Road Trip (continued)

I was surprised that the boys were able to get out of bed and ready so early on Sunday morning. Thought I was going to have to get cranky (well, more cranky than I usually am) with them and start kicking some asses. Fitzski, Fritz and I were able to get out for a little 25 minute loop while we waited for the princesses to get their make-up on. Fun little loop called Carver or something.

Glad that I got out to loosen the legs before the ride started. I'm the type of guy that needs, umm, two . . . . or three . . . .days to warm up. (I'm a terrible short course racer) I think the warm up in the morning made all the difference for my morning ride - I felt great! Maybe it was the 15" pizza that I ate the night before? Semantics. I felt good.

Got some riding time with the Wingnut pack (review to come soon). Very pleased with how it performed - I'm sold on it.

We started out on the little loop that we warmed up on, hit the road to Ingles Field Gap, climbed, climbed, climbed up that. The climbs in and around Pisgah are really well designed. They seem to be a constant and steady grade that's easily sustainable - just pick a gear, put the head down and grind your way up. Made our way up to Five Points, stopped and regrouped, had a few laughs, took some photos.

Gilles spinning up the last wee bit to Five Points.

Fitzski

James taking up the rear (he likes it like that!)

It was only a km or two up to the top of Greens Lick. Greg and I led out at a good pace and my confidence with my training returned.

Mark rewareded us with this pose.

This being the second time down Greens Lick for most of us made for a smoking fast run. What a roller coaster ride! Once finished we were forced to get to know each other better while we sat on are arses, because James decided to practice his fine bicycle mechanical skills on the trail for what seemed like forever. As usual, we patched him up and got running again. We made our way back home on a few other short fun single track trails.

We got the bikes ready to go, fueled up and headed out to meet up with Jeremy around 3pm near Dupont. He was kind enough to take some time away from his family in the afternoon to show a bunch of fattys around. None of us had ridden there before, so we didn't know what to expect. Let's just say that we were pleasantly surprised as most of us found it to be the most fun place to ride of our trip.

I can't remember any of the trail's names as there were so many - the trail map seemed like a big plate of spaghetti. Jeremey expertly led us through the maze. Seemed that every few minutes we were on a different trail. The climbs never lasted any more than 5-8 minutes and the downhills a little shorter. Again, these trails, for the most part were super well designed with nicely graded climbs. We were always rewarded with super fast, flowy, and smooth downhills - some seemed to last forever. We hit speeds well over 50km/Hr.

Towards the end of our ride, Jeremy took us to Slick Rock Trail. Apparently, this was one of the locations were they filmed part of the movie, "Last of the Mohicans". It was a huge slab of slick rock with a waterfall at the top, flowing down to the bottom.

From the top looking down while the slow pokes rode up.

Under the falls.

We finished off Slick Rock Trail with a climb to the top of an exposed and open slick rock hill with a nice view. I didn't eat enough in the afternoon and on the ride and was starting to bonk on the way to the top. Fortunately I had enough steam in the tank to spin it out before we started a whooping fun downhill with lots of drops, roots and technical sections built amongst slick rock. What a way to end an incredible ride.

Wrap up tomorrow. Cheers.