Life has been stressful lately.  Between work, family, taking care of the house, and my wife getting ready to go back to school for her masters, it’s just all been wearing me down over the last few weeks.  I needed to decompresses, hit the ‘reset’ button if you will.  Everyone has their own way of doing this.  Some people curl up on the couch and read a book, others get drunk and start a bar fight.  I go for a bike ride.  The longer the ride, the better.  This weekend I was finally able to dedicate a big chunk of the day to doing just that – and it was glorious.

Rollin’ Out

Four of us met up at the West Dam Recreation Area just after 7am.  I was planning on doing a 51-mile ride known as the Bartram/Keg Lollipop.  Of that, half a mile is paved, two miles is double track, and the rest is singletrack.  No one else seemed to be sure of just how far they were going to ride.  The Bartram trail is a fast and fairly flat 21-mile long out and back trail that rolls and winds through the woods along the shore of Lake Thurmond.  Keg Creek is a 9-mile loop full of roots bigger than your thighs and several challenging creek crossings, though sadly most were dry.

I had stashed two gallons of water at the end of the Bartram trail -  I would pass that spot twice during the ride.  Since I would have access to water every 1-2.5hrs I decided to ride without my Camelbak and just used a pair of 24oz water bottles instead – something I’ve never done on a big ride.  This turned out to be a great decision.  I never ran out of water and didn’t have a hot and heavy pack on my back all day.

Bartram.  This low lying area stays wet all winter long, hence the boardwalk.  But during the summer it’s beautiful.

There had been a light rain earlier in the morning, so everything was wet.  Everything.  It was ridiculously humid, at least 85%, so the water had nowhere to go.  Less than a mile into the ride all four of us were soaked head to toe from a combination of sweat and water on the leaves we’d brush against while winding through the woods.  But ride on we did.

We picked up two more people, including fellow singletracks member BrianW, and worked our way west toward the Keg Creek loop.  We set a decent pace; quick, but sustainable and not quite race pace.  We stopped occasionally to eat a bite, chat, and let everyone in the group catch up.  When we got to the end of Bartram most of the guys turned around and headed back, but BrianW and I continued on.  BrianW decided he was done after we finished Keg, and I set off solo for the last 21 miles.  At this point the temperature had climbed pretty high but at least everything was finally starting to dry out.

Keg Creek.  Most of the morning felt like we were riding in a rainforest due to the humidity.

Shells and Scales

It’s turtle season here in the South.  Not to hunt them, but they’re out laying eggs.  We saw a few on Bartram and then a bunch more on Keg.  Not sure how many we saw, I lost count, but I know it was more than a dozen.  There were probably a bunch more we didn’t see since they blend in pretty well.  About half of the ones we saw were in the process of laying eggs.  Apparently they like laying their eggs in the trail, I suppose because it’s easy for them to dig the hole the eggs are laid in.  The problem with that is it’s easy for predators to find them – we passed several holes that looked like nests that had been discovered and ransacked.  BrianW and I also ran up on a big 4ft long king snake.  He was pretty cool.

This little lady was bashful.

Boom!

While I was happily spinning my way back to the car there was a thunderstorm sneaking up on me.  I couldn’t really see the sky through all the trees, so I couldn’t see it coming, and it didn’t start thundering till it was right on top of me.  Just all of a sudden it started thundering constantly right over my head.  Not the low rumble kind of thunder, but the booming and cracking kind that sounds like the sky is splitting open - the kind that comes with lightening.

I decided to shorten my ride a little by skipping an alternate loop on Bartram – I did NOT want to get caught out there in lightning and high winds.  I had 45 miles of riding behind me and only 3.5 ahead of me.  I dropped the hammer and went all out in an attempt to outrun the storm.  Of course I was pretty tired at this point so all-out wasn’t really all that fast.  I made it about two miles and then the bottom dropped out.  No point in killing myself now, so I slowed up the pace a little and rode the last mile and a half in a downpour.

Instead of stopping for a picture I should have been stomping on the pedals going towards the car.

About six hours after I left it I finally got back to my car.  I was completely drenched, and the rain was still coming down hard.  Did I have a towel, or somewhere to get in out of the rain to change?  Nope.  It was going to be a wet ride home.  But it wasn’t all bad, I had a great ride.  I covered a lot of ground on fun trails with good company and felt great the whole time.  I loaded the bike onto the rack, took of my helmet, gloves, and jersey and stood there in the parking lot for a minute.  The rain felt good, really good in fact.  It was nice and cool.  I closed my eyes and turned my face up to the sky to let the rain rinse off all the sweat, salt, and mud that had built up throughout the day.  That’s not a bad way to end a ride at all.

Final stats for the ride:
Distance:  48.44 miles
Ride Time:  4 hours and 54 minutes
Total Time:  6 hours and 12 minutes
Gatorade Consumed:  about 125oz
Climbing:  Not much
Fun:  A bunch

Have you had a good stress-relieving ride recently?  Tell us about it in the comments section below!

