Turn your frown upside down could have been the theme of Saturday’s ride. Two and a half hours of sleep and 2 Red Bulls and I was still yawning at the 6am carpool meet up for the ride. After a trip into the gas station for some morning/ride essentials like COFFEE (the regular kind not unleaded), ice, beer, solid breakfast food (which Frank was quick to point out was a farm house slaughter: bacon, egg, ham & cheese sub sammich) more coffee and a bottle of mountain dew (just for some caffeine) it was time to hit the road ready for a big day of great Virginia single track. We arrived at Braley Pond to discover that Jared and Steve had already had their morning wake up and breakfast as well. After some quick morning chat and a clothing change we strapped on our Camelbaks and proceeded to leave the parking lot only to have the usual “Oops I almost forgot to grab something”, instigated by your’s truly start off the ride.
Once the ride actually got rolling we headed north on SR715->96->95 up to Camp Todd. There we would hit the first bit of single track and the first big climb of the day.
Standing at Camp Todd things like “Wait, Metro did you know that we could have just parked up here instead of way back there?” were jokingly uttered. “Yeah I just wanted to give you guys a quick warm up before the mountain biking begins.” I replied. After a little bit of where’d the trail go confusion and a quick creek crossing we started the climb. The climb was very challenging but rideable (although some riders chose to have a nice conversation with their steed as they walked up) gaining about 2,200’ of altitude in 3 miles with the terrain ranging from hard pack & pine needle covered hard pack to random loose rocks and a few roots thrown in for good measure.
There was a great overlook right before we reached Little Bald Knob. We stopped at the overlook to catch our breath, take some pictures, fix a mechanical and discuss the finer points of the stinging nettle plant.
Then we continued on to the knob to begin our first descent down Chestnut ridge on the Wild Oak trail. Standing in the small clearing at Little Bald Knob which was the start of the descent brought back smiles (and nightmares) from the SM100 for a few of us. I uttered a few words of advice on the descent then Jared explained the reality of the gnar gnar level and we were off. The descent was beautiful and well earned. We stopped twice on the descent to re-group and make sure no one went off the side of the mountain rather than down the trail. Near the end of the descent I made a wrong call on which trail to follow and we ended up closer to Todd Lake than what I had planned. That worked out well in the sense of a water refill so we rode over to the Todd Lake campground area and refilled and refueled.
As we headed out for the second part of the first loop the group was asked as a group to make a decision. My original plan was for a second steep single track “welcome to the mountains” kind of climb. While some of the group was up for it the rest of the group was looking for a more mellow way to achieve another downhill. The vote to follow the original route (steep single track) was taken and the nays won. A fire road/jeep trail ascent FR95->425 would be the plan. This ascent route is actually another part of the SM100 course that you get to know very well after having climbed it twice.
It’s not so much the steepness of this route that gets at you as it is the fact that it’s a wide gravel road that has a steady grade that only occasionally lets up on the false flats. You have to think like a roadie, lock out the front fork and spin to win. Then the reality hits you that you are on a gravel road spinning your ass off to hold a 4 mph pace up a road that you feel like you should be able to hold a good 10 mph pace. And the mental games begin.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the Hankey Mountain/Dowells Draft descent that is regarded by many local Richmonders as the best descent in the forest. At the start of the descent some spirits were questionable. Knowing there would not be enough time to finish the second loop to Elliot’s Knob and back I still jokingly ask the crew their opinion on if they were up for another adventure or not. It was reported that one rider had earlier voiced his honest opinion of “Hell no” and while there were one or two maybe’s in the poll the general overtone was “What’s the fastest way back to the car so we can go home because we are spent.” I laughed and grinned knowing that the final descent of the first loop would bring a smile to everyone’s face.
The first bit has a few rolling hills before the trails opens up to a more straight down yet winding single track bliss. On one of those rollers we had the 2nd flat tire of the day. After a quick fix we were off again. Wanting to make what I knew would be the final (and best descent of the day since we weren’t going to make the 2nd loop) run at a wide open full throttle pace I took the lead and spun out the big ring to gets things started off.
