"I'm Around"

That’s the theme of the weekend. Why? Well because that is what was said to me by a complete stranger while I was driving in my car to Columbia on Friday. I had one of those random days where weird things just occur.

Barrett and I got out for a ride at Manchester this morning. It poured and poured Friday night so I knew Manchester would be in fantastic shape. You see this place is mostly sand so the only time to ride it is directly after a rain. All the sand pits are packed and your tires grip them nicely.

So how are the trails out at Manchester? I think this sign says a lot.




We also hit up the Palmetto trail for some elevation change.

Me on the Palmetto trail.



They have some strange signage out there.



Barrett


A little 26 mile jaunt through the Sumter Forest.

There was a lot of damage to Campbell’s Pond. Does anybody know what happened? Looks like a bulldozer destroyed the loop right by the pond.

Peace.

Warren Miller Says. . .

The last couple rides I have been on were really awesome. They got me thinking about bikes in general. Two rides ago, Eric and I were chatting about free riders and the moves they pull out on trails. We are talking about serious mountains and big moves. The kind of stuff where if you screw up, you will most likely not be on the bike for a long time.

Their bikes are being used in the way they were designed to be used. If ya got 8 inches of squish on your bike and ya only got one rock on the trail that is three inches high off the ground. Well you get the point. It’s impressive to see people utilize their machines properly.

On my most recent ride, we saw these brave cats. So I went out to their website to check them out. We all rode the same trail at the end of the day. “Sinkhole” I am sure my technique coming down the trail was slightly different than theirs but I would put a “Benjamin Franklin” down on the table and say that we all had a blast doing it.

I used to think that this was the type of riding I wanted to do. I pedaled my bike up the hill for one reason, to come down as fast as possible. I now enjoy going up almost as much as bombing downhill.

I think about the bikes that my friends and I ride. Some of us ride gears with suspension, fully rigid single speeds, fixed gears, big wheels, little wheels and every combination in-between. Everyone I ride with seems to have fun all the time, unless their bike is broken.

The point is to have fun while you ride your bike. It also gives you a reason to eat an extra chip at lunch or maybe have another brew with dinner. It leads me to quote one of my favorite people, Warren Miller.

“It doesn’t really matter, as long as you have fun doing it.”

“These guys (in reference to skier’s hucking off cliffs) get that same rush of adrenaline that you or I would getting a foot of air in your local park.”

“When you’re lying on your death bed, will you say ‘Man I wish I would have worked more.’?”

“If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do.”

Fishy says ride your bike!



Get out there and have fun people.

Full Moon Monsters

There lived two hikers whose paths crossed on one particular day. The day showed sunshine but on their particular side of the mountain, the shade loomed.

As I hiked up, I noticed I was being followed. I snapped this accomplice’s picture not knowing if she was dangerous. I tried to stay out of sight.




I prepared a perch to try and gather more information about this dangerous subject. As my shutter released, I quickly understood that my situation was now dire.



She saw me!

It was fight or flight for me to stay safe. I chose the latter as I did not have enough information yet.

I saw that this particular subject has quite the repertoire of trail moves.



Walking alone could not keep me out in front. I had to move quickly.




I was only able to catch a quick glimpse of her bouldering skills as I was doing my best to stay ahead.



As the day crept on, I slowly realized I must let my evil goody two shoes stride out ahead of me so I may capture her every move.

Click me for the movie. . .

After a ton of climbing, I realized that I was going about things all wrong. My trail nemesis was now using tools!


After our meeting, we were no longer enemies. Now we were allies in our quest to overcome the mountain. Smiles commenced even after long climbs toward the sun.



Finally we made it to the top!





There were trail features to keep you from expiring out in these hills.




On the way home, we were greeted with a full moon.


Ok in all reality that was an awesome hike. Kristin is a trooper for always smiling even when "crab crawling" across boulders and asking me "Where is the trail again."

Mike told me that these trails in Jones Gap State Park were built by Mountain bikers. Well if they were, they were more of this type of mountain biker who we saw in the woods last week and not my type of mountain biker.

Peace.

Z Wilson Ride

Dear Blog,

We went on a very fun ride Satruday, I had good time. My buddies showed up and they brought their bicycles!

