I just got back from a 40-mile mountain biking trip on the Virginia Creeper Trail in western Virginia. A detailed map is available on this site.
Above: one of my friends riding on the trail last year
We left Durham around 6 or 6:30 Friday evening, and arrived around midnight. We camped on top of White Top mountain, which at an elevation of 5520 feet is one of the tallest mountains in Virginia, second only to Mount Rogers. When we got there, the weather was terrible. We camped on the very top of the mountain. Just to give you a picture of how bad the weather was, three people told me that this was the worst weather they have ever encountered while camping.
When we got there, we set up our tents and went to sleep. We woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and the weather had gotten worse. It was maybe 35 degrees, with 30 mile per hour winds and torrential rain. It was still dark, and it was so foggy that I couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me. We cooked oatmeal and bagels for breakfast, and then went back to our tents to wait until there was more light outside. Once the sun had come out, around 7:30, we took down our tents and put all our stuff away and got ready to ride.
It was cold and the weather was miserable, but I can’t say I didn’t expect this and I can’t say I wasn’t ready. This was the third time I had ridden the trail, and it was rainy last year as well. Dustin pretty much just took a duffel bag and brought his whole closet with him. I brought plenty of clothes, and I dressed in layers.
Above: photo taken last year of a small stream off the side of the trail
We rode from the top of White Top mountain to the start of the trail, which was about 7 miles. This was a steep downhill ride on the road that wound around the mountain all the way to the bottom. I started out, but found out that my brakes didn’t work because they were really wet. I tried alternating between my right brake and my left brake, and I found out that this allowed me to control my speed, but not stop. Read the rest of this entry »
