No Title Needed

Less than a month to go for North / South Carolina

Well it's decided.  This will be the bookmark on the 2015 Carolina camp.  Caesars Head is a  challenging 6 mile climb to the top ( that's the big dip in the profile ) and Walnut Hollow which is a steep mile climb.  This ride caps out at a 1000 riders ( sold out ) and is in it's 16th year.  We will be lining up with some friends we met in Sedona that live in Brevard so should be a great ride.

2015 AOTC Century

Industry Nine XC hubs / spokes / carbon rims.

Lighter, wider, stronger ? We will soon see. Thought I would try my hand at lacing up a set of i9's that were built up on Stans 355's. After a few emails and calls to Ted at i9 i got a few extra spokes shipped up along with the pawl kit and the plan was to do a straight swap. The lacing pattern is simple enough right ? Having never attempted this before I got 2 thumbs up.

Music by: Ozric Tentacles. Song: Sultrana Detrii

GoPro Hero 3 black trying out the 1080/30 Wide and the 1440/30/Wide

Industry Nine Factory Tour

Located in Asheville proper sits INDUSTRY NINE  If you're not a fan or owner of their wheels you should be.  I have had a set for a few years now and they have been as good now as the first ride.  Dave was the host today as we re-scheduled yesterday as their machine shop was getting ISO inspected.

I9 got it's name from being the 9th company that the parent machine shop owns / started.  The machine shop in addition to owning I9 has a customer, vendor relationship with it and also makes parts for the military and other applications.  Dave showed us the entire facility and the pictures below show the anodization tanks, the wheel building station, the CNC machines, spoke mills and raw aluminum.  The spoke machine, the raw hub shells pre anodization and the custom laser etching machine for the spokes and hubs.

One good thing about I9 is that they do not sell direct to the public which is good as the wall of hubs, and racks and racks of wheels make for some sweet eye candy.  The new torch hubs were in prototype mode for 18 months before being released early this year and the engagement and weight are significantly improved and they are offering a 2 cross lacing pattern with no strength loss.  The drag is also reduced and the rim options are great as well.  The I9 branded rims come in a good strength to weight ratio and the Renolyds carbon are well....carbon.

I started riding in the golden age of cottage industry CNC bike parts so being able to see that every aspect of your wheels are being built and assembled by hand and in house is bonus.  Seeing how it all comes together is really something amazing and the attention to detail is top notch.   There are 10 people that make up I9 and they are a key piece in the local riding culture. Really glad we got the chance to do this and hopefully we will connect with Dave tomorrow at Dupont Forest.  Can't wait for the ' new ' colors either.

Best AVL Bike Shop Spring 2013

Beer City Cycles.  What's not to like.  No attitude, friendly, beer, in store computrainer work out wall and did I say beer ?  Really liked this shop and the vibe in store and at trailhead.  The icing on the cake is the actual bar in the shop with mirco brews on tap.  Nice......

       Service Bar                                              14 Stool Bar                                                           Computrainer's                                                  

 

 

Bent Creek Again ?

Green Lick Trail is a described as a 2.5 mile advanced singletrack descent that drops 800' in a constant barrage of high berms and rolling whoop-de-dos and big drops.  After all of that I still prefer the Ingles Field Gap descent combined with Wolf Gap.  Day 5 in the books with 4 days spent in Bent Creek.  Many new trails and routes this go round.

Point being there are trails for days.  Bent Creek is in Asheville and also has 3 bike shops within 2 miles of the first trailhead / parking lot.  I know there are tons of places that others would argue are better options in NC of which I also agree but this place has it all conveniently bundled at your doorstep.  Long 1000' climbs, forest roads for rain days or miles, sweet singletrack, well signed routes and lots of places to park.   Thursday is rain / rest day and a trip to Industry Nine Wheels for a factory tour. Looking forward to this.

April 1st was no joke. Killer ride.

Another perfect day, trails dry temps again were warm enough for full summer kit and being a Monday meant empty forests.  Bent Creek again for this ride with more of a find and seek kind of day.  Ribbons of primo singletrack  snake all over the area with long long long climbs ending in nice dh's

How do you get tired looking at this.  It doesn't get better than this in my opinion.  LIFE BEHIND BARS

Blue Ridge Parkway

Riding up on the Parkway today up to Craggy and back.  Once again the road is closed to cars from around Town Mtn Rd all to way to Mount Mitchell which in effect gives you a private bike path cresting the Blue Ridge Mountains and butter smooth pavement.   It's typically an out back where you climb straight for 15 or so kms then it roller coasters a bit then up again and so on.  Then you whenever you want you turn around and rip back down.  Speeds with big ring and Scwhables only hit 65 to 70 max.   Road bikes have a bigger fun factor.  Saw lots of " roadies " today that did the double take at the knobbies but hey it's resistance training for Canadian mountain bikers or commonly known as too lazy to swap tires syndrome......

TRANNY IN THE HOT TUB BELOW

Have a new addition to the cabin today.  This frame is coming back to Canada and ya it's a 26'er ( remember these ) and yes its carbon and yes its a TRANNY !!

