Stokesville Campground grounds the white whale with a double pinch flat. Longer day ahead!

The 4 bee stings to the neck and face are a bit inconsequential now!

Shenandoah Mountain 100 Trail Work Mission - Chestnut Ridge

Yesterday, Tyler and Matt headed up to Little Bald Knob then cruised down Chestnut Ridge while clearing loose sketchy rocks, lopping thorny face-slappers, and weedeating the hay-quality grass.  What was once a test to get through now is a dream to descend!  Check out some pictures from the day:

Super-wide corridors!!



Shenandoah Mountain 100 Trail Work Mission- Wolf Ridge/ Lynn Trail

Yesterday, Matt and Tyler went out to Wolf Ridge and Lynn Trail to clear some trees, cut grass, and throw loose rocks off the trail.  This trail is now super clear and smooth, some may be getting the sonic BOOM during the race.  Here are some pictures from the mission:

Big thanks to the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition for getting volunteers to come out and fix a nasty spring that popped up on Wolf.

Our BoB trailer helped get the chainsaw, chainsaw tools, and the weed eater up and down the mountain on this mission.

Guide Trip - Southern Traverse 8/5/2011

SMT Guide Matt Smith took out Keith Esham and friends from Hagerstown, MD for a trip on the Southern Traverse! Everyone was in a state of euphoria while riding the 17 miles of continuous singletrack!! Contact SMT to book your very own guided trip on the Southern Traverse!

Great view from the South Sister Knob Overlook.

Trail Improvement Project in the GW - Moving Forward! - Thanks USFS, SVBC, SMT, IMBA and Ironwood Outdoors

The North River Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest has partnered with Ironwood Outdoors to rehabilitate a portion of the Wild Oak National Recreation Trail, Bear Draft Trail and Shaffer Hollow Trail. District Ranger Elwood Burge is leveraging limited trail maintance funding that will end up quadrupling its value before the project is done. By the time the project is completed the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, Shenandoah Mountain Touring, the International Mountain Bicycling Association and other trail volunteer groups will contribute volunteer hours and provide financial assistance helping Ironwood Outdoors more the project forward.

The trail project is in Augusta County on Lookout Mountain which over looks the North River watershed in the George Washington National Forest.  Stabilizing the soil on these mountain trails will improve water quality and provide a better recreational experience for all the non motorized trail visitors which consists of  equestrians, bicyclists, hikers and trail runners. National Forest Trail Specialist Christian Canary said, "we are really excited to give the bicyclists' this opportunity to improve these system trails that they enjoy so much. Everyone will benefit from this collaboration" 

Shaffer Hollow Trail and portions of the Wild Oak Trail are used in the upcoming Shenandoah Mountain 100 Backcountry Bicycle Event held on Sunday September 4th. The annual event is held the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. 2011 will mark the 13 edition of the event. The event is operated under a special event permit with the George Washington National Forest. The event brings over 2000 visitors to the Forest each year contributing over $500,000 annually to the local economy while leveraging hundreds of volunteer trail improvement hours associated with the event. 

Shenandoah Mountain Touring, LLC

http://www.mountaintouring.com/

Shenandoah Mountain 100 Trail Work Mission- Dowell's Draft

Trail work comes often here at SMT, especially the month before the 100!  Our second mission of the week sent us to Dowell's Draft to clear grown in trail and loose rocks on the entire trail!  A little bit of love to this trail and it is world class!  Matt towed our new BoB Trailer and it was a great help getting our tools to the top, not to mention was a dream on the way back down!  Here are some pictures from the day:

<--- Outlook at the top of Dowell's Draft

Matt setting out with the BoB trailer

Using a rolling system to move this log off the trail

Shenandoah Mountain 100 Trail Work Mission- Bridge Hollow/Braley Pond

 Matt and Tyler set out early Tuesday morning to clear up some grown in trail as well as remove downed trees on Bridge Hollow, Braley Pond Trail, and Johnson Draft Trail. What does this all mean?? The last section of trail heading into aid station 4 is ROLLIN'!!!! Here's some pictures from the mission:

2 new VA MTB Trail Videos with Jeremiah Bishop and others!

http://www.youtube.com/user/smtvidnstuff#p/a/u/1/ZmBSVPLBWQo

http://www.youtube.com/user/smtvidnstuff#p/a/u/0/E6gIDivnq84

Wilderness 101 - Results - Pictures - Videos

We had a super fun time with our friends in Coburn / State College, PA during the Wilderness 101. Thanks sooooo much for the support -  Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks, Freeze Thaw Cycles, The Bicycle Shop State College, Nittany Mountain Bike Association, Purple Lizard Maps, Rothrock Outfitters, Alpine Rental, and Stan's NoTubes.

Results are HERE



Longberger was ROLLING - thanks Nittany Mountain Bike Association! Singletrack starts about 3 minutes in and it gets really fast and flowy at 5:20 minutes in with Three Bridges coming at the end.



Croyle Run was freshy brushed back and looking GREAT! Thanks Nittany Mountain Bike Assocation!



Beautiful Trail is such a technical delight! Thanks Friends of Coopers Gap!



We have a lot more great video to post of Noname Trail, Little Shingletown, and the lead group of 30+ rolling out at after Mountain Church on Decker Valley Road. We will update soon and will be putting together a feature video too!

From Wilderness 101 - 2011