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If an area is to difficult for many riders to ride then there should be a bypass to the obstacle for safety reasons. If there is none then they will be soon enough even if riders are walking their bikes. if it is just to cut off time then we need to banish the law breakers. LOL
Man, I am at a lost for words. Joel, I know how you feel about the marriage and the job loss and I am saddened tremedously for all your troubles. As a former vet myself I thank you for your service and all service men and women. Keep your head up and always strive to make things better. I am sure things will turn around for you. I will be sure and keep you in my prayers.
Alan
BrianW, Yes we will be riding both Friday and Saturday. I will be arriving around 1pm on Thursday and I plan to ride Keg Creek that afternoon. Most of our group will not be down until later in the evening. I am really pumped up about this years trip. Going to be so many different things going on and I have been in Augusta since 1984. I’ll be on a ano black Santa Cruz BLT. Probably be wearing an Orange SVMBA shirt. Hope to see ya there.
Hey CC. I have gained about eight pounds back from my lowest weight. My problem is that since I got down to the weight I wanted I felt like I could start eating a little more and would maintain my weight with all the riding I do. Well that just led to me eating a little more each meal until I notice that i’m gaining then I cut back and lose it again. Then the darned holidays come up and riding slows and theres your ten pounds. Thats me anyways.
I didn’t know the word repeat could be spoken at Douthat.
Congrats on the weight loss. I got into biking for just that reason and it grew into a passion. I was planning on writing a weight loss book. The title is "Shut Up and Sweat" (registered). It will be 500 pages and on each page it will say refer to title.[/img]
fleetwood, I’ve be moutain biking for just over three years now and just started racing this year. I would have to say that my biggest mistake was waiting almost three years before racing. When I first started riding I had no desire to race then a year later I purchased a Santa Cruz BLT which is an All Mountain bike and I still had no desire to race. My riding buddies were trying to talk me into racing but I said no because I figured that it would take the fun out of riding. Well I finally met a new rider that lives just down the road from me and we started riding together and he kept talking about trying a race out. I guess that I finally got talked into it and boy am I glad. It actually has helped me get over a plateau that I was at in my riding. I contribute this to be around other racers and getting tips from them from everything from bike setup, and maintenance to how many fingers to use when applying brakes. Granted you have to take these tips and find the ones that work for you specifically but it gives you so many more things to try while training. Bike mags and here on singletracks forum is a great sorce of knowledge that can be tapped. Now when you get advice or read about things they will never work for you if you don’t get out on your bike. Time on the bike will be your best friend.
I am racing next week in my first endurance race which is just a six hour event and I am running with a team mate. I just started racing this year in a series called the "Southern Classic Series". I only race three races out of the whole series in the beginner class. Next season I plan to race the beginner class for the whole season. I have race a couple of none sanctioned events since the end of the season and now I planning the six hour race. I am really pumped and can’t wait until race day. I will have to build myself up to a 24 hour event though.
October has got to be my favorite month here in VA with April coming in a close second. One thing to say about VA and the Mid Atlantic state is that we can pretty much ride year round with just a few miserable days thrown in throughout the year. All different types of riding in a fairly close area also.
Glad to be back CC. Yeah this weather is driving me crazy. I’m hoping to get some good riding in next week after things dry out a little. Its going to be a very messy weekend and I would not dream of trying to ride. So I am going to Rock Castle Gorge Trail a serious run/hike. I have never made it in under 3 hours and it want happen this time since its my first trip this year but I am on a mission and plan to break the 3 hr mark by May. My quickest time is 3 hr and 2 minutes. The last mile I could not make myself run at all. Its a brutal trail. Wish that I could take my bike on it sometime but the Parkway says no.
At the moment we (SVMBA members) are planning on riding Sunday Morning before leaving for the day. Everyone will be welcomed to ride along or we will join what ever groups are wanting to ride that day. We will coordinate on Saturday. I will definately look you up on Saturday before trail work begins
When do you plan to burn another Turkey. I’m starting to get a little hungry. I plan to be in Greensboro this Saturday if the weather holds out. Right now its supposed to clear up for the week but start raining again by the weekend. Depending on the weather, I will be riding Turkey on Tuesday evening starting around 8:30 from the boat launch end.
Turkey is good for breakfast and supper also. Its even good for a bedtime snack just so its not muddy.
Cool site. I had no idea that Explorer park trails were still open for riding. I will make it a point to get there soon. I have some friends just starting out. Thats a great place for beginners.
CCR, Glad to hear that you’ve been riding. I started riding again around the first of February. I only rode two rides in Dec and one in Jan. This month has been chilly but the bad thing is the thawing ground. I rode Carvins last Sunday and it was a mess. If I live closer I would have just not ridden at all. Saturday was the same way in Greensboro but not near as bad. And this weekend it just had to rain. I am itching everyday to ride and this weather is killen meeeee.
On another note, there is going to be a trail work day at Douthat on March 28th. A group of us from the SVMBA are coming up with our trailor full of tools to lend a hand. We are planning a short night ride that evening and a Sunday ride before heading home. Maybe we can finally meet up and get a ride in together.
