It's Not Like I Can Help It

I love riding bikes.  It's mostly what I do in life these days.  With two ribs still on the mend, I'm really trying to keep from overdoing it by getting on the trail too soon.  Sure, the doctor said I can ride "when I'm ready."  However, I know that if I rush this shit I'll take much longer to recover.  My goal was to stay off the trails for at least six weeks, doing nothing but road and urban rides until I was completely healed.

Well, I'm a victim of my own stupidity and sweet singletrack in close proximity to my residence.

On my urban ride, I somehow ventured onto the gravel part of the greenway because I thought I was feeling up to it.  Along the way I remembered that one of the best trails around, RTS, was right under my nose.

Screw it.  I'm in.

The bumps were minimal at first, but riding a single speed hurt me some.  Having to stand up to climb (and pull up on the handlebars) put quite a strain on my ribs.  I dealt with it because it was fun.

And sometimes fun hurts pretty fucking bad.

The trail isn't too rooty, and I'd gotten a little used to the pain while climbing.  And then...

rocks.

Who gives a shit.  It was too late to turn back.  The joy of singletrack helped me forget the hurt.  I hit more rocks.

Fun.  Srsly.  I was outside, on my bike, in nature, enjoying a sweet trail close to home.  I said nature, right?  Look at this tree...

I mean, LOOK AT IT.

Neat.

It was an awesome time.  Almost like I'd never been off the bike.  It was just like Beggar's Canyon back home.

Star Wars reference because I can.

Mentally, it was great to be back in the (real) saddle again.  Physically?  Well...

I may have a little bit of a setback.  We'll see.

Long Weekend

So, I finally started a new job (I need money for bikes and guitars) and it’s going quite well.  It’s actually what I’d been hoping to find when I took the last one (that turned out to be bullshit.)  Anyway, with the new job comes time off already, and I’m good with that.  Even though Thanksgiving isn’t really my thing, having days off to play is my thing.  Instead of gathering around the table and putting up with “thankful” long-lost family members, the little lady and I took off for a little ride near the house.

You know, at that rad trail we built called RTS…

It was pretty damn awesome.

Little Miss Sunshine was all smiles, and it was one of the most beautiful days we’ve had around here in a while.

 Since this trail is hand built, it’s full of rocks and roots.  You know, fun stuff. 

 

You don’t “race” at RTS.  It will kick your ass even though it’s not “epic” in terms of mileage.

Plus, fun and all that.

 With a long holiday weekend, riding near the house was a perfect way to kick it off.  I’ve been in a really good mood lately, no doubt because my career situation has changed for the better.

And of course, I haz days off to play.

Moar riding coming up tomorrow…

Time Well Spent

I’ve been gone from this blog thing a long time.  I’ve missed it, but that’s not why I took last week off.  Being away from work was pretty awesome, especially since the stress level there has been pretty high lately.  With the Christmas holiday going on last week, I thought a week of vacation would be just what I needed.  I had the great idea that I would ride every day (probably skipping Christmas), but it rained almost the whole time I was away.  It finally cleared up for the weekend, and instead of riding the same old boring stuff I decided that an adventure was in order.  After coordinating with the Dirty Party Cycle, we decided to head out from my house (on mountain bikes) to see what we could get into.

We met up with TomTom (who lives nearby) at our local “home made” trail, RTS.  We had a great ride out there, and for only three miles it was pretty tough.  It was also fun as hell, but it wasn’t enough for us.  We all decided to check out the next phase of our little trail, which is in a section just up from the current exit.

Some of it has been flagged, but we still had to bushwhack a little bit.  The terrain looked fun as hell, and it’s been untouched for so long that we found some neat stuff.

Like an old x-ray machine?

And a bitchin’ homeless camp.

Plans have been made to get to work out there really soon.  I can’t wait.

Our adventure didn’t stop there though.  Since we were in an adventuresome mood, we took a stroll up the road a little way to see the third phase of our little trail system.  It will be quite a while until we even get to start on that, but it was nice to check it out.  We found an old road that cut through the heart of the property, and it was fun flying down the hill. 

Until it dead ended at a creek.

It was cool, since we were just out for fun.  The DPC and I went down to the creek to find a way across, while TomTom stayed up top to keep watch.

It wasn’t a deep creek, but it was nice because we felt like we were out in the wilderness somewhere.

All this stuff in a city.  It wasn’t The Pisgah, but it was a great adventure nonetheless.  After being rained out for most of the week and not seeing my friends, I enjoyed getting out on the bike and getting a little dirty.

And it was nice to have something to talk about on here.

I’m (sorta) glad to be back.

All Work?

No. I played quite a bit this weekend too. In fact, I did so much the last two days that I don't really think I can fit it all in one post. Well, that and it's Monday which means I'll take the easy way out.


Yesterday, after a full weekend of stuff (details tomorrow), I headed over to meet up with TomTom and Eastwood at RTS. That's our local, all-weather trail that we've been building in case you don't remember. When I got there Eastwood took me on the grand tour to show me the newest loop under construction.


As usual, we found some weird shit out there in the woods. Like this shallow grave.

