SUNDAYS WITH REV "Just Another Day"

June 18th, 2006
Just Another Day
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"Missed Church,

No Problem.
Sundays with Rev!
Hymn singing, fellowship, prayer, and a sermon.
All on the best Mtb trails in the country."

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Well, it wasn't really just another day. We have had a few accidents the last couple of Sundays. Maybe I need to pray harder before we leave. Anyway, Ryan and I hit the trails at Douthat. Non-eventful day. Up Beards Gap, Right on Locust Gap, Right on Blue Suck, Left on Laurel View. Right on Huff's Trail (this is one of my favorite sections). Right on Blue Suck then around the lack to Campground B. Crossed the road and headed up Ross Camp to Mountain Side then down Brushy Hollow. Crossed over to Stony Run, right on Locust Gap then right on Beards back to the car. Total miles 16 with an elevation gain of 2200. Below are a few pics of the ride.

Mountain Side view

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SUNDAYS WITH REV "Blood, Sweet and Chainrings"

June 11, 2006

Blood, Sweet and Chainrings

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"Missed Church, No Problem.

Sundays with Rev!

Hymn singing, fellowship, prayer, and a sermon.

All on the best Mtb trails in the country."
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Another Sunday with Rev. Ryan, Greg, a newcomber and I headed out to Douthat. Up Beards Gap, Locust Gap, Laurel View, Campground, to Ross Camp trail. We were tackling Mountain Top today. I haven't done Mountain Top and I heard it is rather steep. I took the lead at the intersection of Mountain Side and Mountain Top. Yeah, it was steep and difficult. I had to get off the bike twice and push it about 100 feet. I am horrible at downhill switchbacks. Ryan is even worse. On the last switchback before we reach the Mountain Side/Top intersection. I didn't see it happen and still don't know how it happened. It was a switchback to the left. He tried to clip out of the right foot and BAM. Hi slipped and caught his inner right thigh on the outer chainring! It was nasty, blood gushing everwhere. I thought he might have hit an artery but thank goodness that wasn't the case. Ok, we are at the top. The intersection of Middle, Top, and Buck Hollow. We took the shortest route, Buck. Made it to the Ranger station and got some first aid. I thought he needed to go to the ER again and get stitches. Well, he went on home and cleaned it some more. The next day he was heading to the Florida beaches. Salt water and open wounds! He did go to the ER in Florida but it was too late to close it up so they gave him some antibiotics. His mom doesn't let him ride with me anymore. Just joking. But his dad did threaten to put training wheels on his bike.

SUNDAYS WITH REV "Watch This"

June 4th, 2006
Watch This

"Missed Church,
No Problem.
Sundays with Rev!
Hymn singing, fellowship, prayer, and a sermon.
All on the best Mtb trails in the country."

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Do you know what the last 2 words of a redneck is? WATCH THIS! Well, I think I spent more time in the ER than on the trail today. The boys and I had another Sunday with Rev at Douthat. I finished preaching at the Alleghany High Baccalaureate service and headed to the trails. Ryan was feeling really froggy today since he is graduating. He is usually reserved on the bike but not today. We headed out on Beards Gap to Locust Gap to Laurel View to Campground B?. Laurel View is a fun little downhill section. There are about 3 small jumps just before a 90 degree turn left. Ryan was flying down this section and getting some air. I am right behind him and wanted to short the cartoon line, "watch out for the tree!" But it was too late. He never had a chance to make the turn. All I could see is a body do an endo in this brushy tree. Then bike followed on top. No major damage done and he hopped up and started to ride again. We went another .5 miles to the slight creek crossing or wet area just before the campgrounds. Its fast and you have to veer right into the dip then back up. The trail looks like it could go left so we inspected it for anything that might cause damage. Cleared out a few logs and figured that we could use this root to spring us over the wet bottom. That way we could maintain our speed through that section. Well there is a huge rock, about 2 x 3, separated the right and left side of the trail. Ryan said, "I could launch off the rock." Greg and I thought he was joking. He went back on the trail a little clipped in and yelled, "watch this!" Too bad I didn't have my video camera. Talk about a "jackass" moment. He hit this rock going about 15-20 mph and it launched him. He and the bike flew about 20 feet, nose down into the bog. He hopped up with a big grin on his face and said, "I think I broke something." I looked at the bike and nothing looked broke. However, his left hand looked bad. Right on the palm below the thumb it looked like bone popping up. Needless to say, our ride was ended and we went to the ER. And of all the days, I was hosting the senior party at pizza hut. After several hrs in the ER, X-Rays showed nothing broke. He was back riding after a couple of days in a wrist wrap. I have seen and have had lots of accidents but I thought for sure that it was broke. My hats off to Ryan, he never wimpered. More about that on the next ride.

