Last week I ventured down to North Carolina for a week of vacation with my extended family. We rented a house in Montreat, NC, just east of Asheville, and just over the ridge from a couple classic Pisgah rides (Kitsuma and Heartbreak Ridge). Great riding right out the front door- can't beat it!
Last Monday, I knocked out a 25-30 miler from the house we rented over to Kitsuma and back. A road cruise over to the trails then tough switchback climbs followed by a 2000 vertical foot ridgeline descent on rooty, steep, swoopy and tech trails, with a big-ring climb back out on a decommissioned overgrown highway! Then a long and steep fire road climb up through Ridgecrest to the Old Mt. Mitchell Toll Road (now a trail) and a blazing fast descent down the Rainbow trail back to Montreat- out at 7 am, back by 11 am, no driving necessary!
Fast descending singletrack
Naturally bermed turn
Kicker with a gap way out on the trail
Old US 70 makes for a nice return climb. The kudzu has nearly reclaimed it!
Was awesome to ride narrow ridgelines with views to either side of you through the spruce and fir trees, then bomb down incredibly narrow benchcut singletrack that seemed to just go on and on and on, with fun little kickers (and even some gap jumps) built to the side.
Last Monday, I knocked out a 25-30 miler from the house we rented over to Kitsuma and back. A road cruise over to the trails then tough switchback climbs followed by a 2000 vertical foot ridgeline descent on rooty, steep, swoopy and tech trails, with a big-ring climb back out on a decommissioned overgrown highway! Then a long and steep fire road climb up through Ridgecrest to the Old Mt. Mitchell Toll Road (now a trail) and a blazing fast descent down the Rainbow trail back to Montreat- out at 7 am, back by 11 am, no driving necessary!
Fast descending singletrack
Naturally bermed turn
Kicker with a gap way out on the trail
Old US 70 makes for a nice return climb. The kudzu has nearly reclaimed it!
Was awesome to ride narrow ridgelines with views to either side of you through the spruce and fir trees, then bomb down incredibly narrow benchcut singletrack that seemed to just go on and on and on, with fun little kickers (and even some gap jumps) built to the side.
). I hammered up Sidehill to Little Hickory Top back to "Five Points" and up North Boundary to the top of Green's Lick. Was pushing gears two cogs smaller on the way up this time- the anticipation of riding it again propelled me forward much faster the second time, and indeed I shaved off 10 minutes from the climb this time! The second time on Green's Lick was better than the first. I had a sense of the rhythm of the trail and where I could let off the brakes, and I pushed my poor bike about as far as it was meant to go... sailing over grade reversals, weaving through the new 5-pack of berms they've built after the rock armoring, and generally bombing the trail. If I'd had time, I would have climbed and ridden it again.
