Brother and I won the 31-60 combined age joy division at cruise the blues this past weekend. 6 mile course, super super windy out in a wide open pasture for 2 miles. I did 7 laps, Dillon did 3, for 60 miles total on the day in something like 5 hours 20 min or something close to that. He needed a little more pre-race training and I was pumping out laps like a robot. I did 1 lap, he did one and bent his wheel, so I did 2 laps back to back, he did another 1, I did two more, he did 1 then I finished with 2 more. I think we won by about 15-20 minutes. :)
I think I got fastest lap in my division again...Should find out this week sometime when results are posted online...should be a few pictures to come hopefully as well.
On a side note, it was cool to see cameron chambers come out killing it in the solo division. he did 6 laps of the long course (78 miles) in 5:55 on his full suspension single speed. watch for him to come out of nowhere at moab. I'm calling podium right now.
also...big ups to denny albertson for the bully porter. beer...nommmmmmm.
peace and riding!!!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
New Swope Map
This map is not official, but I figured I'd rough sketch something for those that need it since we've opened up some newer stuff recently...
peace and riding!!!
peace and riding!!!
Monday, August 23, 2010
well..
I should write a lot for this post, but am going to try to keep it short...already have homework to do :'(
Last week's mtb tour of KC went ok...3/6 of the races got cancelled because of rain but what ya gonna do?
Big shout out to justin bay for picking me up at stockdale after I had been under a shelterhouse for 3 hours waiting for the storm to blow past. I even got a nice comfy couch to crash on.
Saturday was spiderfest at smithville. huge fun, lots of beer, lots of food, lots of real good people. short track was a hit...even had an appearance from the infamous Mike Young (Frank Tuesday fame), who decided that the course rode better the opposite way...I was pissed at the time, but only cause of the kiddies, I knew he was having fun, and in all reality, if I had not been promoting it, that guy could have been me :) just saying I like to have fun...and maybe create havoc.
camped saturday night, heavy dew got me all wet even with the rain fly on. rode home on the roadie bike from the camp branch campground back through liberty to home hauling my trailer, camping and riding gear and my 29r. A shade over 3 hours ride time, exactly 39 miles....not too bad considering I was hauling at least 60 lbs of extra crap behind my road bike.
and to the asshole who about hit me on 210 because you ran a red light...next time when I say to "get out of your fucking car I'm going to kick your fucking ass", I mean it. Locking up your brakes is dangerous enough on a road bike...hauling 60+ lbs behind you going 27 MPH complicates matters more so. Next time, have the courtesy of at least giving me a shot at your face insead of just your hood.
cruise the blues this weekend! my brother and I are going to win that shit after losing by less than half a minute last year. Plus Palen's trails are always fun to get out and rip on.
I am sad right now kind of because my monday mccoy's/river ride ritual has ended until at least december. I am enrolled in a gender and enviroment class during that time period...hopefully the scenery's nice...
Also back into Urban planning classes...but this year without the drawing stuff...we'll see how these two classes to know for sure if grad school is in my future.
And I'm quite sure I will be leaving Kansas City after May 2011...probably new mexico someplace...alburqueque if I go to grad school...santa fe if I have to get a job....tons (read: literally thousands of miles) of riding around there. Plus the scenery (outside and lady folk) aren't too bad down there either, and that doesn;t hurt. Love you KC, but the weather here sucks, especially for MTBers.
short post ended up long...imagine that.
peace and riding!!!
Last week's mtb tour of KC went ok...3/6 of the races got cancelled because of rain but what ya gonna do?
Big shout out to justin bay for picking me up at stockdale after I had been under a shelterhouse for 3 hours waiting for the storm to blow past. I even got a nice comfy couch to crash on.
Saturday was spiderfest at smithville. huge fun, lots of beer, lots of food, lots of real good people. short track was a hit...even had an appearance from the infamous Mike Young (Frank Tuesday fame), who decided that the course rode better the opposite way...I was pissed at the time, but only cause of the kiddies, I knew he was having fun, and in all reality, if I had not been promoting it, that guy could have been me :) just saying I like to have fun...and maybe create havoc.
camped saturday night, heavy dew got me all wet even with the rain fly on. rode home on the roadie bike from the camp branch campground back through liberty to home hauling my trailer, camping and riding gear and my 29r. A shade over 3 hours ride time, exactly 39 miles....not too bad considering I was hauling at least 60 lbs of extra crap behind my road bike.
and to the asshole who about hit me on 210 because you ran a red light...next time when I say to "get out of your fucking car I'm going to kick your fucking ass", I mean it. Locking up your brakes is dangerous enough on a road bike...hauling 60+ lbs behind you going 27 MPH complicates matters more so. Next time, have the courtesy of at least giving me a shot at your face insead of just your hood.
cruise the blues this weekend! my brother and I are going to win that shit after losing by less than half a minute last year. Plus Palen's trails are always fun to get out and rip on.
I am sad right now kind of because my monday mccoy's/river ride ritual has ended until at least december. I am enrolled in a gender and enviroment class during that time period...hopefully the scenery's nice...
Also back into Urban planning classes...but this year without the drawing stuff...we'll see how these two classes to know for sure if grad school is in my future.
And I'm quite sure I will be leaving Kansas City after May 2011...probably new mexico someplace...alburqueque if I go to grad school...santa fe if I have to get a job....tons (read: literally thousands of miles) of riding around there. Plus the scenery (outside and lady folk) aren't too bad down there either, and that doesn;t hurt. Love you KC, but the weather here sucks, especially for MTBers.
short post ended up long...imagine that.
peace and riding!!!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Ecstatic Exhaustion
Well Rapture in Misery 2010 is in the books. This was the race I had been prepping for all year. Unfortunately, the heat did me in pretty well during the afternoon, I rebounded a little, then cramps finally did me in. Big ups to Doug "Pappy" Long and the heartland crew, another fantastic event fellas.
