Unprepared epic

 Sunday was the Dragon's Tail race which is a grueling 36 mile race with 6500ft of climbing.  Some of my teammates were doing it but for some reason I just didn't feel like racing it. So some friends headed and I up to the mountains to piece together a bunch of fire roads and trails.  We had all done sections of these trails but never had we pieced them all together. We way underestimated just how hard doing this would be and none of us had enough food or water. In hindsight it would have been easier to do the race, at least then we would have aid stations.

To get us started we headed up a Goff mountain road, a nice fireroad that take you from the valley on up. We had originally planned to turn up the Glenn Wood Horse Trail but Davy thought we should go on up to the parkway and then drop down the horse trail just to add some more climbing.  So up we went all the way to Petities gap where we bombed down a fun section of single track and then traversed across the mountain.

Davy hitting a hard creek crossing on the horse trail.

After the single track we hit Hunting Creek Road and continued on up the mountain. At the top it stops being a gravel road and becomes a nice wide grassy double track.  Way more climbing on the grassy section then I remember but I guess that's because I usually ride it in the other direction.

Chad at the end of the grassy double track

Now we made it back to the parkway at sunset fields. At this point we were at mile 20 and had climbed 4568 ft of elevation. We started to realize that we were going to be low on water and food with one person already being completely out. It would have been a good time to turn back instead of going over the other side of the mountain but, not wanting to cut the ride short, we went on. The next section down Apple Orchard Falls to Cornelius Creek is a super fun and rocky descent going for almost 5 miles. Once at the bottom we head back up the lower section of Apple Orchard which is slightly uphill but with lots of technical rocks to navigate. After about a mile of that we crossed back over to a fireroad to make the final big climb of the day. At this point water was low and the ride had started to wear on some people.

Kat flying through the creek

Some team work had to be used on this crossing

Once back to Sunset fields the call was made that the ride was taking longer then expected, and we needed to find the quickest safest way back to the cars. Everyone was out of water or close to empty by this point. We had planned to go find some single track none of us had done and then climb back to terrapin mountain trail and return that way. Instead we decided to make the 400ft of climbing up the blue ridge parkway to thunder ridge and then descended back to hunting creek road. Even that meant we had to climb back up a gravel road to get to the cars, which proved to be too much for Chad, who was having cramps from lack of food.  He waited at the intersection for us to get the cars and pick him up on the way.  Overall, it was a great ride with 44miles and 7600ft of climbing and I actually felt fairly fresh and ready to keep riding at the end. Whatever I'm doing training wise seems to be working well for me, so let's hope I can turn it into some good race results. Others didn't fair to well with Davy passing out and freaking me out on the drive home from dehydration. I'll be back to hopefully do this ride again but with more supplies next time!!


Strava Over the mountain and through the woods and back without enough food/water

 


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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.

Something other than biking

Work gave me Friday off and my friends were heading to Snowshoe,WV to enjoy the almost 5 feet of snow they have received in March alone.  So I decided to join in and found some great conditions. The silver creek area didn't open til 2pm after being closed for weeks which meant untouched powder.  The far lift was closed but that didn't stop us from doing some hiking and enjoying a untouched powder filled ski run.  We even managed to duck in the woods and follow some of the mountain bike DH trails. Anyway on with the pictures and video!

 Hitting the lift line under the Western express

Even enough snow to go into the trees.

Another shot of the powder at silver creek

Bicycle maintenance.

With the weather being crappy Sunday I figured it was finally time to install the new super awesome Push bushings in the Turner.  Of course this leads to doing all sorts of other bike maintenance I'd been meaning to do but was to busy riding to actually do.  Five hours of chilling in the garage greasing things, replacing cables and cleaning parts.  Since doing all this I've managed to get in one ride on the newly redone bike. I can't say I can tell a difference in the bushings but the bike is quite. Well worth the work now if I could just get around to doing the same with my other four bikes.

Half a bike

The mess that is my work bench

Where is spring?

This week,on Monday, I came down with a terrible stomach flu, putting me off the bike until Friday. This would also be my first attempt at riding since hurting my ribs while racing. Fortunately, Friday night was my club's (Greater Lynchburg Off-road Cyclist) first social ride of the season.  It's great ride to get back into the swing of things, a split between riding and chatting. It was a good ride, but the ribs still aren't up to par and every bump made me remember they were injured.

 

The crew getting ready.

Saturday, I had planned on a road ride with some friends, but they had to bail. I decided to go do something at little different that I had been meaning to do. The High Bridge State Park trail is only about 20 mins east of my house but I had never gone. It's a 31 mile long "rails to trail" with the highlight being the High Bridge, which is 125ft above the Appomattox River. I went and parked at the start of the trail in Pamplin not really knowing of far I would ride.

