Games Loop/UWF Pensacola Florida

If you are ever near Pensacola, and need to get in a ride, check these trails out.  Don't let the No Trespassing signs throw you.  The sandy Trailhead parking lot is to the right, with it's entrance right before the first No Trespassing sign, this is the UWF side, the Games side is directly across from that entrance with a closed gate.  It was not obvious, there were no TH parking signs.  Nor were there trail markers pointing to the Games side, until you get past the gate.  The directions from SingleTracks.com were spot on though.

The trails are marked well with really nicely carved and painted wooden posts. The posts are Supplemented with the original arrows and blazes.  There are a lot of cross trails that lead into the pits and stunts on the Games Side.  The UWF has less of that, but there is an unmarked turn, that probably goes to the 10 mile TH and once you get to the far end, you get a red arrow to turn you on to a power line or fire road for a short bit.  But the wooded posts keep you on the the fun stuff for the most part, just don't overthink it, like I tend to do the first time out.  Just don't turn unless there is something pointing you in that direction.  The one exception is in the Bayou on the Whiskey trail.  The trails old flow is the the left, but there is a right turn at a piece of orange tape.  You don't want to miss the WTF section, more on that later.  If you hit the Dogs trail, you just missed WTF!

Both sides handle water/rain very well.  It is said that they are actually better after a good rain.  The first time I rode these trails, was the day after a good couple days of rain.  The Games side hardly had a wet spot on the single track.  There were some big puddles on the fire road and the clay in the pits looked wet in places.  The UWF side was similar, but the elevation change actually had runs that flowed the water to low spots, that still had standing water even two days after the rain.  Both sides had a enough pine needles laid down to keep you on your toes!  The UWF side seemed to roll faster the Games loop, that first ride after the previous days rain.  The 2nd time, two days after rain, the Games loop rolled faster than the first time.

At about 11 miles, Orange marks the outer Games Loop, it is mostly easy, with some intermediate sections.  Mainly big V-gulches, some with bridges at various heights, some at the top, some almost at the bottom, this section is aptly named Donkey Kong.  The Blue trail is about 6 miles with milder intermediate sections and the Pink trail is 3 miles of the easier single track.  The XC trail loops around a pit like in Santos.  This pit is mostly drop ins, dirt jumps and wooden stunts, including a one story tall start ramp, leading down to bridge like drop into a set of dirt and wood ramps jumps.  The pit area seems to be in a constant state of evolution, with new features among the old, as well as discarded stunts scattered about.  Unlike Santos that is constantly changing but always seems complete!  I saw enough rotted bridges and stunts on old decommissioned trails (often right next to or criss crossing the active trails), that made me pay special attention every time I rode over any wood structure!  All active bridges on the XC trails were solid though.  I rode the XC trails mostly, but dabbled in the Twister section a bit.  There was a center ridge with barely enough room for the the trail tread.  Several drops fell from either side of the ridge.  It was pretty cool.  Outside the pit there are some mild climbs that fuel some of the twisty single track downward slants.  The Games loop is a good warm up for the UWF trails across the street at the Trailhead.

The University of West Florida trails has four loops, Red, Blue, Green and White.  The longest loop is all of Blue at about 12 miles.  At over 1000 feet UWF has more than double the elevation change of the full Orange Games loop and more than you would expect in Florida.  The trails seem to always be going up or down and rarely a straight section.  Plenty of rooty stepped climbs and descents.  One local wished it was cut with more flow, but I like the raw, rugged natural old school feel to much of the system.  he also clued me in on the Whiskey/Tango/Foxtrot or WTF section.  Very twisty with a couple good change up surprises, such as a flow into a short steep climb that fades away to the left and drops immediately into a 10 foot V-gulch, completely boarded.  You'll want to do it again.  Except for probably the most drastic change up on Foxtrot near the fence line.  After a few short moderate to steep rooted climbs, you drop down say 10 feet into the bottom of a steep 15-20 foot wall, with a big cement block semi-protruding from the dirt, with a hard left at the top.  I made it all 3 times that I did it and am not sure quite how, especially on the SS with a 34x19 gear.  Keep your speed up and get around or over that cement block and you got it!

There are 2 mile(Yellow), 5 mile(Green), 9 mile(White) and 10.5mile(Red) options as well.

http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/uwf-mountain-bike-trails.html
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/bump-trails.html
http://porc.org/localtrails.htm

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6 hours of Santos Single Speed Race Report

I was so concerned about what direction the Red trail in the Vortex pit went, I did not even consider that they would run the Roller Coaster section in reverse.  Twister and Dog Bone were run in the other direction as well, which was less of an issue, due to their less technical nature.  Also the traffic jam, that was the first lap, gave ample time for recon.  Through in a few key hike-a-bikes around bottlenecks and crashes I avoided.  Avoiding getting caught up and getting around crashes is a skill in itself.

