Keeping it Alive

With the departure of our favorite Hausfrau, the excitement of each new day's adventure departed as well. Rajasan and I changed gears and worked double hard to keep things hoppin' and fresh. Time to step out of my daily routine and monotonous ride schedule. Keep the vibe alive. For the first time, I joined the weeknight gang at Big Creek.

The humidity was so thick, you could cut it with a knife, but that did not stop us from having fun. epoJoe and TreyBiker punished us on their singlespeeds, and I got to try out my new suhweet ride!

I really enjoyed the smooth ride of my new 140mm Talus. Flying down the flume was better than a ride at Six Flags. Robb jumped over tall buildings in a single bound, while I was content to roll off the drops. It's fun to ride with the new younger guard that's not afraid to go big. If I cannot do it, at least I can play with the ones that do.

Saturday was National Trails Day, which greeted us with a plethora of trail working opportunities. The obvious choice for us was at Blankets Creek. It has been a while since we've attended a work party, but that does not mean we have not done our share of trail building in the past. Our work parties were in the day without these fancy dingos and machinery. We cut Dwelling and Zig Zag the old fashioned, back breaking, long laborious way.

Steve Houghton fought, slaved, and forged his way for us to work at Bull Mtn. These battles are far from over, but the progress has been significant in 20 years.

Being out on the trails without a bike in sight was a new sensation for me. Things look different in slow motion. Details stand out.

The terrain takes on a new dimension. Even though our hands were holding tools instead of bikes, the mood was as light and fun as on a regular bike ride. It is possible to work and have fun at the same time. Funchik brought her 2 children along, and they joined in as if they had been doing this all their life. Impressive!

Everyone worked pretty hard, except for me. I have this incurable disease of seeing my entire life through a lens. Someone must document, lest we forget. You have to keep it alive.

It is never a good idea to do a ride after a work party. In fact, we have never ridden after working. But the bikes were in the car, and itching to get out. A small group of us suited up and took it easy around Dwelling.

Then came another opportunity to keep it alive and exciting! Speedy had a tangle with a tree, and the tree won. Time for a trip to the ER. We used Raja's frequent flyer card to get in.

The upside of getting stitches (if there is an upside) is that you get put through the "FastTrack" instead of the usual nightmare ER triage. As I said, we have frequent flyer membership. I know the drill here, and was thrilled to play tour guide.

What I did not know is that they now hire Stand Up Comedians to fill in for the MDs. Our doctor had just gotten off his shift from The Comedy Club, and he delivered jokes nonstop. Speedy never knew his arm was getting stitched up, because the doc had him in stitches laughing! I think he's waiting for the punchline in this pic...there wasn't a serious moment to be had. This Comic/MD did a great job of keeping it alive!

Sunday was a beautiful day despite the promise of soaring temperatures. In our effort to keep it alive, we went in search of a new trail. It's not often we ride anything new around here. In 20 years you can cover alot of territory.

This was a serious ride. There was a long list of do nots, but the only thing we cared about was the DO. Bikes allowed here!

That was a good thing, because Rajasan had his new toy. Freshly built as of 10:30 the night before, he was anxious to put it to the test. Everyone was anxious for him to ride Elroy the Ellsworth. Raja's opinion is good as gold in these parts, and all were waiting with bated breath. Would this be the epiphany for which he's been seeking?

We started on familiar terrain climbing sections 2,3, and 4 of the Pinhoti Trail. I adore summertime in Georgia. The trails are thick with green foliage and alive with vibrant sounds of nature.

Lately, when we've talked to Greg or Larry, they have been telling us of their mega route rides that include some "new" trails towards Ft. Mountain. It sounded enticing. The real clincher was when Raja heard of some wicked long climb. A challenge had been put out on the sorba forum for anyone to make the climb without dabbing. That's all it took, Raja was itching to take that challenge head-on. He ain't afraid of no climb.

Larry was happy to ride along and help us find the way. He had gone down the "climb" in question, and was curious to find a trailhead that had eluded him last time.

Also along for the ride was The Clogger. Could he survive an epic with The Raja? Of course he can! He survived a week in Moab and Fruita with us. The spell had been broken and he is no longer afraid of us. busted.

Our 5th rider was regularJoe. This was his first epic, ever. Would he survive? That was the question.

After we successfully climbed P2,3, and 4, we took the road towards Tatum Lead. It had been eleven years since the last time we rode this trail. I didn't remember a thing. Good, something new! Larry spotted a trailhead off to the right which took us on a long extremely fun downhill. As we bombed down it for what seemed eternity, I coulld not help but wonder when we were going to eventually regain all this lost elevation.

