Big Mountain Riding

Debriefing the Big Mountain Riding 30 ‘n 30 Challenge

"They's folks as ain't come back from them hills, sonny."- From ride 23 'n 23

I haven’t been on my bike in a week and a half. I’m taking some time off following December 30. That’s when I rode home in the light of the full moon, finishing off the 30 ‘n 30 Challenge. The next day we hosed off my brother-in-law’s bike and gave it the TLC it had long needed. The day after that I arrived back in Virginia, to freezing temps and snow on the shaded side of everything.

Happy cows come from California

The Big Mountain Riding 30 ‘n 30 Challenge threw down the gauntlet for 30 rides of at least 30-minutes in 30 days. Unfortunately, the challenge started on Nov. 30. I pedaled in the snow; I pedaled in freezing rain. I pedaled in the dark and against the wind. I pedaled on Christmas Eve and Christmas. I pedaled on opposite sides of the country, in six trail systems and two neighborhoods. By traveling to California to see family for Christmas, I dodged the biggest snow in 10-years at home. I rode with my 50-something friends, I rode with my 12-year old nephew; I rode a lot by myself. Animals encountered included deer, rabbits, turkeys, buzzards, hawks, owls, cows and coyotes. I rode pavement, sidewalks, gravel roads, drainage ditches, doubletrack, singletrack, cow trails and cross country. I broke a few regulations along the way, and alarmed a few cows. Damages incurred included a new fork for my bike Jack Rabbit Slim, brakes for my brother-in-law’s bike, poison oak and a head cold for me.

In the 30-days, I rode +/- 150 miles and put in a work week on the bike, logging 39-hours in close proximity to my trusty steeds. Among my California relatives I’m the guy who rides bikes, and this holiday season solidified that stereotype.

Moments I will remember include: catching a coyote on his way home from a night of naughtiness in Hayward, CA’s Garin Park, railing the teeter-totter at Danville, VA’s Anglers Ridge, taking my nephew on his first mountain bike ride, encountering a red-tail hawk on the hillside at Lynchburg’s Blackwater Creek, the eye-watering full-speed doubletrack descent into Garin Park from Bailey Ranch Road, soldiering through the ice rain at Candler’s Mountain at dusk, the final ride home with my moon shadow stretching behind me like the 30 ‘n 30 challenge.

"Some of dem trails down in der woods is's slick as snot." - From ride 17 'n 17

This challenge provided a hearty serving of both learning and self-awareness.

1. It takes time and willpower to ride every day. Sounds obvious, but as the daylight bleeds away around 5 p.m. in December, procrastinators will run out of time. And time aside, you’ve got to push yourself to go out and ride. Nike has it right. Just do it.

2. Bikes are beautiful. What an instrument for speed and harmony. It’s an extension of your body, but not part of you.  And on a sweeping curve of a narrow trail through the woods … what could provide more feeling of flow?

3. We’re trashing our planet – even if we aren’t killing it. Ironically – given that I was only able to access these hills for 30-minute sound bites because of all the roads and cars – I was saddened by all the garbage and scars we leave on this land. Roads reaching into every solitary place, litter lining even the smallest of foot paths. We are creatures of destruction.

4. Mountain bikers live on variety, so vary your rides. Riding every day means some duplication. However, most of us would quickly lose interest if we continually had to ride the same trail in the same conditions. Seasons change, leaves and trees fall, rain makes mud, sun makes dust. All this and so much more means that even the same trail differs on different days. I sought out various trail systems and different routes, yet I wish I would have ridden even more places, like VA’s Sherando Lake SP and CA’s Lake Chabot RP.

5. Take care of yourself and your stuff to extend the miles. One of the biggest lessons of the challenge was when we looked up the manual online and took apart the Manitou Axel fork on my brother-in-law’s bike. With a few hours of time and a $10 bottle of fork oil, we revived that fork and saved a couple hundred bucks. A little more frequent cleaning and more lubing can cut down on those costly repair bills. In the same way, stretching, eating right and cross training means more and more enjoyable miles. This was brought home on my first day in Garin Park after a year of eating better, more exercise and more time on the bike. I immediately noticed the increase in skill and power.