Lemans start, I walked. I told my self from the get go, you're doing 12 hours solo on a 32-20 single speed 29r, take it easy. Passed a lot of people on the double track then a ton of people in the boneyard where everyone was falling from the slippey death roots and wet rocks. I was riding along fine until trying to spin up a root, slipped and then dismounted, shouldered my bike, started to run and proceeded to pass about 30 people who were still trying to ride the nastiness. good call by me. got in a nice groove with a couple other folks on the singletrack until the first dam crossing before the first large hill. got maybe 50 feet up (the easy part) and jumped off...people on geared bikes started passing me left and right then I caught probably 3/4 of them at the top cause they were gassed and hike-a-biking now as well. There are 5 climbs at on the loop that absolutely kick some assage and I walked every single one of them in my 6 laps (30 hill climb hike-a-bikes, not fun). Did I mention every lap was 9.2 miles with ~750 ft. of climbing a lap?
finished my first lap feeling alright, but could feel the day's heat settling in. I would guess we ended up hitting somewhere around 94-95* with absolutely no air movement and good old heartland humidity (had to be 100+ heat index easily) Finished my second lap feeling alright. Stopped to change my kit and fuel back up with a spoonful of peanut butter (note...get it down before you take off on the bike again, PB is sticky-icky). i was also changing my socks and gloves after every lap I was doing. i knew staying dry would serve me better later. Here's a shout out to baby powder.
third lap I really started suffering. Took a long water/cool down break at the aid station by the dam and finished my third. Decided to skip the heat for an hour and give the body time to cool down and process the water that was sitting in my stomach. I did manage to throw up twice but did cool down finally and start to feel better. By then Adam K. had pulled from his 6 hour solo effort because of cramps and Ty and his partner were still hammering away in the 6 hour duo. After a literally hour long break, I got back on the bike around 5 and took off on my fourth lap. Still hot but it was feeling better. Also decided to stop at the aid station every time I hit it to dump water on my to try and combat the core from overheating...this seemed to help a lot, but did take up considerable time, oh well I was in survival mode. Came in from my fourth lap and found Garet Seacat had dropped from the race so I was on the podium no matter what. Also by then I was 2.5 hours down from the leader because of my break. oh well, press on and have fun :) i did puke again after my fourth lap, but then I caught a good second wind and started to be able to keep a steady pace for awhile.
Lap 5 started and I went out probably 15 minutes before lights were required. i wanted to squeeze in another before having to mount up. lap 5 was considerably better, but then the cramps started. i know exactly why now too, I had bought new shoes (not the problem) and had forgot to think that I should have had 1 insert in my left shoe and 2 in my right to line me up correctly. Wearing those shoes for my 3rd lap set a little muscle fatigue in my right leg that came back to haunt me this 5th lap. Got back in and still didn't feel too bad, so I lighted up and went out again.
The night air felt so good after riding in the nasty august heat all day (I concur with Mr. Locke...can we move RIM back to September?) Sixth lap was one of my better ones, body feeling wise, not necessarily time wise, until I tried to dismount at the end of my lap. unclipped my right leg and tried to toss it over and bam, lock up, still clipped in with my left leg, fall down, scream in pain, make a scene, pull from the race. All in all a great time. thanks midwest mountain bike patrol for rushing over when I fell haha. I'm sure it looked/sounded cool.
final thoughts...Heat killed me. I thought I was prepared and acclimated, nope, although I was a lot better off than a lot of folks (after 3 pm a lot of people were pulling themselves). I need to ride Crowder more. It's like Arkansas and I love riding Arkansas. huge climbs, awesome ridge riding, ripping descents. good job green hills trail crew :)
I have really so much more to say about this race, but words can't do it justice. One of those things you had to be there for. I'm gonna try to wrangle up some pictures of me somehow from someone. Until then, MTB Tour of Kansas City is this week, Spiderfest Saturday, then Cruise the Blues next week with the freshly married brother (congrats my sister).
peace and riding!!!
Lemans start, I walked. I told my self from the get go, you're doing 12 hours solo on a 32-20 single speed 29r, take it easy. Passed a lot of people on the double track then a ton of people in the boneyard where everyone was falling from the slippey death roots and wet rocks. I was riding along fine until trying to spin up a root, slipped and then dismounted, shouldered my bike, started to run and proceeded to pass about 30 people who were still trying to ride the nastiness. good call by me. got in a nice groove with a couple other folks on the singletrack until the first dam crossing before the first large hill. got maybe 50 feet up (the easy part) and jumped off...people on geared bikes started passing me left and right then I caught probably 3/4 of them at the top cause they were gassed and hike-a-biking now as well. There are 5 climbs at on the loop that absolutely kick some assage and I walked every single one of them in my 6 laps (30 hill climb hike-a-bikes, not fun). Did I mention every lap was 9.2 miles with ~750 ft. of climbing a lap?
finished my first lap feeling alright, but could feel the day's heat settling in. I would guess we ended up hitting somewhere around 94-95* with absolutely no air movement and good old heartland humidity (had to be 100+ heat index easily) Finished my second lap feeling alright. Stopped to change my kit and fuel back up with a spoonful of peanut butter (note...get it down before you take off on the bike again, PB is sticky-icky). i was also changing my socks and gloves after every lap I was doing. i knew staying dry would serve me better later. Here's a shout out to baby powder.
third lap I really started suffering. Took a long water/cool down break at the aid station by the dam and finished my third. Decided to skip the heat for an hour and give the body time to cool down and process the water that was sitting in my stomach. I did manage to throw up twice but did cool down finally and start to feel better. By then Adam K. had pulled from his 6 hour solo effort because of cramps and Ty and his partner were still hammering away in the 6 hour duo. After a literally hour long break, I got back on the bike around 5 and took off on my fourth lap. Still hot but it was feeling better. Also decided to stop at the aid station every time I hit it to dump water on my to try and combat the core from overheating...this seemed to help a lot, but did take up considerable time, oh well I was in survival mode. Came in from my fourth lap and found Garet Seacat had dropped from the race so I was on the podium no matter what. Also by then I was 2.5 hours down from the leader because of my break. oh well, press on and have fun :) i did puke again after my fourth lap, but then I caught a good second wind and started to be able to keep a steady pace for awhile.