Yikes, that would be the bugger climb for which we were searching. 30 minutes of climbing at 3 mph tops. I had no idea at all what to expect, so I rode very conservatively in order to be prepared for any surprise thrown at me. Turns out the surprise was the long unrelenting grade. The Garmin showed bits at 25 and 27%. I believe it.

I watched as Raja and Larry pulled away. I had no intention of pacing anyone since I did not know the climb. This was all about saving energy and staying on the bike. No dabbing. Uh oh, I saw Larry dab ahead of me. I kept plodding onward. He dabbed again. It made me nervous. Keep plodding. Raja never dabbed, but steadily climbed ahead. Anytime the terrain pitch became manageable was my chance to go as slow as possible while trying to lower my heartrate. I never realized the skill that takes! Still no dabbing. Would it be possible that I could make this climb? I was beginning to have my hopes.

I could hear a motorcycle. That meant the road was ahead, which meant I was near the top. I can do this. Stay calm, keep plodding. My heartrate was soaring, my skin could barely breathe through the heat and humidity, surely I would explode right here in the middle of the trail. I became very aware of the steepness of the trail. The front end was becoming difficult to keep down. Doh, I did not lower my 140mm fork down at least to 120mm. Exhaustion got the better of me and I ran off into the thick undergrowth. Shoot!!! I almost had it. Another 12ft and I would have conquered.

Once I stopped gasping for air and regained my composure, I looked up to see if Raja was basking in all his glory. I knew he had made it. The guy can climb anything. He's like a spider. Cool. I was happy for him, and beamed with pride as if I had something to do with his success.

Here I'm looking back from my fatal dismount point. You cannot tell, but this is a 27% grade. You can see that it's narrow, grown over, and not exactly smooth pavement.

regularJoe was a bit disheartened that he had to walk. Beginning to feel like an utter failure, he was relieved to hear Raja say that was the hardest climb he had ever done. That put it in perspective for him. It's cool, Joe. You're still hanging tough and have plenty to be proud of too! You're riding with Spider Rodge!

With no where left to go but down, we enjoyed a ride along the top with luscious views. A few miles on the paved road and then picked back up our descent to P4. It was mostly all downhill from here. A well deserved downhill! What a beautiful trail!

It turned out to be a fantastic ride, albeit hard. After 4 1/2 hrs, 34 miles, and 4400' of climbing, we were ready to call it a day. The Clogger and regularJoe did us proud. Great job, guys! I knew it would be a walk in the park for you. And thanks, Larry, for patiently riding with us and being our scout!

Yes, the Hausfrau is gone, but things are still kickin' down South. We're alive and well and enjoying new adventures. Just over 2 months and we'll be on a super grand adventure in Switzerland. But until then, we will have to keep the excitement alive here. Seems to be working!

Thanks, europhotoninja, for my happy place photo!

Note: for some reason Explorer is having issues with my html, and pushing the right column down below the posts. If you open the blog in Firefox it will appear normal. If you have the answer to this problem, I would greatly appreciate the help with a solution!

Hot N Cold

A typical Georgia winter is hot and cold, or rather cold, colder, warm, and warmer. Saturday's ride was cold once again with even a little snow and ice! But then it warmed up Sunday to a pleasant 65 degrees, and today's high was 68. One day I'm riding in tights and gortex, and the next it's shorts and shortsleeve jersey. I'll take what I can get.

My legs were still toasted from being out all day Saturday. Raja and I started our ride at 9am and didn't get back to the car till after 3:00. Granted, we weren't riding the entire time, but just being out so long takes its toll. Sunday I spun on the road bike for an hour and a half. Felt so good in the sun.

Monday is my regular day to see Janusz, my "personal body trainer", as I call him. He has given me some new ab work to do on a fitness ball, and he had me do them for him today. "No, not like that," he said in his thick Polish accent, "you must push the muscle all the way to your back, flatten it out completely."

With his hand on my muscle, he could tell exactly what I was doing, and if I was cheating. Geez, I thought I was going to die. Finally I managed to do one the proper way, just one. He's tough, but dang he's good. As an international world class professional ballet dancer, he can't help but be good.

Janusz could barely work on my left quad without having me scream out in pain. "You've strained this muscle," he says. Ya think? Logic tells me that today's ride will be a repeat of yesterday; spin, spin.

I spun over to Kennesaw Mountain where I saw Gapchick. I asked her how she finished up for mileage in 2007. Just a mere 16,000 miles!!! Wow, she only had me by 10,000 miles. Maybe next year.

