Jackrabbit over Memorial Day weekend
posted on May 31st, 2012 in Adventures, Cycling, Mt biking Dogs, Ride Reports by Stephen
Over Memorial day weekend some friends and me did a Mt biking – camping trip (back) to Jackrabbit campground in Hayesville, NC. This is such a great location to ride and camp at due to it also being directly on lake Chatuge.
Ride report: Friday was Noon Dog loop out 2 Saba beach – unfortunately for Apollo I took a wrong turn and we ended up doing an extra 2 miles before actually getting to the beach – this had him tuckered out for the rest of the weekend! Friday afternoon the Faster group went out for all trails, followed by a lake swim.
Friday evening there was some discrepancies about who’s campsite was where, and who had reservations and at what location (luckily we were not at all involved in any of this). The park rangers showed up and went about attempting to get things sorted out – luckily for our ‘camp neighbors’ it all got sorted out and they did not need to re-pack and move to a different campsite because they spent about 3 hours setting up their campsite. Yeah, they had a BUNCH of stuff – but hey, they are out camping w/ their kids and they were really cool about us having our dogs – so everyone was happy.
Saturday was ‘no drop’ on all trails, lunch, Faster group (all trails), lake swim, dinner & some folks went out for a night ride. (some folks didn’t tell other folks to bring their night lights).
Sunday was Kid’s day – Dale brought up his 2 boys and we rode at their pace. 1 of whom had the most awesome crash that I may have ever witnessed. Coming off the blue loop there is a double hump, he rode the first 1 well, but the 2nd 1 threw him – somehow, he appeared to be off the bike landing hand first, which turned into a cartwheel, then flopped onto the ground – the whole time the bike soloed away from him for about 30 yards into the woods before stopping – it was the craziest dis-mount I had ever seen! He wanted to be upset about it, but we were all patting him on the back & cheering so much I think he ended up taking some pride in it.
We followed that ride up with another lake swim, then afternoon ‘no drop’ ride.
Sunday afternoon several people went back to Greenville for the USPro race – although I really wanted to go, I had been there the past 2 years, and since the campsite was all set-up ‘sleep-in & recover’ on Monday morning with out all the driving sounded a little more appealing.
Monday morning my friend Carey packed up early and headed home, so I decided to go out and explore the surrounding area some more.
I headed out to check out a friends cabin that is in the area. I originally drove directly past it. Came to the end of the road and turned around and came back. The directions were go South on the road – green gate, before the bridge. So, I saw a gate, but it looked very unused, so I kept driving, and ended up going over the bridge before realizing that must have been the gate. I hiked in through the tall grass a little nervous due to the fact that there isn’t an address, so I wasn’t really sure if this was the correct cabin or not.
I’m not sure how old the cabin is, but it was definitely rustic in nature. I was nervous when I walked across the deck. Each of the boards looked like they could give way at any time.
The nice thing about the cabin was that it was just up from a pretty good size creek. It looks like you could at least walk down to the creek and cool off if you wanted too – not that you could do laps or anything, but at least soak a little bit.
I ended up going for a walk with Apollo since we were on a quiet road. We went past the bridge and up the hill – Apollo was running from shade tree to shade tree now due to the sun. We were stopped under 1 of the big trees beside the road when I noticed a Solar panel in the pasture. This was the 2nd time on this trip that I had seen what appeared to be a field of solar panels.
After I got back home, I did a little research into these solar panels in Hayesville, NC. I came across Green States Energy website which talked about 2 different projects in the Hayesville area – so I’m sure that I saw one of these 2 projects, but I can’t tell for certain which one…. although I would guess it was Hindsman, since the one I saw from the road was on a slight hill – unfortunately didn’t get a chance to get a picture of that one.
On the way back from Jackrabbit I decided to stop along the way at the top of Unicoi gap and reheat some lunch. After eating, I took Apollo for another short hike and hiked back to a waterfall that I had been too before – I particularly like this waterfall because it has a man-made ‘basin’ near the base of it that fills with water and has a little run-off.
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Pisgah vs. Tsali trails
posted on August 3rd, 2010 in Cycling, Mt biking Dogs, Reviews, Ride Reports by Stephen
Wonder what it would be like to ride some of the fabled epic trails of the south east?! These are 2 of some of the most epic riding in North Carolina, yet each is so different in style and scope that they would probably appeal to different types of riders.
TSALI is a smaller network of trail system that is awesomely fast, flow. There is very little that slows you down too much. The trails are quite well taken care of and groomed. There are races there often. And although you may find several spots of mud puddles of various depths – which you figure out how deep they are after going through them – the drainage of the trails in general is quite good, especially the right and left loop.
There are several overlooks that contain stunning views of the lake and the Great Smokey mountains.
The trails are Fast! For the most part you can run a 32/20 and probably walk only a couple of short stiff climbs. On a geared 2Niner I use the middle ring for all except the same climbs. Some sections of these trails are just too Fun, ripping it downhill and around corners of the lake is a blast!
For Tsali I usually take 2 bottles, a gel flask, clif bar (that I usually don’t eat) and a patch kit.
Camping is onsite and you can ride all the trails straight out of the campsite – BUT you may need the campsite or hotel if you want to ride all the trails. Tsali trails are basically a 4 leaf clover, with half the trails open to Mt bikers and the other half for horseback use, and the days alternate. This past weekend we got to ride Thompson and Mouse loops on Saturday, then ride Left and Right loops on Sunday.
