Hiking the 107 Cross Over Trail at Cave Run

Today was a great day for a walk in the woods!  

It's the end of December and the temperature was around 50 degrees.  The wind was gusting pretty strong at times and it was a bit overcast most of the day.  The trees were bending in the wind and howling.  

We first started out on the Sheltowee Trace at Cave Run Lake and found it to be very muddy from horse traffic.  It was too hard to walk in so we decided to walk a bit on the 107 Cross Over Trail.  It follows forest road 1225 most of the way and is easy walking.  I took my backpack so I could try out some new gear.  Alaura wanted to set up her tent and have some hot chocolate so off we went.

2011 Fall Vacation Video

Pisgah National Forest Mountain Biking

Black Mountain - Brevard, NC




Sycamore Cove
--Not posted yet--

North Slope
--Not posted yet--

Pisgah National Forest Mountain Biking

October 27, 2011 

 

 

I made it back in one piece from Brevard, North Carolina after a long weekend of camping and mountain biking.  Let me start out by saying these trails are super fun!

 

On Thursday October 20^th, I went over my checklist one last time so I wouldn’t forget anything.  The camper was loaded and I had my bike.  So I rolled out of town around 1 pm headed for the Davidson River Campground in Brevard, North Carolina.  I stopped for fuel and about 6 hours later I was set up at the campground.  I spent the rest of the evening eating dinner and planning the rides for the next day.

 

Davidson River Camp Ground

On Friday October 21^st, the outside low temperature for the night was 37 degrees and the camper stayed a cozy 60 degrees inside.  After it warmed up outside I headed out to ride a few trails.  I covered about 15 miles the first day riding North Slope, Sycamore Cove, Thrift Cove and a fire road that I forget the name of.  Not the mileage I wanted to get in but the climbing really kicked my butt!

 

On Saturday October 22^nd, it got pretty cold again but I stayed warm in the camper.  I think it was around 35 degrees.  It’s really nice to be up off the damp ground.  I even watched the Green Lantern on DVD last night, which is a good movie.  I finally got out around noon and started up a fire road toward Black Mountain.  I didn’t make it all the way to the top because my legs were worn out.  Again, the climbing in Pisgah is pretty tough.  I ran into two guys from Georgia and decided to follow them back down the mountain.  So I ended up riding what I think are Lower Black Mountain and the trail back to the Ranger Station.  This was a blast!  The top part of the trail was rough and rooty with some 12 to 18 inch drops.  There are some really bad eroded parts of the trail.  The bottom part of the trail was fast and flowy.  Top speed of around 24 miles per hour!!   

 

Roots grow above ground!

The way it works at Pisgah is climb, climb, climb and when you think you can’t climb anymore you climb and climb some more.  Then, it’s down hill and really fun.  I really wasn’t ready for all the climbing and intend to work on this before I go back.

 

 

Logs to control erosion.

On Sunday October 23^rd, I slept until noon.  I was pretty tired and fighting a cold so I broke camp and headed back home.  I took my time and even took some back roads out of Brevard so I could see more of Pisgah Forest.  

 

 

Watch the drop on the left!

It was a great adventure and I learned a lot about my riding ability and what strategy I should use next trip.  I learned my climbing needs improvement - more leg conditioning.  I also learned my technical riding skills and downhill skills are better than I thought.  I did really well on the rough rooty trails and I got more comfortable with the drops after I got my speed up a little.  My Turner bike still wanted to take off and leave me a few times but I had to hold it back out of fear of riding above my ability.  It has been said "A man only truly lives if he is ready to die at any moment."  I feel alive while I’m racing through the forest around the trees, over the rocks and roots but I’m not ready to die doing it. 