Lap 5 started and I went out probably 15 minutes before lights were required. i wanted to squeeze in another before having to mount up. lap 5 was considerably better, but then the cramps started. i know exactly why now too, I had bought new shoes (not the problem) and had forgot to think that I should have had 1 insert in my left shoe and 2 in my right to line me up correctly. Wearing those shoes for my 3rd lap set a little muscle fatigue in my right leg that came back to haunt me this 5th lap. Got back in and still didn't feel too bad, so I lighted up and went out again.
The night air felt so good after riding in the nasty august heat all day (I concur with Mr. Locke...can we move RIM back to September?) Sixth lap was one of my better ones, body feeling wise, not necessarily time wise, until I tried to dismount at the end of my lap. unclipped my right leg and tried to toss it over and bam, lock up, still clipped in with my left leg, fall down, scream in pain, make a scene, pull from the race. All in all a great time. thanks midwest mountain bike patrol for rushing over when I fell haha. I'm sure it looked/sounded cool.
final thoughts...Heat killed me. I thought I was prepared and acclimated, nope, although I was a lot better off than a lot of folks (after 3 pm a lot of people were pulling themselves). I need to ride Crowder more. It's like Arkansas and I love riding Arkansas. huge climbs, awesome ridge riding, ripping descents. good job green hills trail crew :)
I have really so much more to say about this race, but words can't do it justice. One of those things you had to be there for. I'm gonna try to wrangle up some pictures of me somehow from someone. Until then, MTB Tour of Kansas City is this week, Spiderfest Saturday, then Cruise the Blues next week with the freshly married brother (congrats my sister).
peace and riding!!!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
This weekend...RIM
This is what the whole year of riding my bike for stupid long times has come down to...the 12 hour Rapture in Misery race. There is no dedicated single speed class, and I can almost bet I'm gonna be the only single speeder stupid enough to do 12 solo. But I'm ready. Legs and body feel great. Been on top of the nutrition and hydration game. Bike is running perfect.
let's roll!
let's roll!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Fayetteville wrap-up
Most of this is copy/paste, so if it is seems kind of weird, that's why (these were written over a 3-4 day period on the Earthriders message boards). Enjoy. I did. :)
So I've been spending the week down here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Not really a riding trip, but I have had some time in the evenings to squeeze some mileage in. We all know about the bigger trail systems in northwest arkansas, ie: Devils Den, Leatherwood, Slaughter Pen, Upper Buffalo, and Hobbs. Of course not owning a car I was more interested in local trails (as in riding distance from UArk) and have had some pretty good luck.
Lake Fayetteville
Had one of the best rides of my life tonight too/from/at lake fayetteville on Tuesday evening.
left around 10 and rode down the road east of campus about 1/4 mile to the skull creek paved trail. really cool 12 foot wide MUP that was lighted for the first couple miles until passing through the I-540 underground tunnel. This trail connects to another MUP called the Mud Creek trail. Rode that as well. I was looking for a turn, but missed it and ended up riding the whole trail until it ended at a road. too the road back to the main road, then back to the road I was looking for that had a bike lane (vantage). Rode that north to another east-west bike lane (zion). Then turned north on yet another MUP into the Lake Fayetteville area. found the dirt and rolled around the lake to the very end of the off-road trail, then turned around and came back, then did another around and back cause I had so much fun the first time. wanted to go another but i knew it had to be near midnight-ish so I took the bike lane/MUP's all the way back to sunset st north or UArk. Really cool to be able to ride trails/lanes for a whole ride.
I had heard bad things about lake fayetteville, mainly that it is extremely crowded. Well I can see why. super fast and fun trails. really flat, just enough roots/rocks to make it interesting (sometimes). Kind of confusing sometimes as there were some offshoots, most that generally went down/up real nasty stuff (old fall line trail). The main line through though (once I figured it out) was super super fun though, especially in the dark with absolutely no one else on the trails The only complaint was that I was only running a minewt bar light set up and needed a head lamp as well so I could go faster Had to ride 50-60% of normal to stay within my light in the woods. Hopefully yet another new light will help the speed thing out.
Overall, the Ozark Off-Road Cyclists are doing great work rerouting/closing old fall line trail to make a really nice 5+ mile loop around the lake. I recommend this trail if you want to have a fast ripping time, and make sure you try to hit it in non-prime usage times.
Dennis Moore's Trails
Wednesday afternoon I visited to local shop in downtown fayetteville, highroller cyclery, to scoop some more trail info. picked a good day to go in because they have a wednesday evening group mtb ride. The ride leader/shop mechanic Jonathan Sebring offered me a ride out to Farmington to ride some private land trails owned by Dennis Moore. Mr. Moore is a rider and has graciously opened 8+ miles of kick ass single track around his land on top of a mountain. And when I say kick ass I mean kick ass.
