Mountain Bikes, Bass Guitar, and other stuff I like

30 miles at about 9 mph pace at Blanket's today on the single speed. Chain is now not falling off after I shifted the tensioner back 1/4 inch. Today was my first ride in 6 days after being at the beach all week and it felt great to be back on a bike.

Drove the long way up to Ocoee, TN through Chattanooga which took us about 3 hours to arrive at Ocoee Whitewater Center. Definitely taking 411 next time which was about 45 minutes quicker on the way back. Have another sinus/respiratory thing so I wasn't feeling my strongest plus my legs were begging for a break heading in to my 9th hour on a bike this week. I was so glad I brought my geared bike today. This will be the most hours I've put on a bike in a week, which is about 11 hours. Hit the trail and immediately started climbing on Bear Paw loop. This was a good 10 minute sustained climb. So much for a warmup! The trails are fairly well-groomed and nothing overly technical. Next on to Chestnut loop which reminded me a lot of Tsali with plenty of single and doubletrack mixed in a big,beautiful forest. I couldn't tell it was 95 degrees outside because of the canopy. Everyone had told me to ride Thunder Rock Express and I can see why. It had some of the most fun downhi...

Big Creek Bike Park, Roswell, GA Martha Shatzmeyer and Nancy Brown-Griese interrupted their jog last Tuesday to applaud a mountain biker at Big Creek park for his brilliant downhill descent and jumps. "Normally we're out here doing our jogging thing and don't notice the bikers. You know, what we do out here is pretty important and all. I particularly admired the way he kept his weight back and really crouched down in to attack position. I can't stop clapping! I hope he doesn't case his next run," Martha beamed. Nancy added, "The youngster bombed that one gnarly section and it was so nice to see him catch some sick air on the backside." The two ladies then decided to go home after realizing that nothing beyond this experience could take their day to any loftier height.

Spent just over 3 hours on the singlespeed yesterday at Dauset Trails near Jackson, GA. I was still some tired from Pine Log a few days before and my hammies felt like they had steel rods in them. My feet hurt from the first minute I was on the bike since they were still sore from all the hiking at Pine Log. This was one of my least fun rides on a mountain bike. Dauset is a real grinding type of trail that just wears you down with all the roots and terraced climbs on Huff n Puff as an example. There are no huge climbs and really not a lot of room for recovery, especially on the singlespeed. My goal was to go for 4 hours but I was toast at 3 hours. I'm not really sure how much mileage I covered as I was just following the black arrows. Need to get an odometer.

Went back to Pine Log in search of singletrack and boy did I find it, except it was mostly uphill and unrideable. Out of the 5 hours I spent out there, I estimate 2 hours of it was spent hiking. One would have to be an absolute bike-beast to make these climbs and the climbs just don't end. It's like Pinhoti with rocks. So I began clockwise on Pine Log Gap Rd again and pedaled out to the cornfield again, about 7 miles out. This is a mostly uphill fire road with a sustained 10 minute climb at one point. Then on to the singletrack at the edge of the cornfield and then an insanely steep climb. This was mostly hiking. The topo maps say it's about 1600 feet at the top of this climb. Left onto Pine Log Mountain trail for a brief downhill run then came across acres of rock gardens that went uphill what seemed like forever. This began the climb up to the radio tower and unfortunately, mostly hiking. I think I could've biked some of it but I was in conserve-energy mode. The g...

3rd blanket's ride of the week and boy was I a tired pup out there. Did South loop (for starters), Dwelling, and 2 VMTs. Dust was getting in to my lungs also, always fun. Need rain! . Felt like hell and no gas the whole time. Backpack + singlespeed + no legs equals sufferfest. Still, a ride is a ride.

No legs really today with 2 VMT laps and a Dwelling lap. But hey, a ride is a ride. Could've been too much breakfast before riding or just tired in general. Saw two King snakes in the middle of VMT, guess they need exercise too.