Flats would not have helped me tonight. I hit a steep 5 or 6 foot climb and at the top you have to manuever between tow trees. It a little rooty in this section and I lost my balance and decided to unclip and put my foot down. I had forgotten that theres a drop off of about ten foot to my left and thats the foot that I put down. Damn, nothing there I slid down the hill with the bike on top of me. Nothing hurt though and I came through it without a scratch also. Thats the pitfalls of night riding sometimes but it really makes it exciting. Get a light and get out on the trails. It thte perfect time of the year for night riding.
Hey Mongoose, I believe if I lived in your neck of the woods that I would be more worried about wrecking and landing right at the mouth of an alligator than I would be about hitting a tree. What say you?
Knowing the layout of a trail does help when riding it at night but you still get suprised when you first start riding at night because every trail seems like a new trail. The experiences you encounter are totally different and it makes the trail seem new to you. Night riding is the most exhillerating type of riding that I do and it is best this time of year until around the end of December and thats when I lay off riding for a couple of months. Our club rides two night rides a week on Mondays and Thursdays at the local trails in Danville VA. These trail are tight, twisty, rooty (in Sections), rocky areas, steeps climbs and just about anything else you can think of and the riding at night is great. If you are new to riding at night I would definately recomend not venturing out alone until you were comfortable. Do some fire roads ate first but if you are comfortable on single track during the day then you will be zipping through the woods after a couple of boring rides on fire roads. Now this is just the opinion of someone that lives in an area that most of the single track trails are in very densely wooded areas and is very comfortable in that enviroment so please ride at your on comfort level when riding at night and do not let more experienced riders force you to ride at there speed. If they get ahead and know that you are knew then more than likely they will stop and give you a chance to catch up from time to time.
Thank the LORD for great bikes, lights, and eastern single track.
I have had a few walk outs that were around the 1 to 1.5 mile range that were pinch flats. Thats when I first started riding and did not carry a spare tube or patch kit. After learning that these items should be carried during a ride I also learnt to adjust my tire pressure to the terrain that I would be riding and have yet to have another pinch flat. That been about a year and a half. I am leaving for the Pisgha area tomorrow with the gang from SVMBA for the weekend and I have a list of items that I will be taking along and tubes, patch kits, and tools are at the top of the list.
My longest walkout was this summer and it was to keep my riding buddy company. He had a crash that looked terrible but he did not get hurt which was great but the bike did not fair as well as he did. This walk was about 5 miles and through one of the worst thunderstorms of the season. There was limbs and trees falling everywhere and lightening striking way to close for comfort. The rain was pouring so hard that we could not hear each other for about a half hour the it slow slightly. We were laughing about it all by the time we got back to the trail head. Something to look back on but not want to go through it again.
The way my friends and I speak gearing terms would be as follows: The chainrings would be 1-3 with 1 being the smallest and working up and the gears would be 1-9 with 1 being the lowest gear in the gear range but the largest diameter gear in size. 1st will always be your lowest gearing gear on the chainring and the gears and the sizes of the gear are opposite one another from front to rear, meaning the lowest gear on the front will be the smallest and the lowest on the back will be the largest.
Say you are in 1-2 and your chain ring has 22 teeth and your gear has 44. Then your ratio is 2 to 1 which means that when you turn your crank 2 turns then your back wheel will turn one revolution. Whereas when you are in 1-9 and you have the same teeth on your chain ring (22) and 11 teeth on your gear then you have a 1 to 2 ratio which will allow your wheel to turn 2 revolutions for one revolution of the crank. [u:1ojacume]The number of teeth used is not exact and has been used as a close representation.[/u:1ojacume]
I hope this helps explain the gearing a little.
Whenever I will be riding over ten miles I eat a pb&j sandwich and a banana. I am also hooked on Sobe No Fear Sugar Free energy drinks and I always have one of those before any morning ride. If I drink one in the evening I would not sleep.
Welcome to singletracks and mountain biking. YOu do have some good trails within driving distance but the way gas prices are you will need to find a dependable riding partner that loves to ride like you do to help share the exspenses. The trails mentioned around your area are really good trails and you should put them on your list of must visit trails. Once you get your climbing down head to Danville, VA to Anglers Ridge http://www.singletracks.com/php/trail.php?id=1468 and ride the 16 miles of trail there. Then when you want some real climbing try these trail further north in VA.
http://www.singletracks.com/php/trail.php?id=521
http://www.singletracks.com/php/trail.php?id=523
Me and some guys from the Southern Virginia Mountain Bike Association SVMBA http://www.svmba.org will be heading to DuPont State forest for our yearly Epic ride from Sept 18th through the 21st. At the moment we have 8 riders committed. It will be my first time in SW North Carolina for MTBing. I can’t wait!!! We will also be riding Tsali one day.
If anyone would like to come and ride along you can keep a check on our website http://www.svmba.org for updated info on the EPIC about where and when we will be riding. Come on out and joing in on the fun. All are welcome.
