Four rides, Four days, One gear.
Erinna and I just got in from another ride in Pisgah. This time it was 4 hours even in the woods with a 1/2 hour rest at Courthouse Falls. Here's the profile for now.
and one photo:
We started across the street from Cove Creek Campground on 475 and went up towards Gloucester Gap. It had been a long time since I had climbed that and it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. On our way up there was a runner trucking along with a camelcak on. As we passed he put fist fit out for a quick knuckle high-five, that was fun. The crazy bastard then ran up from Gloucester Gap to Farlow Gap right behind us. Well, he would fall back on the 'flat' sections and catch us again every time the road really pitched upwards. When we got to the gate before Farlow he was only a few seconds behind us and when he arrived he was in very high spirits and was as impressed that I rode up single-speed as I was that he ran THAT hill at THAT pace. Awesome.
I had to get his photo. If anyone knows this guy tell hime we were really really really impressed.:
After the gate the route turns into rocky old road bed for another mile or so to Farlow Gap. There are a bunch of places where the Art Loeb trail intersects but if you follow the most beaten path there's no way to get lost. We passed Farlow and continued on the old road bed until it wrapped around Pilot Mountain and we took a right on Kissee Creek Road, a.k.a. Stingging Nettle Road.
Here's Erinna rolling down the road:
and crossing the creek:
The road was much more overgrown than a couple of months ago when Camye, Sarah and I did this same route and the stingging nettles were Baaaaaaaaaaaaaad this time around. Note to self: Jelly-fish and stingging nettle and poisen ivy effects most people adversely. Just because MY skin isn't bothered by such pests, doesn't mean others aren't greatly affected by it. I made it to the one stop and thought 'hmm, my arms and legs are a little itchy. I wonder if there was stingging nettle back there?' Erinna got there screaming 'F*CK! AAAAHHHHHH!!! My legs are on FIRE!!!! AAAHHHHHH F*CK!' Well, that sealed the deal, we were headed to the waterfall to wash off.
It was a beautiful day (up to this point) and the conditions were perfect for rinsing off in the pool. Here's Erinna feeling much less itchy and waving to the camera:
After we spent nearly a half hour down at Courthouse Falls we got rolling again on Summey Cove trail. Summey cruises along, la-tee-da, nice and easy until.... it goes straight up. It was as if the people that planned and built that trail just drew a line from 215 to Courthouse Creek and decided THAT is where the trail is going to be. It goes up up up up over the ridge via a torturous hike-a-bike and back down the other side to 215 just as steeply. No switchbacks, just waterbars. We had noticed that the clouds had been growing ever more dark and grey as we traveled and once we hit 215, the sky opened up. We cruiesed pretty quickly back to Courthouse Creek Rd and turned right onto the old road bed that would take us back to Gloucester Gap. We turned and the rain really started to come down.