Santa Claus brought me a brand new camera, as you will see.

Jeremy gathered a bunch of us Mountain Bike Folk for a pre-New Year’s ride.

The day was luminous and overcast at the same time. I hitched a ride with the two E’s (Eric and Erinna) along with Mike Brown for the last half of the ride to the trailhead. We spotted some leftover snow on the side of the road at higher elevations, but the temp didn’t follow suit.

Some blurry snow. . .

Eric's car filled with 29'ers.




It seems difficult to put into words how this ride was. I will do my best. It was fast, steep, slightly technical, ominous, foggy, creeky, fun, fun, fun. Yes that’s right it was creeky. The kind of creeks that make you cringe in winter. We took them on without a hitch. . .

Well Almost, here is a picture of Dave going along swimmingly. He decided to take a head dip.

Sorry Dave, I bet that was a little cold huh?

Our first single track descent of the day was super steep. Get your butt over the back tire or you are immediately OTB (A$$ over tea kettle for you non-bikers). I normally like super steep terrain as long as there is a bail out point. I was negotiating logs better than I had in a while but at point I just couldn't get my back wheel back on the ground and did a soft over the bars crash. My only one of the day. Eric wasn't so lucky, he tried to pull a tech move across a creek and ended up looking more like a kayaker and less like a biker. I asked him how it felt to smash your arm on a rock. Here is his answer:



We crossed creeks and waterfalls. Some of us just got our feet wet. Others, well others chose different options:



We climbed



and climbed



Some more climbing. . .



We even contributed to the local economy.



I was the last to buy a soda and the owner said "Thank you very much, y'all come back real soon ya hear."

Did I say we crossed creeks?



We did, and waterfalls.



But not that one.

Luckily we didn't have any of these.



I was showing my colors.



The last trail we came down was called Sinkhole. For obvious reasons, here is the sinkhole that is right smack dab in the middle of the trail.



That trail is steep in spots. Here is Eric riding the trail with a beat up bike and no chain.

Wow it was a long day and an awesome one on the bike.

180 degrees

That’s what a ride like yesterday’s can do to you.

Here is part of our group chilling in a place with no views and little visibility.

All pictures are courtesy of Pisgah Productions. Thanks Eric!

Any weekday spent in the woods is a good one, however today was off the charts!

I was up by 6:00, I bid my family adieu as they were headed home to Indianapolis Indiana, dropped my Father off at GSP and headed to the mountains for some fun in the sun.

The morning was crisp and there was a light layer of frost still on the ground when I pulled up at the Horse Stables. Joe was there waiting, punctual as always. I don’t know if that guy has ever been late for a mountain bike ride.

We chatted while our group slowly amassed to be myself, SingleTrack Pig, Eric, Erinna, Dieriden, D-Kuntz, Clellan and Clay leaving from the Stables.

Our route:

Clawhammer, Black Mountain, Buckhorn, Bennet, 477, Clawhammer, Maxwell Cove, Black Mountain, Grassy Road, Sycamore Cove, back to the cars.

I was excited about the route because I had never ridden Bennet or Buckhorn.

Clellan took off on the climb and after the two E’s showed up, we made our way up Clawhammer.

Clawhammer is a four mile climb that pitches up pretty steep in spots. Eric and I chatted it up on the beginning of the climb. We were talking about big bikes and large jumps since we own quite the opposite of the spectrum.

Once we made it to the top of Clawhammer we took a short break before climbing the steeps of Black Mountain to get to Buckhorn. About a minute after we showed up, Scott from Indianapolis rolled up via Buckhorn or formerly known as “the other side” of the mountain. Just yesterday I had left him a note on MTBR that said exactly this:

Rideorsit,I can't guarantee that we will be able to meet up as plans change frequently with this group. If you want to try and meet us at the top of Clawhammer, go for it!We will probably start climbing around 10:00, so however long it takes us to climb the hammer is when we will be there. Good Luck.

Here is a picture that Eric snapped right as we discovered our luck.

Wow my pessimism and a little trail karma goes a long way. Scott owns Indy Bikes in Indianapolis. I will have to check that store out next time I am in town.

Joe mastering the gears, he made some great climbs yesterday.

