Forgetting Something?

After our super-fun trip to DuPont last weekend, Ray and I were keen to get back to the promised land on Saturday. We hooked up with Brian and my buddy JJ and headed north for some fat tire fun. We got a late start, so we were greeted by sunshine and warm temperatures at the Reasonover Parking Lot. We made good time out of Greenville, even though we didn’t use Brandon’s dirt road short cut.

We all pumped up, suited up and started to discuss our route for the adventure. Most of us were ready to go when we heard Ray utter the dreaded, “oh no!” When you hear a fellow cyclist speak those words, you immediately go through a laundry list of things in your head that you think they forgot. Sure enough, Ray had forgotten his helmet. We quickly decided that it was not smart for him to ride without it. If it was a road ride, maybe, but an MTB ride with rocks and trees and slippery surfaces…not so much. I must say, he took it pretty well. I would have been jumping up and down, punching at the air and using every nasty word I learned from my high school football coach. Ray was one class act while facing a lonely, solo drive back to town.

Just as we were putting Brian’s stuff in my car so Ray could go back to Greenville and play with one of his other 2-wheel toys, we noticed a couple guys unloading a bunch of kids from a truck. The light bulb went off. Ray asked if they had an extra skid lid he could buy, rent or borrow. They had one! Not only did they have one, but they had one that matched his kit perfectly! It wouldn’t have mattered what it looked like, because Ray was determined to tuck his locks up under that hard hat and head out with us. They gave him some redneck instructions to put it in the bed of an old pickup truck parked by the back porch at Mother’s restaurant…and don’t pet the dog or something like that. We were stoked…but more importantly, we were riding.

We knew it was going to be an awesome day after the helmet gods smiled on us. We set off on our four hour tour hitting every cool trail we could think of. We rode lots of stuff we love and found some new stuff we could learn to love with a little more practice. I won’t bore you with all the crazy details of jumping off this or bombing down that or carving around here or climbing up there. Let’s just say it was AWESOME!

I would like to propose that all of us join the Friends of DuPont Forest to help support the trail system up there. They do an amazing job of maintaining the trails. Whether you ride bikes, horses or like to walk in the woods, DuPont is an amazing asset to everyone. And, if you’re interested in scoring a sweet new purple helmet for the upcoming season, check out these options from Bell, Giro and Specialized. Or take your chances with the mutt guarding grandpa’s truck out behind Mother’s restaurant in Cedar Mtn.

DuPont MTB Fun

This is one of the most beautiful times of the year to be in the woods. It really doesn’t matter if you’re hiking, riding a mountain bike or just standing still. The air is crisp and clean and the leaf color is beautiful. With this philosophy in mind, Ray, Brandon and I hit the trails for some fat tire fun at DuPont State Forest.

I won’t say which one of us screwed up the time change “move your clocks back” thing, because it really doesn’t matter. That’s one of the most enjoyable things about mountain biking to me. People are far less hung up on times, speed, distance, so a little delay in the plan is taken with a smile.

Since Ray and I are the least experienced DuPont adventurers, Brandon was keen to show us a dirt road “short cut” on the way to the venue. Let’s just say that was taken with a smile too. Big B swears it’s shorter, but, well, maybe if measured in MTB time. I will say that it was a very pretty drive and the road was totally new to Ray, so there was no reason to get excited. It also gave us time to scarf down a few more of Brandon’s pre-ride donut holes. Shhh, don’t tell coach we were eating donut holes. In the interest of full disclosure I should say that Ray resisted the little sweet treats the entire day. And me…well, I was forced to eat them by Brandon.

I was pleasantly surprised to find warm temperatures when we got to the Reasonover parking lot. Brandon was wearing shorts, but then again, he always wears shorts. I think it has to be snowing for him to wear knee warmers, so I was reluctant to take a bearing on how he dressed. I just couldn’t believe I could go without warmers on a November day in the mountains until I saw Ray rolling around with bare legs. You see, even after 25 years of riding and racing bicycles, I still take some cues from those around me when it comes to dressing for cold weather. You would think you could get it right after all these years.