Now that the 30 ‘n 30 Challenge is complete, I am already thinking of the next challenge. Initially, I had thought of just letting the 30 ‘n 30 roll into the 365 ‘n 365. However, I chickened out and am looking for something different. Hmm. Ideas anyone?

"Must think it ain't hard enough as is, 'cause they done built a bunch of crap in the woods." From Ride 13 'n 13

© Big Mountain Riding

Let’s go riding way out west – Getting in some of the season’s last rides at Spokane’s Beacon Hill, Riverside Park and Mount Spokane trails

Story: Randy King

Photos: Randy King & Doug King

Some highlights of the Spokane riding scene, from IMBA:

• Four ski resorts offering mountain biking within an hour
• Mt. Spokane State Park (the largest state park in Washington), offers 90-miles of bike trails and embraces the downhill riding trend.
• Riverside State Park (the second largest state park in Washington), offers miles of beginner and intermediate trails.
• Camp Sekani City Park (Beacon Hill) has a network of intermediate and advanced cross-country, freeride and downhill trails.

Airing it out on Spokane's Beacon Hill

Everything’s bigger out west, you know. Well, that’s all good theoretically, except it’s a little too real as I nose the wheel of my all mountain bike onto a ladder bridge over a gap big enough to swallow me – bike and all. That’s when I remember how close I am to the birthplace of gut-check features – British Columbia – and how far away I am from my familiar Appalachian terra firma. Aw, shucks. Just roll it! Or not.

While visiting my brother, he and I fit in very different rides on three of Spokane’s trail systems: Free riding lite at Beacon Hill, cross country at Riverside, and shuttled downhilling at Mount Spokane.

This Beacon Hill feature proved sketchy on narrow tires - from fttrc.org

Beacon Hill Recreation Area spreads across several slopes on the ridgeline North of the Spokane River, and east of Market St. The area features a warren of trails for riders of all skill levels and persuasions. Trails range from sandy jeep roads to cross-country singletrack, to a downhill race course and features / drops that haul out your inner coward screaming into the daylight.

The Beacon Hill Recreation Area is a work of love fueled by volunteers from the Fat Tire Trail Riders Club and the Beacon Hill Trails project, with generous support from area agencies. Some of the trails meander over the hillside, creating many options (and grades) for descending or climbing. Others are clearly more hell-bent, roiling over rock outcroppings and taking the rider up in the air. Certain features soured my stomach: a narrow wooden creation stood out  in the sky like a dock left high and dry at low tide. It ended abruptly, with the drop zone 10 – 12-feet below not visible until your front tire got dangerously close to the steep entry ramp.

Attempting some narrow bridge work, Beacon Hill

Still, the park offers variety, as evidenced by the bikes and riders we encountered. Our All Mountain rigs fell somewhere in the middle. We saw a family out on their hard tail ATB bikes on the XC trails and a pick-up truck full of Oshkosh B’ Gosh clad, full-facers unloading dual-crowned coil-sprung gravity sleds, as well as all-mountain bikes.

We parked at the Boulder Beach trail head (see directions below) and worked our way uphill to one of the the high points along the ridge. Our vantage point allowed us to test out our karma and mojo on a few small jumps and a steep ramp with a blind entrance. Once we played around a bit, we worked our way East to the real crest of the ridge. On the way back down we stuck to single track, and found a few fun skills sections. Back at the bottom, we climbed up to the West and tested our courage on the wood work. As dusk fell under the trees, we called it a great day and packed it up to go find some milk shakes at the nearest Zip’s Drive-in, a local fast food franchise.

