Looking Glass and North Mills

Well, I finally got my brake situation worked out. I received my new hose, fittings, fluid, and bleed kit late Friday afternoon, and had it all set up in about an hour. Much easier than I thought it would be, and the Formulas are great. I'll have to see how the durability is, but so far, I'm a convert.

As excited as I was to be able to ride the Lazer Cat again, I didn't want to ditch Heather all weekend, so we planned a hike for Saturday. We still had a couple of "Rocks" that we hadn't been up to yet, so we decided to fight the crowds and climb up to Looking Glass. The parking area was full, as it usually is, but the trail really was not that crowded. The bottom half was a smooth, machine-cut track, with a fairly gradual rise. The top turned into what a trail is supposed to be, narrow, rocky, and rooty. We climbed about 1700ft in just over 3 miles up to the view, and oh what a view. It was a cloudy and cool day, but the view was still fairly endless and uninterrupted. Here are the pics:



















Sunday, I met up with Eric in N. Mills River. We got kind of a late start, so we only did a ten mile ride, but it was a good one. We started from the intersection of Bear Branch Trail and FS 5000. We did the Bear Branch loop first, stopped at the cars for refreshments, and then climbed 5000. We hung a left on Spencer, and climbed some more. While Spencer has some steep climbs, it's a really fun trail. It has some rocky and rooty technical sections, and Eric was right, it does remind you a bit of Laurel Mtn. At the end of Spencer, of course, is Trace. Trace really helped me break in my new brake pads. It's a long, rocky, washed-out in places, downhill, and a ton of fun. I only had one slip-up in a deep wash-out, and just kind of fell over into the side of the wash-out. No harm done to me, but somehow my chain had come out of my Paul's Chainkeeper. Not sure how that happened, but after about five minutes, we were descending again.

After popping out at the parking lot, we started on lower Trace, but then took a left on Wash Creek, and made it back to the cars, just in time for more refreshments. I really liked this loop, and I'll definitely be doing it again in the future. Downhills like that make me wish I still had my full-suspension bike, but I'm sure I'll get faster descending on the hard tail. Sorry, no pics of the ride. It was too dark and dreary for anything to turn out anyway.

Almost Back to Normal

Holy cow, I actually rode both days this weekend. It felt good to push myself again, and it's nice to be excited about riding. It's been a while. I went to put the new brakes on the Lazer Cat, but these were take-offs, and the rear hose was too short. My LBS didn't have any replacement hose kits, but it's on order and should be here this week.

So on Saturday, I ate a nice breakfast and then headed out to DuPont to try and destroy myself on the Karate Monkey, SS and rigid. You don't notice how much a suspension fork helps until you go back to a rigid. My wrists are hurting today. I don't know how far I rode, but it was a pretty good one on the SS. I rode at a touring pace, but the SS still got the best of me, as both of my quads started cramping pretty bad towards the end. I hit a couple of new-to-me trails, and saw two lakes I hadn't seen before, as well as the Lake Julia Gulia Spillway. It was a good ride.

Grassy Creek Falls

Lake Dense Pier

Again

Lake (Pond) Alford

Lake Julia Spillway

Today, I headed out for a morning road ride. My legs felt a little dead at first, and my sit bones were slightly tender, but all was well after I warmed up. I headed out to the river valley again, but I threw in a few more miles and more climbing. It was a pretty nice ride on a gorgeous morning. I actually got a little chilly in some areas.

Crappy iPhone Pic

Looks like the rest of this Sunday will be a lazy one.

Busy Not Riding

Well, my new brakes came in, but I haven't put them on yet, or even really thought about it. Nope, I've been spending most of my time in front of my sewing machine, with that pile of raw materials from the last post. It was definitely time well spent, because I have a sweet new hammock, that has all the features I want.

