Weekend at Tsali
posted on May 6th, 2010 in Cycling, Reviews, Ride Reports by Stephen
While the Athens Twilight and the Historic Roswell criteriums were going on in Athens then Roswell, I got a chance to get outta Atlanta to Bryson City, NC for the weekend of camping and Mt biking at the Tsali trail system and campground.
If you are a Mt biker and have never been to Tsali, then you must find out what your missing! The Tsali trail system is quite easy to find, it is close to Almond, NC. And the trails will overlook Fontana lake. From the Nantahalla Outdoor Center go about 4.5 miles North, and make a left onto Hwy 28. Go about another 3.5 miles and look closely for the brown sign that points to the Tsali trails and campground. Then you have about 2 miles off the main road to get back into the parking area and campground.
We camped within walking distance of lake, which was awesome for us and the dogs to take a swim. The camping area is primitive, but adequate. Although, if you want to upgrade the restroom areas, and don’t mind driving to the trails, then I highly recommend the Turkey Creek Campground – great people that are on-site – again, their only downside is the distance to the trails, about 3 miles.
We arrived by 5 on Friday afternoon to find friends already reserved a camping spot and pop-up, tarps erected. There was rain in the forecast for Saturday afternoon, so we built a canopy to keep our area dry.
We got out for the Left loop on Friday, a warm-up lap for the weekend to get the 3 hour car ride out of the legs and get the blood flowing.
On Saturday we got the whole crew together after breakfast and headed out for the Thompson and Mouse loop. Both trails were very flowy and mostly quite fast pace to them.
As I got back, another friend finally made it to the campsite & we headed back out for an additional loop of Thompson….. little did I know that this was going to be a lap of ‘race pace’. It was a good thing, get out and hammer some, I had a 12 hour race at Yargo coming up the following weekend.
The mouse and Thompson loops have some great sections of single track!! Some great burms in many corners assist you in keeping the flow going through the turns. The trails do have some puddles after rains in several sections & I always recommend doing a wheelie through them b/c there are some that are much deeper than you would expect.
On Sunday we headed back out for the Left N Right loops. I HIGHLY recommend the Overlook trails!!! Some of the views are just Spectacular! Although the overlook trails have the feel of being an out and back trail, they actually are loops, but it appears that most people ride them as out and back and miss the turn for the ‘loop’ part of the trail.
You can expect a little more water crossings and creeks on the right loop. This is the side that I have raced before (although I’m not sure if all races are on this side), and that does seem to keep this side of the trails beat up a little more. Although what I did like about the right loop is that the greenery did remind me more of Pisgah and less of the local trails around Atlanta.
Summary
Tsali is some great Mt. biking if you like groomed and mainly smooth trails that are wicked fast, and you don’t want to A) navigate B) stop to climb over downed trees or most any other kind of debris that may interfere with your ride. Most of the climbing isn’t very steep, but expect a couple climbs that will test your legs, and LOTS of single track to test your lungs!
Caution that because the trails can be so fast, they are multi-direction, and you may come across on-coming riders.
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Mt biking Stanley Gap
posted on April 19th, 2010 in Cycling, Mt biking Dogs, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen
A friend of mine had to take a trip up to North Georgia and it gave us the perfect opportunity to ride on some Awesome trails that are only 90 minutes North West of Atlanta in BlueRidge, GA. After a relaxing morning we had the car loaded up w/ 4 dogs and 2 Mt. bikes, and cruised up 575, onto 515 past Ellijay into BlueRidge.
After settling the dogs down, they were taken on a guided hike w/ a lake visit. We hopped on the Mt bikes and off we rode onto the lake Blue-ridge connector trail out onto Aska Rd. headed for a long beautiful sunny day in the saddle. The views of the landscape, pastures, and Mountains are incredible in this part of Georgia. The temperature was amazing. I felt warm while climbing, but chilled from the breeze as soon as we would stop.
Soon we were climbing back country trails heading to the trail head of Stanley Gap. There has been quite a bit of great trail work in this area, and although it is still back country riding, most of it is quite ride-able. Many sections reminded me of the riding in Pisgah National Forest. There are several climbs that are challenging and make the Granny gear a necessity for most riders. The downhills are wicked fast, and there were a couple of sections that I was lucky to stay upright getting through them. It is easy to carry so much speed that you get into a technical section a little too fast!
A video (with Music) from the ride there last year:
Next up we started part of the Flat Creek loop. Coming down the rocky descent along a stream just adds to the amazing scenery that you will miss b/c you are too focused on the next upcoming water barrier that you can jump!
We carried the Flat Creek trail all the way to Aska road. Luckily I had a guided tour of the area, but I still can’t help but feel that there is so much more in this area of Blueridge to explore, yet unfortunately we had to head back to the Atl, so after a well earned steak and potato dinner, we picked up the lake weary dogs and back onto 515 we cruised, sore, exhausted and thoroughly content after a day of lung and heart pumping Mt biking.
Georgia has some great Mt biking, but if you want some steep, some steady climbs and some sick downhills with a true feel of the Mountains, Flat Creek and Stanley Gap will not disappoint you. This is part of the reason that both trails are rated 4.5+ on MTBR.com trail review section. Enjoy!
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Train slow, move slow, Train Fast and Move with Power
posted on March 10th, 2010 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Reviews, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen
Train slow, move slow – train fast, and move with Power!
This doesn’t just mean that if you train fast you will have power……
I went out for a spin on a Friday before some Gold Sprints at Peachtree Bikes – but I realized I would waste my time attempting to sprint that night. My legs didn’t have the turn-over required to spin a gear that fast to do well in the sprints. I was having to put too much effort into attempting to spin much above 100 rpm’s…. but it is to be expected, especially when you consider where I am in the training plan.
Although this is disappointing, it is not unexpected, I have been doing a full cold, wet, snow/ice winter of gym workouts this year. Not a lot of heavy lifting, but more true strength building exercises, including weighted lunges & single leg squats. To complement the work in the gym, I have been doing hill repeats at least once a week. When I’m doing the hill climbing my RPM’s are around 70, and the focus is on leg strength – not cadence or Heart Rate. So currently my legs are more used to slowly grinding their way uphill, not turning over the pedals for the county line sprints. So, to suddenly ask my legs to turn over 150 RPM’s for 60 seconds is not suddenly going to be possible!
The good thing about a training plan is things are in phases and I know that the leg turnover comes around much faster than the strength building. Although it has taken most of the winter to build the strength of doing 1 leg squats, it will only be a matter of several weeks to get the legs to increase their turnover again.
As the strength from climbing is combined with the efficient pedal turnover the end result will be power to the pedals. And now that we are into the plyometric phase of the training regime, this is already taking place.
As disappointing as this is b/c I’m not racing in a great event, I know that as I add more speed to my training that the form and turnover of my legs will be a greater reward for the small sacrifice. This is truly where having a plan for the season allows small things like this much more understandable when you are able to look at the big picture and remember the seasons goals, not just what sounds fun this week.
When you are training for a big goal or event sometimes the mind and body respond in funny ways. Some weeks are very challenging physically and sometimes they become challenging mentally. I always let my clients know ahead of time that this is part of the process of becoming stronger. I can even tell them which week in their training plan it will happen & why it will be better the following week.
I find that 1 of the best things about accepting these thoughts as part of the process is although they still pop-up, you don’t dwell on them. Although this does not prevent these self-defeating thoughts from entering the mind, it does help you accept them and push them aside, understanding that it is expected and only temporary. And that just around the corner from this is growth and Strength!
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StrongerCyclist.com is the site of Stephen Carhart, personal trainer, author, and cyclist.