We continued on, now 9 riders strong headed toward virgin trail in my mind. Buckhorn and Bennet were a ton of fun. There are some creepily techy spots that I both hiked and biked. Eric was doing a great job of cleaning tech sections on his Fully Rigid while others with gears and suspension just gazed by in awe.
Jody and I, pushing up the steeps.

The last section of Bennet really got me smiling as we flew down the hill with numerous drops and speeds fast enough to forget about all else except the flow of your bike across the dirt.

We were spit out onto 477 and we headed up to the car for a quick break. We dropped Jody, Eric, Erinna, and Scott and headed up Maxwell Cove for some Black Mountain fun. The climbs were starting to get tough but with the sun shinning through we just kept grinning and pushed on.

We sped down Black Mountain and continued onto Sycamore Cove. After a short break, I was able to hammer the SS up the climb on Sycamore and then we cruised down.

It was an awesome day. No mechanicals out of 9 people on MTBR group ride. Wow!

We got in about 25 miles in 5 hours. Not bad at all considering it was a leisurely pace.

Mommy What's Vacation?

Vacation rocks! One more day of it. We are meeting at the Horse stable tomorrow for some fun.

Otherwise not much to report.

Check out the pictures from last Saturday's ride here.

Thanks for the pictures Mountain Goat.

Coleman Boundary

A photo snapped from a waterfall in Jones Gap State Park.

I got a four hour guided tour of Coleman Boundary from Jeremy this past Saturday. We knew it was going to be wet but Jeremy told me not to worry because it was mostly rock gardens anyway. Sweet, perfect to give the Walt Works a true test.

We started out below the clouds and fog climbing a gravel road. Soon we switched to a short hike a bike up a real steep rocky section. I couldn’t contain myself since Jeremy had the camera out so I hiked up a section and came down for some action shots. As I hiked up, I wondered if I should really be tackling a steep rocky section this early in the day but I nailed it and we continued on.

Soon we were at the top of the first decent of the day. I let Jeremy lead and I came around the first corner and found Jeremy lying on the ground. Whoops, he collected himself and we moved on.

The water from the ground was cold and I was dumb when I got ready so I was getting cold quickly. The rocks were insanely slippery and everywhere. From baby heads to boulders, they rocked my world.

Halfway down the trail I realized I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. The only way I knew how hard I was squeezing on the brake levers, was by how fast I was stopping.

Coleman is definitely a place that I will be visiting again. We hit some great trails and there are some awesome sights as well.

I don’t ask for bike related Christmas gifts. However, I have Ms. Creativity in my life and she “gets it.”

I know for a fact that I am the only living person with a personalized Karate Monkey ornament. Yes, I rock and you all are jealous. Ok, I am kidding about that part.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday.

Something Other Than Rain

Merry Christmas!

Don't forget about the ride next Thursday and unfortunately the pre new year's ride is all sold out.

Peace

Late Arrival: I was notified that some hot Chicks might want to come on the New Year's ride. There will be an exception to the rule for these circumstances only.

Dupont Doe

Lady Slipper picture stolen from www.dupontforest.com.


I met up with Jeremy last night for a spin through Dupont. I got there a little early and took off for a pre-warm-up.

I went out to the Airstrip and saw six deer grazing in the field. The little ones stuttered as though they wanted to run but mommy and daddy must have told them to stay put as I was not a threat. You gotta love Single Speed's for their noiseless compliancy.

Going down Airstrip I saw another white tail bouncing in front of me at the bottom of the trail. I saw more deer in fifteen minutes than most hunters have probably seen all year.

I took the quick route back to the lot and found Jeremy getting ready. We took the following route:

Reasonover --> Turkey --> Holly Mountain --> Reasonover --> Airstrip --> Shelter Rock --> New section of Corn Mill Shoals --> Shoals --> Laurel Ridge --> Mine Mountain

We started with a pretty quick clip and kept it that way the entire ride. I was able to keep it under control last night even though at times following Mr. Goat Epics was causing me to push it pretty hard. He has gears after all.

He would cruise ahead of me on the flats and then when the trail kicked back up my bike would float right back up behind him.

I was able to make it up all the steep climbs even though it was my second hard effort in two days. I assembled about 40 hard miles over the past two days. Its surely time for a rest.