It's made out of two layers of 1.1oz ripstop nylon, which is very thin and soft, but plenty strong. It's suspended to the trees with whoopie slings (I'll detail those in another post maybe), connected to tree straps and toggles. There's an opening in between the two layers so I can slip a sleeping pad in there if I want, until I make an underquilt. The no-seeum bug netting is attached to the body with zippers along both sides. One side, the "back side," has one zipper pull unzipping from the top and stopping at the bottom. The front side has three pulls, so you can use the double pulls for entry and exit, and the third one unzips the full length to the bottom like the other side. This allows for a lot of versatility with the bug netting. And when it's zipped all the way down, there is a small stuff sack in the "peak" of the foot end that the net can go into so it's out of the way.

This was my first ever DIY sewing project. Hell, I just learned how to use the sewing machine a couple weeks ago. I'm obviously really happy with how it turned out.

On to the pics:



















Off to Cincy for the holiday weekend. No time to do anything except run around and see people. But when we get back, the riding is back on. Seriously.

Riding Again.....Sort of

Heather and I headed to DuPont on Saturday for my first ride back from my back strain. We were both looking forward to getting out in the woods, but it wasn't to be. We got to the Guion Farms parking lot, and I unloaded the Lazer Cat, but something wasn't right. Somehow, my back brake was locked out, and the wheel would not move at all. I have no idea what happened; I guess the calipers got stuck out. So we headed back home, and I took the brake off. I cleaned it out, and tried to work the calipers in and out, but I couldn't get them to move enough to even get them back over the rotor. The brakes are Juicy 5's, are really old, and I've had a lot of problems with them in the past, so I now have some Formulas on the way. Bye bye Avid.

On Sunday, I dusted off the Vig, and hit the road on skinny tires. I've only ridden the road here a few times now, but I should do it more often. It really is a beautiful place to ride. I headed to the other side of town, and did a lollipop route through the French Broad River Valley. I only rode 25 miles, but it just felt good to pedal again, and my back felt fine.

With my lack of riding, I've really been looking forward to cooler weather, and doing some hiking and camping. I've lost the taste for sleeping on the ground, and have been a hammocker for a few years now. As I mentioned before, I gave my hammock to Heather, and it is currently having some mods done to it. I was going to get myself a nice new one, but instead, I've decided to make my own. Whether that's cheap or frugal, I just have a hard time paying over twice as much for someone else to make something I can make. The pieces all arrived this week.



It'll have an integrated bug net, a la the Hennessy I'm giving Heather, and the net will almost fully unzip and tuck into a small stuff sack at the foot end, just like I'm having the Hennessy modified to do. I'll post updates to the project when there's something to actually post about.

Sidelined

Yeah, I know. I haven't posted in a while, but I also haven't ridden in a while. A few weeks ago, I was doing yard work and was lifting garbage can full loads of crap I raked up from our yard that had been neglected for several years. They were heavy, and apparently I strained my back. I went for a ride in Pisgah the next day, and only made it up 477>Buckhorn Gap Tr>Clawhammer before I had to turn back. I got back to my car and I was bummed, so I hung out in the creek for a while.





The next couple of weeks, we did a lot of work on the house in preparation for a pseudo-in-law visit, so my back didn't really get a chance to heal. We got a lot of work done, though, and we're finally making the house our own. I also had some time to learn more about, and play around with, another passion of mine, hammock camping. I am bequeathing my Hennessy Expedition hammock to Heather, and getting a slightly larger one for myself later this month for my birthday. In preparation for the bequeathing, I have been trying to make the Hennessy as user-friendly as possible for her. I've been learning a lot of splicing techniques for rope, cord, and twine, and have made some pretty cool improvements for her. I'll do a post in a few weeks on it once everything is done. You'll just have to wait to learn all about whoopie slings and soft shackles.





On another note, I don't know what kind of spider this is, but these little bastards were everywhere last summer when I rode the Stonewall Falls trail in NE GA after taking the bar exam. I hit a web every 15 feet or so, and these guys were biting me. This one was in our front yard.



My back is feeling better, but I'm going to give it another week of rest. I had pains shooting down my right leg for a couple of weeks, and that has finally stopped. After another week, I think I'll feel OK about riding again.