As mountain bikers we all have an arch nemesis – something that keeps beating us.  It might be a steep technical climb, a man-made stunt, or a rock garden you just can’t seem to clean.

My current MTB nemesis is a local route known as the Thurmond Epic.  It combines the Bartram Trail, Keg Creek trail, and two trails inside Mistletoe State Park: the Rock Dam and Cliatt Creek Nature Loop.  It’s about 67 miles long, and 58 of those miles are singletrack.  As of this writing, no one has ever ridden the entire route – even though I’ve tried twice.

Attempt 1 – The Scorcher

My first attempt was with a group of friends in June and was not a smart idea.  A recent wind storm had left over 20 downed trees on Keg Creek, and temperatures that day went up into the high 90’s.  The heat was just too much for any of us to handle.  We made it 37 miles to the Mistletoe park office before calling it a day.  We all vowed to try again once the weather cooled off.

Attempt 2 – Long Way Alone

I made a second try in December and none of my usual riding buddies were able to go, so I went solo.  The first 30 miles were fun and good until I was on the singletrack that leads into the back side of the Rock Dam trail where the track suddenly seemed to disappear.  It’s a very rarely ridden trail with pink flagging to mark the way but suddenly there was no more flagging, and the heavy leaf cover gave me no chance to see the trail on the ground.  I got off the bike and walked around for nearly 20 minutes trying to find the trail, or some flagging, but had no luck.  I was about to give up and turn around, but then I noticed a blue blaze on a tree on the other side of a creek.  Ah ha!  The Rock Dam trail has blue blazes!

I did some bushwhacking across the creek and continued on the Rock Dam trail.  Everything was going well until I crashed hard and unexpectedly in an off-camber corner.  I slammed my thigh into some roots and tweaked my knee a bit.  I sat there for a while, then finally got up and continued on.  I had to walk all the climbs, my knee was really hurting, and my single speed didn’t let me gear down to spin easily.

I finally made it to the park office 5 hours after starting the ride.  I was done, my knee was killing me, and I still had 25+ miles of singletrack left to ride.  I decided to take the road back instead.  Fifteen boring (and cold) miles later I arrived back at my car, 6.5 hours after leaving that morning. I had 53 miles under my tires which is not a bad day -  but I was disappointed. The Thurmond Epic had beaten me again.  I’m definitely not giving up and I’ll be back to try it again – but next time I’m bringing some friends.  My latest attempt proved that it’s a long ride by yourself.

So what’s been giving you trouble on the trail lately?  Tell us about it in the comments section below.

This past weekend I rode at the SORBA CSRA Bike Fest at Clarks Hill Lake in east-central Georgia and the weather was absolutely perfect. This was my first time riding the Bartram Trail / West Dam and at the end of the day I clocked more than 22 miles in the saddle across the fast, flowy singletrack. SORBA CSRA is busy working on extending this section of the Bartram Trail to connect to other area trails and it won’t be long before you can string together 40+ miles of singletrack in a single ride.

Anyway, it turns out it’s hunting season which means mountain bikers need to take extra precautions to stay safe on the trail. Bike Fest organizers did a good job spreading the word so I stopped to buy a $2 hunter safety vest on my way to the trail that day. I learned a few more tips about biking during hunting season that I thought I’d share here.

• Avoid riding during dawn and dusk hours. It turns out this is prime hunting time, especially during deer season, plus the low light conditions make it difficult to make out colors and shapes in the forest. If you think you might be caught on the trail in the early evening, bring a light or two to make yourself more visible. The best time of day to ride during hunting season is mid-day.
• Wear orange and/or bright colors. You can pick up a cheap orange safety vest at most outdoor shops and it’s well worth the investment. Avoid wearing camo patterns on your clothes, Camelbak, etc.
• Don’t be afraid to make a little noise. Hunters may not like to hear this but making noise with a bell or even your voice will let them know you’re not an animal. Several years ago I was riding with some friends and after beating everyone to the top of a climb I started yelling to let them know I was first. Little did I know there was a hunter in a tree stand not 20 yards away and he was pissed I had scared his deer. He fired his gun into the air to scare me and it worked. Hey, at least he knew I wasn’t a deer and he wasn’t aiming the gun at me
• Check for closures with local land managers. Some trails are closed to bikers at certain times to minimize conflicts with hunters. Make sure you know when those times are and observe them.
• Be alert. Sure, hunters need to look out for us but it’s a good idea to look for them as well. Be particularly alert around forest clearings and look for orange hunters’ vests wherever you are. If you see a hunter, give a wave and make eye contact if you can.

This poor guy didn’t survive his encounter with a hunter

Be careful riding this fall, particularly if you ride in areas shared with hunters. And watch out for those leaves on the trail too – those things can be slippery and they usually hide the nastiest rocks and roots