Saturday started
off like Sunday. Up early, household
responsibilities taken care of, then work calls. My (lack of) plans were delayed, but not
derailed. I had a mountain bike on my
truck, but no destination in mind. I
knew I wanted to see some dirt, rocks, and trees, but nothing local sounded
appealing. That’s when I remembered that
there is a new(ish) trail across the river that I hadn’t ridden yet.
Rocky Branch,
across the Catawba River over in the town of Belmont , is a trail that I’d walked before
but never ridden. I knew I couldn’t get
in a super long ride anywhere since I was on a leash for work, so at ~3 miles
this place seemed appropriate. Turns out
it didn’t matter where I rode, as long as I hit the dirt.
The trail looked
fun back when I walked it a few months ago and riding it confirmed that. It’s a bit out of the way for me but
definitely worth the trip. There were
just enough jumps, rocks, and fast downhills to make it fun, and there were
even a few climbs in there to make me work a little bit.
One thing I didn’t
see the last time I was there was the new “advanced” section.
It started with a
small rock garden and ran alongside a creek.
There were some
steepish drop ins, and they led into some sort of Warrior Creek style canyon
thingy.
The crew out there
has been putting in a ton of work to build this thing, and they plan to do a
lot more. Just as I finished my first
lap, I ran into a few of the guys that did most of the work. I did another lap with them, and we spent
some extra time out there looking at future sections and reroutes. I see a lot of potential out there for
sure. I’ll be there for the next work
day, and definitely to ride again.
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