Le Mans starts are always a treat.  I just jogged along the best I could.  It felt like half a mile but was probably only a block.  I made sure my bike was in a memorable place, that made the jog as short as possible and would not get tangled with another bike.  Then about a tenth or three on the wide dirt road before the hard left into the singletrack making a huge bottleneck.  It looked like a traffic study in Fort Lee New Jersey.  Then later on Twister, two different nasty roots put someone down.  After getting around the 2nd crash, I had to close down a pretty sizable gap.  Closed the gap just in time to do the Roller Coaster section of Vortex in reverse and the mayhem that it laid down on the unsuspecting riders.  This is where some riders first realized what was in store for them.  Things were clogged and passing was tough, although some riders did start to allow passes graciously, a trend that continued as the race progressed.  OMBA had reworked the end of the Red trail, but ran a short section backwards to get to the field pass-through.  That short section was one of 2 places that was steep enough that I planned to pre dismount and hike up.  The other was in the Vortex as well, a rooted, stepped, steep up to the big drop in for the dirt jumps.  No we did not do the drop!  I got around more than one rider that either tried to ride it or had that, WTF look, when they saw it.  On one lap, someone called track just before the steep hill that just preceded that walk up.  I was on a womans wheel and said not here.  She got off before the roots and I did my hike-a-bike thing, I did not hear anyone call track for a while after that.  I would catch riders and pass many on the tech of the Red trail.  Being shortly after the transition area, many times a new team rider with fresh legs and all full of piss and vinegar, would roll up on me early on the Red trail, call track only succomb to the next steep climb or obstacle.  There was little passing on Red, so at some point each lap, you just played follow the leader, until someone slipped up or let you by.  Dogbone was another thing altogether.  Gearies could usually outpace me and while still limited, opportunities to allow a pass without losing momentum were more available.  On Twister those opportunities were less, but I could carve the corners better than most, so the slightly low gear that was good for 7 laps in the Vortex, allowed me to go fast enough, that few asked to pass.  It was interesting that some Gearie team riders just would catch up somewhere on DogBone, then just follow my wheel.
I switched CamelBaks at 2:45, I packed too much ice in it, so it was too cold and sweet.  It gave me stomach cramps.  Luckily I left a bottle of water on the bike from the start.  I had intended to ditch it.  Glad that I did not.  But lap 4 was a bit slow.  I was on the rivet on lap 5, cause I was moving on Dog Bone, with a pretty fast rider on my wheel.  I would usually rested a bit on Dog Bone, but the cramps were gone, the Powerbar Perform was diluting and oddly enough I was rested from that slower lap.  I continued into Twister and stayed on the gas.  I paid for it on lap 6 and finally got caught by a single speed rider on Dog Bone.  He had a higher gear and pulled away a bit, putting me into what would later prove to be 4th place.  I had one of those team riders pacing off of me at the time.  I could still see 3rd place as we got into Twister.  I knew I could reel him in.  When I did we chatted a bit.  That is when I found out that only laps under 6 hours counted (could not hear the pre race instructions over the chatter) Hmmm.  I knew I was running 47-49 minute laps and that would put the end of lap 6 at about 5 hours 10 minutes, give or take the the Le Mans start, I was going to be tight.  I did some quick math and with Twister winding down, I had to make my move.  I asked to pass and put the burners on.  The announcer seemed surprised, that I was going out for another lap, later another rider went out with 35 to go!  I don't think he made it.  4th place finished his 6th lap a couple minutes after me and called it a day.  But it was a 6 hour race not a 5 hour and 10 minute race.  I thought I could make it, but the math was a little fuzzy after 5 hours of racing, "How long was that Le Mans start?".  I looked at the actual time of day and it seemed like my chances were fleeting.  A guy comes flying by, on a Single Speed.  "It was not that 4th place guy, no couldn't be, he was too fast.  Must be a fresh team guy or elite guy running his back up bike, like I saw earlier, was his bike orange, no it was black I think", I thought to myself.  Back to my math. With my legs threatening to cramp, my thoughts turn to my wife Tammy, "This can't be as bad as she feels almost all the time, you can buck up and work through these measly cramps!"  I refocused and just went for it.  I was back to the pit and onto Roller Coaster, coming up on some slow tired riders.  "He's not pulling over" It would have been so easy to settle on that pace, "I probably missed the cut off anyway.  No, No, ask him to let you pass."  "OK go, up the last hike-a-bike, hold it together through those last two tight switchbacks, now press to the the finish line!"

I never noticed where the big clock was, so I had to ask if I made the cut off?  The announcer said yes by a couple minutes. Yeah!  Sweet!

Sorry this was so long, but it was a 6 hour race after all.

Results

I was 3rd of a small field of 6 Single speeders.

29th out of 115 over all

29th out of 101 men

last to make 7 laps

Only 3 riders made 8 laps

Big Bling

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Santos IMBA Epic mostly Plus

I wanted to get in the whole thing and rode the trails out to where the orange flagged trail ends, near the  Marion County-Dunnellon Airport.  The trail out that way is very rough in places and dug up by wild pigs in others, it was just not that fun.  So when I got to the end I took the limestone road back to route 200.  It is called the Tricycle trail.  Except for the pigs, it does seem more ridden in than last March, but it could use a few hundred wheels on it.  I chose Paisley Woods and San Felasco as my other long days, to keep this fresh, as I did a good chunk of the Santos Epict a few weeks ago.  Ern N Burn and Nayles trail are worth the trip for sure.  Lots of rollers of all sizes, with lots of tight twists and turns over rooty terrain, with the occasional moon rock thrown in for ambience.  For shear distance and variety, the Santos epic ride is tough to beat!

3rd place 6 Hour of Santos Single Speed

That's some big Bling!  Details to come!

Just checked in at the 6 hours of Santos

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Caught in the Vortex

Lynskey SS shake down run and gear selection run.  Comment below if you want to know what gear I settled on for 6 hours of Santos this weekend.

