More Exploring

Still been doing some exploration on the area surrounding the Three Sisters in the George Washington National Forest. 

The view looking West towards the Pinnacle (left) and Target Hill (right) from the old fire tower sight on top of Little Apple Mountain.. 

The view looking East from the tower site towards Tobacco Row Mountain in the far distance.

A look at the gas line cut (looking East) 

View of the gas line cut looking East

The surrounding area of Salt Log Gap.

The sign in front shows the head of the old Belle Cove trail that was destroyed in 1995 during bad weather and closed permanently. I plan to at some time soon explore its old bed. It would be nice to have this trail re-worked and reopened. 

Much of the side of the mountains in these areas are quite steep. 

This is a look at the singletrack trail coming off the East side of the mountain from Salt Log Gap around Silas Knob and down Peavine Mountain. This is the Salt Log Gap trail that is blue blazed, yet not shown on many recent maps. 

Continuing singletrack...

The trail then opens up to more double track in the form of an old logging/mine road.

Pretty cool as it cuts through the pines here.

The trail then comes to a very open section looking over an old portion of the Hercules Mine far below Peavine Mountain. The James River Face Wilderness can be seen in the far distance. 

Looking to the right from this spot you can see Rocky Row. 

This area gets used, including the old Belle Cove trail is used in special off road competitive events, put on by Odessey Adventure Racing. 

There is so much good stuff to see out there. But it does give us a better idea of what IS out there, and what it would be like if there were even MORE trails out there, trails for hiking, horses, and bicycles all on the Western side of the mountain would be great. The Lynchburg area needs more trails in the George Washington National Forest with access to bicycles, so people can have access to that deep forest experience. The Pedlar OHV trails and Terrapin Mountain are great but it more options would be amazing. 

I'm planning to hike the AT through here and through the James River Face as well in Mid January, so there will be more to report then as well. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got out for a cool Pre-Food domination ride at Candler's Mountain today. Saw some other good local folks out there getting a ride in. It's been chilly out and cloudy, but the misty-rain held off till the afternoon.

I'm full and chillin it out now with my good brother Luke. I hope everyone out there has had a great one today!

Enjoying the Fall in Virginia

Clay rolling the log...

Apple Valley 5K in Bedford. Amanda and I both finished second in our age groups!

Bluff Mountain Tunnel

The colors are looking nice along the Parkway...

Bike print, foot print....some animal print...Coyote perhaps?

Brandon was enjoying the nice weather at Carvin's Cove

As was Kat!

Some Bluff Mountain exploration. Much more of this to be done over the next weeks. These old roads offer beautiful scenery, and great areas to ride. I'm trying to get out and scout sites for new trails. 

The area in question is that I have shown circled in blue. I have ridden in the area quite a bit, but have not explored much of the non-trail areas. I will continue with my updates on this!

Spent some time yesterday re-familiarizing myself with downtown and the trails by the river. 

It was nice to spin the trail,

Heading to Raleigh for the weekend to visit Lemma!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

My younger, taller, smarter, cooler, better looking, and overall way more sick than I am, brother is 25 today!

Happy Birthday Luke Dawg!

You are awesome!

Halloween riding, party-ing, and racing...

Solid Halloween weekend. Made it out for the Six Pack Downhill on Friday at Mud Pond, which had the added fun of most folks dressing up for the ride. The sun was shining but the temps were low and it was quite chilly waiting at the top for the run down, which was even colder! Super fun trail, and a great time with everyone!

Matt Smith!

Here you can see Whitney carrying her new friend on her back. 

Dinosaurs can ride bikes too!

Sorting out the order and experiencing the cold up on Oak Knob before the descent.

There was much Halloween celebrating to be had on Saturday as well. I went dressed as Charlie Brown from The Great Pumpkin. Basically a standard ghost with too many eye holes...nice work Chuck, way to be. I thought it was awesome. There were some people who didn't seem to understand...those people had questionable childhoods, obviously having not seen the Halloween classic. 

Made it out for Jenn's party for a while then went to Richmond to crash with Lucas, as I wanted to get to Williamsburg Sunday for the Tidewater Challenge. Well, once I got to Richmond, another party ensued, and more fun was had. 

Made it to the race to give my new Trek Superfly a ride in the Singlespeed class. With it being VA State Singlespeed Champs, there was a solid singlespeed group with about 20 racers. 

I tried to ride the wheels of the elite guys for as long as I could. Eventually riding by myself, and back and forth with Rob of CBC. Kevin caught me on the last lap to give me some company. We ended up having a sprint to the finish, which was pretty exciting. 

Ryan Fawley had a great race coming in 3rd, here he is resting in the leaves between the singlespeed race and the expert race. 

Nice work Fawley!

After the race, Lucas and I got some food, I dropped a bottle in the grocery store, and then we went to York River State Park to spend some time exploring the Williamsburg area local trails.

Stayed Sunday night in Richmond, taking in the craziness that is Hanover St. for Halloween and trick-or-treating. Uncle Orran, Ellen, Read, and Drew even stopped by! 

Welp, I'm packed up, cleaned up, and heading out in the morning. Solid.

I'd like to thank Jason Burch for being such an awesome room mate while I have been in the 'burg!