Rider out.

Outer Limits

I have a problem, admitting that problem is the first step to recovery. I ride beyond my limits when I acquire new equipment. Last night Dennis, Rick and I rocked all the trails at Paris.

My legs felt really good last night and I think that contributed to my outer-limit experience.

I was riding well but going down the tech section on Sulphur I decided I was a super-hero strung out on adrenaline. I was trying to beat my back wheel through the center of the earth when I realized I was on a roller coaster of disaster with nothing good about to happen. I managed to hold on through the thick of it all but I had a qualified dismount once I slowed to a non-death speed. It was an “exciting” moment to say the least.

Saw this guy rocking it last night. Good to see you are still rocking your mountain thingamajig.

I will be concentrating on riding within my limits tonight.

Dupont tonight!

Dupont can be creepy at night. That goose bump, hair standing on the back of your neck, heart rate zooming for no reason kind of creepy that digs deep into the soul. You don’t believe me? Ride out there by yourself at night and you will see.

We will be riding during a new moon tonight. So if the night is crisp we should get some awesome views of the Milky Way. Otherwise, it will be really really dark. The sort of dark that creeps around when Tim Burton directs a film.

Yikes! I’m thinking a back up light is in order tonight.

My Princess has given me Saturday free from any princessly duties so I can Mountain bike at Coleman Boundary. You rock Princess!

Just a note here, she would still be referred to as a princess even if I wasn’t biking on Saturday. I don’t want anybody in particular thinking that these things are conditional.

Peace.

Rides Rides Rides

The weather is cooperating nicely for a Paris Mountain ride. So leave those fancy road machines at home and bring your mountain bike for some fun.

Check the new Icycle site out. I can’t wait for this race. It is going to be killer. The mysterious free lance web guy has got another sweet logo kicking. I was going to promote it here but there is no way for me to do that without stealing bandwidth from their site. Can a brother get a logo for promoting another brother’s race?

Late Edit: Ask and you shall receive. Thanks Brado!


A couple of rides to note:

Tomorrow night at Dupont! Meet at the Fawn Lake access around 6:15. Come on Dave this one’s for you. I know you still have a bicycle.

December 28th Joe and I are hitting up Pisgah around the Horse Stables.

December 30th Pisgah mountain guide extraordinaire is taking us for a jaunt through Wilson’s Creek. This will be a pre-New Year’s celebratory ride.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That’s about the only way to put it when you are gone from your house for a week in a far away land.

Friday’s conversation at the airport goes a little something like this:

Me: “My flight has been canceled.”
Counter Lady: “You have been re-booked for Sunday at 7:45.”
Me: “HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA.”
Counter Lady: “I can put you on Standby for the 7:45 flight to Greenville this evening.”
Me: “Ok, Please check Columbia SC.”
Counter Lady: “You are on the 3:15 flight to Columbia SC.”
Me: “Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.”

So I phoned home to Kristin and let her know the change of plans and after two delays I was in Columbia around 7:00 in the evening.

Last Thursday I received my new Walt Works fork in the mail. I was pretty happy except for the fact that the wrong color was shipped. Saturday morning I went to pick up both my bikes from the LBS (local bike shop and not the local beer store) and low and behold four billion road bikers were getting ready to do “the loop.”

I took the Drunken Monkey donned in it’s new attire out for a “urban assault” to see what I could see about the WW fork. I knew it was lighter than my Surly but man it seemed (there’s about 3 miles of trail DT) as though the WW was really eating the bumps up.

Sunday Morning SingleTrack Pig, Broussard, Andrew and I all went for a ride in the North Mills area of Pisgah. Our Route:

FS 1206 --> FS 5000 --> ??? --> Bear Branch --> FS 5000 --> Spencer ??? or ?????? (that’s either gap or branch) --> Trace Ridge --> Neverending Road --> Fletcher --> Lower Trace --> ??? --> back to the cars.

While we were doing this Meghan, Kristin and two pups went to find Slate Rock. Rendezvous in 3 ½ hours.

It was a sweet loop around 25 miles and we burned it in 3 ½ hours. I can tell you that sitting around doing nothing for a week and a half has really helped my fitness.