Uncharacteristic of me, I have not ridden a SS, from when we got to Brevard in October till just a couple weeks ago when we got to Ocala. The Ferrous was still apart, from when I put the drive train on the Lynskey to race Swank now both are Single speeds (the ferrous just needs a chain adjustment to play back up at the race, if allowed)

Geckos in the Bathroom

Two Single Speeds are better than One

I am racing the 6 hours of Santos. But my Ti race bike still had gears since racing Swank.  Stripped the shifters, derailleurs and cassette off. I set a third handlebar with just brake levers, so both bikes can be SS at the same time.  If the rules allow, I will keep the Ferrous as a pit bike, in case the Lynskey gets a mechanical that would take too long to fix or for spare parts.

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Paisley Woods Kwik Stats

After three days of rain, where to go? Mark Huff, one of the local riders, told me that Paisley is actually better after rain, as it makes the sugar sand hold together.  The last time I rode Paisley was after a rain, albeit less, and it seemed a little faster, but my times say otherwise.  But, this time I did know the trails better and was making a concerted effort to get in some threshold work.

Get More out of Strava with Single Tracks .com

If you are a mountain biker and you are on Strava, connect it to Single Tracks .com.

You can find great trails to ride and some of the segments in each one. See photos, videos and reviews for thousand of trails.  Get points and earn your way to directions and GPS files or subscribe to get them immediately.

You can share your own trails, list bike shops, post your own photos, videos and GPS files!

Find product reviews, MTB blogs, join the forum. They keep adding features all the time.  Very cool site!

From the Settings page it looks like you can link Garmin Connect, Endomondo, Map My Ride and Runtastic as well.

Make a wish list for that next Mountain bike adventure.

List your bikes and gear.

http://www.singletracks.com/gps/tracker.php

San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville

Do you like riding for hours of curvy, natural feeling single track, in old growth pines with great visibility of what is coming around the next curve? Well I do.  Heck I even the first loop, Cellon Creek, had me grinning. With 8 miles,Tung Nuts is the anchor of the system. Need some hill repeats without repeating a hill? Then hit Conquistador.

If you're looking for gravity feed, feature rich, jumping and hard tech, look elsewhere.

Cruisin through an Endor like forest of tall pines, with hardly a palm frond or scrub to be block  your view around corners, really lets lets you open it up and let her rip.  Unlike most of Florida, where it is either flat or pit, there are enough hills to work climbing and use gravity to work your corners faster than pedaling speed.

My favorite was the Hidden hills Loop, I kept expecting a mountain to emerge from what seemed like foothills. But wait I am in Florida, right?!

Any downside? My personal compulsion to make everything a big loop is not possible here, most loops lollipop off of another.

Considering how well the far end of the park is marked, I had a little trouble following the core trail, Tung Nut.  I think that some of the signs need to be replaced. Particularly where feeder trails come in. Likewise, I kind of had to hunt and peck and look at the map intently, for the two feeders to Conquistador.

I believe they are working on a new map, as the current map looks kind of like a flow chart.  Which might be for the best as an exact rendering my might be hard to follow. See my Strava file below. The map does put loops in their relative location to each other, pretty well though.

I feel like this system is between Paisley and Santo (excluding the pits) in terms of ripping twisty trail. Paisley was more steady state, Santos was as twisty, but you can see others coming form the other way much better at San Felasco. Plus you got some non-pit hill climbing to boot.

A small note on flow. I really enjoyed the flow of these trails.  I have read reviews that said they did not. These trails have a very natural feel to them.  The trail builders really put these trails together well. You won't find a man made berm, although a couple natural berms have been incorporated into the system.  If you have read some of my other articles, you will know that I prefer more natural trails. Berms can be fun, but I had to unlearn how to take a corner, as the berm does the work for you. Being able to flow natural trails at blasting speed is where it is at. Learn to corner and fly.

I found out about San Felasco Hammock Preserve, Gainesville, in an article on Single Tracks.
http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/sanfalasco.html
http://www.sanfelasco.net/docs/SanFelascoBikeTrails11-2013.pdf
http://www.sanfelasco.net/index.shtml

Paisley Woods Florida

Santos is plenty fun, but I needed a change of venue, to switch things up for my long ride. Even the green trails at Santos are fairly twisty, which is more fun in general, but makes it harder to do sustained endurance riding, when you are accelerating out of turn after turn.  Most riders are not concerned with this. But if you are and would rather not get your long ride on the road, Paisley Woods certainly fits the bill. The main loop is about 19 miles with a half a mile feeder. There is a cut off to make a half loop.  I was running about hour and a half laps, so multiple laps are need to get the higher durations. The Paisley Woods trail has a different feel in each direction, so between that and the half loop you can put most any duration rides together without getting bored. Don't get me wrong this trail is like 90% flowy singletrack.
Wider tires, such as 2.35 or 2.4s work best in the occasional sugar sand. I got to try out a 2.35 Maxxis Ikon up front for the first time. I have had it for a while, but was waiting for a tire to wear out. I switched back to the 2.2 for the half lap at the end to compare. Even at the same 20 psi the 2.35 felt less harsh and I should be able to run even softer.

6 and 12 hours of Santos

As I sit here in Florida, in what feels like the New Jersey winter weather I most despised, 32 to 50 degrees, damp and rainy, I may have caught a bug and not that flu that my wife and everyone else seems to have. No I am talking about the Racing Bug. I was thinking about doing either the 6 hours on a geared bike or the 12 on a Single Speed. I didn't see a 6 hour class for SS class listed on the website, but both the online registration and the downloadable form has a SS class listed for the 6 hour event.

