The Mountains Are Calling

And I shall go.  I didn’t get out of town last weekend like I wanted to, so I’m making up for it this weekend.  There is a group ride happening up in them thar hills and I plan to be there.  There’s a pretty good group of us Charlotte people heading up to ride some Pisgah goodness.

Well, it’s not “Pisgah Proper” like D-Wayne says, but it’s still in the Pisgah National Forest. 

I even have a map that says so:

We’re hitting the town of Old Fort to ride the famed Kitsuma trail and some other stuff in the area (Heartbreak Ridge, Star Gap, etc.)  The ride is actually a loop that’s used in the Jerdon Mountain Challenge which D-Wayne calls a “Baby ORAMM".  I’d have to agree with him there, because instead of 63 miles and 11,000 feet of climbing, this one is only 30 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing. 

Sounds easy, right?

I guess so.  I mean, only one trip up to and down Kitsuma and skipping the climb up Curtis Creek is about as “easy” as you can get out there.  The course is still pretty tough, but fun.  And I’m okay doing a “lesser” version of the big one.

So if you haven’t figured it out by now, it looks like I’ll be “racing” in the hills next month (July 20^th.)  I’m riding it on my single speed, because that will probably be the only kind of bike I’ll own by then. 

And that’s why I got some of these from Endless Bikes:

Yeah, I know they’re pie plates.  That’s what I need to carry my big ass up those climbs.  If Dicky is only four apples tall, then I’m the whole fucking apple cart.

Anyway, this weekend’s ride is sort of like a “training ride”, although I hate to call it that because I don’t like to do any kind of training.  It’s just a group of friends going to ride in the mountains, and we’ll have a good time while we’re out there suffering.  I won’t be suffering as much as normal though, because I’m bringing gears.

I know, I am disappoint too.  I haven’t reached my five ride quota on the geared bike yet, and I’m not going back to the single speed until I do.  Besides, I think I might like to have a squishy fjork out there, and I just don’t have time to swap out the fork on my SS.  I have other shit to do before we go.

If I don’t make a wrong turn, get eaten by a bear, or fall to my death somewhere out there then I’ll be back here next week with a report.

A geared, squishy report but a report nonetheless.  At least I’ll get ride number four out of the way.

Not A Ride Report

Because my dumbass brought my bike with me yesterday but forgot riding apparel. 

So, I’ll talk about some new shit I got instead.  After getting the single speed setup just right I’m starting to find things that need to be changed on the geared bike.  Other than removing the gears, I mean.  We’ll get into that another time.  Anyway, I’d gotten really accustomed to the big, fat 2.4 Maxxis Ardent on the front, but because my SS is a rigid I didn’t think I should run one on a bike with front suspension.  Lately I’ve (obviously) been riding the geared bike, and while the Ignitors are really good I found myself missing the super duper grip of the Ardent.

You with me?

Good.

So, I got with my people down there in Georgia and had a box sent my way.

In that big box among all the other stuff I needed (not very exciting stuff like tubes, etc.) was a new tire.

It’s an Ardent of course, but this one’s a wee bit narrower.  It’s a 2.25, and even though it’s a little lighter it has the same tread pattern (and therefore the same grip) as the big fatty.  I haven’t put it on yet, but I will soon.  I can’t wait to enjoy good ol’ front end traction on the geared bike just like the SS, and I'll even save a little weight.  That means I can drink extra beer, you know.

Apparently I can only change one tire at a time, so I used that one time on the rear tire of my SS.  The Crossmark is a fine dry condition XC racing tire, but it was giving me a little trouble when I stood up to climb.  I solved that problem by installing a still fast, yet slight bit gripper tire.

There was one more change made to the SS, but I’m not at liberty to say what it is right now.  I'll just tell you that I’m trying something out right now to see if I like it.

Let’s keep this one between us, mmmkay?

So yeah, bike shit is getting swapped around here at the B-43 Worldwide Headquarters.  One for a bike that I’m not currently riding right now due to a self-imposed hiatus and the other for a bike that is probably gonna see a major change anyway.

I confuse the shit outta myself sometimes.

Two rides to go on the geared bike, and I’m not sure if the next one will be soon.  I’m busy tonight, and after that I’ll probably save myself for some big ride I’m planning this weekend. 

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

I Took The Easy Way Out

Ride number four didn’t happen.  In a quest to see if I still need gears on the trail, I was hoping that the fourth ride at BYT would tell me all I needed to know.  The trail was still pretty muddy from a shitload of rain we received earlier in the week so we bailed.  We decided instead to meet up at a local watering hole for an urban ride and some food/beer when it was over.

It was fun, as far as urban rides go.

We rode stairs:

We rode through a park:

And we even crashed another party.  This time it was a group of local ladies getting together to talk about their experiences in PA from the Trans-Sylvania Epic.