So looking back on the trip, there are a few things that I will do next time.  I’ll ride Black Mountain the first day while I’m fresh.  The climb to the top is brutal and I need fresh legs to hit the summit.  Also, I’m going to run a wider tire next time.  The 2.0 inch wide tires took quite a beating on the way down the mountain.  I didn’t have a flat but I just didn’t feel like I had enough rubber on the ground at times.  The trails are really rooty and rough at times so a wider tire may give me a little more stability.  My helmet cam was a little shaky because of the way the suspension system in the helmet is made.  I need to fix the current helmet or find a different design.  All in all the trip was great and much needed.

 

Log bridge.

I’ve already started planning a trip back to Brevard in the spring.  I can’t wait!!

 

I have some video from the trip I'm still editing and when I'm finished I will post it too.

 

The "Mobile Man Cave"

I've been wanting a camper for some time now but just hadn't decided what kind or how much I wanted to spend.  I've been wanting to camp and mountain bike more and want a home away from home or a home base while doing this.  The idea of having a nice bed to sleep in after a long days ride is very appealing to me.  I don't want or need a big camper, only something to get me up off the ground and one that has some conveniences on board. 

The goals that I set for purchasing a camper are:
1.  I have to be able to set it up and take it down by myself.
2.  It needs to have enough space so I can stock it with food and clothes before the trip and leave the stuff in there for a few days when I get back home.  I will unload it at my leisure.
3.  I also want to utilize my current truck.
4.  It needs to be cheap.  Or should I say "within my low budget".   

After pondering on which direction to go I decided on a camper that slides in the back of my truck.  I searched flee-bay, the local paper and Craig's List for a few weeks.  I got a hit...Craigs List had a listing for a 1988 Sun Lite slide-in camper.  The ad stated it was in good shape to be an '88 model.  Now that almost scared me away.  The ad also stated it has a gas heater, dc/gas refrigerator, a three burner gas stove, and a 20 gal fresh water holding tank that feeds a sink.  And it was in my price range!  Could it be too good to be true?  Was I already getting my hopes up?  After an e-mail and phone call I had a time and date set to go inspect my find.  Was this a gem in the rough or a piece of junk?  I would soon know.

Amy, Alaura and I set off on a journey to see if this was the camper for me.  We loaded up Big Red and traveled to Corbin which is about an hour and a half drive.  We were only about 10 miles from Cumberland Falls State Park when we finally arrived.  I recommended we buy the camper and head to the falls for a little camping fun but I was out voted this time around. 

As we rolled up the driveway there she was, stored under a shelter, up on jack stands just waiting to be loaded up and hauled away.

 But before that could happen a thorough inspection was in store.  Remember the ad that said everything works?  Well, it took about 4 hours to get everything to actually work.  What the ad should have said was..It worked the last time we used it which was 2 years ago.  Anyways, I was not going to be discouraged by this minor set back.  After all, we got it all working and that was good, right?  By this time Amy and Alaura were getting hungry but I had been working so hard to get all the appliances working I forgot about the need to eat. 
So after the final inspection and a short board meeting I was given the "nod" from the "Boss"...I knew what was getting ready to happen.  I was going to have a Mobile Man Cave!

We spent another hour mounting the brackets under my truck and loading the camper.  It was going home with me.  It was a little gem in the rough. 

It just needed a good cleaning and a little TLC to be ready for the camp site.  Alaura was happy to help with the cleaning.








So it all has worked out.  I have met the goals that were set out by this project and I'm in the process of stocking it for a trip later this month.

I look forward to the journeys that await me in the Mobile Man Cave.  Whether it be an epic mountain bike trip, a family camping trip or me just plain getting kicked out of the house.  I will know that, when the day is done, I will have a nice comfortable place to lay my head.

New Helmet Camera

I’ve entered a new realm,  I've purchased a small helmet camera.  I have a desire to document my mountain biking adventures as sort of a way to leave a legacy I suppose.  Maybe it’s more simple and I want others to see what kind of trails I venture upon.  My hope is when others see how much fun mountain biking is they will want to "Go Ride A Bike" too.

