Lets talk about bars

I love bars! I consider myself an expert. What makes me an expert you ask? Well I've spent the majority of my life in them and behind them. We will be talking about the new bars that a few customers and myself are behind right now in this post and save the talk about the best drinking establishments for a later date.

The Jeff Jones loop h bar is the hot ticket right now for the trekking crowd. My man Dan has been rolling thru Japan and south east Asia for months now and my friend John has seen the light and had us install one on his bike too. The first picture is John's old bar. The second is his bike now waiting on grip choice. The third is my bike outfitted with this great bar. Stay tuned for pictures of Dans bike. SBC is now a dealer so come by and check them out!

Sub-24 Hour Bike Tour Adventure

On Wednesday August 6 Kyle and Whitney biked this route with an overnight trip in it

View from the Heiliger Kanzel Overlook WV

1:45- Leave Harrisonburg with two bikes, two B.O.B. Trailers, camp gear, too much food, and a camp table

2:30- On Top of Mole Hill

2:55- Crossing the "Slab" road over Dry River

3:30 Approaching the 257 Grocery

4:15- Beginning the climb up the pavement towards Reddish Knob

6:00- Less than a mile from camp and the cold rain began

6:20- Arrive at Heiliger Kanzel Overlook in West Virginia just below Reddish Knob

7:00- Rain stops. Freezing cold. Neither Whitney nor I can feel our hands

7: 15- Cook dinner with numb hands and drinking cold can beer does not help

8:30ish- Sunset

7:00am- Wake up and start coffee/breakfast

8:00am- Start packing up the camp site and packing the B.O.B. trailers

8:30am- On bikes and rolling back down the mountain

10:00am- Pedaling through Dayton after booking it towards home on 257 with the wind at our backs

10:20am- Home and frantically getting ready for work

10:45am- At the bike shop ready to roll for another full day of fun

See the map of our full route out and back 

Turns out you can see some pretty cool stuff in a 50 mile round trip from Harrisonburg

Whitney with her BOB trailer and bag

It was really really cold up there 

Old mountain bikes with skinny and slick tires make for great touring machines especially if you hook up a B.O.B. trailer to them

Kyle and Whitney West Virginia Bike Tour Day 2 and 3

Sometimes you plan a bike tour and it looks great on the map but takes WAY too long while riding with weight. That was the case of day 2 on our bike tour from Harrisonburg to Davis West Virginia. Day two saw us pedaling about 50miles with another 7000 feet of climbing from Big Bend Campground to David West Virginia. Planning on only one large mountain to climb and about 50 miles we figured day 2 would be a nice change from our long and arduous first day with Rough and Long Run roads. Turned out that we were both a bit tired from the long first day and the steep steep climb up the Allegheny front and across the Eastern Continental divide proved brutal.

Climbing out of Smoke Hole Canyon took longer than expected but the views are well worth it. The above picture is looking back East and the Potomac River and Canyon are sandwiched between the far mountains. The Big Bend Campground is somewhere back in there.

Ever been to the Dolly Sods? Well if you have then you have seen these signs from when the Sods were used as a bombing range during World War II. Most of the bombs have been cleaned up but warning signs still abound and you must remember, "Do not Pick it up!" 

Whitney didn't mind the climb up into Canaan Valley at all after the slog up into the Sods on Forest Road 19. This paved climb with the classic water pipe coming out of the rocks was a breeze. Even with relatively "heavy" traffic.

Once we arrived in Davis we made a quick stop at the grocery store and then headed out Camp 70 road and snagged our favorite spot on the river (site #6). A beautiful spot where Yellow Creek flows into the Blackwater river. From here we were able to ride into Thomas or Davis and to most of the good mountain bike trails. Turned out we had neither the energy nor desire to ride any mountain bike trail. One of the newer trail additions to the area, "Splash Dam" was directly across the river from our camp spot.

Day 3 involved leaving our camp setup and a very short bike ride into Thomas for coffee and food. Then we took a tour down the Blackwater Canyon trail with none other than Sue Haywood for some local sightseeing. The view below from Lindy point shows how dramatic the Blackwater Canyon looks from the rim and also shows the old railroad cut, now a rails to trail conversion on the left side of the photo. 

Harrisonburg to West Virginia's Smoke Hole Canyon Kyle and Whitney Bike Tour Day 1

Kyle and Whitney went on a bike tour from the Burg to Canaan Valley West Virginia. 

Alright so the first day was a little too big. Turns out Long Run road takes FOREVER to climb with a mountain bike and a B.O.B. trailer. Especially if it rains. But it sure is beautiful up there. 8,000 feet of climbing over 60 some miles is very slow. How slow? Well we left Harrisonburg at about 9am and arrived at Big Bend Campground in Smokehold Canyon at 8pm. That was with fairly steady riding and some ripping dirt descending down Rough Run in West Virginia. You can see the entire route of our first day on Map my Ride.

Neat feature on Map my Ride that shows you how the percent grade for different sections in the route. Sipple Mountain road is gorgeous with a view of Spruce Knob, North Fork Mountain and into the Dolly Sods. But, it was a bit painful after already climbing Shenandoah Mountain

Long Run Road is a special place and a gateway into the Northwest corner of Rockingham County's "Bermuda Triangle" of Forest Roads. Take a bike up there someday if you get a chance. Although the views are much much better before the leaves come out.

Big Bend Campground was spectacular. Nestled against the mountain and nearly surrounded by the Potomac River. Whitney wasn't too happy when a bird decided to relieve itself on our food prep table. Fortunately the splatter didn't make it into dinner, only onto the handle of the knife, or at least that is what we told each other.

Upon arriving at Big Bend Campground I opened my B.O.B. bag to find a very heavy and mostly metal DVD drive from a personal computer about a decade old. It was then I realized why the climb up Long Run rd was so hard. Kurt Rosenberger had sabotaged me and unbeknownst to me placed this in my bag to weigh me down for the tour.