Monday afternoon I am outside Dahlonega, GA preparing to drive to TH for Bull Mtn IMBA epic. I drove down to a Pearl Izumi factory store to show my defective project 2 shoes. The sales person contacted her contact and they are authorizing a replacement pair. Good news especially after my Terraduro shoes fell apart after just 10 rides during Raccoon mtn ride. Giro is replacing those also. My XM tuner has what XM calls amnesia which is a factory defect. Amnesia is what it means: the tuner can not recall stations. They are replacing it plus paying to install it. And my cell phone has a warranty issue that will be replaced. All will be sent to me to The Hub in Pisgah Forest.
Huntsville was rained out. I hung for 2 days but rain kept falling. I enjoyed spending time w/ Tommy’s boys @ the bike shop. I slept behind the store but still within ear shot of train whistles.
I drove up to Chattanooga to a stereo install shop to have a hard boot done on the XM tuner per the english is second language tech support’s request. No change. The owner told me about a place to camp up off Suck creek that I followed up on… way up there. Whip poorwill talking. Sat I drove up to Raccoon Mtn. I learned that a new trail segment was just opened and I was eager to ride it. New piece left to existing trail. I encountered a left hand turn going over 2 rocks w/ a gap between them. I made the turn at low speed, so slow that the front wheel stalled in the gap which in slow motion dumped me over the left hand bar. Took forever to hit the ground which greeted my left hip and scraped my left forearm and back as I slid down a sapling. My repaired right shoulder was not landed on but was twisted as I fell to the ground. Ouch! I picked myself up wincing then kept on going. I chose the route that would take me down the carved machine built switchbacks that are a free ride play area. Switchbacks, switchbacks, table tops. At the bottom deep under tree cover wet slippery rocks greeted me. I spared my body of mishaps by walking the sketchy ones. The climb out was paid dues for the downhill. 11.25 mikes in 1 hr 49 mins climbing 1682′. The SE has climbing.
I drove I-24 on Fri during going home rush hour in Chattanooga which has a VW assembly plant. Busy place. Note to self: stay away from commuter time traffic.
From Raccoon I drove thru Cleveland and up the Ocoee river headed towards the Tanasi trails. I picked the first FS XG which had showers. I also had electric @ the site that I used for my fridge and powering my vaporizer. Rain fell during the night per the forecast. B4 bed I put the cover over the bike. I was laying in bed b4 falling asleep when I heard the first drops drumming off the roof. A satisfied smile in the fact that the bike was covered. Upside down because I closed the door and rolled up the window trapping heat inside.
Sun AM I made my wonderful scratch pancakes, cleaned up, then continued my drive further up the river to the Thunder Rock XG and TH. A mountain bike race was going on. I walked up against the downhill race traffic on Thunder rock trail giving way to the racers. Amazing, every one of them were nice when they passed.
I waited till well after the finish then took off following a GPS track of the ride I did 2 years ago. Some places the trails per the track almost overlapped. Want to see out? Check:
The Ocoee is managed for hydroelectric and apparently recreation on weekends.
The wooly adelgids are wreaking death on the hemlocks which grow in wet spots typically along streams. In just a few more years they will all be dead. The loss of their canopy will open the forest up which will allow sun in which will heat the water. Big ecological changes coming. see below pic.
My ride was 14.1 miles taking 2 hrs 7 mins, I climbed 2031′. Shane’s route yielded a 6 mile downhill except for some punchy climbs. While I was climbing the punches I was thinking my memory of the all downhill was bogus. Ride data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/517432817.
Sitting here in full sun in shopping center parking lot. Rain continued to be forecasted.
I drove twisty back state highways to here. The road crossed the AT where I stopped and hiked a bit going north seeking a spring I thought I remembered. I was joined by a skinny 21 yo male who had just started his trek to Maine. The bright smiles and big dreams are being weighted down by the reality of daily hiking carrying your stuff on your back. So many start, so few finally finish @ Mt Katadin in Maine.
