards through the black diamond part (I really need to look up the names of the sections) and not only jumped the rock but there was a banked section of rock one could ride up on and go around a tree, however there was a gap that had to be hopped in the center. I was not really expecting it and just rode it. I realize that with no picture you have no idea what I am talking about, but imagine the gap was 3’ instead of the 1’ it actually was.

I decided to ride back to the cutoff just so I could have a record of all the trails on my GPS. I found some more singletrack that bypassed this section and it had a pretty easy log ride on it. I actually rode right by it and only saw it looking back through the woods on one of the switchbacks. I rode back and rode across a few times. I arrived where the trail branched off and noticed a trail going into the woods. This trail consisted of lots of loops that I kept exploring. There were quite a few boulder fields that were VERY fun to ride. This stuff was pretty challenging and I played back on this stuff for 30 minutes to an hour just exploring. I found a 7’ drop that appeared people had been jumping off of. It took me a minute or so to get the nerve to just ride down it. Most of the rocks I could just ride up by getting a good bit of speed and then just peddling up. The rocks were amazingly sticky (I didn’t have a problem with traction). There were also many drops off the rocks as well as a decent through a pile of rocks that put a huge smile on my face when I made it to the bottom even though I had to peddle back up the hill to get back out. I really do not know if these trails were supposed to be ridden as I saw no other riders back there, and I will not post the GPS maps in case this is off limits, but they were all marked with ribbons around the trees and small flags on the ground. I would kill to have something like this locally as this type of riding was the most fun I have had in a while.

I saw a few deer on the last part of the ride as I rode the fast curvy single track through the woods. I also ran across more female riders. I was also really surprised how many female rides were out on the trails. These were not the normal girls just riding through the woods, but women who looked like serious riders (they were wearing costumes and you could tell they had been riding for a while). I had to get a picture of the steed before I left as it treated me right this whole trip. I haven’t reiterated it in a while, but this bike kicks ass. I was heading out and the sun was just starting to set so I snapped a picture of the lake also.

All the pictures can be seen here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/RaccoonMountain2007_11_11

First Visit to Raccoon Mountain

We headed up to Tennessee to check out Raccoon Mountain as it was supposed to be a pretty nice trail. We decided to start from the visitor center as we heard they had maps of the trail. We were not really worried about getting lost as we knew it was just a loop around the lake. The leaves were all changing and it was beautiful. It was slightly chilly so I wore a long sleeve shirt under my jersey. We took off and headed counter-clockwise. The trail started out with nice flowing singletrack. It was a nice warm-up for us. We ventured on and the trail continued to be pretty fast and fun. We stumbled on a fallen tree across the trail. It happened to be on a slight downhill so we stopped and piled up some dead trees and branches as transition on the uphill side as they wanted me to jump the log. This was only about 12” so I cautiously approached it the first time and nose dove while jumping it. We worked on the transition a bit more and I got where I could jump it decently. Tommy and Moran jumped it also before we headed on. A nice picture of Moran showing us how the kewl kids land it can be seen here.


We pretty much always turned left at every intersection as we knew that would keep us on the longest trail around the lake. Next we came upon an overlook and the view was incedible. There was a steep down and up that Moran and I rode down. Tommy managed to snap a picture as we rode down.

The next part of the trail we later learned was expert level, but it was very technical with some sections of the tail on the edge of a decent ledge. It was extremely fun. At the beginning of this section we found a rock that was a good 2.5-3’ drop. It had a good transition close to the rock, so we all practiced our jumping. Tommy was the hucking king. The video of him is below.






The next section had a couple of great views but at this point my camera battery was dead. This section was decently rocky and Moran was ahead of us and went over the handle bars. I just heard him crash and looked up and he was piled up with his bike. I tried to take his picture, but the battery was gone. Tommy had to help untangle him from his bike before he could get up. The final section had a few climbs and we finished up with a climb back out to the parking lot.










We got cleaned up and ate dinner at Big River Bar and Brewery. We had to wait an hour for a table, so we went to the bar (the whole restaurant was NON SMOKING!!, I decided I really like Chatanooga) I had their Pumpkin beer while we watched the Auburn/GA game. We all split an appetizer, I had a steak and ate a piece of cheesecake. It was an excellent meal to finish shuch a good day.

The Rest of the pictures can be seen here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/RaccoonMountain2007_11_10

Added a map of the ride:

First Ride in a while for my Brother

Went to Oak Mountain today for an easy ride to let Matthew ride a lap. He has been wanting to get back out there as it has been about 9 months since he has ridden. He is as stubborn as I am about not giving up so I knew he was going to ride the whole thing no matter how long it took. He borrowed my GF Sugar and I quickly guessed at his weight for the shock settings. He also decided to try clipless pedals for the first time. I had my old Time ATACs and old shoes that never quite fit me right. I know they did not fit him very well, but he wanted to try them so he made do. He clipped in and out in the parking lot a few times and we hit the trail. Going counter clockwise everything was going well untill we got past johnson's mountain. Then going up the rocky sections on the way up to the blood rock climb the clipless got him. He fell over a few times trying to negotiate the rocks. To my knowledge both him and Tommy rode all the way up to blood rock.

Once there I tried to climb it again about 5 times. I made it to the turn by the tree a couple of times, but seemed to always get stuck there. My tires were getting more and more wet and sandy with each attempt so I eventually called it and headed on up. I seem to do better by gearing high at the beginning to keep from spinning and downshifting once I get over the first section. Some day I will ride up this thing.