 

North Carolina 2013

It's not everyday your best friend suggests you use his Mercedes ML55 AMG for a road trip to spring riding camp but I gotta say what  plush ride and it made the 11 hours from Toronto whip by.  The 1upUSA 2" hitch adapter made the swap from the Subaru a 2 minute job.  Can't say enough good things about this rack.  Anyway on to bikes and trails.....

Bent Creek was super dry on the climbs with only small muddy sections around the creek crossings.  Day 1 on red terra firma for 2013 felt great.  The cold that I have been fighting for the past 2 weeks was nagging a bit but all in all a great Saturday kick off ride.  Looking forward to a good week of riding and more pictures and videos to follow. 

Land of the Sky..

Well what seems like a lifetime ago ( insert Canadian winter and hundreds of roller km's ) and now the bikes are getting dusted off and the sealant topped up and it seems fitting that the trails of Pisgah, Dupont and Bent Creek  North Carolina are the first for 2013.  NC got passed over last spring in favor of Sedona AZ but there is something about the Blue Ridge Mountains that casts that mystical spell over you.  Stay tuned ....

Asheville N.C.

We got a great week of trails and road and the weather held out for us nicely. Pic above was from the Dupont Forest Ridgeline trail. Want a great example of a multi use forest ? ok here goes...

We normally ride in the Jim Branch, Hooker Falls, Cedar Rock, Burnt Mtn trails and after doing a ridiculous climb we were catching a break when a guy in a Forester drives down the forest service road to go hiking with his Lab. After a 10 min or so chat he tells us about a great trail they just finished that was done with mtb'ers in mind and we should check it out. The trail was unreal and the guy turned out to be the President of the Friends of Dupont Forest and does not bike.



So after a few days of trails we ended up on the Parkway for a uphill torture session which did not dissapoint. The Parkway has just been freshly paved as you can see from the picture below so the 2 hour climb took just over 30 min to do as the DH and it was butter smooth.



So in the end the week looked like this and Jay we will ride this summer for sure, see you soon.



Video coming soon....ish........

Bent Creek Cobweb Ride 2011

With the long winter that we had what better way to wake up the lungs & legs that a day 1 ride at Bent Creek. As I have mentioned in other posts over the years this place is a their version of the Don Valley but with big hills and long fast downhills. There is supposed to be a pump track built in the forest but have yet to find it.

T minus 2 days.....North Carolina Bound

A view from atop the Blueridge Parkway near Mt Pigsah.

Techy Thursday

INSTAMAPPER ~ Real time GPS tracking

Thought I would post a link to a free service that allows real time tracking from your iphone via the Internet. Yes it is free and yes it works. You can download the free app from itunes then access Instamapper and register your device. Instamapper will then give you a access code to enter on your iphone in the installed app. Once you have this all set to go you can track the phone from any Internet connection.

There are a few things to be aware of.

1. Don't use this without a unlimited data plan or your bills will be high ( see their FAQ page for more info on this )

2. The app must be running in the foreground for it to work.

3. If you have people that worry about your whereabouts when your cycling alone they can use this to see your travels as frequently as a 3 second refresh rate.

This will work in a car as well and they have a demo to check out.

GOOGLE MAPS ~ Directions by bike

This is about time and it works well. I used this recently in Asheville to get a good bike route to the Blue Ridge Parkway and it is a great feature that actually works. I do not know how extensive this will be in Canada but it is coming. What is actually really good about this is it has Google street view as well so you can get a visual of the route before hopping on the bike. It also does off road trail routes in certain cities. I can see why this is Google's most requested feature.

They use a average persons BMI to calculate time and try to avoid large elevation gains and traffic routes. If your seeking hills you can easily click drag the suggested route path on the hill of choice and suffer away.

Here is a snapshot of what the feature looks like. This is from Liberty Bikes Asheville to Mount Pisgah Inn via the Blue ridge Parkway.

Mellowdrome Midweek Crit

Went to the midweek crit at the Mellowdrome in Asheville Wednesday night.

What a turn out from U.S Master Champs, Pro Cat 1 racers and a few teams.

The track called Mellowdrome is part of the Asheville Carrier Park with outdoor roller hockey, and a basketball court etc.

This is right in town and would be the equivalent to the Commish / Leslie Street Spit paved and closed to traffic.

Blue Ridge Parkway Craggy Gardens to Town

Castellano Silk ti 29 doubling as a road bike with 700 x 35 slicks on Mavic Crossmax. This was a 40 minute downhill edited down to 4'34"


Blue Ridge Parway 2010 from Philip Hudson on Vimeo.

Bent Creek Asheville NC

Easy Drive

I think the drives down here are becoming much easier. Made great time went right through and filled up once. With the bike in the car instead of the roof you really notice that in terms of fuel in the tdi.


Dry empty roads and no GPS issues. Everytime I pass through Canaan Valley VA it takes me back to Tom Haggerty ( R.I.P ) and his constant wish to get to the original Granny Gears 24 hours of Canaan with Elliott and myself and his son Nate. Never made it but this was not for lack of desire.

t minus 8 days and counting ...