J
john_childs
Guest
It was a long wait till tax day this year. My taxes were done. The
wait was waiting for the trails on 'Tiger Mountain'
(http://tinyurl.com/9w8h) to open. The multi-use MTB trails on Tiger
Mountain close for 6 months during the wet and stormy Winter. They open
every year on April 15th, tax day. Today was opening day and I needed
to ride.
The weather was unsettled, meaning it was cool with the threat of rain
and thunder showers. Not ideal weather for a ride, but it was opening
day and I needed to ride. It has been raining on and off for the last
few days so the trails were soggy and there were mud puddles to deal
with. The many roots on the trail were also slicked up due to the mud
and wetness just to add some added difficulty to the trail.
I got started late and arrived at the trailhead at 3:00 PM. Time to put
on the gear, stretch, give the muni a once over, and start the ride. At
3:15 I was off.
The ride at Tiger starts with a 3 mile long climb on a logging road that
gains about 1140 vertical feet. In my eagerness I attacked the climb at
a faster pace than normal. I normally give the climb more respect
because it's going to be an 11 mile ride and it wouldn't be wise to blow
all my energy in just the first 3 miles. But this was opening day and I
was excited after being denied the ability to ride my trails for 6
months. The climb was going better than I expected for this being the
first Tiger ride of the season. I was putting on the power to make it
up the longest continuous up section of the climb when tired legs and a
wet rock combined to give me a very quick UPD to all fours. I'll have
to edit out my exact comment immediately following that UPD.
Unfortunately the hikers just ahead of me got an earful. The challenge
of doing the climb with no falls and no stops was gone. Nothing left
but to trudge onward. The good news was that I made it to the top in
record time even though I took an additional stop to pee.
At the top of the climb the Roach arm armour goes on and I get ready for
3.5 miles of wet and muddy mostly downhill singletrack on the Preston
Railroad Trail. The Winter storms were not kind to the trails on Tiger
Mountain. There were more large blowdowns than I could keep track off.
The blowdowns that fell across the trail had already been cleared, but
some of the blowdowns were right next to the trail and the upheaved
rootballs had taken part of the trail with them. Some obvious trail
work had been done to get the trails ready and rideable. This 3.5 miles
of singletrack is the reason for doing this ride. It's over all to
quick, but boy is it fun. The wetness and the chewed up condition of
parts of the trail made the ride more difficult than normal. Many UPDs,
but fortunately none that caused me to land in a mud puddle.
Next comes a 2.something mile ride on a logging road that will take me
to the Northwest Timber Trail. Halfway through the logging road ride it
starts to shower very lightly. I optimistically hope that it will just
shower and quickly blow over. The misty shower turns to rain and just
as I reach the Northwest Timber Trail the rain turns to hail. The hail
adds and interesting twist and covered the singletrack in white. After
a half mile or so the hail stopped and I got to enjoy riding through a
trail of muddy white. The coating of white made for an interesting
ride. The Winter storms had made some changes to the Northwest Timber
Trail and there were some new trail features to deal with. The new
trail features still need to settle in. They'll make for some new
challenges on the trail.
It's now a quarter till 6 and I'm back at the car. I'm muddy, wet, my
shoes are soaked. I discover that in my haste to leave I forgot to pack
the shoes and dry socks that I had put right next to the front door. At
least I remembered to bring a spare shirt and shorts.
I love tax day.
--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo
john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
Gallery: '' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31840
wait was waiting for the trails on 'Tiger Mountain'
(http://tinyurl.com/9w8h) to open. The multi-use MTB trails on Tiger
Mountain close for 6 months during the wet and stormy Winter. They open
every year on April 15th, tax day. Today was opening day and I needed
to ride.
The weather was unsettled, meaning it was cool with the threat of rain
and thunder showers. Not ideal weather for a ride, but it was opening
day and I needed to ride. It has been raining on and off for the last
few days so the trails were soggy and there were mud puddles to deal
with. The many roots on the trail were also slicked up due to the mud
and wetness just to add some added difficulty to the trail.
I got started late and arrived at the trailhead at 3:00 PM. Time to put
on the gear, stretch, give the muni a once over, and start the ride. At
3:15 I was off.
The ride at Tiger starts with a 3 mile long climb on a logging road that
gains about 1140 vertical feet. In my eagerness I attacked the climb at
a faster pace than normal. I normally give the climb more respect
because it's going to be an 11 mile ride and it wouldn't be wise to blow
all my energy in just the first 3 miles. But this was opening day and I
was excited after being denied the ability to ride my trails for 6
months. The climb was going better than I expected for this being the
first Tiger ride of the season. I was putting on the power to make it
up the longest continuous up section of the climb when tired legs and a
wet rock combined to give me a very quick UPD to all fours. I'll have
to edit out my exact comment immediately following that UPD.
Unfortunately the hikers just ahead of me got an earful. The challenge
of doing the climb with no falls and no stops was gone. Nothing left
but to trudge onward. The good news was that I made it to the top in
record time even though I took an additional stop to pee.
At the top of the climb the Roach arm armour goes on and I get ready for
3.5 miles of wet and muddy mostly downhill singletrack on the Preston
Railroad Trail. The Winter storms were not kind to the trails on Tiger
Mountain. There were more large blowdowns than I could keep track off.
The blowdowns that fell across the trail had already been cleared, but
some of the blowdowns were right next to the trail and the upheaved
rootballs had taken part of the trail with them. Some obvious trail
work had been done to get the trails ready and rideable. This 3.5 miles
of singletrack is the reason for doing this ride. It's over all to
quick, but boy is it fun. The wetness and the chewed up condition of
parts of the trail made the ride more difficult than normal. Many UPDs,
but fortunately none that caused me to land in a mud puddle.
Next comes a 2.something mile ride on a logging road that will take me
to the Northwest Timber Trail. Halfway through the logging road ride it
starts to shower very lightly. I optimistically hope that it will just
shower and quickly blow over. The misty shower turns to rain and just
as I reach the Northwest Timber Trail the rain turns to hail. The hail
adds and interesting twist and covered the singletrack in white. After
a half mile or so the hail stopped and I got to enjoy riding through a
trail of muddy white. The coating of white made for an interesting
ride. The Winter storms had made some changes to the Northwest Timber
Trail and there were some new trail features to deal with. The new
trail features still need to settle in. They'll make for some new
challenges on the trail.
It's now a quarter till 6 and I'm back at the car. I'm muddy, wet, my
shoes are soaked. I discover that in my haste to leave I forgot to pack
the shoes and dry socks that I had put right next to the front door. At
least I remembered to bring a spare shirt and shorts.
I love tax day.
--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo
john_childs (at) hotmail (dot) com
Gallery: '' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/john_childs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
john_childs's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/449
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/31840