SUNDAYS WITH REV "58 Degrees"

May 7th, 2006

58 Degrees


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"Missed Church,
No Problem.
Sundays with Rev!
Hymn singing, fellowship, prayer, and a sermon.
All on the best Mtb trails in the country."

This ride was well over a month ago so I don't expect you guys, and you gals (I won't or want to be politically correct). Maybe I'll say you humans, crap, that doesn't work either because of that man word. How about hupeople? Nope, that sounds corny. Maybe humanitarians, no, that sounds humanitarian. How about fellow two wheeled, multi cogged (forget the cog, don't want to leave the singles out). I'll just settle for cyclists. Anyway, it was a cold and rainy day. I am usually very analytical with things and love numbers. I have my riding gear down to a science. Rain and temps above 55: shorts, base shirt, jersey, arm warmers, light rain shell, and fingerless gloves. THATS GREAT IF ACCUWEATHER IS CORRECT. We started out at White Oak lot, headed up Stoney Run and then back down Salt Stump. The rain didn't stop and it was 40 degrees at the top and 46 on the bottom. The trail coming down was satiated with water. It was like riding through a river. I don't know how we made it down without crashing. I couldn't feel my fingers, toes nor my legs. I hadn't been that cold on a ride in a long time. We made it to the campground and I had a great idea to warm up in the bathhouses. That was nice, then even a greater idea. The shower had hot water so I turned it on and jumped in, camelbak and all. I was already soaked so that really didn't matter. I felt my body come back to life. I would have taken some pics of the ride but the conditions the best to get the camera out. I should have taken some in the shower and titled the blog "Mtbers Gone Wild." Ha! Anyway, we headed back to the car and drove home.

LAKE SHERANDO XTERRA

May 20, 2006

Little did I know what I was getting into when I registered for the Xterra tri at Lake Sherando. This tri is know as the toughest Xterra in the country. The race consisted of a 1 mile swim, 8 mile run/hike, and 2-12 mile laps of a hike/bike. I opted to do the sport class which did only 1 mtb lap.



I hopped in my trusty 4-runner Friday afternoon, loaded my new CD , The David Crowder Band, and headed towards Waynesboro. One of my goals this year is to do as many local events as I can in order to keep in shape. I enjoy riding the bike the most but found myself doing more training than racing. So off I go! At just over an hour, Lake Sherando is nestled in the woods of beautiful Augusta County.



After registration, I headed to the campsite to set up camp and cook a gourmet meal--Ramen Noodles. One nice thing about being short is that I can use my 4-runner as my tent. It also blocks out a lot of unwanted noise and light. I fired my pocket rocket stove and cooked a few noodles.

Man, I slept good that night. Up around 6:30, ate a little breakfast and began my pre-race routine. I put on my favorite race socks--The Hulk and headed to the transition areas to set up my gear.

It was a beautiful day, the skies were clear and temps in the mid 50's. The temp was supposed to reach low 70's. The order of the day was to swim 1 mile, trail run/hike 8, then hike/bike 12. I dropped my bike and riding gear at the 2nd transition area and proceeded to the lake with my wetsuit and running gear. All was going fine until I heard the water temp was 58. Man, that's cold, even with a full wetsuit. Placed a little Bodyglide in the right places and squeezed into the wetsuit. Went out into the water to acclimate and the temp didn't feel that bad. At about 9 AM, the gun sounded and off we went.

Oh yeah, there was a warning about geese attacking swimmers. WHAT? Yeah, geese! Last year a couple of geese attacked a few swimmers. That is all I need, a big 50 lb goose pecking at my head. Anyway, the gun sounded. I didn't make it 100 yards before I stated gasping for air. Not that I can't swim, I am very comfortable swimming 1-2 miles. BUT THAT 58 DEGREE WATER WAS COLD. I thought it would be fine but as soon as my head went under to stroke my usual 4 strokes, I was gasping. My chest felt like it had a 1000 lb truck sitting on it. I continued to attempt to get in a rythem and couldn't. About 1/4 mile, I was ready to quit. I couldn't breath and could hardly swim. I didn't see a boat close by so I decided to swim another 1/4 to the dam (turnaround spot). There was a ladder I could hang unto if needed. Once I made it to the 1/2 mile mark, I was finally over the cold shock and able to swim in my usual 4 rythem. However, I had already lost about 10 minutes to the main field.

