Dragon's Tale

This past weekend I went to New Castle, Virginia to participate in Shenandoah Mountain Touring's Dragon's Tale mountain bike race. This year, the ~40 mile course started with an eight mile road ride to the start and a few miles of dirt roads before the trail climb.  The switchback packed single track climb is done twice, the first time turning onto a short ridge section and coming down a fast descent to an aid station. The second time up the climb, you turn a different way to begin a long ridge ride. The gnarly 10 mile ridge is super technical with steep climbing and descending throughout, and the descent off the ridge takes you to the final aid station. Two more punchy climbs and a few more fun downhills spit you out on a mile long road ride to the finish. It might sound easy now, but this course is one of the toughest around! Last year was my first time racing Dragon's Tale, and it was the longest and hardest mountain bike ride I had ever done. I finished last year with a time of 6:42:24, and suffered the majority of those hours! This year, I knew to pace myself, eat a lot of food, drink plenty of water, and more of what to expect. For example, I knew that when you could see ten more bumps in the distance on the ridge, you had to ride over all of those bumps... The treacherous hike-a-bikes were much less menacing this year though, and I knew that the switchbacks come up faster than you think on the downhills. My goals for this year were to finish in around five hours, and to make it in before the awards ceremony - I reached both. My parents both came to help out and heckle, and their support was extremely helpful - how else would I know to not associate with the JV Squad or have eaten so many boiled potatoes? Dad made appearances in all the places I wanted to walk my bike... and Mom made sure I was eating/drinking enough at the aid stations.

After a full day of slum and fun, the last climb brought on painful leg cramps and dreams of hamburgers, and I finished fourth among the women after one-leg pedaling up the last two pavement climbs. I'm proud of both Kelly Paduch for completing her first big mountain bike race (finishing sixth!) and my boyfriend Erik Jensen for placing fifth overall. I can't wait to do this race again, and I know the experience will only get better. Thanks Chris Scott/Shenandoah Mountain Touring for another awesome ride!

Buzzard Rock

Out for a pleasure cruise on north end of Massanutten ridge yesterday with Sam, Collin, and the Preston. 70 few degrees and the first taste of heat. We forced Collin to break trail and pick up all the downfall from the winter. Started at Veach Gap them went north past Sherman and Shawl, eventually getting to Buzzard Rocks at the tip of Fort Valley.

The rocks are cleaner and more grippy than ever from the winters wash, the bush is showing its teeth but not yet encroaching on the trail, now is the time!

Preston watched the large winged birds hovering over us trying to understand there movements an apply it to his flying.

Happy Trails at Pandapas Pond & Brush Mountain

I had to drive down to Blacksburg for business on Friday. The weather was phenomenal, and it seemed a waste to drive all day in that sunshine. So Tony, the dog, & I made a weekend of it. We phoned some friends who gladly played hooky on Friday afternoon for a sweet ride on Gap and Brush Mountains.

Friday's ride was sponsored by Nathan's 6 year-old and 8 year-old. They donated superhero tutus, wings, & belts to the cause. We used them to fly up the mountainsides and dance our ways back down.

For anyone familiar with Blacksburg's Pandapas Pond trail system, here are a few updates from the past year or two:

-the bottom of Beauty now has some new gap jumps. They're no good for a hardtail singlespeed because it is borderline impossible to gain enough speed.... but gears + squish = fun!

-most of the switchbacks on Old Farm/Gateway have been simplified with use of rocks & removal of roots; I was glad to see the Blacksburg folks watching out for increased erosion in some of those spots

-everything else keeps getting a little more washed out every year... just like every other trail system I know

Saturday's Old Farm trail ride got off to a rocky start. Approximately 7 minutes up the trail, Tony broke his single-speed chain. Crap. So back down the mountain we rolled. Fortunately, some really cool cyclists rent the house at the bottom of that trail. We owe a big shout-out to Graham Snyder from East Coasters Bike Shop; he robbed a hollow-pin 9-spd chain from one of the barn's dozen-or-so bikes, & we happily spun (err, slowly grinded) our way back up the mountain. Somehow, that road chain survived Tony's gear-mashing, ring-smashing ride. And we even had enough daylight to enjoy some Bud Light With Lime at the bike house with Laura, Stefan, Graham, & Tommy. No matter where you ride bikes, you can always find some brethren.

