10/28 Pine Mountain Trail
Ventured a little bit farther on the PMT at Jenkins - maybe 5 miles into that 30 mile leg to Breaks Interstate Park. The singletrack goes away and it gets really four wheeler like. Thoughts of a traverse fizzle not so much from the daunting terrain - as it goes on what I've been on, maybe we're looking at ten hours of toughness, with not much reward, other than not having to double back. And then, where are you, B. F. E. Kentucky? Then I check their website and they keep changing the rules on whether you can even have a bike on it. I don't think anybody else would even want to ride on it, and it seems that nobody even is walking it or clearing the path of down limbs and debris, but hell yell we got to keep those pesky mountain bikers out, 'cause they damage the land. Or some shit.
10/27 KT Yang
I am working on being fair and balanced here. I can paint those rosy pictures - showing everyone in their best light zooming through the leaves and all. But one of the beauties of riding a bike for me is that if you going to ride off of it ya got to work for it. That granny gear sure is nice when it gets steep (it does that a lot on the KT), but other times it is just plain guts, not gears, that puts you up that mountain. And sometimes that mountain, well - it is just a hill.
Adams Hollow ascension
10/25 KT Rosy Photos
j on the KT opening climb
This about a half mile up after the bakers dozen or so switchbacks, with at least two in there that will test one even after years of trials. Then its "flattens" for another ascending half mile of ridge before the opening one mile climb will give you the littlest break.
ed drops in first
knowing the zig and the zag line down along with some good luck is key
Seth then Jay on track
couple of holler hops later...
Bob and freshly blazed
trail on the new re-route
Jared on all totally new
Ed had good form all day
j approaching mile 5
THIS makes the day
This AND all the other ones that flowed into the other ones. Rolling on through with the spectrometer redlined. Took bunch of photos that "does no justice". But this scene near Williams Shelter helps define the day.
spy shot
zooming in from same location as above.
Dwayne on duty to round out the guide service
Everybody stayed right on track, I guess putting out the profile and route queue letting it be known what everyone was in for statistically, helped. Plus maybe I didn't have to offer up so much ambiguously or blatantly erroneous trail information. You know on the lines of ”It's all downhill" (I have scratched than one from my vocabulary though - I will try to accurately identify the top or highest point of a certain section), but I am defiantly guilty of masking the pain, mentally blocking - usually ridge line climbs that requires maybe a bit too much effort. I was guilty again that day “just one more climb on this line” really equaled three. But no harm no foul, everyone knew the land or knew how to translate b s or it just didn’t really matter on day such as this, it was just good to be.
Laura too fast on Mile 6
so glad every one that showed up - even if I didn't get a good picture.
we should do this again
the idea is that it just keeps getting better
10/25 Queue
17 mile Profile
Start KT mile 0 at exit 18 noon
Mud River Road
Trailhead on Wildcat Rd KTm1.5
Camp Arrowhead KTm5
Camp romp
Adahi
Howells Mill
Big Cabell Ck Rd
KTm7.5 intersection
Head West
Harrowing hiker
Mile 6 DH payoff
Return BSA Rd
Feely Drive
Blue Sulphur
RT 60
Linmont
Mud River Road
10/24
Mt Zion Start
1:05 to get cross country
looped around and doubled it back
just some trees left that need a chainsaw (right there at rt 35 xing)
a blustery day good in the woods
10/23 KT on Tap
Two days of KT riding this weekend! I am hoping to round up some interested parties of enthusiastic suckas, er I mean riders. The east side is on tap for Saturday then 0 thru around 8 with Adahi return on Sunday. Some tough terrain + some road riding. Plan on being out for 4 hours.
The leaves are poppin right now but not for long.
Sunday will be the more laid back ride on better trails. Start at mile 0 of the KT at exit 18 (1st Sentry) at Noon.
Saturday is still coming together, I haven't been out on that side for a while so don't know what to expect.
For more info email
10/19 Leadville 100 comes to town
This makes me want to dust off the belt buckle and catch the show at the local mall.
It doesn't really seem like eleven years ago that I made my first trip out west to do my first ever 100 miles on a bike. I took a wrong turn and had a flat and missed the big belt buckle by 14 minutes with a finishing time of 9:44. So I ended up getting the smaller belt buckle that they awarded as a finishers prize, if you finished in less than 12 hours. It was a huge event back then, and even bigger now - especially with the Lance factor.
Leadville, CO 9/15/98
10/18 Local Scenes
more reasons to just ride
10/14 Low down on the Fall tour
The Fall tour from Athens, Ohio to Parkersburg to start the border to border crossing of WVa. 70 miles of the North Bend Rail Trail - an isolated corridor that leads into the mountains. We were self contained for 4 days before the sag wagon met up with us. Then we settled in for a couple of days up around Spruce Knob for some pure mountain bike action, before exiting the state at Briery Branch Gap on the VA border. Roughly 350 miles of almost heaven in seven days to make it for the weekend SVBC Festival - thanks Pete for putting this one together!
Joey. Pete, and my shadow on a late 7AM start.
Malcolm and Jim got the jump with a pre-sunrise departure
uhm, Malcolm in the middle
This what Jim does, when he takes off
map reading at Spruce Lake
Huckleberry in the back yard
Mer and Kelly showed up on day 4 with supplies in the sag wagon
and got to ride Spruce Knob and Huckleberry!
10/13 Coming back down
to reality, slowly but surely. Getting things caught up, but mostly, yeah wanting to be back on the road where things are a bit simpler - eat ride sleep. Sorting through pictures from 10 days on the bike and will get them up here between the work that makes this sort of thing possible.
Snowy Mountain, WV
For now enjoy our tour leaders photos;
Pete's Fall Tour 2009 - a set on Flickr
10/2 Tour Time!
This is a super time of the year to ride a bike. Don't let it slip by, it goes by so fast. The Mid Ohio Bike Fest is going on up in Marietta, on the trails in the Wayne National Forest on the weekend of October 10-11th. This is the same weekend as the long running Shenandoah Bike Festival. in and around Stokesville Virginia.
Both are sure to be fun events! But if you have to work, maybe just ride to work. Read about one commuters publicized ride from Teays Valley to Charleston here
steed up !
go on back
Barboursville FAT Tire Brethren
Beech Fork Association of Trails
bFAT is an informal group of riders who appreciate the land and ride for a healthy well being.
Beech Fork is mostly a single track trail that follows around the lake leading into a combination of creek bed, hill climb, and fast downhill back to the lake. Barboursville's Park has some nice runs from the top with numerous scenic overlooks from the sheer cliffs and steep drops. The flat single track that follows the river and comes out behind the lake - is where the real fun can begin or end. Click on the link at top of page - above left to see a map! The Kanawha Trace and Adahi Trails are 32 mile and 17 mile multi user trails crossing over private land. Check with the Tri-State Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America for trail information and registration.
bFAT email groupo<----click here Become a part of an e-group forum that will let all subscribers communicate (free!). Send an e-mail with the word "join" in the subject or body and you'll get hooked up with other riders, to do fun group rides, get trail info and conditions, technical advice, etc.
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for more info administrator at bike bFAT