Rollin High on the Superfly

Snow can't bring me down....

  All of the snow we received last Friday and Saturday was getting really ugly to look at.  So we drove down to Huntington, West Virginia on Wednesday with our road bikes and got lost, literally.

It was a nice trip, the temps were in the 60's, there was no snow, there were lots of hills and were even able to ride right out from the hotel.  We had stopped at the welcome center after crossing the state line to pick up a State map.  We thought it would be enough and didn't bother bringing the GPS with us.  I did, however, carry a cell phone.  It was just cool enough to wear our new windproof vests, which was awesome.  Kept me just warm enough and added storage.  I carried my cell, leg warmers, a couple of pria bars, spare tube, tire tools, chapstick (it's a girl thing), the map and my camera.  Joe carried the multi-tool and pump among his items.

It turned out that the map had many roads on it that were un-named, so trying to figure them out with the roads we came across proved to be somewhat difficult.  I guess I always knew approximately where we were, but there was a level of uncertainty at all times.  Our roadie friends are always saying "just get lost", but for some reason, I have a hard time with that.  I am more comfortable with plans and next time we will take the GPS.

I can't say that the scenery was beautiful, since we're just coming off of winter, but the weather was very nice.  I even started my cycling tanlines for '08!  We found a lot of very long hills that came with very long descents.  Some of the descents were so long, our computers turned off.  That's long!  So you can imagine how long the climbs were. 

All but a couple of people had their dogs tied up.  One lady had 3-4 small beagle looking dogs, that spilled out onto the road, luckily we were able to stop and not hit any of them and she apologized for their behavior.  But we did learn that dogs do not like it when you stop, after you get chased up so many hills you get a little tired.  So at one point, I stopped and yelled at the dog to "go home", I don't think he expected that and he turned around and went home.

I also got the opportunity to try out my powertap that I got for Christmas.  I've only used it outside one other time as the rest of my rides with it have all been on the trainer.  As you can see in the picture (if you enlarge it) I can only power approximately a couple of light bulbs, however, I was anywhere from 240-260 watts on the hills with a max power output of 829 watts and an average of 124 watts.  My powertap is set up to include all of the time on the bike into the average, including the 0's or the time I am at zero watts like during descents.  The other way does not include zero's or only calculates average power when you are pedaling.  I haven't asked around to learn how others have theirs set up, so I would appriciate any comments on who you may have yours set up.

Haw Ridge Park, Oak Ridge, TN

This past weekend, Joe and I made a trip to Tennessee for some warm weather mountain bike riding.  We found Haw Ridge Park on-line and called a local bike shop to ask about it.  They said that it was the best around and would hold up well after a rain.  They were only expecting a 40% chance of some rain on Friday so we decided to go and avoid the 35 degrees and snow we were expecting here.

We left around 4pm on Friday and arrived in Oak Ridge just before 10pm.  It looked like they had received more than the 40% chance of rain, there were puddles everywhere.  We used our USA Cycling license to receive 10% off the cost of our room at the Hampton Inn and called it a night.

The next morning we got up, had the complimentary continental breakfast and headed over to the bike shop that I had called earlier last week.  The Oak Ridge Bicycle Center just a few miles from the hotel carries Trek, Lemond, Fisher etc.  Although they were small, they had the lizard skin that I had forgotten to put on my new Paragon.

Then we headed over to the trailhead, only 5 miles from the hotel.  We picked up a trail map at the kiosk in the parking area and noticed that the 28 miles of trails are actually a network of trails.  We headed out with our map and soon found out that the trails are shared with hikers and horses.  Some of them were too steep to ride either up or down.  After an hour we found a handful of trails that were biking friendly and stuck with them.  Saturday was a little muddy after Friday's rain, so it was a little slow moving and difficult to get up some of the steeper stuff.  Although it was noticeably dryer as the day went on, we had to stop at a car wash to clean off our wheels before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday was much better, most of the trails were completely dry, the sun was out full blast and the temperatures were even warmer than the day before around 60 degrees.

We've definitely been spoiled by having the wonderful trails here in Ohio.  I believe that our idea of mountian biking is totally different than that of Tennesseeans.  I can also say that Ohio has come a long way with its mountain bike trails.  Since we have such a good relationship with Ohio State Parks and Forestry and we have many groups of dedicated bike clubs that keep our trails well maintained.  Most Ohio State Parks have separate trails for horses and mountain bikes as well.  Everyone maintains their own trails and it works out well.

Haw Ridge is open to horses and hikers.  Although we only saw a couple of horses out there who barely left a mark.  We saw several hikers and other mountain bikers.  And even though it's no Mohican State Forest, it was worth the trip for the beautiful weather.