Conversely, the website listed a 12 hour SS class.

That is fine by me. I really wanted to race my SS, but not for 12 hours.

In order to use Vortex, the split it in two. From the Strava files I have seen, it looks like one part is ran in reverse order. As Vortex is a one way only trail, that presents problems for pre riding. As it turned out, it was quite empty before noon on Tuesday. So I snuck in 3 laps, of my best guess of the reverse portion was, before riders started to hit the trail.

I rode with Jim Matthews at Tussey ridge, near State College, PA last May. On Facebook he asked me about SS gear selection after my Santos Post. Here they are: "The 34x22 was crazy low. My log must have been wrong. 20t is good in the Vortex pit and tolerable on the yellow and just fine on Twister." and "The 19 seemed heavy on Twister and the outer green was not faster today realy, than with the 20t. The first lap was 19 seconds faster on the 19t, than the 20. But the 20t had a couple Vortex laps first. Laps 2, 3 and 4 were very similar to the 20t lap"

I like to gear lighter than heavier on a ride of this length, I think the 34x20t will be my gear, if I do this race.

Here are those two Strava Files:

34x22t and 34x20t

34x19t

Santos Map

http://sadlebred.com/2014-races/

http://goneriding.com/index.php/events/2014-events/ccs/13-12hrsantos

12 hour 2014 Flyer

http://omba.org/maps/OMBA_Bike_Trails_Map_Jan_2012.gif

https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/recreation/areas/halpata.html

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OcalaMtBikeAssn/

OMBA Trailheads

OMBA Epic

http://ocalabicyclecenter.com/map.cfm?ID=1

Darn Tough Socks

I am particularly hard on socks, I mean really, really hard on socks.

I used to have socks with Kevlar toes and heels even, I thought I needed bulletproof socks. The cuffs wore out, but I still kept wearing them. I took some ribbing for that, for sure.

I found that the Pearl Izumi socks were padded well enough, You see I am a masher. I used the black socks, cause I am a mountain biker and mountain biking is dirty.

I would were the heels out on the Pearls and a few toe holes. Pearl Discontinued them and I snatched up some remaining white ones.

I became aware of Darn Tough socks last year in South Dakota after the Tatanka 100.

The Life Time Guarantee particularly interested me, you can understand why.

I am on a very restricted budget and the last of my Pearls were wearing thin. So I picked up a pair of made in Vermont USA, Darn Tough socks in Duluth Minnesota, back in July, to see if they would hold up.  They did not have cycling socks, so I got a pair of cushioned 1/4 hiking socks in black of course.  I used them for just about every hard ride. 3 to 4 rides a week 2 to 12 hours each. Leaving the Pearls for recovery rides, or if the the Darn Tough socks were in the wash. Which was not often, my kit would go in the washer in the RV as I got in the shower. Three months of hard riding and they they were holding up great. So good I got a warmer pair, when the stay in Brevard NC, got extended  into chillier end of November. I was really feelin the Darn Tough love, so I reached out to them, to see if they were into doing the partnership thing and they said yes.

The cycling socks have a more breathable top. I got them with the cushion as well. Masher remember.

Still Looks great after months of intensive use.

Darn Tough,

Great Stuff,

No Guff! 

 Made In Vermont USA

Santos Kwik Stats

After feeling off for a few days,  Touch of the flu maybe. I rechristened the Ferrous as a Single Speed again. Still had the 22 on the back, from when I entertained SSing Pisgah. So, I wanted to keep it between one and two hours today. Tammy has the flu for sure and I didn't want to be wrecked. What to do all the Black Diamonds near the main trail head, hit twister to get er over an hour, but skipped Vortex for now. Cow Bone to warm up, Magic Mt into Rattlesnake around to Anthill to John Brown. Then out Bunny to get to Twister, Canopy to Speedway to my favorite( in this direction) Sinkhole. Then a all of Dr Ruth to do John Brown, Magic Mt and Cow Bone the other way.
Up Coming event 12 Hours of Santos
I original post on Santos

https://www.strava.com/activities/108271627

https://www.strava.com/activities/108270339

Alafia River State Park IMBA Epic Revisited

ARSP was the not the first IMBA epic that I have ever done, but it was the first one since this blog and quest started, almost a year ago. Maybe that is why I compare so many of the IMBA Epics that I have done since to Alafia!  Or maybe Alafia has been really put together really well.

I have many more IMBA Epics under my belt now, so how does Alafia stack up now? The facilities are top notch, super nice restroom, a big pavilion, a bike wash and some shaded parking in a decent sized parking lot, and a big overflow parking lot.  One could easily get spoiled! Many IMBA Epics are in the middle of no where and many riders think that is how it should be. It seems that IMBA as updated their definition on an Epic again. "The 2013 class of Epics celebrates true backcountry riding experiences that are technically and physically challenging, more than 80 percent singletrack and at least 20 miles in length."
That leaves out ARSP. To give it's due is now considered one of the
"Hall of Fame Epics Rides" 
"We have also created an IMBA Epics Hall of Fame to recognize the rides we have honored in the past but no longer meet the new criteria"
IMBA has yet another category called "Model Trails", no trails are listed yet, but I think that is where Alafia would fit in best. There is no "Shuttle" option, but add a pump track and it could be a Ride Center as well! I personally do not think shuttling should be a necessity, but a "Ride Center" is supposed to have it all. But I digress. Alafia has really well marked and maintained trails. A beginner can ride part (many bail out points) or all of the several miles of the Easy Green trails, plus fire roads.  An Intermediate rider can get a 10 mile ride in, on mostly Intermediate Blue trails.  An advanced rider can add some great Difficult Black diamond or Double Black Diamond trails into that Intermediate ride for a challenge or do them all for a good 15 mile, 1.5 to 2 hour ride.