Riverside Park has miles of mellow singletrack - from fttrc.org

Riverside State Park stretches along the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers northwest of Spokane. The park’s nearly 10,000-acres cling to the twists of the rivers. However, in places the park expands and narrow, sandy single track darts off into the pines. Riverside State Park features more than 75-miles of trails plus the famous Centennial Trail that runs 37-miles from Spokane to Idaho.

On a cold, dry afternoon, we set out for a cross-country ride from the trailhead at Carlson Rd., heading south toward the Bowl and Pitcher Area. The temp hovered near my “a little cold for riding” point. Bad omens piled up deeper than the pine needles that carpeted the worn single track. In sight of the parking lot, Dig rolled into an immovable object and went over the bars – on a climb. When he put himself back together, the brakes on his vintage metallic rust-colored Schwinn Homegrown were sticking. Standing around with the cool air picking at us through our bike clothes, we managed to figure out a fix. Onward, time to warm up!

Basalt formations in Deep Creek Canyon

The surface on Riverside’s trails varies between sand and Basalt. Basalt formations are weirdly barrow-like and trails cut along their sides present lots of exposure. The rock tends to break off into sharp-edged chunks designed to shred tires and bodies. Approaching Deep Creek canyon, we descended a dicey section with several switch backs scattered with rock fragments and edged by some significant exposure. I did a full flying dismount attempting one of these turns, launching over the bars with my feet tucked up underneath me and setting down the landing gear to avoid a head-over-heels tumble on that pointy rock. The tech-iest sections in the park feature climbs, descents and switchbacks littered with Basalt outcroppings or detritus. For eastern riders, sand can be challenging too. However, the sandy sections we encountered were mild – just very dusty for the following rider(s).

The prettiest sections of the ride are along the Spokane River, with its clear blue water and rapids. The Bowl and Pitcher Area is a great place to view the river, either close-up from the suspension bridge, or from on high. The slope behind the Pitcher offers some very tech trails among the Basalt.

After missing our first connection and pedaling furiously to catch our shuttle car, we stuck to the theme and recovered with Maggie Moo’s ice cream.

Expect sudden sweeping switchbacks on Mount Spokane - from IMBA

Mount Spokane State Park looms over the surrounding area, and its nearly 6,000-foot altitude gives its trails some great attitude. Standing atop its windblown summit (where on cool days one can see other states and another country), the cooler temperatures and the view of the steep drop-off to the East bluster and bark at the rider, making one feel under assault and unwanted here before even one pedal crank. However, once you drop off the backside of that summit and find yourself carving down eroded single track among widely-spaced trees in an old burn zone, the trepidation fades and the grin starts to spread across your face. It only grows wider farther down the mountain. Dialed-in now,  you pilot your rig in slicing, side-to-side arcs through narrow gaps in the cedars on trails with colloquial-yet-accurate names like Jedi Trees. This is a dream; a dream that will never end until the trail head miles and thousands of vertical feet away in a different plane of existence. Except if you miscalculate one of those gaps by even an inch. Dream trees these are not, young Paduan.

The ground drops away quickly from the summit of Mount Spokane

I don’t get a lot of enjoyment from sipping a drink, nor does my brother. We revel in “big” experiences. This is all building up to an excuse for why we only got one photo from our ride on Mount Spokane. We were too busy doing to take time to document it. Trails like this are experienced best as a whole, like a concept album. Rock on. (And take more pictures next time )

We parked one car at the top and dropped down trail 130, which drops down pretty steeply, dropping over roots and erosion-prevention devices. Approaching the first one of these erosion fences, I thought it was made of steel or hard rubber. Luckily, it is a flexible material, and doesn’t hamper the downward good times. I exorcised my demons on the top section, almost going off the ranch on one of the turns, and going slower than normal. Further down the hill, with all cylinders going, we rode trail 110 and made our way over to Smith Gap, where we found the aforementioned Jedi Trees trail. Along the way, Dig’s RaceFace seat post bolt sheared off, leaving him to stand for the rest of the descent. The final run-out along trail 115 was a carving, flowing thing through the trees and down to the road where our shuttle car waited.

