Another Fine Day In The Mountains

Last Thursday (not yesterday), we found our heroes in the Brusy Mountains in Wilkesboro, NC for a ride on the trails at the Kerr Scott Trail System. Since we had been riding every day, we were starting to show some signs of fatigue (imagine that.) After leaving the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters early in the morning, Mr. Shepherd and I picked up the Dirty Party Cycle on our way up Interstate 77 and continued north. First stop, Warrior Creek. We quickly got ready for a nice ride on some super-fast, bermed-up singletrack.



This was a pretty uneventful ride, but we kept a pretty good pace. The weather was perfect, and the trail was in great condition. We didn’t stop very often, so there were very little photo taking opportunities. We did however; get a chance to stop off at the bar:



Mr. Shepherd seemed to really enjoy the fast descents and short, yet tough climbs. I’m sure The DPC had fun too, especially since his last ride out there was when the trail was in a slippery state. After riding along a bit though, the DPC had a little difficulty unclipping from his pedals. A quick check of his shoe gave us the reason why:



After a quick trailside fix (tightening the shit outta the lonely cleat screw), we were back in action. Since we were riding pretty much the whole time, I didn’t take as many photos as I wanted. If you want to read a real review of the trail, then check out my solo ride out there. Anyway, when we finished, we rested up a bit before we headed over to the Dark Mountain Trail.



We hit the Dark Mountain Trail next, and it was just as fun. There is a shitload of climbing at first, but the payoff is a super-fun, fast downhill section. Once again I didn’t take any photos, but I did run my shitty helmet cam for some of it. If I get around to it, I’ll upload my horrible-quality videos. For now though, just imagine that we had a great ride, and everyone had fun.



When we finished, we decided to stop by and visit my pals at First Flight Bicycles in Statesville, NC. The neatest thing about their shop is the fact that it is also the home of the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology (MOMBAT for short.) What is that, you ask? Well, the MOMBAT is basically a collection of vintage bicycles, and they are housed within First Flight Bicycles. You can check out the website for more details on the bikes, or you can just pay them a visit. While we were snooping around upstairs though, one particular bike stood out:







This bike was basically a two-wheeled drive thingy, and I had never seen it before. After using The Google, I found an article in a newspaper from back in 1988 about it (coincidentally the newspaper is from my former hometown.)

Check it:

Look, Ma, I Can Pedal This With My Hands!


So yeah, that was pretty much our day. Fun riding, and yet another visit with some cool people. I didn’t get a flat tire when we rode that day, but when I got back to the B-43 Headquarters I noticed that I was still having some bad luck.




Shit. Tubes and I just don’t seem to be getting along lately. It looks like I’ll start looking into the whole “tubeless” thing. See y’all tomorrow for the final day of our vacation recap. Tune in to find out if it will be flat-free. Next up, a nice little road ride, which is the end of our vacation (finally.) Oh yeah, I’m headed to the mountains again this weekend, so that will put me even further behind in ride reporting. Well, at least I have something to talk about.