I tried to get Matthew and Tommy to ride the log at the BUMP/Jeep junction as well as the one on the way up the Jeep trail, but I couldn't get them to. Going down the Jeep I stopped at the third ditch to catch Tommy and Matthew jumping since this is the best place to get some air. Tommy went first and flew. I snapped the picture a little early, so he is just launching, but I was thoroughly impressed. He was 3-4 feet in the air and landed about 12 feet down the trail. I tried to get him to do it again but I think it scared him a little. Matthew crouched like he was going to jump, then just coasted out. I am sure the borrowed bike as well as the clipless pedals helped him decide to not be stupid (at least this time out).

Continuing on down the trail we came to the last of the log rides. We all stopped and I got Tommy and Matthew to try and ride it. There were no crashes, so everything was good.

The next item of amusement was at the BMX road crossing. There is a small ditch that I usually bunny hop. Matthew went down to fill up his water bottle and I was playing with hopping the ditch. I was goofing around and was going to pop a wheelie over then hop over to my front wheel. Well I managed to land the front wheel on the edge of the far side and the wheel rolled back down to the bottom. I was precariously balanced on the front wheel for about a second. The camera actually slid out of my back jersey pocket and hit the ground before I got unclipped and got my feet on the ground. Tommy witnessed the whole thing so maybe he will give a better account, but this is the closest I have come to crashing the new bike. I know it is coming and me acting stupid doesn't help, but I have not flipped the bike yet.

I ran into Eddie Jones on the last section of trail. I had been wanting to meet him, so we stopped and chatted for a few minutes. He also has a motolite also and we talked bikes for a few minutes and went on our way.

Back at the truck we sat in the back and had a beer. During this time about 10 cars of boy scouts pulled up all around us. I don't know the policy on drinking so we finishe up and headed on out. However during this time there was a wreck in the parking lot. Some lady in a huge SUV backed into a pickup truck on the road. I have no idea why she kept backing up. The guy in the truck started honking as soon as she started backing up but she just kept going till she hit him. I am pretty sure I saw her on the phone when this happened.

All in all it was a fun ride. The weather was awsome and with all the stops for pictures and playing on obstacles it took about 3:15 for the lap. As is my standard after ride tradition we went to McAlisters afterwards. We hung out there for a while and laughed at the pictures and videos I took on this ride.

In one of the videos I was trying to take pictures over my shoulder, but I accidently had it on movie mode.

Pictures and Videos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/OakMountain11_04_2007

Day at Sway

Had a great day yesterday! I met up with Charlie (cartecs3) and Charles (K2Biker) for a ride of Swayback yesterday. I really never know what to expect when I ride with other riders for the first time. For some reason I always think I am going to be struggling to keep up the whole time. Anyway, Charles was running a few minutes late, so me and Charlie decided to ride the quick two mile loop to warm up. I have a terrible time trying to set a pace and think I was going a little fast (as I was in the lead), but it felt really good to be on the bike.

Charles was in the parking lot when we got back and shortly thereafter we hit the trails. I know it may be hard to believe, but I think Charles was even more excited about riding than I was. How can anyone not get a huge high from peddling through the woods on such a beautiful day. The weather was almost perfect with the trees starting to change colors. I even love the smell of Fall.

Anyway, I carried the Edge with me for the first time, but I forgot the heart rate monitor. I probably would have taken it off mid ride anyway as we were just playing an having a good time. I did however manage to figure out how to get a map of the ride graphed which you can see. I had to turn off the auto-pause because it kept beeping at me whenever we would pause for a second or whenever I would try to hit an obstacle a few times.

We rode for a lap and managed to pick up a couple of single speed guys that Charlie knew from the Dauset Race. They rode with us for a while and then headed on back. We continued on around the black loop and then headed back to the cars. After a snack and refilling my camelback, I decided to carry my camera. We headed back out in no particular direction and just wandered around playing. I have all the pictures on my other computer, so I am going to try to get on there and get them added to this.

See all the pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/grundcm/Swayback11_03_2007

Maybe all for the better

Last Thursday I carried my bike to work and played during lunch. I swapped out my clipless for some platforms and we headed out. Me and Jimmy found a nearby lot and stacked some boards up to practice riding skinnies. After a while we took off looking for more fun. We rode to a nearby park and rode around a little. I realized how much I depend on the clipless as I kept pulling my feet off the pedals. I mainly switched to platfiorms to help with bunnyhopping correctly. I tend to cheat when in clipless and am trying to train myself to do it correctly. We eventually found a long curb and attempted to ride it for a while. I was trying to hop up and of course spun the pedal into my shin. One more scar to remember my biking! Jimmy finally got a slow leak so we headed back to the office quickly before it went completely flat.

I was origionally going to go to Raccoon Mountain this weekend with some friends to ride up there, but it ended up falling apart as one of the group had some "female" problems (He had to spend the weekend with a female :-) ). He asked if we could push it a weekend, so I guess we are going next weekend.

This freed up this weekend up for some local riding. I found out Charlie and another endurance rider were going to swayback to ride 3-4 of laps. I have been wanting to put some miles on the bike so I am plannig on meeting them tomorrow and see how long I can hang with them.

Sunday I am going to try to get out to Oak Mountain to meet the BUMP guys for a lap. I think my little brother and Tommy are probably going to join me also on this one.