You can easily stack loops on loops or loop back to do a trails, that you really like, over and over again.

So what am I trying to say? Well I agree that ARSP is a few miles shy of an epic and does not have that back country feeling. On any given day there are a number of riders in the parking lot and on weekends the overflow parking is put to good use. Hardly backcountry. But go in very off times and you will feel more isolated and may even see an alligator, wild hogs, turtles and armadillos.

Anyway you slice it ARSP is a must ride if you are anywhere in central Florida. It is a Model of how a trail system should be set up and maintained. I really like the One way trails, this really reduces those head on OH SHIT moments. During high traffic times, you still get wrong wayers and hikers on the MTB trails, so keep that in mind. Also to mix things up, the North Creek trails is ran in reverse direction on Wednesdays.

For a more backcountry feel, just several minutes away is Balm/Boyette, more mileage, smaller parking lot and just one composting restroom (albeit large)

We docked the motorhome at Hidden River in Riverview. All the amenities that you need and just on the edge of the city congestion to the north and west, gets rural quick to the southeast. Closer that Brandon and less traffic.

Here is a nice write up on blog at SingleTracks.com

For directions and other great info click here http://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/alafia-river-state-park.html

More ARSP Kwik Stats

Good way to say goodbye to the area. Cool and dry, just like I like it. Started at 64 and ended just below 50 degrees. I made two loops almost the same. Both pretty much continuos with as little duplication and crossing as possible, while getting in most of the trails and all the Black and Blue trails. I'll link the Strava files later. 

Alafia River State Park Kwik Stats

Just green and blue today. Better than black and blue. The Keys were nice, but I slacked way to much in southern Florida. Very humid today. I am soaked. But no frostbite at least. 

Mudion

Mud has an negative ion that is attracted by the positive vibes from a good ride, I call these Mudions, also known as Muions. Getting their name from the Greek, Muon.

Santos IMBA Ride Center

The Santos is a huge trails system in Ocala Florida. Including the marked in progress trails I did rides over 54 miles long(5.25 hours. Most of the mileage are on easy trails, with a significant amount on intermediate trails. The advanced trails are in the minority, but are pretty sweet. I put them together in a loop that only doubled back on the fire road going into and out of the Vortex. It starts at the Santos trail head and took about an hour and a half. Pine east to Cow Bone, which flows so nicely into Magic Mountain, that really continues best, right on Rattlesnake Ridge, jump back on to Cow Bone to get to Anthill, take that around to DR Ruth (very briefly, to get to John Brown, including the bench cut along the blue highway to the pit, back to the the Blue Highway (left) to Intermediate Bunny Trail, West Pine takes you over to the Vortex trail head. After a loop of Vortex, back out to Dog Bone south to Dog Bone north, get you to Twister, Puppy, Dog Bone west, Canopy, Speedway connect you to Shorty, a bit of DR Ruth to get you to Sink hole in my favorite direction. Marshmallow to Pine west gets you back to the trail head. OMBA has a well marked trail system and a super Google Map of the Santos Trails Short with all the advanced (Red) sections. Facebook Page

Long mostly easy trails with some intermediate and in process trails to keep it interesting.

Santos

Kerr Scott IMBA Epic

Flowy and twisty, Kerr Scott is a big contrast to my recent stomping grounds near Brevard, raw backcountry Pisgah National Forest and the multi-faceted Dupont State Park. Kerr Scott has a definite flow progression from Dark Mountain to Overmountain Victory Trail (OVT) to Warrior Creek.

Even the original 5.3 miles of "Old School" trails of Dark Mountain, seemingly always has an eye towards flow, it has bigger climbs, grade reversals and sharp hairpins. It is just more rugged!

Be sure to ride trail #8 down to the bridge down river from the dam. Even if you may have to climb back up, it's a good climb too! #8 is my favorite descent in the system., old school feel with sharp hairpins.

OVT is bermorific, this part of the system cranks up the flow a notch. Usually done as an out and back, often in between Dark Mountain and Warrior Creek. I have been working on keeping my weight centered and I am coming out of turns faster than ever before making sections of the trail seem endless. Take the Berry Loop on the way towards Warrior Creek an Shiners Run on the way back, they flow nicely that way. Making the most of the elevation change, Berry Loop (1.5 miles) gets even more swoopy and even some of the berms going uphill seem to conserve your momentum. Trail boss Jim Horton was working on the second half of Berry that will eventually form a figure 8 with OVT. Shiner's Run (2.3 miles) uses noticeable elevation change as well, but is more like original flavor OVT in the flow department.

Warrior Creek is a super sweet 11 mile single track loop. Berm after berm of flow, begging you to stay off the brakes and maintain every last Newton meter of momentum for the next grade, direction reversal or the occasional obstacle or feature. It was literally an endurance workout for your flow skills.

I rode for a bit of OVT with Mike the Owner of Magic Cycles over in Boone while was testing a 650b Giant. Pretty nice guy.

http://www.mtbproject.com/trail/786660
http://www.trailove.com/kerr-scott-north-carolina-imba-epic/

Here is video to get you started. I will add a few more.

