Doing My Part

I told myself that I would make a better effort to do trail work this year.  I usually do quite a bit, but there have been lots of workdays lately that I've missed.  That all changed when I had a free morning on Sunday.

After spending a day in the Western North Carolina mountains, I decided to head to the other mountains.  You know, the Uwharrie National Forest.  Our local club, the Tarheel Trailblazers had a workday planned to take care of some maintenance issues.  We had a pretty big turnout for such a far away place and, after everyone grabbed tools and split up, we hit the trail.

We spent the first hour or so just walking the trail, clearing out drains and stuff like that.

After a while, we starting doing some other stuff.  After much riding, the trail had become wider than necessary in some spots.  We took care of a bunch of them with small reroutes, gathering rocks to redefine the original intended lines.

Before we started, the trail went straight through in that spot. The photo now shows the original line.  The trail will drain better now, and the riding experience will improve.  We ended up out there for a few hours and accomplished quite a bit.  I didn't get a chance to ride it directly afterwards, but I know it will be fun when I do. Besides, the trail needed some love, and giving back (by doing trail work) is sometimes a much better feeling than riding.  

I'm gonna make a point to do more of this kinda thing.  Maybe you can too.  Wherever you are, there are trails that could use your help.  Every little bit of work counts and it's appreciated by those that use it.  

Make it a point to find a way to get (more) involved in YOUR local trails.

I will too.

Road, Gravel, Dirt and Too Much Sleep

I had a long day Saturday.  Between Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day and another event I went to afterwards (which I may or may not talk about), I got home and didn’t feel like doing anything.  I was left unsupervised for the remainder of the weekend since the little lady had to go to a wedding and then to a triathlon on Sunday.  I did what any temporary bachelor would do.

I fell asleep.

I took several naps, managed to drink zero beers, and somehow stayed awake on one occasion long enough to order some pizza and watch Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure on Netflix.  Eventually I took my lazy ass to bed sometime after midnight with the great idea to continue my Sunday morning road ride tradition.  I woke up about 7:00 a.m. and had a guest in the bed.

Carl was tired too I guess, so we fell back asleep for a few hours.  I woke up feeling less than refreshed after a shitload of sleep and milled about in the house trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  It was kinda chilly (and windy) outside so I didn’t feel like riding on the road.  My thoughts started drifting to the mountain bike, which meant that I would have to get in my truck and drive somewhere to ride.  All the local spots didn’t appeal to me for some reason, and then suddenly I realized that I have a trail nearby that doesn’t require driving to get to it.

I put on some warm stuff (all DeFeet of course) and sent a text to TomTom to let him know I was heading to RTS.  He wasn’t doing anything exciting so he decided to meet me there.  Less than two miles later, we were riding in the dirt.  One lap at that place is fun enough, but after we finished we pushed back up for a while to hit the last downhill section.

Hell yeah we had fun, and I was more worn out than I would have been riding thirty miles on the road.  Since we were in the area, we decided to go scout out the new section we’re planning to start working on.

You’ll eventually hear about it/see it/get to ride it, but for now I’ll just say that shit is about to get much more rad down the road from me.  We hung out for a while until I realized that I had stuff to do at home before the little lady got back.  I took off on a little adventure on my way home.

And I almost busted my ass because I wasn’t paying attention.

That little ride was still pretty cool though.

I spent a little time on the road from my house to get there, road some sweet singletrack, and even did a little “gravel grinding.”  Although I’ve been enjoying the road for the past few Sunday mornings, I realize that I belong in the dirt.  I guess I’ll be mixing it up from now on.

Don’t be such a roadie.

Moar Skills

Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a skills clinic for our local ladies mountain bike club, the Dirt Divas.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve helped them out on something like this, so I was pretty excited to be a part of it.

Our destination?  Backyard Trails.  Since most of our local trails are smooth and so not technical, BYT is the perfect place to work on the skills.  We took off as one big group, and it didn’t take long to find something to work on with the ladies.

With plenty of spotters (courtesy of us Dirt Dudes), even Little Miss Sunshine conquered some trail features out there.

