Adventures

I had this grand plan to go up to the hills over the weekend. However, Little Miss Sunshine had grander plans. She wanted an adventure.  I guess I sorta needed one.  I needed a ride too, and not just any ride.  I'd become bored with fast and flowy trail, mind-numbing singletrack that forces you to pedal faster to have fun instead of thinking about your next move.  Anything in Pisgah would have sufficed, but an all day bike adventure with the little lady wasn't gonna happen.  Instead, we kicked off our day by riding a short, yet still challenging (read:  fun) trail.

Signal Hill, just up the road in Statesville.  Built on a landfill, the locals affectionately refer to it as “the old trash trail.”  It's unique, and one of my favorites even though I don't get up there as much as I'd like.  In fact, it's been a while since I'd ridden up there, but it was very obvious that a ton of work has been put into it. Especially on the pump track, which sits smack dab in the middle of the property.

The little lady seemed to have a blast on it.

It's pretty big, with plenty of room to have fun.

I rode it too, but I think I had more fun taking photos. I was happy to park my bike and play photographer.

That pump track is probably the only section that's really smooth.  The rest is rocky and rooty, twisty and fun.  Nothing there is too dangerous, but I did have to convince the little lady that she wouldn't die if she rode off some rocks.

And of course I asked her to get a shot of me taking the “pro” line, while I got all Enduro™ in the process.

Yeah, I know, it's not that technical. I could've just as easily ridden that on my rigid bike but that's not the point.  That place has some fun features, which is very welcome to me these days since I've grown tired of your every day, run of the mill “flow trail.”  Riding stuff like Signal Hill keeps my riding fresh, especially when I don't have a chance to go all the way to The Pisgah.

We had a good start to our adventure, even saving a critter while we were there.

We like turtles.  I saved one last year, remember?

Bike riding is fun.  I'm starting to remember that.

Yes I Do

It’s not like I just hang out in the woods and heckle all the time.  Sure, it’s fun, but it’s even more fun to actually ride my bike.  On Saturday I had the day to myself, which means that I get off my ass and ride.  It was brutally cold, but I didn’t give a shit.  I hurried out of the house and headed up to Statesville to ride Signal Hill, which I knew would be pretty damn fun.

I changed my clothes in the truck to stay warm, and when I got out all I had to do was grab my helmet and shoes.  There was only one problem though.  I hurried out of the house so fast that I forgot something really important…

My damn mountain bike shoes.

Instead of calling off the ride, I decided to keep going.  Sure, it was cold (and I was all by myself), but I wanted to ride so bad that it didn’t matter.  I figured that my skate shoes would be a little okay on my clipless pedals, since the alternative was not riding at all.  Turns out I would need all the help I could get, because the trail was frozen.

I mean, everything was frozen.

It wasn’t so bad.  Aside from freezing my ass off, I did okay.  I slipped off the bike quite a few times on jumps and corners.  I never really “crashed”, although I had quite a few “oh shit” moments.  Good thing there were on-trail facilities.

When the ride was over, I was happy.  Happy I actually got on my bike, and happy that I could learn a lesson from this.  Maybe next time, I’ll remember all my shit.

I cleaned myself up, grabbed a six pack of good beer, and headed over to First Flight Bikes to hang out for a while.

Photo cred:  Jonathan Finch

It was a good day, even though I’m a dumbass and can’t remember to bring everything I need to have a good ride.  Next time I’ll probably forget my bike.

Improvising

Last night, we got to ride.  We showed up and the trails were open (although they were devastated from a “race.”)  We had a great time for sure, but that’s not what today’s post is all about.

Saturday, we had another group ride planned (I mentioned it Friday.)  With shitty weather leading up to the weekend, we thought the trails would be closed at the Whitewater Center.  Much to my delight, they were still listed as open.  The Lowcountry Crew was on the way up here from Charleston, and our usual group started rolling in from various parts of Charlotte.  As soon as I got to the gate though, they closed the trails.

“When did they close?” I asked the attendant.

“I don’t know.  A little while ago” she said.

Shit.  I went in anyway, since everyone else was still on the way.  I saw a few folks coming back from riding, but since the trails were “closed” I knew we coulnd’t go out.  However, there was a running event still going on.

Really?  No more rain that day and plenty of sunshine wasn’t enough to keep the trails open, but if we put on running shoes we could’ve used the trails.  According to Twitter (and also real live people on the scene that had their riding plans shot down for the day), the local MTB community was pretty pissed.  We stewed about it for a bit and came up with a backup plan.  With reports of dry trails up north, we all hit the road and drove up to Signal Hill in Statesville.  Irish Luke and Eastwood hadn’t been there yet anyway, so it seemed like a good plan.  The Lowcountry Crew continued on across South Carolina towards FATS, so we’ll have to meet up with them some other time. 

After a quick trip up the road we were at the trail.  And this time I brought my GoPro.

Yes, another shitty video from the folks here at B-43.

After a fun lap on a dry trail, we grabbed some beer and headed over to First Flight Bikes to hang out for a while.  We decided that we hadn’t ridden enough for the day, so we took the party over to Lake Norman State Park.  I ran my GoPro there too, but the video isn’t done yet.

We had fun, and I wore myself out.  It wasn’t the “epic” ride we had planned back in Charlotte, but it was still pretty good.

Was it enough to get me ready for the biggest race of the season (the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek) this weekend?

Probably not.

I guess I’ll find out for sure in a few days.  And of course I’ll talk about it later.

Off The Beaten Path

Since I knew I was skipping a race on Sunday, Saturday was gonna be all about fun.  Me, Good Guy Greg, and TomTom all wanted to have a fun ride, and we really didn’t feel like going too far out of town.  So, we all headed up to Statesville, NC to ride a place we’ve never been before:

Signal Hill

Don’t worry, I’m not a sex offender.  It was okay for me to be there.

At only around five miles long, we knew we weren’t in for an epic ride (that word is used to freaking much anyway.)  I flipped a coin that morning before I left the house, and fate decided that I should bring my geared bike for some reason.  Armed with way too many gears and plush suspension, we took off to explore a trail that I’ve been told by many that I should ride.

There were some of unique features there.

Not far into the first lap, we stumbled upon a pump track like no other in the area.  There were berms as far as the eye (or at least my camera) could see.

We all rode around there for quite a while because it was uh, fun.  I had almost forgotten how much fun it could be to ride a bike.

TomTom didn’t forget though.

And neither did Good Guy Greg.

We eventually said goodbye to the pump track and got back on the trail.  It was fast in spots, tight and twisty in others, and just downright fun.  We saw rocks aplenty, big wooden features, and other assorted shit.

Literally, I guess.

The features weren’t too difficult, but the fun factor was there for sure.

I don’t remember a huge amount of climbing, but it took us forever to get through that first lap because we stopped so much to explore everything.  That place was sorta like the little brother of my local favorite, Backyard Trail.  We got back to the parking lot and took a faster lap, and this time we knew what we were in for.  That made it even more fun.

While it was a pretty good ways up yonder from where I live, it was definitely worth the trip.  I sorta regret not riding it sooner, but I’ll be sure to make up for it in the future.  Skipping a Sunday cross country race to have fun did wonders for me mentally, so look for more of that as the “season” goes on.  Sure, I’ll still do a few XC races here and there, but only if I deem them “fun.”

For now, I’m sorta semi-retired from racing.  Well, until this weekend.

I’ll get into that later in the week, as well as the rest of our day on Saturday.  You won’t want to miss it. 

Well, maybe you will.  Whatever.