First off there is a 3/4 of a mile climb straight up a mountain. Did I mention it goes straight up a mountain? Like straight up. I made it up the first grade and was churning at probably 5 rpm before the second grade started, which was insane steep. Jonathan was also on a single speed rigid 26r, while the other 3 guys we were with were on fully geared full suspensions. ALL of us were walking. 2 guys had full XX set up and ran out of granny gear. It is an insanely steep climb to get up to the trails by the blue water tower, but once up there
I have ridden a decent amount around NW arkansas before but nothing around like these trails. The rock gardens were ripping!! The trails/terrain actually reminded me a lot of swope park. We rode along a ridge then there was another push up the mountain to the next ridge. UP there we rode literally around the whole mountain counter clockwise along the upper ridge through some seriously awesome rock gardens. The trail tread is not burned in like we're used to in KC, even what you get on most other Ark trails. Because it's on private land and a ways from civilization (10 miles from campus area) the tread isn't burned in perfectly. But man, that made the adventure aspect even that more fun.
So we rode along the ridge for awhile and fixed a few flats between a couple of us, then got to go down and down and down some more Through some real serious rock garden (probably about 1/2 mile+ long), riding through huge boulder faces (a lot like swope) and ripping back down halfway down the mountain on some awesome, technical single track. We eventaully came to a gravel access road that was perpendicular to the main road up. Here was an absolutely breathtaking view of the town of farmington below in the valley. wish I had a camera on me. By then it was getting pretty dark and so we ripped back down the mountain on the gravel road...that took about 3 seconds and was probably the second fastest i've ever gone on a bike (near equal to taking a road bike down mission road hill). Enjoyed some $.40 wings and $4 pitchers afterward...10 wings, 1 pitcher and generous tip, 11 bucks.
Mr. Moore allows riders and hikers on his trails at all times. Just park at the bottom of the hill, read his signage and be respectful. The go enjoy some of the best trails you'll ever ride.
Lake Sequoyah
Mapped route:
http://www.mapmytri.com/route/us/ar/fayetteville/132128106341817908
Well, it turned into more of a road ride, but sometimes I guess that happens Absolutely beautiful scenery riding to/from Lake Sequoyah from/to Fayetteville. Awesome views of the mountians to the south. I was actually wishing I had a road bike to ride out around there; I'm sure the local roadies go out that way. Nice super wide shoulder and lanes, low traffic, and accessible to mountain climbs everywhere. Of course I opted for the flat routes since I was on the SS MTB, which kind of sucked actually, unless you like to spin like crazy for 9 miles
Got to the trails at Lake Sequoyah (the actual lake is awesome, kind of reminded me of a mini Leatherwood tucked in between some mountains with an old WPA era stone dam). There are two different out and back trails at Lake Sequoyah, the Rookery and the Kingfisher. I started out on the Rookery which ran along the southern east side of the lake. This trail would have been really fun if it had not been completely overgrown. Definitely in need of a good weed wacking. other than than the trail ran within 10-15 feet of the laake at all times, giving you sweet views. One spot you will go into the lake if you don't manuver your bik right. The singletrack was super flat and fast, no roots or rocks to speak of (The OORC also built these 2 trails and did a great job). It was fun riding other than the super tall grass I was riding through on 6 inches of tread
The Kingfisher trail is across the road, right outside the gate of the marina/trailer home. This trail was super wide open for the first half, really looked like double track, but again it was in need of a trim. The second half after the turn around the lake got into more wooded area trail like the Rookey trail, minimal rocks and roots (very minimal) and again super fast smooth singletack (if it was trimmed). This trail is also an out and back so I turned around and headed back to the marina area to road ride back. No more bus wacking for me.
All in all they weren't the best trails I had ridden so far down here, short mileage (maybe 6 miles total on the two out/backs), but they're by far not the worst I have ever ridden in my life. I think with just a simple trim, these two trails would be really fun to rip back and forth for a few hours. I'll try them out again this winter or when I know for sure they have been cut back.
Mount Sequoyah
View from atop Mount Sequoyah looking west over Fayetteville.
Hopped back on the road to Fayetteville, got to Happy Hollow road and turned north to start the climb up Mount Sequoyah. The road will take you about halfway up the mountain and is totally rideable (32-18 SS 29r). On your left you will see a huge kiosk and a paved trail randomly entering the woods. The paved trail takes you about a 1/4 mile in to a shelterhouse where the singletrack branches off in like 8 directions from there. I found out real quick that these are probably mostly hiking trails. Very terrible construction, lots of fall line stuff. I made the decision to just hike-a-bike up to the very top of the mountain so at least I could ride back down Had a nice little hike up a ridiculously graded/eroded/rocky mess and got to the top. If I would have had rear suspension I would have gone back down, and actually saw a coupe guys on full DH bikes ready to jump in (There are two enterances to the trail, at the very top of the mountain where I now was and the lower enterance on the east side). They were quite impresssed by the fact that I had came up the trail instead of gone down it. The two fellas confirmed my suspesions that the only riders out there really were DH guys who started at the top and just ripped it down, which would be extremely fun other than the fact i was on a rigid 29r with 80 mm front suspension and other than that it was just hikers that used it. I'd ride them again if I had some more squish and a shuttle Even saying all that, I would assume it's probably a 3-5 minute run down the hill, really short.
Mount Kessler
Basically to sum this up real fast, it's like someone transplanted swope park on mount kessler and vice versa. Terrain is eerily similar. I swear a few times I was riding at home Huge rouck boulder faces, sweet rock gardens, armoured creek crossings, huge crib walls/rock work, massive bench cuts, big drops/step-ups, small drops/step-ups, fast flowy flat single track, tight windy tree pinched singletrack, lung bursting climbs and ripping downhills. Absolutely an awesome mix throughout the mountain.