We rode Mount Spokane on my last day in town, and my only regret was that because I had a flight to that evening, we couldn’t fit in another run. If you go, don’t be intimidated by the steep slopes atop Mount Spokane, just use The Force and flow. It’s a long, fun ride to the bottom. Make  sure to make time for ice cream.

© Big Mountain Riding
Planning your ride:

Beacon Hill Recreation Area maps are available for $8 from North Division Bike and Ski, Bicycle Butler, Bike Hub, Wheel Sport East and Mountain Gear, sales of the map are a fundraiser for the group that maintains these fun trails – fttrc.org Boulder Beach trail head: Park at the Boulder Beach pull out, on Upriver Drive, 1.25 miles w. of Argonne Road. Cross the road carefully and take your pick of the trails. For DH, head west and look for the fireroad that you can walk your bike up. For XC, head east and then look for trails heading to the left as you get close to the end of the property. Camp Sekani trail head - This entrance is on the N. side of Upriver Drive, just W. of Boulder Beach

Mount Spokane State Park – Trails on the official map are documented by numbers, and these maps are posted at some trail intersections. It behooves the downhill rider to select the right trail to avoid climbing back up even part of the hill. Ffrom Spokane: Drive north on Hwy. 2 to Hwy. 206. Follow Hwy. 206 for 15 miles to park entrance. Address: N. 26107 Mt. Spokane Park Dr., Mead, WA 99021

Riverside State Park - A map put together by the Backcountry Horsemen is available at Spokane’s REI or Northwest Maps for $5.95. Multiple trail heads including Carlson Rd., Mclellan Rd. 7 Mile Trailhead, Wilbur Rd near the Plese Flats Day Use Area, at the Bowl and Pitcher Trailhead and off of Government Way.

A Rock Gardener’s Delight: Virginia’s Sherando Lake State Park

Big Mountain Riding elements: Big elevation changes, East Coast flow, extended rock gardens, mountain views

The views are great from the trails at Sherando Lake State Park

To make the most of the week of beautiful weather we’re having, I headed up to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a big mountain riding adventure ride at Sherando Lake State Park. The park is best-known for its scenic 25-acre lake and campground. However, it also features some very gonzo mountain bike trails. Peppered with rock gardens and featuring more natural flow than many East Coast trails, the area boasts some epic rides. The first time I visited the park it was a late-fall ride and before we were done, I had puked from the bone-rattling ride and cool air (the Gatorade breakfast hadn’t helped either) and one of our party broke a rib. That ride my style suffered from a trashed 100mm fork as well, which made the rock gardens a special torture. We also found one of the hugest climbs in our area, Mills Creek Trail, with 8 progressively tighter switchbacks on the way up a steep valley side.

On this day I planned on avoiding that particular climb, and having fun by cherry-picking a few of the more “fun” trails. After parking at White Rock Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway several miles south of the turn-off for the park (somewhere in the middle of the ride area, vertically speaking) I started off by railing a quick 2.5 mile creek side descent to Sherando Lake. Fortunately I happened to see an approaching group of hikers well ahead of time, and I halted and let them pass. After pleasantries, it was back to the sheer joy of dropping a smooth single track where gravity carries the rider over the rocks and roots in a flow like the stream running next to the trail. I pumped over a few obstacles and put the puzzle pieces together for a successful crossing of the stone-filled stream bed as the trail flattened out.

In the park, I looked over a notice board description of the trails and chose the Blue Loop Trail as a way of getting back up to above my starting point. I saw I could make a loop of it using Torrey Ridge Trail and the Slacks Trail back to White Gap Trail. AVOID the Blue Loop Trail – or at least the 1-mile segment connecting the lake with Torrey Ridge Trail. It is short, steep and stepped. Loose gravel covers the first 1/4 mile or so, and then stone stairs and rock gardens take care of all but the last 1/4 mile or so, beyond Lookout Rock. Lookout rock is worth the view, though I’d recommend coming down from Torrey Ridge Trail to see it and not up from the campground.

