2014 Six Pack Downhill Series Finale! 20th Annual Invitational!

Chimney Hollow results

Results from the Invitational!

Red Diamond results

Dowell's Draft results

For those who aren't familiar with the Six Pack Series, get familiar. Once the JMU school year starts, the Friday Fatty group ride switches gears and becomes the Six Packs. Meeting every Friday afternoon, the group party paces up whatever trail is chosen that week, and then races down as fast as possible for the potential glory of winning, hosting that night's party, and getting to ride the Soft Ride (winner's bike) the following week. We had an incredible season this year, and it just ended this past weekend with the 20th Annual Six Pack Invitational. This thing has been going on for twenty years! Collin Vento and Oliver Quinn tied for first place men's, and Sue Haywood dominated the ladies' field. If you haven't already, put next year's Six Packs on your calendar. They are the perfect rides to meet new friends, have fun on bikes, and get to know the area!

The infamous Soft Rides

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Where old meets new on Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain has been the site of thousands of trail work hours in the past few years. This past Sunday some of the SBC crew jumped on with the Coalition's trail work day to finish up the latest new section on trail and close out the trail building season.  The challenge of this work day was how to seemlessly tie in the iconic rock drop off into the new peice of trail.  We think that has been solved! 

Old to the right, new to the left with Collin, Tim & Lindsey.

The angle of departure from the rock drop off has been tweak by a few degrees, this done by one hell of a rock crib wall. Next time you are out there stop and take a look at what is supporting your take off, it took a lot of back breaking lifting by the crew (Tim r, Paul J, Owen J, Ben M, Lindsdy C, Micheal W, Andrew D, Thomas J, Mark, Collin W. ) and help from the Coalitions Grib Hoist. These types of trail builds will out live all of us who help cut this section into the rocky mountain!

Owen Johnston, has trail rock work in his blood.

The downhill side view of the your new landing

Grand Touring the Dirty South

The weekend before Halloween, Sean Quinn picked Sue Haywood and me up from Harrisonburg to drive 7 hours to Clayton, Georgia. Arriving at the Fall Tour Compound around 2:30 am, we set up camp in the Ewok Village and got a few hours of beauty sleep. I woke up to kitchen hustle noise, and then made my first appearance as a clueless northerner ready to experience dirty south riding. Thus began the four day stage race titled "The Fall Tour". Four glorious days of steep climbs, ROCKING descents, warm weather, and fantastic food. Southern boys and girls put on the the most polite grand tour I've ever been to, and definitely have the best cuisine. What a great time - I will most definitely be going back!

The routes for all four days.

YT gets power tool rowdy.

Gotta stay hydrated.

Men's leader for a few days, Oliver Quinn taking times at the top of the first timed section.

Warm pavement naps kept me going all weekend.

The crowd at the bottom of Big Ridge, a fifteen minute downhill.

Jersey lineup after the first day! 

Fall colors in full bloom.

The results overall.

Burning in Laird's Nose with Thomas' Virgin'ia dirt. It's for lovers.

Teamwork making the dream work on
any given Thursday. 

Over the past countless weeks, Thomas led the charge.  The ample SVBC volunteers had momentum to burn, connecting the final section of trail by hand at the most recent Thursday Massanutten Trail Work.  Crews sprinkled magic up the new trail, rerouting Upper Granny Grind.  The trail is rewarding and tough, both ways.  Climbing up steep grade reversals with some tricky rock sections, the trail offers challenging entertainment to even the most skilled rock expert.

Some facts about the new trail:

• Volunteer hours in trail build: 850
• 70 different volunteers
• SVBC spent $2900 in machine work (Iron Wood Outdoors)
• 26 trail work days
• 60 hours in trail design
• 5500' estimate of trail build, 2200' by machine the rest by hand
• help from Massanutten with trail corridor clearing, diesel fuel, housing for Iron Wood Outdoors.

a golden sunset of Wootten & Andrew
at the future view.

Thomas ran into Wootten, Fflur and Andrew Devier-Scott just as he began descending the completed trail for his first time top to bottom.  They stopped for a hike over to the future view where you can find one of the best vistas available at the Western Slope on the South end of Massanutten Mountain.

They descended with the setting sun, their Trek Remedies, 29er in front with the 650b's flowing closely behind.  Carving the traversing reversals, using the big rock obstacles in the middle of the trail to pump backside instead of pedaling for speed.  Masterfully crafted, this trail, an indelible impression left by an iconic community in the rich lands of Rockingham County.

Thomas shares his words about his trail experience today:

It was awesome riding Kaylors by myself, I could look over at the new ridge from about from a half mile South of Kaylor's.  I was thinking how this new trail adds a completely different scope to the Nutt.  Even though we are sooo close to the old trail, we are so far; how could the same mountain feel so different?  The drop in from Kaylors into the ravine on the back was so colorful, I was thinking how old school this portion of the mountain is. As rough as always, my first trail build in 1992 was on the back side of Kaylor's. 