Farlow Gap

Yeap we had been in Rosman, near Brevard, NC for over 2 weeks and the SS was still strapped in the basement of the bus. The road bike even came out already! After a giggle ride with Tammy, I swapped the gears from the Ferrous to the Lynskey Pro29 w/ Blacksheep Ti Fork (Closest thing I got to suspension!).

I have really missed this bike. It is so much lighter and more resilient than the Ferrous w/Bontrager carbon fork!

I needed to decide if  "A" I was going to race that weekend and "B", would it be the Couch Potato or the Swank.

I got my warm up on route 64 and headed up Cathy's Creek to 471D, which gets you to Butter Gap. Take that down and take Long Branch up to 475. Take a left and continue to 229 (Pilot Mtn rd) and climb it up to Farlow gap. Then Decide just how much nerve you have. Just how much you ride and when you should walk. Both very poignant  and souls searching questions. Yet so vital to one's race choice decision.

I had one of those silly meetings with the ground shortly before the Farlow Gap DH. Must have been a mountain gnome, as I could not find any other cause.

The Mountain literally slapped me in the face. As if to say "YOU MUST RESPECT ME!" and served to keep me focused the rest of the way down and keep me from getting too cocky!

I took video of the descent, but it was so long, had so much walking and most of the riding was so rough it was just a blurr. So unless I get specific requests, I will not waste the bandwidth.

Wes Dickson of Sycamore Cycles and one of the areas top racers, said to treat Farlow as an adventure and that I did. I have to thanks Wes for letting me replace the spoke that that gnome took out and introducing me to Heather of Blue Ridge Adventures.

I went for the challenge The Swank and even contemplated going back to back as some others did.

Here is what I wrote on Strava Shortly after I popped my Farlow Gap cherry;

Farlow was ok. A bunch of hike a bike at the beginning. Maybe with slack angles and a lot of time riding one and I could ride some of what I walked. (Said idn Yoda's voice) To old to start the training , he is Mhmm! A couple sketchy creek crossings , but mostly rideable WITHOUT suspension. Not sure how it goes from 4k to 8k between the Couch and Swank. I got a little more than 3K between Pilot Mtn(229) and the up part of the Farlow DH. To me going up Pilot Mtn and down Farlow is better than the other way around. The Swank will be a good way to start out the IMBA 5000 meter climbing ending 11-9
P.S. I finally got the Ferrous set up as a SS, But have not ridden it yet!

Racing Swank 65

Swank gave me over 6K ft of climbing. My Garmin showed 6K, Strava was 6,250/(6,146 elevation corrected). Garmin Connect registered 6304/(11,670? Elevation corrected).  It was advertised as 8K. Any way you slice it, it was a lot of climbing in just 40 miles (65 km).

Without help from Heather and Todd from Blue Ridge Adventures, I would have had to sit this one out.

Very low key and relaxed, yet started on time, just like the Couch Potato. Most races I do have many classes and age groups, Swank and Couch Potato keep it simple with just mens and womens Open class. It was sort of a controlled start down the fire road crossing the creek on a narrow bridge or a cold shower to start the race with wet feet on a coldish day. Still, some took the creek to jockey for a better start position.  I took the bridge.  The race was on!

I decided to to use my usual strategy on longer races, go hard but not in the red zone. I passed a few after the official start and closed that gap. We had a nice conga line going into the first single track connecting to the Cove Creek climb. Passing was tough, but not impossible. I followed Paula Burk (Eventual Womens winner) while she picked off a few groups of riders. Then I passed Paula (only for her to pass me on Pilot MT later on). I put a good gap in, still well behind the leaders. Then as I made the end of Cove Creek onto 225 to Daniel Ridge.  I saw another rider that was caught up in the pack and had made it through. I forget his name, I believe I did a night ride out of Sycamore with him a week or two back. I tried to stay on him and did so for a while, as he was reeling in another rider. Once things started going down, he pulled away, he rode it like he knew it and I just couldn't go as fast without suspension. I did catch a couple other guys on the way down. I thought I heard Wes Dickson of Sycamore Cycles at rest stop one, later I learned he broke his chain in 2 places on the start. I put in a good climb on the fireroad to Glouster. Joe did catch up just before 471D. We rode and talked a bit up towards Butter Gap. I asked him if he was a good descender and he said I caught him on Daniel Ridge and let me lead on the Butter Gap DH. We slinkied a bit on the rollercoaster climb that is Long Branch, emerging back on FS 475 almost together. Joe stopped at the rest stop. I still had juice in my camel back and bottle and did not want to carry any more. Joe complained a bit that I did not stop, but caught up quickly and we paced each other for the first mile, when I had to go to the granny and watch him slowly pull away. Paula and one other came by before Farlow Gap. I got close to someone a few times, riding more than I expected of the rugged DH hike a bike. By the time I was back on Daniel Ridge, I was alone all the way down to FS 475 and Davidson River Trail. I thought I saw a single speeder there, but he turned left on 475. Some folks were attending to a rider that took a header on Davidson River. I had only been down 475B, a fast DH. The climb was not as bad as I anticipated. I knew it would be about 4 miles up 475B then 4 miles down Cove Creek. What I had not noticed were the descents on the initial climb up Cove Creek, but they became apparent on the way "DOWN". I was happy to clean the final creek crossing. Finishing 21st of 97 starters. Almost an hour out out of 2nd and 3rd, which were 25 minutes off of 1st! Sam Koeber rode all of Farlow Gap on his Fuel EX.