I took the lead coming down Bear Branch and it was a blast. The leaves have been battered around/down enough that you can pick some really clean lines out in Pisgah again. We flew over the berms and dips and back out to FS 5000.

I was chatting to Andrew about the fact that I haven’t cleaned the singletrack climb to trace before on the SS. There is a super-steep section that pitches up over some eroded double track and continues to be steep through a field and then slightly tapers off for another good 150 yards. Nobody made it. Not even the geared machine. I did however make it further than I had before.

At the top of the climb, we decided to ride Trace Ridge. I hadn’t ridden it in a long time and I am not quite sure why. It was a BLAST! I forgot how fast that bad boy is. The WW fork was eating it up like a madman hopped up on PCP. Seriously, I looked down a couple times and expected to see moving parts on the Fork. Nope, still rigid. Trace is so fast and long that I wondered if the fun might last forever. It wasn’t a dream world and it eventually ended but the adrenaline rush stayed around for the climb up neverending road.

In a direct blow to it’s name Neverending road actually ends. For us, it ended at the Fletcher Creek trailhead. We blasted down and up Fletcher for a fun ride. I had only ridden Fletcher once long ago and it was a blast too! I really like the section that blasts from the woods into a field for about ¼ mile and then it pops you right back into the woods. Neat effect.

Wow, it was a really beautiful day, temps in the 70’s and beautiful vistas all around on the trails. I am back in the zone now.

We got done with the ride and no girls were to be found. We drank all of our beer and no girls were to be found. We drove to the Slate Rock/Pilot Cove loop and found the car but no girls. Andrew wondered if his dog had eaten the girls. Luckily this was not the case and they had taken some “detours” but were safe and happy so all was well.

A great day in the woods!

Ride at Paris tomorrow, Dupont Wednesday.

Peace.

Take It To The House.

Hopefully something like this will get me home today.

Have a good weekend and ride ride ride.

Mental Exhaustion

I almost had forgotten that trying to crunch through extremely difficult logic for hours on end can become just as exhausting as extreme physical exertion.

I will have some thoughts on this when I can focus thoughts toward pleasure and not work.

If you are looking to have a great ride this Sunday, drop me a line. We are headed to Coleman Boundary which I have never been to before.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy no more work and new trails.

Peace out People.

Coordination

I sit here at work late this evening with nothing really to do. It is just the way IT works. There is a ton of HUAW (Hurry UP And Wait) work. Plus the fact that I am stuck in the office until all of my co-workers finish their work. We only have one rental Mini-Van. Yah, we are rollin’ like pimps for sure in our Kia. I’ve heard it’s the Cadillac of Minivans.

Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to write down some thoughts I had a couple weeks ago while running. I often think about why I love doing the things that I am passionate about. I think coordination plays a key role for me.

As Michael will tell you, I was not a coordinated young man. I pretty much had a hard time with any coordination that went beyond hand-eye coordination. Thank God for Clecovision and Nintendo. I will admit that I was quite awkward while growing up.

Keeping this in mind, I took to snow skiing very quickly. I remember the first time my Pops took me to Paoli Peaks. I took a quick lesson on the bunny slope and then I was on my way to a coordinated addiction.

There is something special about being at harmony with your muscle reflexes. Creating that muscle memory is what it takes to become fluid or consistent at sport.

I am not saying that I am coordinated at Mountain Biking but I am definitely more coordinated skiing or mountain biking than I am at walking or running.

Being away from home makes me remember how much I take for granted.

Did anyone ride for me this week?

What do you want under your tree?

Yah that is really my tree and it is real. My nieces and nephew are going to go crazy when they see their gifts under my tree! It will make my year.
That is a racing machine right there.

Life 2,000 miles away from my bicycles is not a good one.

Please ride some miles for me tonight at Paris.

Cool Stuff

Can you tell which ones I like the best?

Basking Ridge is no vacation spot, I can tell you.

Travel

Here are my answers from yesterday.

If I could only ride one place the rest of my life, it would be Pisgah. I have left too much of my DNA out there to just write it off for some Western Single track that I have never ridden. Would like to though, and I am glad this is hypothetical.

If I could only have one bike, it would be a custom Titanium Hardtail 29'er that had a derailer hanger so I could throw gears on or a rigid fork and one gear.