Starting off, I met with a couple guys I rode with Wednesday at Ozark Mountain Smokehouse on Hwy 62 west of I-540. You go up the mountain on this steep, extremely long climb (~15 minutes) a little more than midway up the mountain to enter into the single track. From there, I thought we had climbed a lot already, this was only the beginnning. It was like going up the first switchbacks at swope, but 5x as long. The worst part was I think was that it was all doable on my 32-18 29r, albiet I was at a very hard grind. We went through some sweet bouldering and one creek that had to be walked because of washout. Definitely was wishing for a 19/20 on the rear about 20 minutes into the single track climb up. Was definitely glad I had the bar ends on. About 5 minutes later we came to a clearing getting towards the top. We (I) caught our (my) breath, stashed some bottles and took of to the eastern side. About a 40-45 minute climb total to start.
Climbed just a tad more then ripped down hill for a little bit, then did a huge climb again (~15 min) and came to another intersection. This is where I found out that these trails are basically a series of stacked loops (I think 4-5 total). we continued on around the ridge to "lookout 1" looking over the to the southeast across prime ozark scenery. Looped around some more and hit "lookout 2" which had views off to the west. awesome spots, really want to get back to them in the fall
Continued along the ridge to another loop that went back doen the mountain a little then sent you off a perfect 3-4 foot drop that you couldn't help but hit because you're going so fast. Then through an area they called "rock city" which was damn near identical to 8-pins in that it was a bunch of rocks, step-ups, drops, tight turns, etc. And it was about 3/4 a mile long! Intense workout. We looped around some how somewhere and ended up doing this section the other way as well. very very fun. Lots of huge boulder faces, large stone, great rock work, tight benchcut mountain singletrack. Very fun section of trail. We had a little bit of a climb back up to the original clearing spot, but compared to the first climb and the second from the east side back up this one on the west side was cake. We re-watered thankfully cause we were all out, then got to go back down the 45 minute climb. It took less than 10 to get back down and I had a pretty good scare hitting some loose gravel at probably 45 mph., I was told my bike was sideways in the air (good ole moto skills came back thankfully).
To sum up, these are some of the best trails I have ridden in my life, if not the best. It has absolutely everything. When paired with Dennis Moore's trails, fayetteville can boast some absolutely kick ass singletrack. I will definitely make time for both these systems every time I am in fayetteville from now on, and hopefully include them on all future NW arkansas trips mixed in along with Leatherwood, Devils Den, Slaughter Pen, Hobbs, and/or Upper Buffalo.
FInal Thoughts
Fayetteville had some pretty nasty local trails, that no one knows about (other than Lake Fayetteville). Definitely going to be including Mount Kessler on any arkansas trips, and hopefully moore's too. really sick systems. Lake Sequoyah would be nice with a trim and maybe a few more miles of trail, if possible (don't know what land they have to work with). All in all, a trip that wasn't geared at riding at all brought some of the best rides I've ever had. Very nice people down in Arkansas, bike shop guys helped out big time on the trails, Jonathan Sebring took me on two rides to two different private systems, that were really sick. He's not exactly a bad rider either: USAC results Super nice guy too. He should be coming up to dominate some KC cross stuff later this fall and we have to return the visit to Slaughter Pen Hollow for their jam the first weekend of november (XC, Short track, Trail run, Trials, and Mountain Cross!)
ok, i bet this post is really long. There's pictures, embedded links and good prose. Must say I'm really on top of this one :)...outie.
peace and riding!!!
So I've been spending the week down here in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Not really a riding trip, but I have had some time in the evenings to squeeze some mileage in. We all know about the bigger trail systems in northwest arkansas, ie: Devils Den, Leatherwood, Slaughter Pen, Upper Buffalo, and Hobbs. Of course not owning a car I was more interested in local trails (as in riding distance from UArk) and have had some pretty good luck.
Lake Fayetteville
Had one of the best rides of my life tonight too/from/at lake fayetteville on Tuesday evening.
left around 10 and rode down the road east of campus about 1/4 mile to the skull creek paved trail. really cool 12 foot wide MUP that was lighted for the first couple miles until passing through the I-540 underground tunnel. This trail connects to another MUP called the Mud Creek trail. Rode that as well. I was looking for a turn, but missed it and ended up riding the whole trail until it ended at a road. too the road back to the main road, then back to the road I was looking for that had a bike lane (vantage). Rode that north to another east-west bike lane (zion). Then turned north on yet another MUP into the Lake Fayetteville area. found the dirt and rolled around the lake to the very end of the off-road trail, then turned around and came back, then did another around and back cause I had so much fun the first time. wanted to go another but i knew it had to be near midnight-ish so I took the bike lane/MUP's all the way back to sunset st north or UArk. Really cool to be able to ride trails/lanes for a whole ride.
I had heard bad things about lake fayetteville, mainly that it is extremely crowded. Well I can see why. super fast and fun trails. really flat, just enough roots/rocks to make it interesting (sometimes). Kind of confusing sometimes as there were some offshoots, most that generally went down/up real nasty stuff (old fall line trail). The main line through though (once I figured it out) was super super fun though, especially in the dark with absolutely no one else on the trails The only complaint was that I was only running a minewt bar light set up and needed a head lamp as well so I could go faster Had to ride 50-60% of normal to stay within my light in the woods. Hopefully yet another new light will help the speed thing out.
Overall, the Ozark Off-Road Cyclists are doing great work rerouting/closing old fall line trail to make a really nice 5+ mile loop around the lake. I recommend this trail if you want to have a fast ripping time, and make sure you try to hit it in non-prime usage times.
Dennis Moore's Trails
Wednesday afternoon I visited to local shop in downtown fayetteville, highroller cyclery, to scoop some more trail info. picked a good day to go in because they have a wednesday evening group mtb ride. The ride leader/shop mechanic Jonathan Sebring offered me a ride out to Farmington to ride some private land trails owned by Dennis Moore. Mr. Moore is a rider and has graciously opened 8+ miles of kick ass single track around his land on top of a mountain. And when I say kick ass I mean kick ass.
