Eric's Ride Log

Yesterday I went on a fun 4 hour ride with Erinna, Wode, Clint, Thomas, and Boone the dog. We started at 11 am at the Black Mountain trailhead and rode Black from end to end, past Club Gap, went over Buckwheat Knob and through Bennett Gap, then back to the cars.

We arrived at about 10:30 and talked with Bettina, who was getting ready for a short ride with some newbies. Clint and Thomas arrived and we were ready to go pretty much right away. Up Black Mountain trail wasn't easy at all. I started out fast but my legs, lungs, and heart weren't quite ready for the pace I was asking for. It was a warm day already and I took off a layer, waited for Erinna to do the same, and felt a bit better after a small break and a reduction in the pace. It turned into a nice climb for a while and everyone was getting into the groove. Here's Erinna after the layer-removal:

and Erinna watching Wode and Clint arrive:

Black just goes up and up and up and up... Here's Wode, Clint, and Erinna scrambling up a rooty section:

Notice that Thomas isn't in any of the pictures? Well, he was having a good day. He was riding like a madman on that first big climb. Here's a shot of him once I caught him at the top:

and... climbing away... again... Bastard!

On the first descent of the day I had a good scare. Clint was following me and I was doing my best to show him that he NEEDS a 29ER and that my big wheels are FAR SUPERIOR to his little wheels and I was letting at all hang out. Well, the slick leaves and gnomes under cover sent me directly into a tree. Luckily for me, the 29ER saved me, I just ricoched off it. We finally reached the top of Black Mountain after about 90 minutes or so. We stopped for a breather at the overlook and had a great descent down to the shelter. Oh, at the overlook tech move there were a couple hikers and I decided to try once, twice, three times to make it around the impossibly tight corner. I made it on he third try with my legtrailing behind me. I looked like Sophie streatching (Erinna said). I was feeling really good about my technical abilites and went for every switchback on the way to the shelter. I did very well, dabbing twice. There were two riders at the steps to the shelter and they were amazed by us. First, that we had climbed all the way from the bottom. Second that I was on a full rigid SS. Third, that Clint found his own way out of the woods (sans trail). Fourth, that we were calling out to Thomas who had also lost the trail and Fifth, that as soon as the girl on the pink bike arrived, we all got on out of there quickly and with big smiles. It all sounds normal to me, but they were a bit slack jawed.

On our way past the shelter Thomas found this little plant. He says it's endangered and that we're lucky to have it grace our presence. The flowers are gone for the year but little gems still are sprinkled throughout the forest:

My legs were going back and forth between feeling great and feeling like sacks of lead. Erinna was getting stronger and stronger as the day wore on. She cleaned the climb after the notch log like she had something to proove. Thomas cleaned it, too. Yeah! I gave it a solid try but came up short. Here's the group at the top:

Erinna says: Yeah! try to beat me up the next climb.

I was having a great technical riding day . As I mentioned, I did the tight turn at the overlook, nearly all the switchbacks (even the super huge ones) plus I flew off the notch log. However, on the descent to Club Gap I took the lead and nearly crashed H-A-R-D. It didn't happen, luckily, because it would have been a bad one. I was railing through a corner and me back wheel suddenly was launched upward. I rode a nose wheelie for a good 4 to 6 feet before bringing it back in. After that treat it was another climb, up to Buckwheat Knob. My legs were feeling pretty good so I took the lead on the climb. The descent to 477 is lots of fun, super fast, and tech tech tech. Thomas ate it twice! Once in the upper switchbacks where he almost broke his leg and once while taking the wrong line over the waterbar/rootball/waterbar with a big drop section and smashed his face! I wish I had taken a picture... blood running down his shin, a big smile and blood on his teeth. All of his teeth and face skin were intact so we pressed on towards Bennett. Here's a shot from the field at the top of Bennett:

Clint was feeling good at this point and took the lead into Bennett. His little wheels did not inspire confidence (Come on Clint! Get a 29er!) so he got hung up on one of the tricky spots. With Thomas on my tail I cleaned the nasty left hand turn drop thing like I knew what I was doing. Actually, I've been there a few times lately so I kinda did have an idea... Anyway, I got messed up heading to the Clint huck (different Clint) and almost fell into the hole to oblivion, bobbled, got it together, made the switchback, and ate sh!t right at the huck rock. Dammit! I went for it a second time, bobbled again, and nearly fell off the side down to Perry. No bueno. No third try, thank you very much. After the Clint huck it was a quick hike-a-bike and down the backside of Bennett. I was feeling pretty good through there but was extra cautious during the steep setion with the big downed tree, it was FULL of leaves and impossible to make out trail features. Here's Erinna as we pass Coontree:

We made it to the bottom at 477 in just under 4 hours. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out. We ran into Craig and his dog on their way up Clawhammer and down Black right as we were off the single track. A bit of fire road and a bit of pavement later, we were back at the vehicles. Great ride on a warm late fall day.

Two more photos from the day:

Wode!

Two Hounds:

O.k., this is cool... I just figured out how to do this; Here's a map of the ride!