PISGAH is a much larger network of trails. You can come across any number of things while in Pisgah. Downed trees are not uncommon. Drop offs are not that uncommon either. Pisgah is where I saw the longest rock garden that I had ever seen – well over 100 yards, all at a downhill angle that would give you a forearm pump that would make a rock climber be jealous.
Caution is to be used in Pisgah!!! Navigating and maps are a must unless you are very familiar with the area. We had mapped out a route that we figured would be a good 5-6 hour ride, we did about half of it due to not being sure where we were at and hiking rather than being able to cycle up some climbs.
There are several places to camp in Pisgah, from the Davidson full RV campground, the group sites w/ only rest rooms & tent sites (my choice), to just a tent site.
For Pisgah I usually take 2 big bottles, camel back, 2 gel flasks, 3 clif bars, patch kit, 2-3 tubes, and I would take a filter if I had one or iodine tablets. Don’t expect to get much cell service. I have verizon and usually get service most places – not Pisgah.
As crazy as Pisgah can be I have some incredibly epic rides there. Some downhills and stream crossings the likes of that I have never seen before in the south east. Some of the uphills will make hike-a-bike challenging. Some stream crossings you will have to get off and walk across. You may think you are some place on the map that does not exist – probably because I don’t think all the trails are actually on the maps. There must be sections of trails up there that only the locals know about – there is just so much forest there that they have Mt bike stage races.
Summary:
If you want a simple and well groomed trail that is just a blast to ride, it is Tsali hands down! The trails are well marked, only a handful of intersections. Only a few times that you may have to walk or step over downed trees. There are some great sections of trails to catch speed and some jumps, whoops to increase the fun.
If you are looking for a more complex trail system that challenges you to navigate, riding technically, longer hours of ride time, and throw anything at you, including an epic adventure, then Pisgah is for you!
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12 Hours of Yargo, Mt bike race report
posted on May 10th, 2010 in Cycling, Mt biking Dogs, Ride Reports by Stephen
Although we were a Murray down, we persevered….. You see last year the 3 Murray brothers and myself raced the 12 hours of Yargo. We went to have fun, hang out & ride hard. We were battling it out for what we thought was first place, but because of a timing mis-hap (an unrecorded lap) we actually battled it out for 2nd place. This year, unfortunately 1 of the Murray’s needed to skip this year race, so David came on board. Even though they weren’t racing, Ryan and RT still came out on course to cheer us on!! What a great crowd that shows up to these events!
The Dirty Spokes 12 hours of Yargo is a Mountain bike race on a 11.7 mile mainly single-track trail in Winder, GA. This course has open sections where you can get a lot of speed, some sections where you pick up momentum down a hill only to do a hairpin turn and go back up that hill. Many climbs are steep, but short however, 2 of climbs that are steady and longer. A couple of the downhills have some whoops and the race included 1 of the horse show drop-ins. If you have enough speed you can jump out of the horse-shoe, but you have to do it at an angle b/c once you are out of the horse-shoe, the trail turns left almost immediately. Lots of technical sections where you need to throw the bike around turns to avoid the trees and in a couple cases are bouncing off of them. Most lap times for the course were low 50 to 60+ minutes.
We all met up and camped at Fort Yargo the night before the race. ‘Jet-Pak’ Ed was out of the camp site early and got us a pop-up next to Fresh Bike service, on the front row of all the action! As always the start was a little hectic with so many 6 and 12 hour solo riders, and multiple teams, the line for the parade lap before heading into the trail wrapped around the parking area and the 4 wheeler pace vehicle had to slow for the last of the riders.
Our team clicked off the early laps, and waited anxiously to see where we were at against the other competition. A difference that we lacked this year was that we didn’t pay as much attention to when the last person was leaving – although this didn’t actually hurt the team, it didn’t make things easier. Usually we keep an eye on when a person leaves for their lap, and gauge when they will be coming back to the transition area. This year everyone seemed to get ready as soon as their relay person was heading out. This gave us about 55 minutes to get things together, get dressed, get warmed-up.
At the campsite I stayed hydrated with NUUN and tried to keep steadily eating food to keep the energy levels up. Two turkey subs from Firehouse were devoured, and I even tried some of the fine pickles offered by Addictive Cycles, anything to avoid cramping.
As the day went along, each time check came in showing that we were in the lead, and then each lap the pressure built – stay consistent – don’t cramp – don’t get a flat & worst of all – don’t Crash! The consistent part requires speed, especially for me, since I was not the fastest rider on the team. I get bogged down on some of the uphills, but I have to conserve the Heart Rate and pedal over them. The sections of fast, twisty single track is where I need to stay moving, and this requires full concentration. Whipping the bike left, right, right, left gets crazy with the tress directly in the edge of the trail. Too much speed and a missed-timed turn means sudden handlebar stoppage and rider ejection!
Lady luck was in our camp this day and as the laps ticked by we seemed to consistently put time into our opponents and at the end of the day team Sprocket Rockets relayed for 140.4 miles in 12 hours. We finished a lap ahead of our competitors and Won First Place! I was fortunate to have a great team, and once again, I had an out standing birthday weekend camping and racing at Fort Yargo!!
Unfortunately, due to finishing the race at 11pm, we didn’t get any pictures of our finishing podium. Full results are linked from the Dirty Spokes site here .
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StrongerCyclist.com is the site of Stephen Carhart, personal trainer, author, and cyclist.