First off there is a 3/4 of a mile climb straight up a mountain. Did I mention it goes straight up a mountain? Like straight up. I made it up the first grade and was churning at probably 5 rpm before the second grade started, which was insane steep. Jonathan was also on a single speed rigid 26r, while the other 3 guys we were with were on fully geared full suspensions. ALL of us were walking. 2 guys had full XX set up and ran out of granny gear. It is an insanely steep climb to get up to the trails by the blue water tower, but once up there
I have ridden a decent amount around NW arkansas before but nothing around like these trails. The rock gardens were ripping!! The trails/terrain actually reminded me a lot of swope park. We rode along a ridge then there was another push up the mountain to the next ridge. UP there we rode literally around the whole mountain counter clockwise along the upper ridge through some seriously awesome rock gardens. The trail tread is not burned in like we're used to in KC, even what you get on most other Ark trails. Because it's on private land and a ways from civilization (10 miles from campus area) the tread isn't burned in perfectly. But man, that made the adventure aspect even that more fun.
So we rode along the ridge for awhile and fixed a few flats between a couple of us, then got to go down and down and down some more Through some real serious rock garden (probably about 1/2 mile+ long), riding through huge boulder faces (a lot like swope) and ripping back down halfway down the mountain on some awesome, technical single track. We eventaully came to a gravel access road that was perpendicular to the main road up. Here was an absolutely breathtaking view of the town of farmington below in the valley. wish I had a camera on me. By then it was getting pretty dark and so we ripped back down the mountain on the gravel road...that took about 3 seconds and was probably the second fastest i've ever gone on a bike (near equal to taking a road bike down mission road hill). Enjoyed some $.40 wings and $4 pitchers afterward...10 wings, 1 pitcher and generous tip, 11 bucks.
Mr. Moore allows riders and hikers on his trails at all times. Just park at the bottom of the hill, read his signage and be respectful. The go enjoy some of the best trails you'll ever ride.
Lake Sequoyah
Mapped route:
http://www.mapmytri.com/route/us/ar/fayetteville/132128106341817908
Well, it turned into more of a road ride, but sometimes I guess that happens Absolutely beautiful scenery riding to/from Lake Sequoyah from/to Fayetteville. Awesome views of the mountians to the south. I was actually wishing I had a road bike to ride out around there; I'm sure the local roadies go out that way. Nice super wide shoulder and lanes, low traffic, and accessible to mountain climbs everywhere. Of course I opted for the flat routes since I was on the SS MTB, which kind of sucked actually, unless you like to spin like crazy for 9 miles
Got to the trails at Lake Sequoyah (the actual lake is awesome, kind of reminded me of a mini Leatherwood tucked in between some mountains with an old WPA era stone dam). There are two different out and back trails at Lake Sequoyah, the Rookery and the Kingfisher. I started out on the Rookery which ran along the southern east side of the lake. This trail would have been really fun if it had not been completely overgrown. Definitely in need of a good weed wacking. other than than the trail ran within 10-15 feet of the laake at all times, giving you sweet views. One spot you will go into the lake if you don't manuver your bik right. The singletrack was super flat and fast, no roots or rocks to speak of (The OORC also built these 2 trails and did a great job). It was fun riding other than the super tall grass I was riding through on 6 inches of tread
The Kingfisher trail is across the road, right outside the gate of the marina/trailer home. This trail was super wide open for the first half, really looked like double track, but again it was in need of a trim. The second half after the turn around the lake got into more wooded area trail like the Rookey trail, minimal rocks and roots (very minimal) and again super fast smooth singletack (if it was trimmed). This trail is also an out and back so I turned around and headed back to the marina area to road ride back. No more bus wacking for me.
All in all they weren't the best trails I had ridden so far down here, short mileage (maybe 6 miles total on the two out/backs), but they're by far not the worst I have ever ridden in my life. I think with just a simple trim, these two trails would be really fun to rip back and forth for a few hours. I'll try them out again this winter or when I know for sure they have been cut back.
Mount Sequoyah
View from atop Mount Sequoyah looking west over Fayetteville.
Hopped back on the road to Fayetteville, got to Happy Hollow road and turned north to start the climb up Mount Sequoyah. The road will take you about halfway up the mountain and is totally rideable (32-18 SS 29r). On your left you will see a huge kiosk and a paved trail randomly entering the woods. The paved trail takes you about a 1/4 mile in to a shelterhouse where the singletrack branches off in like 8 directions from there. I found out real quick that these are probably mostly hiking trails. Very terrible construction, lots of fall line stuff. I made the decision to just hike-a-bike up to the very top of the mountain so at least I could ride back down Had a nice little hike up a ridiculously graded/eroded/rocky mess and got to the top. If I would have had rear suspension I would have gone back down, and actually saw a coupe guys on full DH bikes ready to jump in (There are two enterances to the trail, at the very top of the mountain where I now was and the lower enterance on the east side). They were quite impresssed by the fact that I had came up the trail instead of gone down it. The two fellas confirmed my suspesions that the only riders out there really were DH guys who started at the top and just ripped it down, which would be extremely fun other than the fact i was on a rigid 29r with 80 mm front suspension and other than that it was just hikers that used it. I'd ride them again if I had some more squish and a shuttle Even saying all that, I would assume it's probably a 3-5 minute run down the hill, really short.
Mount Kessler
Basically to sum this up real fast, it's like someone transplanted swope park on mount kessler and vice versa. Terrain is eerily similar. I swear a few times I was riding at home Huge rouck boulder faces, sweet rock gardens, armoured creek crossings, huge crib walls/rock work, massive bench cuts, big drops/step-ups, small drops/step-ups, fast flowy flat single track, tight windy tree pinched singletrack, lung bursting climbs and ripping downhills. Absolutely an awesome mix throughout the mountain.