The highlight for the weekend was celebrating Robin's 19th (nice try, Robin) birthday with a mountain bike ride in the Cohuttas. What good clean fun! The birthday girl wore a fabulous tiara, while the rest of the celebratees adorned themselves with strings of beads about their necks. That's why I prefer mountain biking over road riding. We can get in a good hard workout, but still have fun and laugh while doing it.

Raja and I drove up early that morning to Ellijay in order to get some extra credit miles in before the masses appeared. It was freezing, literally. But I already had my attitude adjustment on the New Year's Day ride and was ready to face the cold temps. I've got gortex and a balaclava, bring it on!

We started up the Pinhoti 1 trail from the west side, opposite of the popular flow of traffic. Most prefer to climb Pinhoti from the north side for a good reason; there's less climbing and lots of great downhilling. So that meant we were climbing up a crapload of steep long singletrack. I was not looking forward to that part.

It turned out to be quite enjoyable. Fresh legs, first climb of the day, just the 2 of us, not so bad. The quiet still morning was refreshing, and the ascent warmed us quickly. A light sprinkling of snow still dotted the ground in various places along the trail.

The frozen ground crunched beneath the weight of our tires. In a few hours, when we would be coming back this way, the ground would be thawed, muddy, and slippery. I made a mental note to take the downhills conservatively lest I slide out in the mud later in the day.

Once again, the battery in my compact Canon died after 2 shots. I put the other battery in, thinking I had saved the day. Only, that battery died after about 8 shots. What in the Sam Hill is going on here? Guess that means I'm lugging the Nikon D40 along again today. Why do I feel so compelled to take pictures? It's what I do.

Raja and I made it back to our car at Gates Chapel after a leisurely hour of riding. The birthday girl and lots of party goers had already arrived and were ready to ride. The usual late arrivals finally appeared, and we got the show started.

The only "birthday helmet" I've ever seen was worn by Becky, and that one was pretty gaudy. Thankfully, Robin had styled a beautiful tinkerbell tiara to delicately perch atop her white helmet, thus transforming it into the official birthday party hat. I think I'd rather wear this one when my birthday rolls around (sorry Becky)! It was also a hoot to see everyone wearing party beads.


It was even funnier to see them riding with party beads dangling from their necks.



There were a number of newcomers that came because they had seen the ride posted on the sorba forum. No worries, we welcome all with open arms. I also got to see some folks I have not ridden with in a while, like James! Good to see you, James!

We took the beautiful rhododendron lined Bear Creek trail

up to the overlook.
We couldn't miss out on the upper little part of Bear Creek though, so we climbed just a bit more in order to enjoy that descent. I love that section.
Just techy enough to make it fun and enjoy your full suspension, but nothing over the top. We bombed back down the way we came to take Pinhoti 1 and 2, the pieste resistance.

Unfortunately, there was a crash at the bottom of Bear Creek, and one of us got hurt. A big ole tree had fallen across the trail and had been cut at the most ridiculous location, making it more of a hazard than if it had been left uncut.
Our friend was not so lucky and had a horrible encounter.

Bad story, good ending. He's going to be okay. A broken nose & ocular bone, concussion, and some cuts and bruises are what he can boast of on that crash. That's more than I'd ever want to acquire. You never want to see your friend get hurt. I had a hard time sleeping that night because I kept seeing his bloody face in my mind. I thank God that he's alive and well.

Once we got him and his bike off the trail, loaded up and to the ER, the majority of us continued on with the birthday celebration! We all agreed that he would have wanted it that way!



In spite of the incident, we were all light hearted and still in a celebratory mood.
Visions of zooming down Pinhoti 2 made us giddy. I've said it once and I'll say it again. That has to be the best downhill singletrack in the Southeast!

Ended up with 31 miles and 3 1/2 hrs ride time for the day. We topped off a great ride with a birthday song, and what else, but chocolate!
All birthdays and good rides end with chocolate. Doesn't matter how cold or hot the temp is outside, chocolate is always appropriate.

My bike performed flawlessly. No trouble today with pedal strikes. But then, this wasn't an overly technical trail. Pinhoti 3 section presents more opportunities for that. I tried out a new location for my hammergel holder.
Works okay. Cold hands and wearing long finger gloves makes doing anything laborious. Jury's still out.

Still not happy with my pictures from Saturday's ride. I raised the ISO to 400 since the trail is so dark. Not sure if that helped or not. Cannot seem to get the whole focus thing down. This trail seems to be my nemesis for picture taking. I will keep trying until I conquer!



But for now, the forecast shows the temperature rising each day! Whoohoo! I'm sure this won't last long. Who knows, it could be back down to 25 degrees by Saturday. Just in time for a long ride.

Hot and cold. How 'bout we skip the cold and stick to the hot? I'm a Southern girl!