Snowy Short Mountain

Daddy-daughter rides are always great, especially when the trails are steep and rocky and the conditions are snowy. Last Sunday, Michael Carpenter and I rode Short Mountain, a seven mile ridge trail with serious tech-gnar. When we got there that morning, it was snowing heavily and the wind seemed unforgiving. We let the snow die down a bit before pedaling up the road to start our ride, and the snow completely stopped right when we got to the top of the climb. The trail is a personal favorite of mine, and the two-inch snow blanket covering the trail made for even more of a challenge and learning experience. Dad even double flatted (and he runs a Minion on the rear!). It was great to get out on (hopefully) the last cold and snowy day of the year. Join us on the Friday Fatty rides in the next few weeks if you want to get a taste of the trail yourself! 

Got Tire?

When I first started mountain biking, I figured I'd just use whatever cheap cast-off tires my friends had lying around. Maybe I would pick out the ones that looked knobbier... regardless, I didn't pay much attention to the rubber on my rims.

So the first time I rode the ridge at Massanutten, I didn't really ride it. I walked it. And I didn't ride down Upper Ravine.... I stopped, let the rest of the pack go by, & then tiptoed my way down boulders with my bicycle bouncing around in my hands. Riding that stuff just felt too sketchy-- I couldn't get traction, and my 40PSI tubes bounced over everything like a basketball.

Fast-forward to yesterday. It was my first ride of the spring, one of my first rides post-winter-hibernation. AKA- I'm not yet on my game this season, and my withered legs had trouble even climbing the fire road.

But now I have new tires. Thanks to the dudes at Trek, my hardtail now sports 29-3 team issue 2.35 Bontrager tires.

Despite my winter weight, those sticky donuts got me clean across the ridge. I partied down upper ravine without touching foot to dirt. My tires stuck and rolled, and my tubeless 20PSI smoothed out the worst of the rocky bounce.

For just $150 bucks (a fraction of the cost of a new bike; roughly the cost of a new pair of shoes; or 2 weeks of boxed lunches rather than eating out), my Massanutten foray went from a hike to bike ride. I am now a believer in the power of rubber.

Flying Flags of Things to Come!

When the conditions on the mountains look like this, time is best spent off trail with a few friends, many rolls of flagging tape and a clinometer. It is scouting time of year. The 2014 scouting season has been one of the longest due to old man winter refusing to leave the Mid-Atlantic, this is a good thing because of the many new trail projects that are on tap for the next few years.

Lairds Knob...Windy and snow filled on the last day of March

Once trail work at Hillandale finishes up in May the SVBC crews will shift to the Western Slope of Massanutten to begin on the next phase of the ever growing trail system. This year's project at Massanutten might be the most exciting since the 2 year project that created the "2K Traill".

The Orange Flags in the GW will have you exploring for miles!

The orange flags are not limted to Massanutten. The majority of orange rolls where used west of town in the George Washington National Forest. SVBC has secured over 100K of funding through the Recreational Trails Program Grant  (FREE Pulp Bowl to the first correct answer of who is on that site) to continue trail work efforts in areas such as Dowell's Draft, Wolfe Ridge and the Wild Oak Trail.

To find out more about these projects come out to the next SVBC Social on April 14th, SVBC will break out the maps and hold a round table discussion about some of the upcoming National Forest projects.

Now time to putting the flagging tape and climnometer away until next winter and jump on the bikes!

Thomas

Trucker Hats are so 3 years ago

Here at the Shenandoah Bicycle Company, we pride ourselves on the variety of custom SBC branded clothing items we keep around the shop. We hear again and again from our customers that they are looking for SBC branded items. Especially since Harrisonburg is the Bike Capital of Virginia, we have many visitors who want to take home something from their trip. As if the endless miles of beautiful dirt/paved roads and trails aren't enough to remember it all by. We are excited to add SBC logo trucker hats to the mix (yes we know that we are a few years behind the trend) of custom SBC gear that you can pickup at our shop. Pictured below we have long-time SBC customer, Chase Lyne with his hat, former SBC employee, Whitney March with her hat, and current SBC employee Collin Vento building a kids bike and wearing a red SBC hat.