Southern Traverse

   The southern traverse is an IMBA epic ride near Harrionsburg, VA and for good reasons it has it all from beautiful road riding to rock gardens. We usually go up once a year before the trails start getting overgrown.  We park near the end of the trail and do the 14 miles of road riding at the beginning of the loop.  Usually, riding a mountain bike on pavement isn't much fun but this is a beautiful stretch of road runs thru the valley.

Jason, Kat and Kelly riding down the valley.

It's 65 degrees where did that snow come from?

Before you know it the paved road section is over and it's time for the work. The next 4 miles are all uphill on a fire road climbing about 1500ft of elevation.  You've got to climb some mountains if you want the good views and fun downhills. 

















After another mile of single track climbing you're finally on the ridge. You've got 11miles of fun up-down single track. We were surprised to find that even though the temperature was in the sixty's, there were still patches of icy snow on the trail. Combined with the narrow off camber trails of the southern traverse and it equaled some interesting riding and a few short hike a bikes.

View from the trail looking back on the ridge

Look a picture of me!

The last 4 miles are all downhill with some crazy fast sections. This is where I crashed on a loose corner last year, making me get 14+ stitches in my knee. This year I took it a little slower, making sure we didn't have a repeat.

The gang rolling back to the car.