The sandy beach of Sherando Lake below Lookout Rock

Having gained the ridge, it was a 3-mile roller coaster climb up to the Slacks Trail. However, this is the easy section of the Torrey Ridge Trail … The 2.5-mile run down the Slacks Trail is one of the joys of mountain biking. It flows well, and is more than 95% down hill. Two rock gardens spice things up, both rideable, I believe. Although I’m still smarting from going down in the second rock garden (later in the day, in the rain). This trail is so good that I climbed all the way back up to Bald Mountain to do it again, after lunch.

Following a lunch break at the car at White Rock Gap (forewarned is forearmed, I had a cooler full of treats), I pedaled up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Bald Mountain. Originally, I had planned on getting there via the White Rock Falls trail, right across the road from White Rock Gap, but it was marked for foot travel only. The Parkway was a better idea anyway, as traffic was light on a weekday and I could use the big ring for a great deal of the climb. At Bald Mountain, I turned in on the Fire Road, rode for less than a mile and turned right up to Bald Mountain. The Torrey Ridge Trail dropped off to the left near the end of the double-track. It started innocently enough, and I encountered another hiker and asked about the rest of the Torrey Ridge Trail, which descended all the way down the ridge beyond the lake. However, after leaving the hiker, less than 1/2 a mile into the trail, I hit the first rock garden. And this was followed by one of the most extensive rock gardens around. A long, downhill affair with several stages. I had encountered it before, and been thwarted. As I was this time. Too psychologically intimidating.

The bigger they are the harder they fall - that's the trail, folks!

After walking (on trembling chicken legs down through the rock garden, I pedaled it out to the Slacks Trail in the cool Appalachian rain and railed it all again, except for taking a could-have-been-a-lot-worse spill in the second rock garden. I put a foot down on the downhill side too near the edge of the trail, turned my ankle on a rock, and did a tumble in the rocks. Miraculously, I came away with only a banged knee and hip bone. No flowing blood or big bruises. That’s why all good rock gardeners wear protection, my friends. So they don’t end up gazing down horrified at their own bones protruding from their leg or arm. Rocks play for keeps.

Sherando Lake has a great mix of trails for those willing and able to climb for the reward. I’d recommend parking at White Rock Gap or at the Slacks Overlook, as they are in the middle vertically. However, if you have shuttle vehicles, you could park one at Bald Mountain and another down at the end of Torrey Ridge Trail, or at the park itself and get some fun downhill runs in. Big Levels trail also goes off of Bald Mountain, and is an old favorite.

Trails covered on this adventure ride: White Rock Gap Trail, Slacks Trail, Blue Loop Trail, Torrey Ridge Trail

Other big mountain riding favorites in the area: Big Levels Trail …

© Big Mountain Riding

Getting There:

Sherando Lake Recreational Area / State Park
96 Sherando Lake Road
Lyndhurst VA 22952

From Interstate 64: Take exist 96 off Interstate 64 just east of Stuarts Draft, Virginia. Go South on State Route 624. The road number changes to State Route 664 at Lyndhurst, Virginia, but there is no distinct turn. Continue South on State Route 664 approximately 8 miles to the entrance to the Sherando Lake Recreation Area on the right. The gate house is approximately 1/2 mile ahead. If the gatehouse is closed, continue through the recreation area to the group camping area at the end of the road.

From the south or southwest: Sherando Lake State Park is accesible from the Blue Ridge Parkway. You can get to the Parkway via Route 664 (Wintergreen Resort) or from I-81 N: Take exit 213 for US-11 toward US-340/Greenville, Follow signs for 340 and turn left on US-340, Turn right at Draft Ave/VA-608, Continue to follow VA-608 until it turns into VA-610, follow 610 to Torrey Road, turn right on Torrey Road, Park entrance is on the right in about 4 miles.

Mountain biking is FUN! Even in 90-degree heat ...