What the hell was I doing?  I look like shit.

Anyway, when it was all over we rode back to the restaurant where we ran into some of the Faster Mustache guys and I destroyed some beer and $1 tacos.

Having gears on an urban ride didn’t do a damn thing for me as far as figuring out if I like them or not.  So yeah, there’s really nothing to report as far as that goes.  And now I’ll take the easy way out…

And talk about Sonya again.

She finally got around to updating her blog from her visit down here because, you know, she doesn’t feel the need to put up mindless shit every day like I do.  She mentioned us Charlotte folks (myself and Eastwood) quite a bit so now my blog stats are blowing up.  Plus, she gave some love to Drunk Cyclist. That pleases me.

I guess she is pretty famous.  And no, that’s not like us.

Anyway, give it a read:

Sonya Looney – On Dirt Meets Charlotte

Disclamer:  I did not help design the trails at the Whitewater Center fifteen years ago.  I am in the club that built them (the Tarheel Trailblazers), and I’ve done quite a bit of work out there.  I can’t take credit for something that I didn’t do, you know.  It was a long week for her, so I'm sure it was an honest mistake.  

It’s all good though, and I really appreciate the shout out from her.  Hope she comes back to see us all very soon.  Sonya is good people for sure, and even better now that I’m tied for first (with Eastwood) as her number one stalker.

At least I’m good at something.

Number Three

But the third time isn’t a charm…yet.

Continuing my quest to see if I want to keep a geared bike, I decided to finally try a local trail that for some reason I hadn’t ridden yet.  I headed over to the Rocky River Trail (which is really close to my house by the way) for some solo fun.  TK-421 was the bike of choice again, which would make this the third consecutive ride on gears for me.  With a goal of five rides on the geared bike, this particular ride should tell me something. At least I figured that anyway.

I was just out for fun.

This is a huge piece of land where you can find all kinds of unique “items” (like the photo above), but that’s not what I liked about it most.  Being a pretty new trail to the area (and on private property), I found the parking lot quite empty and the trail even less populated.  I had the entire ten plus miles all to myself, so that meant that I could ride as fast as I wanted, or even stop whenever I felt like it.

I stopped when I saw neat shit.

It was fast and flowy in spots, and rocky, rooty, and full of climbs in others.  It reminded me a lot of the trail we’re building near my house, and I enjoyed it immensely.  Even though I was out there all by myself, I still couldn’t escape the ghost of Dicky.

I seem to remember him talking about working out there, and I finally got to see what he did. 

The rock on the right side of the photo is his, and it’s pretty damn fun.  Right after that is a tight switchback turn and just like the rest of the trail, it kept me on my toes.  I was told that it is a “busy” trail.  I agree.

There are a couple of climbs that I heard about, and in my mind I built them up to be impossible.  I knew I was riding a geared bike so I would have a little bit easier time, but that wans’t the case.  I was riding it like a single speed, pretty much staying in the equivalent of a 32X20.  One climb (called No Name) was tough, but I made it somehow.  I had also heard about another climb that was supposed to be tough as well, and when I got to it I prepared for the worst.

It was tough too, but I cleaned it just fine.  Riding a single speed all the time has definitely made me a better climber, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say any of it was easy.  I worked my ass off out there for pretty much the whole ride, and it was really fun.  Once again I enjoyed the suspension fork I had, but the gears seemed to confuse me.  I was never really good at shifting into the right gear in the first place, but riding more and more single speed it has gotten much worse.  I ‘m way more of a masher now, and I’m not ashamed of that.

So yeah, it was a fun trail, and I will definitely be there a lot more in the future.  In fact, it will probably be at the top of the list when I go ride.

Two more rides to go on gears, and most of you probably think you know what the decision will be.

Honestly, I still don’t know.

Or do I?

Number four tonight.

They Gots Skillz

Saturday, a couple of us fellas headed out to the Whitewater Center to help the Dirt Divas with one of their skills clinics.  I always enjoy helping the ladies out on the trail, but honestly this time I didn’t feel like going.  I’d been sick pretty much the whole week and I just wanted to stay in bed.  Luckily I dragged my ass out into the morning sunshine and drove out the meet the rest of the crew.

We divided up into groups depending on which sections of trail the ladies wanted to ride.  Good Guy Greg and I took one group, and we worked on a couple of sections on the Carpet Trail.  When the girls were satisfied that they could ride the obstacles, we rolled out to Goat Hill.  It was there that we found a random rider to take a group shot.

We took quite a bit of time climbing the rocky, rooty switchbacks.  We met up with another group and we sorta just merged together into one big, happy group.  The fellas were happy to help the ladies.

And it was such a nice day to be out in the woods.