Starting off, I met with a couple guys I rode with Wednesday at Ozark Mountain Smokehouse on Hwy 62 west of I-540. You go up the mountain on this steep, extremely long climb (~15 minutes) a little more than midway up the mountain to enter into the single track. From there, I thought we had climbed a lot already, this was only the beginnning. It was like going up the first switchbacks at swope, but 5x as long. The worst part was I think was that it was all doable on my 32-18 29r, albiet I was at a very hard grind. We went through some sweet bouldering and one creek that had to be walked because of washout. Definitely was wishing for a 19/20 on the rear about 20 minutes into the single track climb up. Was definitely glad I had the bar ends on. About 5 minutes later we came to a clearing getting towards the top. We (I) caught our (my) breath, stashed some bottles and took of to the eastern side. About a 40-45 minute climb total to start.
Climbed just a tad more then ripped down hill for a little bit, then did a huge climb again (~15 min) and came to another intersection. This is where I found out that these trails are basically a series of stacked loops (I think 4-5 total). we continued on around the ridge to "lookout 1" looking over the to the southeast across prime ozark scenery. Looped around some more and hit "lookout 2" which had views off to the west. awesome spots, really want to get back to them in the fall
Continued along the ridge to another loop that went back doen the mountain a little then sent you off a perfect 3-4 foot drop that you couldn't help but hit because you're going so fast. Then through an area they called "rock city" which was damn near identical to 8-pins in that it was a bunch of rocks, step-ups, drops, tight turns, etc. And it was about 3/4 a mile long! Intense workout. We looped around some how somewhere and ended up doing this section the other way as well. very very fun. Lots of huge boulder faces, large stone, great rock work, tight benchcut mountain singletrack. Very fun section of trail. We had a little bit of a climb back up to the original clearing spot, but compared to the first climb and the second from the east side back up this one on the west side was cake. We re-watered thankfully cause we were all out, then got to go back down the 45 minute climb. It took less than 10 to get back down and I had a pretty good scare hitting some loose gravel at probably 45 mph., I was told my bike was sideways in the air (good ole moto skills came back thankfully).
To sum up, these are some of the best trails I have ridden in my life, if not the best. It has absolutely everything. When paired with Dennis Moore's trails, fayetteville can boast some absolutely kick ass singletrack. I will definitely make time for both these systems every time I am in fayetteville from now on, and hopefully include them on all future NW arkansas trips mixed in along with Leatherwood, Devils Den, Slaughter Pen, Hobbs, and/or Upper Buffalo.
FInal Thoughts
Fayetteville had some pretty nasty local trails, that no one knows about (other than Lake Fayetteville). Definitely going to be including Mount Kessler on any arkansas trips, and hopefully moore's too. really sick systems. Lake Sequoyah would be nice with a trim and maybe a few more miles of trail, if possible (don't know what land they have to work with). All in all, a trip that wasn't geared at riding at all brought some of the best rides I've ever had. Very nice people down in Arkansas, bike shop guys helped out big time on the trails, Jonathan Sebring took me on two rides to two different private systems, that were really sick. He's not exactly a bad rider either: USAC results Super nice guy too. He should be coming up to dominate some KC cross stuff later this fall and we have to return the visit to Slaughter Pen Hollow for their jam the first weekend of november (XC, Short track, Trail run, Trials, and Mountain Cross!)
ok, i bet this post is really long. There's pictures, embedded links and good prose. Must say I'm really on top of this one :)...outie.
peace and riding!!!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Fayetteville, Arkansas
To see my ride reports from this week in Fayetteville, please visit:
http://forums.earthriders.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=12001
good times...more thoughts to come.
http://forums.earthriders.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=12001
good times...more thoughts to come.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
lots and lots of riding.
lets see here....since july 24 I've ridden a ton. that day I did the farmhouse classic gravel grinder hosted by joe fox of cycle city. great free event north of kc. ended up with 78 miles around 7 hours total time w/breaks and all.
the next day I did cliff drive laps and a downtown river/west bottoms ride with clay. ended up doing 35 miles when I had planned on 15.
monday was the mccoys ride and we did an extended after-food ride. another 25 in the book.
tuesday I rode swope for like 4 hours. awesomeness as always. having multiple loops to choose from now is awesome. as is having open connections :)
wednesday I ventured up to he northland with eric a for the humpday ride at the smok and davey trail head. huge group, i was having slider problems still so I ended up doing about a half lap then another small loop later. smithville trails are really fun on a single speed.
thursday was swope again for another 4 hours. 2 before the race, I timed, then 2 after plus another one with adam riding blue river road to the trolley trail back to the plaza.
friday I took a little break. :)
saturday (yesterday) I did this:
Decided to hit Clinton today instead of the river. I was really leery about doing so cause I had already seen the damage but was really happy after 4.5 hours of riding :D
There are lots (and I mean lots) of areas that have become double track or wider. The farther west you get the better it gets, generally. There are also numerous trees down, washed out creek crossings and the lake has reclaimed parts of the low lying blue trail. There are still the occasional mud holes, and even a few areas with standing water in the tread still cause there's no where for it to go. All in all though the trail tread has packed back in well for I'd say 90% of the trail.
I rode from northwest lawrence over to kasold, took that south to k-10 then took the south lawrence trafficway trail out to clinton. Continued out to Sander's Mound then took the connector up to the north shore trails. This was the first time in a long time I had ridden that connection and you can definitely tell not many people ride it. Basically a mowed grass path now until you actually get up to the tree line.
