Noisy night in parking lot. Ran heater on low and made van too hot to sleep comfortably. Woke to alarm to meet 9:30 meet time in Chattanooga w/ Ralph who answered my SORBA forum asking for a guide on the mtn.
Fog & drizzle driving down, same @ his house.
Forum comments advised me to accept Ralph as my guide. Somebody else said yeah, bring a lung, But Ralph answered that he would be riding his “slow” bike, the suspension one. I learned that he normally rides a single speed and is really fast. Young guy, another engineer. What is it about mtn biking that seems to attract engineers? Early on I managed to stay on his wheel. His brakes squeal which sent a caution sound of up coming downhill.
Say this about the Spot. I normally ride last just because. I watch other riders on non Turner bikes slipping & sliding occasionally over roots & rocks. I seem to nail them straight away whether I pick a better line &/ or it is the stiffness of my bike. I think it is the bike. I really like my bike. 1710 miles so far.
We loaded up his car for the drive eliminating 1 rig from a potentially crowded parking lot. We were the only rig in the lot perhaps because of current conditions & forecast for rain. Raccoon mtn is a new trail system cut in on TVA land. The TVA purpose is to store h2o for hydro electric when demand rises. Mtn is above valley (duh) Could barely see beyond the front wheel. Lookout mtn of Civil War fame is nearby, lost in the fog.
Only riders on trail. Nice ST, not much for stuff on tread except for normal roots. Today they were wet but not overly slippery, as long as they were hit @ right angle or keeping front wheel light to “float” over. Rain matted out the fall fallen oak leaves making the tread easier to find & a bit less slippery, and maybe drier. Fog so thick we both removed our riding glasses. I have a small fender on my down tube that blocks some of the stuff that gets flung off the front tire. Still I kept my eyes squinted hoping that no splatter made my eyes.
The trail system is a big loop around mtn. About the furthest point away the clouds opened up for an intense downpour. It stopped after about a min. A bunch of feet further it opened again and poured for several minutes. I know I was pretty wet: My tights, socks & shoes, & gloves. My rain coat kept my upper dry but the rain made me cold. We considered bailing if it kept up. It quit but we were still wet. Still 2 hours of pedalling for 15.50 miles & 1200′ vert. Trail is like some other eastern trails in that sometimes another trail was just a few feet away. Lots of looping playing w/ topography. All trails made by bikers. Sweet.
We stopped several times to talk about trail issues. But the stops almost ceased once we got good & wet.
Ralph and his wife are active in Chat SORBA and played big parts in bringing the trail into existence. The club has plans for over 100 miles of ST. TVA is a cooperative landlord for trail construction.
Back @ Ralph’s ( who is English) house I washed off my bike & enjoyed a shower & dry clean clothes. He made me a cup of real English tea w/ milk & sugar. Tasty.
My fork seems to stay compressed to far which concerns me. I stopped @ Scottie’s for advise but they are closed on Sat.
Diesel for $2.09/ gal near shop. Nice price to fill up to.
Weather forecast is for more rain days out. I was thinking about driving N to Big South up @ KY border, which from what I understand is a big area, but because of forecast I returned to ThunderRock XG up the Ocoee and Tanasi pronounced TA nasi. Alone again. TVA pulled the plug on the river and it is gushing by XG. Tanasi rode OK in the wet in case that’s what tomorrow brings.
Ralph designs robotic welding machines. VW is building an assembly plant outside Chat.
Wet wet wet. Van is dry & toasty.
I am thinking about modifying my appearance to resemble Arte Johnson as the dirty old man on Laugh in. That or Clint Eastwood w/ my poncho in his spaghetti westerns.
Like sitting on exercise ball again.
To all you Spokanites: keep shoveling. May you have enough beer on hand. Skiing in it, if you can get to it, is more enjoyable than mtn bike riding in the liquid state.