For the next 8-10 minutes even with a busted front fork the trail/bike/rider mojo was spot on. I managed to flow and clean everything minus one big downed tree that I made a feeble (and failed) attempt to bunny hop at about 20 MPH while consciously knowing that I did not have the skills to pull it off. The lower section of the descent has some small water bars that when hit with a little bit of speed will throw you into the air for some quick hang time. Unfortunately every one of them will pitch your weight forward and cause your front wheel to drop hard first before the back wheel if you don’t take a preventive measure. Normally I can fudge my way through this section with minimal effort but since the rest of the descent was going very well I decided to get ballsy and try to jump the water bars. The first one didn’t really take but by the third one I was able to catch a little bit over what I would guess was 1’ of air.
At the bottom of the run I stopped to check my computer to see what my maximum speed for the descent was. 37.2 MPH? Holy smokes! That would explain why I drifted through a few of the corners thinking “Oh shit I’m going to wreck any second now and it won’t be pretty.” I sat down and ate the last bit of my PB&J sammich then noticed what I thought would be a cool photo opportunity so I setup shop at the photo op and waited for the others to come by.
Each rider that came past me was grinning from ear to ear. Some had went from bonk and cramp land to a state of pure mountain biking nirvana. Everyone else was busy exchanging high fives and “oh man this section was such and such and that sections was wild” stories.
The day was 20 minutes or less from being over and everyone was smiling. We had had pretty decent luck overall with only one mechanical and two flats. We begin the fast fire road ride back towards the cars. It was as if the MTB gods thought we were going to get out of the mountains too easily. In a confusing split second they reached down from above picked a rider and smacked him down. Most of us topped a flat area on the gravel road to see fellow rider Joel G. walking towards the side of the road with no bike in his hands. A quick scan of the situation revealed that his bike was in the ditch down from the road. We all stopped to see what was up and realized that he had went down hard on the gravel. He had a nasty slice on his hand and some nice skinned spots here and there about his body. A closer inspection of his hand quickly revealed that he was going to need some stitches.
Like a whirlwind of trained professionals Joel Dirt, Shaft and Lee swarmed Joel G. and begin getting him cleaned off and prepped to stop the bleeding and get enough bandages on to get out to the hospital. I stood for a moment in amazement at the situation. The suddenness of the wreck and the quickness of response from fellow riders whom some of them had just met each other for the first time that morning. We managed to get Joel and his stuff down to the main road where Jared was waiting with the vehicle. After a quick gathering of personal belongings Jared and Joel were off to the ER. The rest of us headed back to the parking lot to change clothes and head over to the ER.
(Wheelchairs? Look closer!)
(They are prepared for bikers both roadies and mountain bikers.)
Once we got there we were informed that Joel was in the back getting looked over and that it would be a while due to how crowded the ER was. So we went to get some real food and some beer while we waited. Darkness fell and while the nurses were inside doing their thing we were outside placing bets on what unlucky soul would walk through the fresh puddle of vomit that someone left on the front door step of the ER.
(The betters)
(the bet and the victims.)
Shortly thereafter Joel emerged with the damage report. Once we knew that everything was as good as it was going to get and Joel had had everything he could taken care of we all headed home to mark the end of a otherwise great day of riding.
A quick note: Joel G. I hope you have a speedy and painless recovery. To everyone; I have to say that I really appreciate you guys banding together when it was important even when some of you had just met for the first time. While that is my idea of how mountain bikers should act towards and help out each other it’s always refreshing and comforting to know that other people feel the same way. Also, I will openly and gladly say that I am very proud and very envious of the actions, preparedness and knowledge that was exhibited by Joel Dirt, Frank and Lee. I will be looking into some first aid classes.
Peace,
Metro
2 comments:
Looking to catch up with you at Wilderness 101 (I heard you were coming?). Looks like you're prepared. Holla.
Paul
pleeger@comcast.net
You have mail.
MeTrO...
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