Been getting the most of this wv trip, riding a little of this and a lot of that. Hit up a quick gravel grinder on the fixie on sunday followed by a sweet ride on monday. Hooked up with the biking viking and andy at ertc to hit up slatyfork expecting super wet conditions and lots of down trees. The beginning of single track was brutal with all of the trees blocking the trail, but a quarter of a mile in it opened up quite nice. Trails were the driest that I can remember them ever being.
Hopping over this and riding around that was the theme for the first hour or so of single track then it opened up to perfection. Tea creek mountain was superb, possibly in the best shape that I have seen it in. Railed the rock garden and the descent was phenomenal. Easy pedal up bannock where we saw this little guy...........
Then a long gravel road ride back to the cars. 6 hours of riding that ended right as the storm rolled in, a perfect day in the back country of wv........beautiful!
Wednesday is mike's vacation day, at least for the month I have been in town. A spruce ride was in the works but it was too much driving for a day trip so a sweet gravel grinder was laid out from the house in sutton up into Webster county.
The bikes of choice for the day! And yeah, coasting would have been nice and a brake may have been even nicer but what fun is that? A 5 mile road section starts us out, then the climbing began. If we weren't climbing then we were descending. No flat sections were had until the last section of trail (road) for the day. A few of the sections I had never ridden brakeless and I now know why. A beautiful day running from the rain clouds and spinning along. Definitely a great way to spend the day.
All said and done we rode for 7 1/2 hours and hit a little over 80 miles. About 15 of it was on paved roads the rest was gravel, dirt or four wheeler trails, perfect for a road bike! I call it the 18 and 18 ride, at least 18 solid climbs and at least 18 creek crossings. Another superb day.
For you ash-villains, I'll be in town Saturday afternoon!!! peace
GO RIDE!!!