Southern Singletrack Sampler

Saturday - Douthat in Virginia

Met up with Chad, Scott, John, and Matt (new addition) for a reunion of sorts in Douthat State Park, 'bout an hour northwest of Roanoke, VA. Current riding skills and fitness level ranged from fairly bad (me) to fairly good (basically everyone else).

None of us had the energy to cook when we got there Friday night, so we hit the pizza joint/harley bar down the road and did our best not to piss-off any bikers (the other bikers, not mtn bikers).

We decided to ride the Beards Mountain side on Saturday, which has the "harder but shorter" climb. Chad got after it big time for the first couple miles or so (which are tough), and most of us couldn't keep up. The effort caught up to him though, and we turned a corner to see him "rejecting" his nutrients by the side of the trail. He thinks it was either the last PBR on Friday or the 4th banana he ate that morning that got the best of him.



The beards mountain side of the park goes like this: steep climb, followed by up-and-down cruising on the spine of the mountain (occasionally getting views of surrounding mtns, including middle mountain to be ridden Sunday), followed by sweet descent. About 13 miles all told.

Chad going up:



John got a flat, giving me a chance to catch a breather...



...and giving a couple of the fellas a chance to say "we're getting bored waiting."



Matt, then John cruising by (apologies for the blur, I'm new at this camera thing)





A glimpse at tomorrow's climb.



couple more views before the descent.

Sunday - Douthat's Middle Mountain

We ran into a local rider on the trail Saturday who gave us the scoop on a different way to ride Middle Mountain. His way, you actually leave the park boundary and enter the George Washington National Forest, giving you more miles on the tasty ridge trail of middle mountain. Sounded good to us.

We also add a little extra climbing on this ride by going up Beards Hollow and down Locust Gap before starting the 5 mile climb on Stony Run Trail. The grade is gentler on Stony Run, and we took a detour to the little cabin before reaching the top (photo credit to Chad):



Views from the cabin. Beards mtn, yesterday's ride, in the foreground.





Scott up on the ridge trail, which is quite a grinner.



Chad then Matt





One of those trails that tilts downward ever so slightly for 3-4 miles (with a few ups), and you get that weightless feeling. It's also purty...and about 3 inches wide at times.





In the last mile or so, it drops quickly down to a dirt road with a bunch of switchbacks. Screwing them up looked painful. I walked 'em.



This ride is a bit longer, 16 miles including a couple on the road back to the park.

I said my goodbyes to the fellers and pointed the car southward. Stopped near Asheville Sunday night, so I could pull off a quick ride in Pisgah on Monday. A few pics on the way...

Oh, check out the trail reviews for Douthat, it'll tell you all you need to know.

Monday - quickie in Pisgah

My legs were kinda sore from the weekend rides, and the gentle climb on the doubletrack of Fletcher Creek Road was the perfect way to loosen 'em up.



After 5 miles or so, I banged a left onto Spencer Brach trail to head slightly downhill under some nice canopy.



Judging by the moderately damp condition of Spencer Branch, I knew Middle Fork trail would be a disaster area. So I crossed Fletcher Creek for an out-an-back on Fletcher Creek Trail.

Fletcher Creek trail is also mostly in the woods...



...but the trail will sometimes pop out into sunny fields.







My batteries died before I reached the south side of Fletcher Creek trail, which is also great. A bit more rocky to jazz things up.

That's all for the southern sampler... hope to get a few shots of my 4-5 day trip to Colorado next week!