Finally, made it out of the water in about 28 minutes, peeled the wetsuit off, downed some Hammer Gel glue. I love Hammer products but I don't recommend tropical flavor. Its like homemade cough syrup gone bad. My whole body felt frozen and tight. The run/hike started with about a 2 mile uphill climb on Blue Loop Trail then to Overlook rocks. Because my calves were still frozen, they were killing me with ever step uphill. The terrain was steep and technical. Lots of rocks and switchbacks. I slowly started catching a few folks on the uphill section. Made it to the top of the ridge line known as the "rock garden" and was able to get in my normal running stride. I knew that this section would be revisted on the bike so I tried to make mental notes of the places that could be hazardous. Too many to remember! Felt good running until the last mile then my feet were getting a little sore. Finished the run in about 1:30.

I was happy to get on the bike and headed down the paved road for about 1.5 miles to the trail head called Satan's Path. Being a preacher, I brought my holy water to ward off the evils of Satan but little did I know Satan would have all of his legions with him. Every one of them jumped on my back and wouldn't let go. Way too steep and rocky (big loose rocks) for me to ride. So for the first hour, I am hiking, pushing, pulling my bike uphill. I had the wrong shoes for that stuff. My stiff Sidi Dominators and the steepness were causing my calves to lockup. Everytime I got to a place where I could pedal, I attempted to ride but couldn't get the pedals to turn over enough to keep the wheels rolling over the rocks. My calves would cramp and I would fall over. Satan and his legion wouldn't let go. Finally, made it to the Torrey Ridge but then there is another rock garden. Where the heck did all these rocks come from. It was like someone dropped millions of rocks on the trail to make life miserable. Whoever came up with this course for a race must have been on crack.

I finally was able to ride the bike through some of the stuff and the last 4 miles wasn't that bad. It was a fast downhill section with some cool creek crossings. I started to pick up the pace a little and caught a few riders. What was unreal to me is the first 3 places of the pro class passed me and they were on their 2nd lap. I couldn't imagine riding that course as fast as they did. With about 1/4 mile to go, the trail opened up to a gravel road. I saw another rider coming up quickly on my rear so I locked out my 2001 rock shox SID SL shock and refused to let him pass. I kept him back about a bike length and new I could beat him to the bike width gate leading to the road. There is then a 90 degree turn to the right then a 120 degree turn left leading to the finish. I was first through the gate, took a good right turn and had about 3 bike links on him. My eyes were set on the orange tape showing the left turn. I misjudged the turn and almost went on the wrong (outer) side of the tape. I had to hit the brakes a little which let the other rider pass me 50 feet before the finish. At least I didn't get clothelined by the tape.

I finished the bike in 2:15 minutes and you couldn't pay me enough to do another lap. Total time was about 4:15. I finished 11th out of 18 in the sport class in first in my age division. There wasonly one other guy in my age division and he had to drop out becuase of an ankle injury. To the victor goes the spoils, a little medication and a sweet tatoo!

Will Ramos usually takes pictures of the event but was scheduled for another event. You can check out last years pics of the course at http://www.waramos.com/thumbnails.php?album=66

go to about page 25 to get a view of the rock garden.

map of the race course.

SUNDAYS WITH REV "Brokeback Mountain"

May 28th, 2006

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"Missed Church,

No Problem.

Sundays with Rev!

Hymn singing, fellowship, prayer, and a sermon.

All on the best Mtb trails in the country."

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Ron, what you think about that for an RCO ride? I need a new chain so I might even take up an offering. .

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Anyway, I have been taking a group of High Schoolers out for Mtb ride on Sunday afternoons. This past Sunday, May 28th, we decided to head upward to the Hot Spring Airport, about 4000 ft. The theme of the day was "Brokeback Mountian." Break'em before we get to the top.

I didn't have my polar 720 so I don't really know how far we road or the feet climbed. We started out about 2 PM and finished around 8 PM. Started out in the parking lot across from the main office. Beards Gap Hollow left on Locust Gap right on Stony Run. The fun is about to begin. Stony run is a great climb. Pic left is the last creek crossing near the falls.