Here is some awesome video from Land of Sky Media


2014 Couch Potato

Couch Potato Videos

After helping park cars, I videoed some of the race start. Later on I pointed folks left after the creek crossing at the end of the Cove Creek DH.

I was amazed at how low key and yet on time the start was.

Some folks got off course. I had no such problem the next day at the Swank. But I could see how one could miss the, even the sometimes HUGE, signs, if due to nothing else, being beat up by the rugged Pisgah terrain. The combination of fatigue, hyper focus and pack following, on occasion, had me questioning my turn choice, even after a big sandwich board sign on a part of the course I was pretty sure of.

As I marshalled the penultimate turn, more than one rider asked me which way to turn while I was pointing and standing next to the left turn sign and blocking going right. They were probably more concerned crossing the creek and the short tech up, just before the the turn. Very few riders made it up clean.

Here are videos I got between the creek and the finish.

DAMN YOU STRAVA!

I generally don't pay much energy on Strava challenges. But they had a 5000 meter (16,404ft) climbing challenge from IMBA. I am in climbing heaven and Swank gave me over 6k ft. And I had worked out a century road ride with 2 HC climbs, netting over 10k. But the spirit was dirt so I went back out and got over 5k each on a Pisgah explore/bushwack, (Walking counts right, forgot my machete) ride and an awesome Dupont ride. So I got the spirit of the challenge, but it took a lot of time and it exhausted me to the point that I am just getting to blogging and video editing.

Damn you Strava!

Swank 65/Couch Potato

My focus has not been on racing this year. As such I don't look for races. The Couch Potato and the Swank 65 are this weekend November 2nd and 3rd respectively. I was riding Saturday and ran into a Mike and Alastair and  rode with them for part of their ride. Today I found Mike's file,which he named Couch Potato. I downloaded his file to my Garmin to do as part of today's ride. I wondered what the name meant, until Chris and Chad rolled up while I was talking to some guys about wheel size. They were looking for the racecourse this weekend and 650b guy (sorry I did not ask their names) gave Chad and Chris directions. I asked them if I could tag along. Then I put together the name of the race and Mikes file name. I heard about the Swank on the Sycamore Thursday shop ride. I just assumed it was far away.

Also, I have been busy riding as, almost all my rides out of our basecamp Adventure Village has been an epic. See them below.

The Couch Potato is the "easiest" of the two races, with only 4,000 ft climbing over it's 30 miles. The Swank spins the dial way past ten, breaks it off and throws it in the fire, ascending 8,000 feet in only 40 miles! Holy crap! Even the easier course is epic, the Swank is EpiHC.

I have to ride Farlow gap, before I decide which one to take on. There is so much climbing in Pisgah that I do not think the SS is an option. On top of that most folks here use full suspension. Chris and Chad had hardtails, they were looking to do the Couch Potato, cause Farlow gap apparently needs a dually. Here I sit with only fully rigid bikes. I may have to put the gears on my Lynskey with the Blacksheep fork, then maybe I would have a chance. I have not ridden SS since I have gotten to this neck of the woods. I rode Dupont SS last November though. Dupont is no Pisgah!

2014 Couch Potato

The Bike Farm Pisgah

I meet some very interesting folks a the weekly ride is led by the tour company "The Bike Farm Pisgah", I know, the name, does not exactly fall off the the tongue. I needed co-owner Cashion's business card to remember it, but I am a bit dyslexic. Although, the tagline is more memorable; " Cultivating good times from the dirt up"  Look them up on the  Web and on Facebook. If you want to get some history on them, read Eva Surls and Cashion Smith's original Blog.

I found out about the weekly Wednesday night ride after a stop at The Hub bicycle shop in Brevard, North Carolina. The ride rolls from from Oskar Blues Brewery at 6 pm. You will need lights this time of year. I pulled out the black tape to help shim one young riders Night rider to his 25.4 handlebars. The first couple miles on the paved bike path would usually serve as a warm  up, but a gusty cold front was pushing through. It was nice to get into the woods. Cashion pulled a light for a rider without one. After the set up we got going down the gravel that slowly became more and more flowy.

This is a more casual, no drop ride. This night we had a dozen or more riders. Some had been out for a few hours already. We went up Grassy and down Sycamore. Eva said that this ride was a little shorter than the usual couple hours, due to that. We finished up at the brewery. I would have joined the others for a pint, but since going gluten free, I have not had a beer. I thought it best not to tempt myself.

 For best results play at the highest quality, 1080 preferably. The second video, in the playlist, is my first time filming in the dark,so I got just a little usable video. Go to the bottom for the night ride on Vimeo. Seems like they do HD with less fuss.
TheBikeFarmPisgahOdarkOclockb from MTB Epic Rides on Vimeo.

Tour de Lilly 2013

More thanks to Travis Olson for sending me out the word on the Tour de Lilly from Blackwater bikes in Davis, West Virginia. In just the nick of time, might I add. This is a pretty low key event on some of the same trails as the Revenge of the Rattlesnake . Low key but high quality and fun. They even laid out  a major spread for lunch out on the trail. You could try, but you would be hard pressed to find a better trail guide than Blackwater's owner, Roger Lilly, and he still gots some skilz. I followed his line more than once.

35 strong, we rolled out from the back of the shop at about 10:15 on a beautiful dry Saturday morning. Particularly in contrast to snow they had one year and the damp, rainy, cloudy summer they had this year.

The dirt starts just out of town, on Blackwater Road. It is a nice warm up on fairly level dual track. The first single track climb was leaf strewn (the season was aptly named Fall), with several logs as obstacles as well as a bunch of natural rock features. While every rock, root and log were ridable, I doubt many cleaned the entire trail. There was just enough mud for variety.