I did say if you could only race one race a year what would it be? My choice for next year would be Shenandoah 100. Yes, I really have that much angst for not finishing this year.

Sunday, I have to leave for Basking Ridge New Jersey. This is not my choice mind you. I am being sent for senseless corporate reasons.

I will most likely try to make updates since it will be the only thing that keeps me sane whilst being around my co-workers for a week straight.

Anybody know of anything cool to do in Basking Ridge? Crap, I didn't think so.

If your interested to see where Basking Ridge is, click on me.

Thought Provoking

If you could only ride one race all year, what would it be?

If you were limited to one bike for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If you were limited to one park to ride in for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I will give my answers tomorrow. Let me hear yours.

Roll Out.

Catastrophic Failure

Ty, Andrew, Matt, Dennis and TC all showed up for a ride at Paris last night. It was cold last night but once we were pedaling up the mountain it wasn’t so bad.

The night was going as it usually would with TC in the lead flying all over the trail. We did our normal route that hits all of the trails. Apparently my favorite downhill has it in for me this winter. Last time we rode this down hill I had to case it out in the weeds to avoid killing Dennis.

This time was a new experience for me. I was cruising down Brissy having a blast when all of the sudded my front brake lever hit my fingers that were wrapped around the grip. I had some old brake pads on the bike, so I figured I had worn them useless. I pulled the lever with all of my fingers out of the way and the lever easily went flush to the grip. Oh $%*&! That can’t be good. I still had a back brake so I continued down the trail. Then I could taste something metallic in my mouth. I had the fleeting thought that something really bad had happened.

Once I made it to the bottom, I pulled out my alternate light and took a look at the brake. The main fastener that connects the hose to the reservoir by the brake lever had come completely off. Therefore my fluid had spilled all over the bike and forest. Not good at all.

I have been running Hayes 9 hydraulic brakes for almost three years now. This is the first time I have had any problem out of the normal realm of problems.

I made my way up the road back with the group and we took it back to the car via Sulphur Springs.

Ty had a fire kicking and had ordered pizza. Whiskey, Beer and pizza is a good way to take your mind off of catastrophic brake failure.

Peace.

Bad Idea Riding

I had to take that one from TeamDicky. That is what I am going to do tonight. Even though my riblet says no to most of my movements, I am still riding tonight. I have to go on a Bidness trip next week, so I can let it heal then and over Christmas.

Come ride Paris Mountain tonight if you live in the area.

Everyone in Bloggerland is talking about 2007. I am not going to open my mouth about too many races this year. When you tell important people in your life about things that you want to do, there is an obligation that runs deep into the soul. I do know what races I will be doing for sure:

The cross country single speed and downhill at the Icycle.

Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race! Nothing else needs to be said.

Shenandoah Mountain 100/75. Hopefully I will be doing the 100 mile option this year.

That is all I am committing to right now. Sure its not a very long list but I don’t even know what bike I will be riding in 2007 yet. I can guarantee that I could take the 2007 endurance bike here though. Do big wheels fit under a Christmas Tree?

Easy Days

I met up with Monty and Joe for a quick ride through Harbison on Saturday. It was a good thing that I got my squishy bike back from the shop as my rib needs some serious healing time. It doesn’t really hurt while I am riding but getting out of bed in the morning seems to be a challenge. Well more so than normal anyway.

Everything that I have researched online says I need about a month to fully recover. We will see.

I made the decision to try a short ride on Sunday at Manchester. I got to do my favorite trail and then it started spitting a wet cold rain. So I decided it was best to head back to the car.

Kristin and I went to see “Casino Royale” this weekend. I think the acting was good but the cheesy lines leave something to be desired.

That’s all today. Busy!

Let It Begin!

I have decided that this race is to kick off my 2007 season. It looks like a ton of fun and there is a night downhill race!

This race goes along well with the comments yesterday. There is a chance this race could be held in the snow. Yeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaww.

It will be my first attempt at a downhill race, I can't wait. I will be doing the downhill fully rigid. They definitely have a "hard ass" category but I am not sure if they have a "Popeye" category.

Thanks for the feedback yesterday!

Hey if you don't do anything else this weekend, ride your bike!