The Contuor HD 1080p point of view camera has been delivered to my back door and is now mounted to my bike helmet.  The camera is very light weight but there was still a need to counter balance it.  A bike inner tube fills the bill and if I have a flat, well, I have a spare tube handy.  I may experiment with other items but for now its the inner tube.

Here is what the camera looks like mounted to the left side of the helmet.  I used the flat surface mount that was included with the camera but the included sticky tape was not going to work on a curved helmet.  So I used Gorilla Glue to secure it to the helmet.  Also, included was a safety lanyard in case the mount fails and the camera comes loose from the helmet.  This is a good idea!

I’ve made some test videos to see if the mount is lined up and everything looks good.  The quality is great as it is 1080p High Definition.  Amazing they can get that out of a small camera.

I’m looking forward to trying this camera in the woods.  So far I'm pretty happy with the set up but more testing is needed.  Handling HD video is pretty hard on my computer too.  The record rate is about 15 minutes of video equals 1 gig of storage and the software is a resource hog.  I have a feeling a new computer with more memory is in the near future.  Maybe a MAC!?

My inspiration for this project comes from a guy in North Carolina that calls himself Sir Bikes-A-Lot.  Check out his web site for more info and a lot more knowledge on setting up a rig like this.  His web site address is www.sirbikesalot.com

First Time Riding Veterans Park in Lexington, KY

Sunday September 11, 2011
It seems fitting to ride at Veterans Park today since this is the 10 year anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on the United States.  We Will Never Forget!

I hooked up with "The Dude", aka Travis, around 5pm and we headed for the trails.  We rode for about an hour and forty-five minutes with a total mileage around 7.5 miles.


There were several people out walking, jogging and hiking the trails today but to my surprise we only saw a few other mountain bikers.  The trail is a fun single track with minor elevation changes with mostly hard packed dirt with a few loose spots.  There are some exposed rocks and roots but most of them can be avoided.

The Dude just being The Dude.

Mostly single track trails.

The Dude exiting a tree tunnel.

We had a good workout and decided that we would be coming back to ride it again.  We didn't have a map so we just explored around and followed trails to see where they went.  Now that I have some GPS data from the ride we know that we missed some of the trails in the field.  We didn't venture across them as it was starting to get dark and the lights were in the truck.  It was a great time and we talked about riding these trails when there is an inch or so of snow on the ground.  I can't wait!

Getting the Kid Karriage Ready

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Alaura helped me get the kid karriage ready for a future trip.  After we tuned it we hooked it up and took it for a spin.  She had to bring Gigi her doll with her on the ride around the house.

Skull Buster with Scott

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Went back to Skull Buster today and Scott joined me. We met around 5:30 pm at the trailhead and set out for an epic ride. We haven’t ridden together in several years so this was a real treat. I always turn on my bike computer/GPS and attach it to my handlebars right before I head out and for some reason this time it would not turn on. I can’t remember ever riding without it but I wasn’t going to let that slow us down. I came to ride not play with electronic toys. So, we rode some, joked some, rested some, took some pictures and had a great time. I hit a tree with my shoulder and I thought the world had stopped spinning for a few minutes. Nothing was broke so back to having fun. We rode until it was dark in the woods and then headed for the car. Note to self...take lights next time! We rode about 9 miles in 2.5 hours at a nice easy pace. I got to spend some time with my brother riding bikes, I felt like a kid again. Thanks Scott!

First Time Riding Skull Buster in Georgetown, KY

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Rode at Skull Buster in Georgetown, KY today. The trails are new, well manicured, hard packed and fast! I intended on riding by myself while Amy and Alaura hiked some of the trails, but I met Matthew who said he would ride with me. He has ridden here once before and that was more than me. We rode 10.75 miles in about 2 hours time. I was sucking wind by the time I got back to the car. All in all it was a great ride and I will be coming back to Skull Buster for some more mountain biking.