Once up to the actual trails I rode white for the first 5 miles then took a connector down to blue about 1/4 mile later. Finished Blue to land's end then continued on blue to campground 1 where I refilled my bottles. Jumped back down from the campground and took the white trail again for probably another mile or so then connected back down to blue which I finished riding out to the skills park. Rode the skills park for a few laps then decided to ride the cactus ridge loopm as it is one of my fave areas of clinton. I thought I was eating spiders before but this section was terrible, literally stopping ever couple minutes to de-web my face. The trail in this area is also extremely overgrown and the tread is actually un-follow-able through the meadow sections because of weed overgrowth. Just needs a good weedeating and some wheels and cactus ridge will be buff again. Got back to the skills park, did another couple laps, got to the end, hit a good 2 foot drop off the ties then got an infamous clinton thorn in my rear tire, which I had a tube in still. Changed it and got probably 25 psi in and decided it had been almost 4 hours and I had no patches, no tube, and had now lost 11 knobbies off my non-drive side rear tire. Needless to say I jumped back out to the road, past the park gate then dropped back in to take the last mile of trail back. Made it through then hopped back down to the paved trail and took it back north along k-10 and back into north west lawrence.
I was riding w/breaks for 4.5 hours and probably managed 40+ miles. Great RIM training! I forgot how humbling the roots of the white trail can be, those climbs are NOT single speed friendly.
Today I rode out to Perry to watch the racing action since my rear tire was trash and no shop was open until noon. 50 miles roundtrip and got to watch 3 hours of good racing on even better trails. wish i would have had the 29r as I don't get to perry often anymore. It was really hard being there and not being able to ride trail.
I found out some shitty news in the past couple days. The man I have considered my father for a long time (since before my real father was murdered) has been told that he basically has about 6 more weeks to live if he's lucky. He has had cancer for over 6 years now, multiple rounds of chemo, had multiple surgeries, is on enough drugs to literally kill someone else, and is is need of 24/7 care now.
Because of this I have decided to cancel the MTB Tour of Kansas City to take a trip to Arkansas with him. We have done this a lot and I would like to do it again. It just sucks that this might be my last chance so I'm not going to miss it. I will be rescheduling these events in the near future. mtbkc.blogspot.com for more info
peace and riding!!!
the next day I did cliff drive laps and a downtown river/west bottoms ride with clay. ended up doing 35 miles when I had planned on 15.
monday was the mccoys ride and we did an extended after-food ride. another 25 in the book.
tuesday I rode swope for like 4 hours. awesomeness as always. having multiple loops to choose from now is awesome. as is having open connections :)
wednesday I ventured up to he northland with eric a for the humpday ride at the smok and davey trail head. huge group, i was having slider problems still so I ended up doing about a half lap then another small loop later. smithville trails are really fun on a single speed.
thursday was swope again for another 4 hours. 2 before the race, I timed, then 2 after plus another one with adam riding blue river road to the trolley trail back to the plaza.
friday I took a little break. :)
saturday (yesterday) I did this:
Decided to hit Clinton today instead of the river. I was really leery about doing so cause I had already seen the damage but was really happy after 4.5 hours of riding :D
There are lots (and I mean lots) of areas that have become double track or wider. The farther west you get the better it gets, generally. There are also numerous trees down, washed out creek crossings and the lake has reclaimed parts of the low lying blue trail. There are still the occasional mud holes, and even a few areas with standing water in the tread still cause there's no where for it to go. All in all though the trail tread has packed back in well for I'd say 90% of the trail.
I rode from northwest lawrence over to kasold, took that south to k-10 then took the south lawrence trafficway trail out to clinton. Continued out to Sander's Mound then took the connector up to the north shore trails. This was the first time in a long time I had ridden that connection and you can definitely tell not many people ride it. Basically a mowed grass path now until you actually get up to the tree line.
Once up to the actual trails I rode white for the first 5 miles then took a connector down to blue about 1/4 mile later. Finished Blue to land's end then continued on blue to campground 1 where I refilled my bottles. Jumped back down from the campground and took the white trail again for probably another mile or so then connected back down to blue which I finished riding out to the skills park. Rode the skills park for a few laps then decided to ride the cactus ridge loopm as it is one of my fave areas of clinton. I thought I was eating spiders before but this section was terrible, literally stopping ever couple minutes to de-web my face. The trail in this area is also extremely overgrown and the tread is actually un-follow-able through the meadow sections because of weed overgrowth. Just needs a good weedeating and some wheels and cactus ridge will be buff again. Got back to the skills park, did another couple laps, got to the end, hit a good 2 foot drop off the ties then got an infamous clinton thorn in my rear tire, which I had a tube in still. Changed it and got probably 25 psi in and decided it had been almost 4 hours and I had no patches, no tube, and had now lost 11 knobbies off my non-drive side rear tire. Needless to say I jumped back out to the road, past the park gate then dropped back in to take the last mile of trail back. Made it through then hopped back down to the paved trail and took it back north along k-10 and back into north west lawrence.
I was riding w/breaks for 4.5 hours and probably managed 40+ miles. Great RIM training! I forgot how humbling the roots of the white trail can be, those climbs are NOT single speed friendly.
Today I rode out to Perry to watch the racing action since my rear tire was trash and no shop was open until noon. 50 miles roundtrip and got to watch 3 hours of good racing on even better trails. wish i would have had the 29r as I don't get to perry often anymore. It was really hard being there and not being able to ride trail.
I found out some shitty news in the past couple days. The man I have considered my father for a long time (since before my real father was murdered) has been told that he basically has about 6 more weeks to live if he's lucky. He has had cancer for over 6 years now, multiple rounds of chemo, had multiple surgeries, is on enough drugs to literally kill someone else, and is is need of 24/7 care now.
Because of this I have decided to cancel the MTB Tour of Kansas City to take a trip to Arkansas with him. We have done this a lot and I would like to do it again. It just sucks that this might be my last chance so I'm not going to miss it. I will be rescheduling these events in the near future. mtbkc.blogspot.com for more info
peace and riding!!!
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