Just 99 miles to go

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Biking with a map created by hikers.

Went back over to the Wolf Gap trails with Chris on Saturday.
Our buddy Pat had given him other ideas for a route out there that didn't involve the nasty hike a bike section.
Chris had a map he had gotten at REI that was put out by the Appalachian Trail Club.
We quickly became apparent of 2 things.
1. Pat had never actually been on the trail loop he mapped out for us.
2. You don't use a map created by hikers for biking.

I gotta admit, it was a beautiful hike.
I would have had a good time if I wasn't pushing a bike through it.
The map also wasn't the most accurate thing in the world.
We'd stop at intersections and then have conversations that went like this.
"Theres supposed to be a white blaze now, what do you see?"
"Purple"
"Theres no goddamned purple on the map!"
"Okay, maybe its a faded blue".

Finally at 1:45 with only about 20 miles (half of that hiked)we decided to abandon the singletrack and ride the fireroads. We had no idea weather the remaining trail would be a hike or not and didn't wanna get stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark.
BTW, there is NO cell phone coverage at all out there, not evan where we parked the truck.

It was a nice ride. Beautiful weather and great scenary but as a training ride it was a bust in my opinion.

1 more big ride weekend before I start to taper.

No comments: