Friday, January 29, 2010

Riding/Recon on sections of the Dragon's Tale race course


Got out to the Catawba/New Castle area today with Matt Smith and Kirby Walke to do some riding and check out some sections of the Dragon's Tale course. The leaves up on the ridge are nice and packed down from all the snow and the riding is great. The downhills of Turkey and Deer trails are nice and fast with some tough switchbacks; totally worth the solid climbs to get there.

Cleared some debris off the trail with our hands and a small saw, back with the chainsaw later for some of the big stuff.

A great cold ride with views of McAfee's knob from the ridge!











Friday, January 15, 2010

Shenandoah Valley Evening Bicycle Ride

Got out for a quick one just before dark
Was able to multi-task while on the bike
Time is short these days
Sooo many things to do
Sooo little time!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Bicycling the Shenandoah Valley

Did a great slow ride into Rockingham County before dark
Carp had some business to finish
Snows melting in the bright sunlight
Great wispy clouds in the clear sky
The gravel is firm and rolling well
Sun is dipping with a nice flow
Massanutten is getting all lit up in the distance
Cool sundog directly over Mole Hill
The Bike Lane (paved shoulder) is really nice to have on Rt. 42
Missed this shot of the bike lane, it woulda been cool!

SMT's Backyard National Forest Trails need your representation

Cool news about the George Washington National Forest - Planning to resume
this is a hop skip and jump around sorta dealio
check out the background here at Cstan
slid on over to the Virginia Mountain Bicycle Council for more of the details
and if you are really are into representing your bicycle trails go HERE

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A great 1 hr road ride with Carpenter, talking bicycle advocacy!

Just what the doctor ordered

A bit of the Great Eastern Trail discussion
Some of the SVBC DCR Recreational Trail Grant chatter
Our yearly statewide mountain bike meeting
GW National Forest Management Plan Revision meetings about to resume
How much trail can we maintain?
VA's Recreational Use Statute modifications - railroads indemnified
Virginia's Interstate 81 Freight Rail Study issued for public comment
SVBC SuperBowl ride and fundraiser weekend in Hburg Feb 6-7
IMBA's RLAC meeting and how to expand the resources and dial in the focus
Richmond MORE's Fundraiser on Feb 27th
VA's HB 2088 stating that no Rail Enhancement Funds (REF) be used for access when it seems that should be one of the major uses of this fund as it would benefit communities to have safer crossing of railroad tracks to trail systems, river put in's, and ball fields.

Mike wishes I wouldn't have bombarded him with these issues
But it's been the only thing I have worked on since Sunday night at 8 pm
And I needed his help making sense of it all

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Whitegrass with Jeremiah Bishop and Nick Waite

Nick took JB and McKeegan our for a good day of skiing
he didn't hurt them too bad
I got up with them for the last sunset lap
McKeegen was done by then
it was sooo nice, the glow in the treetops
JB trying to turn his lightweight gear
he did a pretty good job
of course, Nick makes it look easy