We headed out in search of some gnarly single track and incredible scenery. I’m pleased to report that this is just what we found. The DuPont State Forest is an amazing place! The trails are very well made and taken care of. The trails are marked with attractive, easy to read signs that match the waterproof map you can get at any bike shop or ranger station in the area. And there are more beautiful sights and sounds to experience than you will have time to enjoy. If you haven’t been there, you have to change that soon. If nothing else, get your but to one of the many waterfalls you can get to in a flash on foot or on a bike. You’ll thank me when you get there.

Brandon led our adventure on his single speed 29er. That should not give you the impression that the trails are flat or easy. What you should be thinking instead is that Brandon is a beast on his S-Works SS! He’s like following a deer in the woods on that thing. Ray and I did our best to keep him in sight. However, back to that MTB attitude I mentioned before, no one really cared who kept up with whom. No one’s keeping score and we all had a blast in our natural playground.

Lunch was on our mind when we got back to the car and we had a plan to meet Sam and a friend at Hubba Hubba BBQ in Flatrock, NC. We packed up our stuff and headed back down the dirt road, but it was my turn to provide the “short cut.” I directed Ray to turn left on Pinnacle Mtn Rd. and we were off on our second journey of the day. Ray was stoked to be driving down another dirt road to an unknown destination, so we all just sat back and continued to enjoy the day. The cloudy morning had opened up into a bright sunny day and we were just continuing our adventure.

Eventually my short cut proved to get us where I said it would, but like Brandon’s route, we didn’t set any speed records on the way. No matter. This is mountain biking and we couldn’t think of anything better to do.

We met Sam and Deirdre in Flatrock to find the Hubba Hubba has adopted new winter hours and they are closed on Sundays. We instead ordered a couple pizzas from the bakery on the corner and continued to tell each other glory stories. We did take the more traditional paved way back to Greenville. We all had a fantastic time and I’m already thinking about my next adventure into the dirt. Thanks guys for an awesome day of fun and fitness. The question is when are we going to do it again?

Headstrong Invades Issaqueena

The beautiful colors of the changing leaves always signal the end of the road racing season and the start of one of my favorite times of the year. Fall is here and there is no better way to enjoy the season than to hit the mountains.

Mountain biking is one of my all-time favorite pastimes, especially when Mother Nature kills all the bugs and poison ivy in the woods. Many Team Headstrong members enjoy a good dirt fest as well, so we all loaded up last Sunday and headed for the Issaqueena trail system in Clemson. Local resident Emily agreed to be our tour guide for the day so we wouldn’t get lost in the many miles of trails available. It was a fantastic day of riding.

Our group was about as mixed as you could get. Brandon showed us that he only needed one gear to blaze a trail on his tricked out 29er singlespeed. Ray, Brian, Randall & Nicole had new 29ers as well, while Sam, Debbie, John, Emily and I were on our trusty 26ers. It really didn’t matter what you were riding when the pedals started turning. We regrouped often and sampled an enormous selection of trails in the forest. Even after a flat tire, a few summer-salts, 1 or 2 missed turns and a botched stream crossing, we were all loving getting dirty.

I hadn’t ridden at Issaqueena in several years and I was pleasantly surprised to see that people have done some decent trail maintenance on some of the routes. While exploring the course normally used for downhill racing, we found some really cool man-made terrain park obstacles to ride…or should I say view, since some of them were a little intimidating for the average rider. My rule is that if you see man-made stuff, look first and ride second, because there can be some pretty insane stuff to ride. That didn’t stop several Team Headstrong members from showing their bravery in the saddle on some of the manufactured bits.

I wish we had more photographic evidence of our MTB adventures. It’s always a catch 22 situation. You want to ride and have fun, but you also want to document the experience by stopping to take photos. We didn’t do any stopping for photos this day. There was too much fun to be had by all. Maybe next time we’ll take a few shots for you. On second thought, just get a mountain bike and join us on our next dirt adventure.