The awesome from from the Tuscarora Overlook.







I pushed it a little up Stony Run to soften the legs of these greenhorns. At the top of Middle Mountain and Sandy Gap intersection. Ever taken the Sandy Gap trail down to 637 gravel road? I have on foot before but there are a lot of jumps. We took the Middle Mountain to 637. The trail is fast and tight. Some really tough switchbacks as you approach 637. Their legs are beginning to soften!





The last little dropoff before 637

How did he end up in the tree?








After reaching 637, we turned left and head uphill on the fireroad. There should be a trail about 2.5 miles on the right that takes you up to the runway. I haven't been on it before and we missed the trailhead. I think Warren has taken that path before, if so, send me a email on how to find it. Anyway, we peddled further to the top where the Sandy Gap trail crosses 637. We could go left and be back at the Middle Mountain intersection in about .5 miles. They wanted to see the airport, so we took a right up Sandy Gap. Things would fall apart on this trail. Lots of "breaking" would occur.

The trail was not that steep. Much like the average grade of Stony Run. There was only a few switchbacks. BUT THE TRAIL WAS TOUGH!. A little rocky and technical in some sections but the biggest hindrance was the bush. Man, when is the last time anyone trimmed the bushes up there. I felt like speedracer in need of a gizmo to trim the hedges as I road upward. The shrubs and trees overlapped the trail making the trail very hard to see and pedal through.






The brush was scratching, poking, blinding, and constantly getting in the drivetrain and wheels. I did an Xterra at Lake Sherando (blog it later) in which I hiked the bike for about an hr. Bikes are meant to be ridden. I hate hiking bikes so I was determined to ride through this stuff. I asked, "what would speedracer do?" I pushed the hedgetrim button, out popped the trimmers and I picked up the cadence. After about 20 minutes, I came to a slight clearing and stopped to see where the greenhorns were. They broke! I could hear them coming up the trail saying, "Did Rev ride through this stuff?" Finally from the brush, I see them pushing their bikes cursing me and mother nature.

The good news was we were about 1/2 there. The bad news was were were about 1/2 there. The map had this trail at 3.2 miles but it seemed much longer. Actually the trail was very rideable if it weren't for the brush. There was only a couple of times in which I came across a tree blocking the trail. There were a few rocky technical sections.







There are a lot of cool views and rock walls along the way. Near the top it flattens out to a meadow. I thought I might see a bear or dear lying in the sun. But no luck today.








Finally, we pop out of the woods unto a fireroad leading to a hunting camp. Take a left, then go about 1/4 mile and you will be on the Skyline Homestead Airport road. Take a right and go about 3.5 miles and you will at the Airport. We arrived at the airport and I had no idea it was about 6:30. I took my map into the airport looking for some help to find the other trail near the runway. The map indicates that it is only about 1.5-2 miles long and ends up at the fireroad 637 near Douthat Road. The guy didn't know where it was and we didn't want to waste any time looking for it.

This is a great view along the skyline. Locals say you can see Snowshow WV (top right) on a clear day.






We refueled our camelbaks and had a few snacks at the airport, then proceeded on the paved Skyline road back down to Clifton Forge. This is a fun descent!






After some long straight descents and a few little climbs we made it to the intersection of Skyline Drive and the infamous 606. 606 is a brutal climb. From the interstate overpass in Clifton Forge, it is 7.1 miles with an average grade of around 8-9%. The only thing keeping this from being tougher than Wintergreen is that there is about 1 mile of a slight downhill/flat section along the way. The last 4 miles are killer. About 10 switchbacks with grades of 15-18%. Well, we were going down it this time.



At the 606 and Skyline intersections. Just remember to use the bathroom at the airport. There is NO DUMPING allowed here.







The bottom of 606 now turns into Rose Ave in Clifton Forge. We were running out of daylight and the greenhorn's legs were gone a long time ago so we biked over to one of the guy's house and got a ride back to Douthat to get out vehicles. Nobody had a watch or computer so I don't know the numbers but I estimate we traveled about 38-40 miles with about 5500-6k feet of climbing. I do highly recommend the ride. The airport is a great place to refuel. Then find the trail that takes you back to Douthat. I'll keep you posted on that trail and other loops.





REV AND THE BROKEBACK BOYS