The Great North Mountain

Road most of the old Wolf Gap Race course  on great North Mountain

Filled with fun hogs of the Sam, Lindsay and Nate variety.   Saw some fiddle heads 

And not sure whats

But traction on North Mountain is perfect right now.

Get some!

And don't forget to tip the bartender

Let freedom reign!

Signal Knob Trail

Got out for a rock refresher on Signal Knob trail with Sam Skidless and Master Nate, 60 few degrees and perfect trail conditions. Spring time riding on the  difficult terrain up north seems to be peak season in terms of trail condition. All the loose lichen on the rocks has been freeze/thawed off and washed away by the rain. It's never mor grippy then right now.

Once the bush takes hold, the corridor is further challenged, room for error shrinks. 

If you like the rocks, now is the time. Both Nate and Sam cruise effortlessly thru the sandstone on their 650 duallies 

As if the trail were a sidewalk.

Can we build it?

This is the question! There are not too many rides where you get a view like this.

Vince and Tim Cook gazing into the future of Massanutten Trails.

Rough Roubaix

Backed by confidence gained on Georgia gravel, I decided to ride in the Rough Roubaix last Saturday to test my skills on some Virginia/West Virginia rock roads. The turnout for the ride was great, and our group of 50+ riders rolled out of town toward Dayton at 9 a.m. We started the day off with some close-to-home gravel, ending up in Stokesville. After battling a headwind through Briery Branch and on North River Road, it was a relief to refuel at the Stokesville aid station before heading into the second stretch. Once in the George Washington National Forest, the course forked to take either the 90/114 mile loop or the 52 mile loop. I turned up the road for the longer ride, and climbed and descended Shenandoah Mountain into West Virginia. Many a "rough" road, either dirt or gravel, put everyone's endurance to the test. Sore seats and sore legs were complaining, but spirits stayed high in the 60 degree weather. New friends and good conversation helped me pedal all day, and having a few people to work with on the windy stretch to Brandywine, WV was extremely helpful. Once I reached Aid Station 2 at mile 60, I decided to not continue on to the 114 mile loop, but to come back to Virginia via Rt. 33. A long climb and long descent followed by a few more gravel detours and the backside of Mole Hill took me back to Harrisonburg to finish the ride - it took me seven hours total. It was an awesome course, and I hope to do the full 114 mile loop next year. Thank you Chris Scott/Shenandoah Mountain Touring for another great event!

Touring the U.S. of A.

There are many great perks of working at a bike shop, one of my personal favorites is helping a diverse population who love to ride bikes. Some folks ride for transportation, some ride for ftiness, some ride to share a great experience with the one they love.

This set of Surly Long Haul Truckers belongs to Bruce and Mary Ann who set off today to ride from Yorktown, VA to the Pacific coast.  I know many folks who have done this trip after college, prior to entering the "Real World", but  SBC we are starting to see more and more folks take their adventure of lifetime upon retirement! Bruce & Mary Ann, we wish you many safe smiling miles on your trip! Thanks for including SBC in your adventure.

Something to watch that may or may not stretch your imagination.

Check out this short helmet cam video footage of Geoff Gulevich riding his first run of the 2013 Redbull Rampage. If video makes stuff look flat and the course looks steep, then you know it is really steep!
To watch both of his runs shot by helicopter and professional camera folks, check out this link to see the third person perspective.  Be sure to watch run 2 for carnage.  There's an old phrase from West-By-God: "Sometimes you watch the show, and sometimes you are the show."  Everyone is between crashes, some are bigger and more frequent than others.

Runaway Roubaix

The Harris Roubaix, a group ride celebrating a few of the Valley's beautiful dirt roads, was this past Sunday. The weather and road conditions were perfect, and my boyfriend and I decided to do a pre-Roubaix ride that morning and drop in later for some gravel laps and socializing. We rode through Hopkins Gap, toured Long Run Road, visited a potential fishing hole, coasted through Fulks Run, then looped back to the Roubaix course via Turleytown Road. Oh, did I mention we were on a tandem bicycle? The power of two flew us through our morning tour, and we got to the farm hosting the Harris Roubaix event just in time to leave with a few friends for a "party lap". Oblivious to the rage of Yanni Yensen on the front of our bike, I had no idea that I was about to get dragged into a gut-busting race against the three leaders who caught up to lap us halfway through. My father, clad in a Ralph Lauren sweatsuit and riding a motorbike, came around a corner with the three leaders not far behind. Erik and I saw them and tried to get to the top of the next descent quickly to try and hold them off, as the tandem is a mountain bike with 300 pounds of fearless momentum. Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we had put a slight gap on the leaders, and held them off for a while until the next climb. A few helpful pushes from Dad on the motorcycle and Erik's race-mode legs driving our machine kept us with the top three for the next few miles. Between the serious trash talk to the leaders and vigorous pedal strokes, I was out of breath and in the pain cave (this is possible on a tandem... who knew?) We quit our teasing before the last uphill of the course, but finished the lap strong. I never thought I would feel more tired the next day after a tandem ride than I did after Dragon's Tale last week... Nevertheless, an awesome day with my significant other and an amazing time riding in the sunshine with some fun people makes the soreness worthwhile. To all those asking when Erik and I will be riding the Shenandoah Mountain 100 in the tandem category... Stay tuned.