Soon, Good Guy Greg rolled up on the scene and we got to work quickly.

This new section is gonna be pretty rad. It's full of climbs, a couple of fun downhills, and even some rocks here and there. It's off of an existing route, and in addition to adding some more mileage, it will add some more fun. We busted our asses out there getting the trail roughed in and eventually had to call it a day. That little piece of woods is magical, and I'd almost forgotten how much potential it has. There's still so much to do, and hopefully we can get out there a little more regular to get 'er done.


Besides, I think there might be a Bigfoot out there.  I'd like to find him.

See? Scratching up the tress and shit. We'll find you, Sasquatch.

Tune in tomorrow for more fun, or as you know it, “Not entertaining enough blog post to read but I have a few minutes to spare on the toilet.”



Meh.

New Opportunities

After “organized” trail work on Saturday and a nice little ride (and beer) afterwards, we weren’t done.  TomTom and I headed over to “The Trail” (it still doesn’t have a proper name yet) for a little recon mission.  With the first phase nearly completed, it’s time to cross a creek and head out into a giant piece of land that will make all of our wildest dreams come true.  Since we spent the day doing other things, we didn’t get out there until just before dark.  We started walking the new section and flagging a little bit, but it was getting so dark out there that it was difficult to see the contour of the land.  We decided to call it quits and come back the next morning.

I could barely drag my ass outta bed, but when I finally did Lunchbox and I headed over for another workday on our soon to be local epic trail system.  TomTom was already there, and Good Guy Greg had showed up again to help.  We decided to check our work from the night before, and keep flagging new trail until we ran out of flags.

It was a simple process.  Eyeball where we thought the trail should go, and put flags in the ground.

We we finally ran out of little orange flags, we headed back to the main trail for some more clearing and benching work.  By that time, Irish Luke had showed up ready to help.

Holy shit.  We actually have sort of a real crew out there, and we’re starting to get somewhere.  Good Guy Greg and I rerouted a turn, and by the time we finished it was time for me to go (I had some other non-biking shit to do.)  Good Guy Greg left shortly thereafter, but the work didn’t.  TomTom texted me later and told me that they finished the creek crossing, and they also put in new trail across a nice rocky section that looks like you’re in the mountains.  He also told me that Irish Luke put in an optional line over some really rocky shit that is “very BYT like.”  They are calling it the Irish Graveyard.

I’m really excited about the possibilities we have out there, and the work that’s been done so far.  My only regret right now is that it’s dark when I get off work, so the only time we can get out there is on weekends.  I guess that will have to do for now, but when the daylight starts becoming more plentiful I imagine that we’ll be out there a lot more.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Workin’ Man

After riding on Saturday and doing trail work afterwards, I needed more.  I briefly considered going on a road ride on Sunday morning, but then I came to my senses.  Road riding sounded about as fun as getting kicked in the balls by a rabid goat, and I wanted no part of that.  Instead, I decided to meet up with TomTom again to do a little more trail work. 

You know, because that shit ain’t gonna build itself.

We got to work on the section that Good Guy Greg helped us clear out.  With the brush cut back and the leaves raked away, we dug into the dirt to make some singletrack.

With all that digging around, we keep finding animal bones.

I imagine that it won’t be long until we find some human remains out there.

Anyway, this is the last part of the first phase (wait, what?), and it ends on a long downhill with a couple of switchbacks.  The very end of this section has you shooting down towards a dry creek bed.

It’s gonna be so choice.

The elevation change out there will make for some fun lines, and the speed we’ll get with be close to scary.  We worked as fast as we could so we could test ride it, but there’s so much to be done.

There’s a lot of benching to do on the approach to that last downhill, and a few holes that need to be filled in to make it flow.  I do like the way it’s turning out though.

There haven’t been a whole lot of roots so far, so we were pretty happy to be able to leave some on a tricky downhill turn.

We are almost finished with the first section.  There’s plenty of work to be done, but we had to call it quits for the day.  Next time we go we should have it finished, and it will go faster if we can round up some more help.  It’s really fun so far, but this is just the beginning.  I’m thinking that we will get well over twenty miles, but at our slow pace it will take up years to build it. 

It might be time to post up a help wanted ad or some shit like that.

Work. Ride. Repeat.

In addition to skipping a race, riding the coolest of local trails, and catching up on my beauty sleep, I did some trail work over the weekend.  While there were a few organized work days through our club, we decided to go rogue.  And no, this is not another story about Captain Jim Bob’s Space Adventure.

We have another secret trail.

This one is a little further from the house, but it has a lot more potential.  The Space Adventure work will go on, but that trail was never meant to be anything big.  The new trail however, will be.  There is a ton of unused land nearby, and TomTom has been flagging trail like a mad man.  Lunchbox and I decided to go out there to get some rad singletrack put in.

Child labor laws?  Pffft.  He’s sixteen so that makes it okay.

This place has it all:  rocks, drops, natural berms, and plenty of elevation change.  We’ve built a small amount of rideable trail so far, and I’m getting really excited.  I can get there in about 10 minutes (by bike) from my house, and the purpose of this new trail is for us to have a place to ride when everything else is closed.  We put in a lot of work on Saturday, almost doubling the amount of trail that TomTom put in on his own.  After a hard days work, we decided to “test the flow.”