We were treated to a real estate pitch from Susan Hayward, I think she was joking. :-)

We rode part of Plantation to Lindy and after some lunch headed back to town, while the rest of us went down the Allegheny trail to check out how the trail maintenance was turning out. Then back up.

Roger took the main group down the pipeline, while Jonathan took a few of us down Davis. Davis is a rockin DH, that kept you on your toes, demanding total focus, especially on a fully rigid bike. We finished up on the Yellow trail. I can't remember the name, but a slight change of spelling was more descriptive of the technical nature of this short, steep, rocky/rooty featureful trail that led back down to Blackwater Falls Road and back to the shop. Post up if you can tell me the name of this trail. Thanks.

Also let me know if you can tell the difference in quality of the first two videos in the play list below. The were similar on my iPhone, but on a PC they were different.

Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Videos

More to come. Subscribe for updates!

More to come. Subscribe for updates!
More to come. Subscribe for updates!
More to come. Subscribe for updates!

Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks IMBA Epic

Truly Epic ride! I met Travis Olson on Strava, where I asked him about his North Fork Death March ride. I missed the second one, though, just couple weeks back. He also told me about the HC road climb up to Spruce Knob.  On a very wet, chilly, foggy sometimes rainy day, he brought a small crew to do the Epic. This 40 plus mile, up road/down trail (at least it was a West Virginia DH, plenty of elevation gain on the way down) IMBA epic. We could have shuttled up to the top, but then we would have missed a whole bunch of climbing and sketchy road descents, with gravel showing up randomly on Lower Timber Ridge rd, making the wet leaf strewn sharp curves even that much more... um sketchy. We would have also missed out on the downpour that hit as we got onto route 33 back to Seneca Rocks, getting back exactly at sunset!

The fun started at mile 24, where Huckleberry leaves Spruce Knob. With little elevation lose, the first couple/three miles was nearly constant rain slick rock gardens. Rob got a flat early and Travis pumped it up to see if the Stan's would seal it. It got soft again when they got down to us (Mile 27). A repump and letting the Stan's pool at the hole a while, was the next try. Then the plug kit came out and held for the rest of the ride(Mile 29). It was a pretty small hole in the sidewall and not a scrape or slice ( I had no luck plugging a sidewall slice early this year).

Huckleberry is gnarly and went from wet rock gardens to wet roots and mud. We had not gotten far when a hiker couple leap frogged Mike, Jason and I, while waiting to regroup. The hikers were making better time than us and we never did see them again, they took different turn we supposed. But they were nice enough to let us know about the mechanical. Up till now we had gone through several fits and starts as Rob was learning his rock skills, as I wrote earlier it was plenty gnarly (it is not possible to overuse that word in regards to this trail!)

Although we had not descended all that much by that time, the chilled to the bone sensation we experienced at Spruce Knob and the other times we stopped was all but gone now. Particularly right next to our friend the Mr. Pine Tree. Mike made his own deer bed in the straw grass and seemed quite comfy. Totally different thermocline or should I say Coldocline?

We then connected up with the Horton trail, mostly down to falls on Seneca creek, sometimes steep and nasty(did not want to use gnarly again, HA!).

Crossing the creek was an adventure all on it's own. So recently out of hypothermia weather, only Mike attempted to ride across. Jason literally skated across the rocks he tried to walk across. Travis was the first to try the big down tree that spanned the creek, Success! Rob tried to scoot along, till I grabbed his bike, to hand off to Travis, so he could walk. Travis waited at the ready for Rob and then myself, while I kept my bike for balance. The knots where branches use to have been, made it hard to to make small steps. Alas no swan dives and ironically Travis submerged his foot as I got to the end.

Now for the 1.5 mile hike a bike out of Seneca Creek. It was tough going, I tried to ride as much as I could (it was easier than lifting up my legs hiking), but probably rode less than half of that steep greasy,off camber, slick as snot rocks and roots.

Now at the intersection of the Allegheny trial. Only 6 more miles of trail to go! But we had plenty of greasy barely doable climbs and several momentum robbing down trees on the DH's. We had been riding in the clouds since well before Spruce knob and it was getting thick and the next turn was a hard one to find. A little back track to be sure we were on the correct path and we start what would be the final descent. Steep and sketchy, at times, we were losing elevation quick. This turned into a narrow off camber switchback descent to Whites Run rd. All of a sudden we were out of the clouds and the ground was dry, and then it was over except for the pouring road back to the cars.

Truly epic ride in epic conditions! With an epic crew, just the nicest guys;
A youngin with only BMX saddle time (what he lacked in conditioning he made up for in skill)
An ex runner turned triathlete/MTBer with new knees and lots of enthusiasm.
A bike shop owner, with plenty of skill and endurance.
And the Man, ride leader, Travis Olson. Who watched over his flock, better than a border collie.




https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=544591428962037&set=vb.100002335536683&type=2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/travis.olson.71/media_set?set=a.544455155642331.1073741828.100002335536683&type=1
http://connect.garmin.com/player/390180860
http://www.imba.com/epics/spruce-knob
https://www.facebook.com/groups/38594432567/
http://theopam.com/posts/714-wvmba-imba-epic-ride-off-spruce-knob-is-the-ride-of-a-lifetime
http://www.bikerag.com/images/MAPS/wv_huckleberry_spruce_knob_review.htm