The start of the trail

Cruising along the flat smooth tail I made it to mile 25 and the high bridge in no time. The trail doesn't get a lot of travel except for around the bridge itself.  I took a nice break and enjoyed the view and then decided to press on and go all the way to the end of the trail.  I regretted that later when I bonked since I had only brought one pack of shot blocks for food.  By the end of the day I put in 63miles in 4.5hrs. It felt good to get a nice long ride in, even if it was on flat gravel.

The Epic  chillin on the bridge

Sunday SNOW!! Looks like up to 6 inches as it's still coming down. I'm ready for winter to be over last year it was already 70 degrees by this time.

View from the front porch

Being all roadie

The new park on the James river

 River road by dan4jeepin

Every since my crash last week my ribs haven't felt up to mountain biking so I've been forced to all road.  Fortunately for me the weather actually warmed up for a couple days making for some nice road riding conditions.  Friday after work I hit the usual river road ride which runs along the James river right across from downtime Lynchburg.  Then I started adding some other loops and exploring a little and ended up with almost a 2hr ride.  Even stopped off to check out the new boat ramp and park that was built. 

 Parkway north by dan4jeepin      Saturday the weather was still looking rainy in the morning but the forecast called for a short break in the middle of the day with temps climbing to almost 70!  I decided I would head to the parkway and hope the rain cleared. Things turned out beautiful even  though the roads were still wet and I was actually overdressed for the temperatures. 

Even found some snow for a bike holder.

My plan was to ride out for about an hour to the north from 130 but the weather was so nice I ended up continuing on up.  This might have been a mistake since I didn't bring much food and started to feel like I was bonking on the way back.  It also didn't help that I couldn't stand and pedal for more then a few seconds without my ribs forcing me to stop.  Fortunately for me its more downhill then up on the way back south to the car.

Great day with plenty for climbing which hopefully will pay off training wise. This week my club's (GLOC) group rides start back! Let's hope those ribs get better by Wednesday so I can get back in the woods. 

The shootout! Danville VA

     This was the first race of the 2013 XC season for me. At first, I didn't think I was going to get to race because of work. I didn't really do much training, thinking I had another month before my first race. At the last minute that changed and I tried to sign up.  This was a USAC sanctioned race and even though I had been told you could race expert with a one day, I was wrong! After some poking at the race director, by me and some of my teammates who wanted to race, they gave in and created an open expert category for expert racers like me that weren't interested in qualifying for nationals. Even though this race was the first of the year it was also the VA State Championship.  This makes no sense to me but it's the USAC, which I've learned makes very little sense.  What it did mean was that we would be racing some of the best riders around, including pro riders.
      Sunday morning my wife and I met my teammate, and shop owner, and rode together down to Danville. It was a beautiful day with temperatures hitting almost 70 degrees, major change from the 40s that I had been used to riding in.

My wife, Karoline, and teammates Davy and Allen

   We got to the race with plenty of time and watched the end of the SS/sport race. The race director came by and told us they were going to extend the expert race to 4 laps since one of the pros claimed an easy lap only took 23min. Not sure where he got that lap time, but there was no way anyone turned an easy 23min lap.  After some confusion with when the open experts were supposed to go, we were off.  I went ahead and fell to the back of the line knowing these were some crazy fast rider and usually start slow in races. 
   Lap 1 went well other then having to run up a muddy hill after spinning out. The course was fairly easy except for the number of tight turns. Lap 2 started off well and I even caught and passed a couple people. Then about three quarters of the way through the lap it all went wrong.  There was a small log that had rotted away, something that shouldn't have given any trouble at all to anyone, but I had to go and screw it up by trying to keep pedaling without slowing. My pedal hit something, and before I could react, I was flying into a log, chest first. After slamming into it I knew I hurt my ribs pretty bad. I regained my breath after a minute on the ground and dusted myself off. I noticed my GPS was missing and took a couple more minutes searching for it in the leaves. I was hurting but thought I was okay enough to finish the race, so I got back to pedaling.
   By lap 3 I could tell I was hurting and pulling on the bars did not feel good at all. A couple people caught back up to me, but I was determined to at least finish.  About half way through the lap, the crash caught back up to me and I suddenly couldn't breath or focus. I knew the race was over for me so I found the shortest route back to the finish line and called it.  That night and the next day I felt like I had been hit by a truck with my ribs, neck and back killing me. Now 4 days later things are being to feel better again, but mountain biking is still out of the question. 

Me post crash, I believe, but still rolling.

Next event??