Rocky sections keep things spicy!
It wouldn't be the Nutt without plenty of rocks!

I was so excited to see you guys cruising up the mountain. I was just rolling down that trail at my casual solo pace, analyzing more than riding.  The views at the top are what turned me onto this build.  I always end up over-evaluating a trail build, I get so deep into the project that I can not objectively evaluate the trail.  That is is the problem; I am always evaluating the trail.  Sometimes you just need to haul ass down the trail and ride it at a speed.  You just react, you don't do anything else.  That is what happened tonight.  I was happy to ride it with you, happy to show you the view. Thank you for showing me how just  to ride. Damn that is a good piece of trial!!

When Wootten rounded the corner, I realized that I was riding the entire trail top to bottom for my first time.  Even though I have ridden most every piece of the new trail, this was the first time I have actually ridden the whole thing.  The trail felt right from the beginning.  I turned off trail analysis mode and switched on flow mode. I was just trying to keep up with Wootten.  This is how a trail needs to be ridden.  When we combined the new section with the the section from last year I realized we have created something special.  Now I know all those frigid days slipping that side-hill last winter are worth every frozen toe and numb finger.   

This blank canvas is transformed.

We finished descending going through MBA Meadow. It was a great way to finish the ride; to combine something old school and something new.  I felt so proud that I had built this trail, but I did not build it.  I saw the vision and so many folks helped make it real.  There were 5 or 6 folks who help with the design and then endless amount of people who built it.  Then, I started to laugh that all these folks trusted me with their time and effort.  Even though not everyone saw the vision, they were still willing to come out and dig foot by foot. 

The best part about managing these projects is seeing each person get into a section of trail.  It becomes their trail, a piece of them forever embedded in the Earth.  When I ride a trail it is like some crazy flash back where I can see each person working on their particular spot, the spot where they fell in love with building a trial foot by foot. 

To celebrate the completion of SVBC's new reroute, show up next Thursday evening for the chain breaking party because this trail is off the chain.  Bring your bike and burn in Laird's Nose on the Virgin'ia Dirt, guaranteed a good time.

Weird Wednesday With Wootten: 1025 DeathStar

Skidmore, Fflur & Wootten get out some Wednesdays for exploring trails they haven't ridden.  This week they scoped out a seldom ridden gem that drops off the WV side of Shenandoah Mountain.  The ridge pokes out, between Sugar Run & Seng Run, into the headwaters of the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River.  The trail starts out with fast double track and then turns into some classic ridge descending, offering views of Reddish Knob and some of West Virginia's finest state flowers.  The satellite dishes are used to provide West Virginians with over 100 channels, as well as possibly being the communications hub for some federal agency in charge of our security.

Fflur thought it was over after they descended the busy ridge and got to the road,  but alas, it had just begun.  Next to the fiber optic cable that provides high speed internet to the satellites, the gravel traverse continued to climb up towards the pavement on the back side of Reddish.  The pavement grind up is best done at the end of the ride on cold days so you stay warmest throughout the day.

You can see in the photo below, an artifact of the great depression, where the USFS got creative, employing thousands of artists in the CCC to do mosaics in random places.

  

TAKING JMU TO THE MOUNTAINS.

We can't take the mountains to JMU so we, at SBC and UREC,  decided to take JMU to the mountains! Sunday was the first SBC led JMU UREC mountain bike ride west of town. You could not ask for a more perfect day than this past Sunday.  The leaves where full of color and the temperatures where perfect for outside fun. 

Have a lunch break at the top of Tillman West. 

Our JMU escort van driver for the day was Stephen Proffitt, who professionally managed the dense roadways of Stokesville with utmost skill. David Lee and I were the tour guides for the four brave JMU students, Shelby, Allison, Nicole and Haley.  These four ladies were rockstars on Narrowback Mountain. With no mountain bike experience they navigated the Dog Grave Yard, the Tower Trail and Tillman West Trail  with determination and an adventurous spirit. 

Lining up for some more climbing on the Tower Trail. 

There is no way to accurately describe mountain biking in a outdoor handbook or in a University Program Guide. How do you describe that feeling of a trail disappearing under a think layer of fall leaves? Words don't do justice to a trail that has been cut steep into a mountain to a point where it just blends into the side-hill? Sometimes you just need to get folks out there on two wheels to first hand experience the rolling coaster ride on mountain biking. And that is what we did!

Thanks Shelby, Allison, Nicole and Haley for a great day in mountains and putting so much trust into your tour guides!

WE HAD A BLAST!

Thomas

Personal Baggage

If you are going out for a bike ride, eventually you will need some Stuff. How much Stuff is debatable. Some folks are happy to just carry their phone and call for help, others carry spare derailleurs and tires.We as riders love to compare what each other is using and how well it works for you and so on. Whenever I go for long exploratory rides I often use a handlebar bag, which I affectionately call "the  picnic basket".

Picnic basket out in the world