I’ll skip the small stuff, and just tell you that eventually we ended up at the Poo Tracks.

The ladies had a great time as far as I could tell.

It was like a big social ride.  We had a great crowd, rolling through the trail at a fun pace and stopping every once in a while to regroup.

Originally I planned to go to Pisgah on Saturday, but helping the ladies work on their skills turned out to be a better way to spend the day.  Spending time a BYT was a plus too, since it’s one of the few trails around here that actually give you a challenge.

Anyway, big thanks to the ladies for letting us hang out and help.  Most of them can already out ride us fellas as it is, and it’s just fun to help them get better at it.

I’m good with that.

Finally, No More Of This

So, I’ll be out riding my ass off this weekend.  The plan is to ride out at the Whitewater Center tomorrow morning with Good Guy Greg, TomTom, and maybe even some of those fancy Lowcountry folks that plan to make the drive up here to ride.  Good Guy Greg had the idea that we should do two laps of everything out there (around 20 miles per lap) on our single speeds as a form of “training.”  While training doesn’t sound like a whole helluva lotta fun, riding my bike until I almost die actually does.

While he’ll be switching to a more endurance-friendly 20 tooth cog on the rear, I plan to keep my 18 on there for some extra punishment.  I have another race next weekend so I have to kinda get ready I guess. More on that next week because I like to build shit up for no reason.  Anyway, since we’re not racing or having any other kind of competition, trying to survive and all-day ride might be a bit of a challenge. 

I’m good with that.

Afterwards, there will most likely be beer.  That’s not a surprise, is it?  I didn’t think so.  If I’m not to dead/hungover, I’ll get out and ride some huge amount of mileage on Sunday too…if it doesn’t rain.  Currently, the weather forecast is showing shit conditions, so Saturday may be the only “trail” day.

That means I may end up on my (gasp) road bike on Sunday.

Whatever.  Who gives a shit.

Groupies

I haven’t talked about a group ride in a while because well, we haven’t had one.  Our regular Tuesday night excursions at North Meck have been cancelled due to rain for the last few weeks, and I though our next one would be too. 

In a effort to be more social, I’ve decided to try to keep our Tuesday night rides going throughout the year, and although we won’t be night riding anymore because of the time change, we will still get out to ride after work.  We started to rotate the rides around to different area trails, with our next stop being Colonel Francis Beatty Park in Matthews, NC.

A storm blew through the night before, and since we respect our trails enough not to ride them wet, I kept hearing chatter about the ride being cancelled.  I got a chance to sneak out during lunch and check the trail conditions, and with a little wind and a warm sun the trail was in prime condition.

The ride was on.

We had a good group that met in the parking lot, including regulars TomTom, Good Guy Greg, Eastwood, and a few new faces.  The ride was super social, and we stood around a lot talking at different places all over the trail.  We even took the time to play on some of the new features out there.

These photos are blurry, yes.  These guys were hauling ass.

While we didn’t get in a ton of mileage, we still had a great time.  In today’s Strava-filled cycling world, getting together to ride and shoot the shit with fellow mountain bikers is a welcome change. 

And that’s what I was talking about by having more fun on the bike.  Screw that boring ass training crap.

Being Social

I don’t have a lot of time for a lengthy post today (good news for you), so I’ll keep it short.  I totally forgot to mention our ride Tuesday night, and I’m not sure why.

Our local club here does a great job of building and maintaining trails, but we’ve been lacking in the social aspect of mountain biking.  Most cyclists I know like to ride in groups, and they definitely like to enjoy a few beers when it’s all over.  Trying to do my part, I started a small social ride at one of our local trails.

It’s taken off better than expected.

We have a regular group of guys now, and coincidentally most of them are part of the crew that’s helping to build “The Trail.”  It just kinda worked out that way.

Unlike most advertised “social” rides, this one is actually pretty social.  We do a lot more talking than riding.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy the ride though.  We do a nice, easy lap at first, then we ride the trail backwards at a much quicker pace.  Even though there are a few other social rides in town, this one is becoming quite popular.  We have a good group of riders that just want to ride their bikes and have fun.  We have even been going out afterwards for some good Mexican food and a few beers.