With summer’s heat, I head higher into the mountains to escape the swelter. The third Big Mountain Riding Adventure Ride found me far out in the hollers of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, at Cave Mountain Lake National Recreation Area for some sweet backcountry singletrack with the promise of a cool-off swim afterward. This ride is only 4-miles if done one way, but it features many big mountain elements that make it worthwhile.

Big Mountain Ride #1 – Whetstone Ridge Trail

Big Mountain Ride #2 – Pedlar Ranger District bushwhack

Read more…

Riding in our pristine National Forests

The weather on the second bigmountainriding.com all mountain adventure ride was pretty much the opposite from the inaugural adventure ride. Temps in the mid- to upper-80’s. Blue skies and dust in many places on the trail (Paradoxically, it was also muddy in places).

FYI for the number weenies out there, this isn’t gonna be your kind of site. Just to put it out at the beginning. That way no one is disappointed when they don’t get the exact kilometers of the ride, or the elevation change to the nearest 50-meters. Distance = unknown (5-10 miles); Elevation gain = 1,500 – 2,000 feet (based on computations from the USGS map).

I parked at the Appalachian Trail (AT) parking lot on US 501 just north of the intersection with US 130, in Amherst Co., Va., next to the James River. I had scouted out this ride back in March, on foot. The scouting trip proved my initial idea of using a trail called Peavine Mountain Trail was a no-go, as it seemed to be well-maintained Forest Service Road (FSR) even though on my old map it was marked as singletrack. However, the scouting trip revealed that there was an old section of the AT left over from where they had bypassed it. It went up over a ridge peaking at the Peavine Mountain Trail and then descended back down to the James River. So, I decided to ride this remnant as a loop, using a FSR to connect to the beginning of the left-over AT section.

Unmarked entrance to former AT section on left.

I packed my backcountry adventure riding gear, even though the temperatures this time made it a bit more difficult of a decision than the initial adventure ride, where the cold temperatures made it easy to pack on the extra gear in an attempt to stay warm. I threw a bee-sting pain reliever kit into my first aid pack, and debated taking out the space blanket, but how much weight does that really add? Fortunately I did bring a lot of water.

I crossed 501 and started the climb on State Road 812. The heat hit immediately after I pointed the front wheel uphill. I ground gears up about 200-feet of elevation gain and then the road dropped down to the creek bed level. I turned onto FSR 36, but only to cross Rocky Row Run and the intersection with the AT remnant.

I was not looking forward to the designed-for-hikers climb in the heat. As I entered the woods, I got my heart rate going quickly on the initial steep turn or two. The climb was lined with pine needles, slowly baking in the sun. I almost put my still-winterized heart through my sternum on a needly tight switch back – all out pedaling until I slid out both wheels at pretty much the same time. Read more…

The inaugural bigmountainriding.com adventure shelled out a lot of what makes Big Mountain Riding so challenging, exciting and yes, dangerous at times. I selected the Whetstone Ridge Trail in Virginia’s Nelson and Rockbridge counties. I picked a doozy of a day for it. Highs in the low 40’s, snow flurries at higher elevations. And the weatherman had it right this time too. Snow flurries throughout the day on this longer-than planned ride.

Signpost listing distance of the Singletrack part of the ride (from the south)

The ride I had planned out using a USGS map of the area was a 20+ mile loop from the Whetstone Ridge Restaurant on the Blue Ridge Parkway, featuring a long ridge ride on singletrack and then a prolonged climb back on a mixed surface county road. I had not done the ride before, but I had the time and the experience with long distance riding in less than ideal conditions. Donning the cold-weather gear, I packed away a lot of backcountry equipment as well. These are items that go along on all back country expeditions, solo or group rides. 100-oz water pack, first aid kit with emergency blanket and water purification tablets, compass and map, more food than I think I’ll need. I also wore my crash pads (more later on the irony of that). Fortunately, I also carried my cell phone, although I didn’t think I’d have service for most of the ride. Read more…