After spending a little time working on the steep climbs of Goat Hill, we bombed the downhill section and rolled out to the river… 

Photo credit:  Allison Foil

Where Little Miss Sunshine conquered a rooty climb that usually gets the best of her. 

We worked on that spot for a while with all the ladies (and even a random little boy that happened to be rolling by), and then we took the rest of the trail out towards the parking lot.  There was one more tough feature to tackle though:

This section didn’t used to be difficult, but a severe lack of trail maintenance by the people out there has made it a little more challenging.  The ladies kicked its ass though, and eventually we wrapped up and headed back to the parking lot.

And right to the post-ride festivities.

Photo cred: Allison (again)

Helping out at these skills clinics has got to be one of my favorite things to do.  The ladies put their fear aside (and put all their trust in us smelly boys) to conquer the trail like professionals.  They ended the day as better riders, and it makes those of us that get the privilege to help feel pretty damn important.  You know, much more important than being a kinda famous blogger on the Internets.

Oh yeah, that was ride number two on the geared bike.

Stay tuned.

Need Another Road Trip

But unfortunately I’m probably stuck in town this weekend. 

Just like most of you, I have two days off.  After the longest short week ever, I need to get out for a ride.  I’m for sure staying local tomorrow because I’ve volunteered to help with the Dirt Divas skills clinic at the Whitewater Center.  It will be a nice ride for sure, but I know I’ll need more.  If I can resist the urge for an immediate beer reward after the clinic, I’ll probably stick around for another lap on the geared bike.  Will that count as two rides?  You know, of the five I need?

Maybe.

I’m thinking about getting the hell outta town again Sunday.  With all the Trans-Sylvania Epic coverage I’ve been watching, it’s got me itching to do some epic shit myself.  I don’t have any plans yet, but I’m sure something will come up.  Well, “something” could mean that I just sit around drinking beer.  Whatever.

Hopefully I’ll have something good to talk about Monday when I come back, because I sure as shit don’t have much to say today.  It’s Friday anyway, so y’all aren’t really paying attention.

Are you?

Good.  Go out and ride.

Unneccesary Changes

I forgot to mention that we went on a group ride Tuesday night.  It was fun, but I didn’t really take any photos.  Well, except this blurry one of Good Guy Greg.

And, this one.

Yeah, that’s TK-421, my geared bike.  I’ll get to that in a little bit.

Anyway, with some kind of sickness catching up to me after our trip to FATS last Saturday, I decided to take it easy on Sunday.  I had originally planned to ride every day of my three day weekend, but honestly I didn’t feel like doing a damn thing.  After sleeping in a little bit I forced my way outside to the garage to work on bikes.  Well, one in particular anyway.

My single speed had a few issues from some shitty weather riding so I had to address them.  I cleaned out the bottom bracket and headset, replaced the chain, and put more sealant in my tires.  And that’s when it hit me…

I probably should change some shit that doesn’t need changing.

I love things to stay the same for the most part, but every once in a while I like to switch it up for no apparent reason.  In this case I took off my 32 tooth chainring and replaced it with a 34.

And the very next day I was feeling a little better and took it for a ride.

Running a 34X18 locally isn’t really a big deal I guess.  I liked it from what I could tell, but I was pretty tired from being sick so I couldn’t really make an honest assessment.  I felt like it was tougher to accelerate out of corners, but I had plenty of speed rolling down the trail.  I didn’t really have any problems climbing, and actually I felt like I had more power.  I’ll keep in on there for a while to see if I like it I guess.  You can’t tell a damn thing after one ride, you know.  A few more rides and I’ll make a decision.

So, back to the geared bike and why the hell I was riding it.  I like it.  Not the gears, but the actual bike.  With pretty much the same frame and exact components as my SS(other than the shifty bits and squishy fjork) it rides just the same.  After getting used to a little squish up front I enjoyed it, and I realized that I wouldn’t mind having suspension once in a while as long as I don’t have to swap out a fork. 

As for the gears, I couldn’t really get used to them after spending so much time on a single speed.  I know, I’m probably way too far gone to the Dark Side now to turn back.  I don’t want to believe that though, so that’s why I’m giving my gears one last chance.

For the next five rides (on trails), I will only ride my geared bike.  I will miss the simplicity of my single speed for sure, but I figured that five rides will be enough to decide whether or not I wanna keep them.  After all, that’s all it took for me to be convinced that I should be on a 29er full time.  If I like the gears (and can get used to shifting them), I will keep it and alternate between the two (depending on ride plans of course.)

If there’s no way in hell I can stand the gears, then they go the hell away.  As in, I’ll take the shifty shit off and convert it to a single speed.  Why two single speeds?  I dunno.  Maybe so I can be lazy and not have to swap out forks when I go to the mountains.

Five rides.

I’ll let you know soon.