Celebrated My Way

With a day all to myself, I decided to head to Wilkesboro, NC for some riding on Friday. Sitting at the edge of the mountains, the trails out there are challenging enough to ride all day, but it wasn’t so far away that I felt like I would need to cut anything short. I could have my own little happy day. There was only one problem though…it was cold as shit.


I slept in a little since it was below freezing when I woke up, so that cut into my riding time. I’m not used to riding in the cold yet this season, so the small wait would do me a little good. I still had to scrape a little ice off my windshield though.


When I got there, it was still freaking cold. Since I went up in elevation a bit, I should have known that would be the case. It was around forty degrees, which I figured I could deal with. I put on a long sleeve base layer, arm warmers, and my long sleeve Cane Creek jersey (it’s warm and fuzzy inside.) On the bottom I went with shorts, leg warmers, wool socks and shoe covers. I was warm, but I felt like I overdressed. I headed over the dam to the trailhead for Dark Mountain.



Since I was trying to get close to forty miles for the day, I took off nice and slow. I wanted to conserve my energy for a long day in the saddle. The first few climbs hurt, but eventually I started to warm up and get my legs going. The trail was in good shape, except for the leaves everywhere. It was hard to follow sometimes.



Dark Mountain was fun as always, and I felt pretty good out there. Even though I was wearing a ton of clothing, I still didn’t get too warm. I headed over to the trailhead for the Overmountain Victory Trail (OVT.)



OVT is fun and fast, with a lot of ups, downs, twists and turns. There weren’t as many leaves on the trail, so I was able to haul ass. Well, until I almost hit a tree.




There was a pretty good-sized tree blocking the trail, and I was going pretty fast when I saw it. I found a way around it, and continued on my way. After riding the six mile trail (plus the two and a half mile loop off of it), I reached the end. I still had quite a ways to go on my journey, but I took the opportunity to take a break and refuel.




Now it was time for a small ride to the trail at Warrior Creek. They don’t connect through the woods, so you have to ride on the road a bit to get to the entrance. It was a nice break I guess.





All of a sudden, I saw a sign.



Uh, I mean I heard something. On the way to Warrior Creek, I started hearing gunshots. Not just one here and there, but a lot. As in, lots of people in the woods shooting guns lots of times.


Then I remembered seeing this sign earlier:



After thinking about it, I decided that I would be better off skipping Warrior Creek. With all the clothing I had on, it still wouldn’t be enough to stop a misguided bullet from a misguided hunter. I don’t usually ride in a bulletproof vest, so it would be in my best interest to turn around and head back. I would be nuttier than a squirrel turd if I rode any further.

I wasn’t really disappointed, since I still got in plenty of mileage. I only saw one other person out on the trail, so I was pretty much alone (other than the firing range action.) That’s exactly how I wanted to spend my day in the woods. I like riding with other people, but some days I just want to be all by myself. It was just what I needed on my birthday. Well, that and a nice hoppy beverage.