DuPont Ride

I went out for a quick ride at Dupont yesterday. I hadn't ridden from Corn Mill Shoals access in a while, so that's where I parked the Grand. There were only a few cars in the lot when I started, and it was a really sticky and dreary morning. It only took about two pedal strokes before the sweat started pouring down my face. I need to get one of those headbands with the sweat gutters built in.

I headed down Corn Mill Shoals and the trail was pretty wet, but this area holds up to wet conditions really well. My first destination was Burnt Mtn (clockwise), and it was great as usual. I was a little worried about the rocky downhill being slick, but it wasn't at all even though the rocks were wet. After Burnt, I rolled down Little River and took the second Cedar Mtn Trail on the left. I pedaled some and walked some. The slickrock was surprisingly grippy considering how wet it was. Once up on Big Rock, I stopped at the usual overlook, and knocked down a small can of Pringles.





It was so nice up there, I think next time I'll pack my hammock and take a nap. After flying down Big Rock, I took Longside, which is always a lot of fun, and then turned left on Pine Tree. I rode the new connector section of Pine Tree across the street, and then Cascade Trail. This will be a nice little trail once it's worn in a bit. I only wish it looped. I did it as an out and back, retraced my steps a bit, and headed up Rock Quarry Rd. I had only taken this up to Micajah, and over to and down Wilkie in the past. This time, I stayed on Quarry Rd. up to the actual quarry and looked around for a bit.





After leaving the quarry, I climbed up Buck Ridge, and took the new part of Micajah. This is a really awesome, new section of trail. There is a big slickrock section, and then the singletrack is nice, flowy, and fast, even though it isn't settled in yet. This was so much fun that I stayed on Micajah all the way back to Quarry Rd and did the loop again, and then finished the ride by coming down Wilkie, which is always a lot of fun, too.





Dupont is such a unique place, and I'm always discovering something new there. I'm really glad the Legislature gave it the State Recreational Forest designation.

Squirrel Gap

Until Saturday, I had only ridden a small portion of Squirrel, from Wolf Ford to Cantrell. That section was a lot of fun, but I knew the "Classic Squirrel" would be even better. Yesterday, I finally got to ride the good stuff. Eric, my ride guide for the day, met me at Turkey Pen bright and early. It was actually a chilly drive in the Heep.



We headed down S. Mills to Mullinax, and started the longish, but not too bad climb. We merged with Squirrel and continued to climb the narrow, bench-cut ribbon of singletrack, over rocks and roots until we hit what I'm told is called the "Saddle." This was where the real fun started. The trail stayed very narrow, and basically became one long rock garden. It was pretty tough, and I was dabbing a lot and walking a little. This was a type of trail that I'm just not used to yet.

Before I knew it, we were at Cantrell, and I was on familiar ground, sort of. This section has become pretty overgrown with thorn bushes, thickets, briar patches, or whatever you call them. I ended up pretty sliced up, but it was still a blast, adding to the difficulty of the trail. We got down to Wolf Ford, and decided to hang out in the river for a bit. As we were walking down to the water, Eric reached in his pack and pulled out two ice cold beers. We sat in the river for a while and talked about how much it sucks to live here.

Eric doesn't like his pic on the web, so I smudged his head.


Did I mention these were ice cold?






After our break, we turned around and headed back the way we came. When we got to the techy section, I did much better. I don't know if it's easier to clear in this direction, or if I was just more used to it, but I didn't dab a whole lot, and didn't walk anything. Once we got to the Saddle, it was almost all downhill, and it was fun. While on Squirrel, we still had to be pretty careful not to go off the side of the narrow trail, but things opened up on Mullinax, and we could let it rip. I felt on the verge of being out of control on several occasions, but Eric still crushed me on the downhill. During the last climb on Mullinax, the hot and humid weather caught up to me and my quads started cramping pretty bad, but I was able to walk it out and finish the ride.

It was a great day in the woods, and I found my new favorite trail. It's a trail that can beat you up a bit, but not in a demoralizing way. I can't wait to ride it again.