And of course, more socializing.

That’s what it’s all about.

And…I’m out.

Hey, that rhymed.

One Last Goodbye

I’ve been talking a lot about our local trail Poplar Tent over the last few weeks.  You may be tired of it, but I don’t give a shit.  We lost a great trail that’s been around here for many years, and I still can’t believe it’s gone.  Since I was racing on Sunday, my last ride there was Friday after work.  I met up with my pal Hop and his friend Dave, and we took to the trail one final time.

We tried to ride everything out there, and we were making pretty good time.  I spent a lot of the ride just looking around at everything, most of the time is disbelief that it would be the last time I ever saw it.  The ride was awesome as usual, until we got to Gravity Cavity.  That’s when the rain started.

Poplar was one of the few (well, only) all weather trail around these parts, and riding itin the rain isn’t such a big deal (especially since it was about to close.)  There was a lot of lightning in the sky though, so we cut out a few of the last loops to make it back to the parking lot safely.  The rain kept falling while we rode, and I found it fitting that I said goodbye to it in the rain in less than ideal conditions.  That’s what that place was all about:  not so perfect trail that was a blast to ride.  Nothing around here even comes close to it.

After everyone left the parking lot, I was all alone there in the dark.  I sat at the picnic table for a while and thought about how great that place was to me over the years.  It was hard to get up from that table to leave, but eventually I did.  If I was an emotional type, I would’ve shed a tear.  Instead I pet Minnie one last time, knowing that she probably would miss all the people that visited there and hung out with her.

The next day was another ride, but I didn’t want to wear out my legs for a race the next day (stupid me.)  Plenty of people were out there though, including Little Miss Sunshine.  She met up with the MadSS and his Mrs., and they had a single speed farewell ride in the mud and rain.  When she came back from the ride, she brought a little of the trail home with her. 

I got a little sad again as we washed off her bike and watched the last bit of that trail flow down my driveway. 

At least we gave our old friend a proper goodbye.

I’m So Sad Right Now

Okay, not that sad.

But, it is a dark time here in the Charlotte area.  One of my most favorite of trails, Poplar Tent, will be closing soon.  Everyone around here has been expecting it for some time now, but that didn’t make the news any easier to take.  I found out from someone “in the know”, but it quickly spread to our local club forum.

This sucks…really sucks. 

Poplar tent is the raddest trail around here.  It’s tough, rocky, rooty, and unrefined.  You need to have a little bit of skill when you ride there, but I wouldn’t say that it’s overly difficult.  In fact, it’s about as difficult as you make it.  There are several features out there, including one that I’ve been riding since way back in the days of little wheeled squishy bikes:

Heck, Lunchbox even rode there on his squishy bike back in the day.

I rode it a lot when we moved here to Charlotte, and I can credit that place for helping me develop my skills without having to drive all the way to the mountains.  There is so much cool shit to ride there.

Everyone enjoys that place, including the Dirt Divas.

And the Dirty Party Cycle has accompanied me on many journeys out there:

The saddest part about all of this to me?  I live six miles away.  It only takes me a few minutes to get there, but I still haven’t ridden it as much as I should.  I was there recently just because I knew it would all be over soon.  I figured that we had until the end of the year, but the date has been set to October 1^st.  That is not enough time to enjoy the goodness of one of the best trails here in the Charlotte area.  There has been talk of having a “sending off” ride, and I will definitely get down with that action.  In fact, I think I will make it my go to trail from now until the bitter end.

This weekend’s ride plans have been made, and a trip there is definitely in the cards.  I think I should ride it until my legs can’t take it anymore.  That trail has given me so much over the years, and its time I give back while I still can.  I will miss the shit outta Poplar Tent for sure.

There are plenty of other trails around here to ride, but nothing can replace that singletrack heaven.

I’m so sorry to see it go, but at least I have a little time to say goodbye.

I’ll be there this weekend, and if you’re local, you should too.