It didn’t stop there though.  Sunday morning we were back at it again.  This time, we used a natural dirt mound to make a nice roll in for a long downhill section.

That downhill led us to a ditch/gully thingy, which was perfect for some “Warrior Creek-style” berm action.  After digging in that small gorge for about an hour, it was time to test it out.

Work, test ride, repeat.  We would go back to touch things up a bit each time to make it mo betta.

This shit is gonna be so rad.

We’ll share it with you locals as soon as we get a decent amount of mileage put in, so it’s not a wasted trip.

Stay tuned.

Raindrops Keep Falling

In spite of the fact that I have all this “free time” since I’m not currently racing, I haven’t been able to do squat this week.  We’ve been getting a shitload of rain lately, and it’s literally pissing on my trail riding chances.  Let me make it clear:  I fucking hate rain.

Why the hostility towards something so essential to our lives?  Well, pretty much everything I like to do involves being outside, and rain keeps me from doing it for the most part.  A lazy day inside once in a while is okay, but I really get nutty if I can’t get outside to play…specifically on my bike.

I have some riding options when it’s raining, but honestly it’s hard to find the motivation to get out when I’ll get soaking wet within a few minutes.  Plus, riding in the mud ruins bike parts, and I’m really not trying to spend money on shit I can prevent right now.  Sure, I’m whining about something as silly as a little water, but dammit I’m pissed about it.  Hopefully things will clear up soon so I can get my fucking sanity back.

Instead of sitting in the house and playing on the PS3, I decided that I had one thing I could do even if the trails were wet.  I loaded up my bike trailer and headed over to Captain Jim Bob’s Space Adventure.

Since I couldn’t ride, I figured I might as well build trail.  And since I was gonna be working hard out there, I wanted to make sure I had plenty to drink.

I hadn’t been out there in a while to build trail, mostly because I’ve been busy with racing.  Also, I had to make a couple of trips back out there to deal with the flying, stinging insect issue that thwarted our progress the last time we tried to build trail.  Satisfied that we finally took care of the problem, it was time to clear a path.

If you look at that photo, you can see that there is a clearing up ahead.  That’s a power line cut, and it was my temporary goal.  Lunchbox and I got busy cutting away brush, and we finally made it.

With all that mess out of the way, I started roughing out some trail to complete the very last section (for now, anyway.)

With the little bit of time we spent out there last night, we have a nice little (almost) complete loop.  It’s taken quite a while to get this far with my busy schedule and all, but since things might be slowing down a bit I think we can start making some progress again.  The good thing about our new neighborhood trail is that it holds up well after rain.  Once we get a few miles out there, I will no longer have an excuse not to ride when everything else around here is closed.

I’m glad we got out there to get some work done, instead of sitting around bitching about the weather.   It wasn’t riding, but it was the next best thing.

I’m in a better mood already.

Let’s Get Back To It

After returning to work yesterday, I realized that my vacation is indeed over. Since we only spent three days down in Charleston, SC for our trip, I had three days for myself. Of course it involved bike riding.



On my first day off (Wednesday), I decided to head over to Poplar Tent for some single speed action. This is one of the last trails in our local area that I hadn’t conquered on the SS bike yet, so I was looking forward to it. I took off at a nice pace, hoping to have a good day in the saddle.


After spending a few hours out there, I realized how much different a familiar trail can seem when you ride it without gears. I had to think a lot more on the climbs, but I didn’t have any problems clearing anything. This single speed thing is getting better every day.


Thursday morning was a little different. For some reason I decided to head out to the shop and go through all the bikes. I took each one out one by one, and gave them the once over. Some required more work than others, but they all received the proper amount of attention. After spending most of the day on this little “project”, I realized that I had little time to drive somewhere to hit a trail for a ride. That was a short-lived problem though, because I remembered that I had Captain Jim Bob’s Space Adventure close by.



My own private trail for my own private ride. I got in a little “me” time on (again on the single speed), and it was just what I needed after a long day working on bikes. I hadn’t been over there in a while, but the trail was in surprisingly good shape. I guess we did a pretty good job building it, since I haven’t really done shit to maintain it as of late.


While that might seem like a full day for someone who is supposed to be on vacation, I still had something to do. I cleaned myself up and headed down to Bicycle Sport here in Charlotte for the Foundry Cycles launch party. I got there just after it started, and snapped a few photos of the bikes on display.







They even had beer, food, and water bottles for the party goers.



My buddy Jason (HMFIC at Foundry), spent the evening talking about the bikes, and giving people all kinds of information about the brand and the bikes.




He really knows what he’s talking about, and you could tell that he has poured his heart and soul into this new brand. Some people demo’d bikes, some people ate, and some drank beer (me.) After hanging around until the shop closed, I bid my friend farewell and headed over to the Tarheel Trailblazers meeting nearby.


It was a long day, and I was tired. The next morning we would leave early for a relaxing vacation, but for some reason I don’t feel relaxed.


Maybe it’s because I’m back at work.


At least I got to ride though.