Dampening
I must say, DT is an effin' nut. On Saturday's Richmond Epic ride, he brought out his fixie. I don't think he had much choice because his rear brake was screwed and out for a replacement from Avid. But on this ride his skizills on a fixed showed.
The first time I met this cat I think I was riding fixed, but it was because my freewheel blew up and started freewheeling both ways. I don't ride fixed much except in the winter, especially when it snows, but DT has taken up to doing it most of the time -- at least that seems to be the case whenever I see him. He was rippin' it up on the trails, riding stuff that hardly any one of us in our group would do, and most of the time he made it. Props for just trying it fixed. Doubles for cleaning most of it.
Anyways, Butch and I headed down to meet the Richmond MORE group down at Poor Farm. Others from the "northern" MORE included Maj, Scud and Beers. We got to the parking lot that was teeming with about 40 members of the Richmond MORE, and decided there would be about 6-8 groups to make it more manageable. I introduced myself to a couple of them, and recognized their aliases from MTBR and some of the other cycling boards.
It rained the night before and there was a light mist the morning of, so the many roots and off-camber stuff was a little tricky. There were puddles here and there, but not enough to cancel the ride. Besides, there was 40+ people just itching to get out.
We started off a little mellow, but as folks got warmed up, the pace started to pick up. Sam, a Richmond singlespeeder was rippin' a fast pace. I sat in third place for the bulk of the ride, but he was smooth and quick so I had a difficult time keeping him in sight. We were in the fastest group, but there was still a little too much stopping and talking for me that day. Of course it was necessary because there was a lot of us that didn't know the trails very well. However, I was looking forward to the ride and getting out there and hammering, but when I stop and sit around too much, I seem to get tired faster. Stop, go, stop, go: ride 3 minutes, wait 2 minutes, and on, and on, and on...
We got back to the parking lot early and Sam had to take off, so we were trying to decide what to do. Suddenly Amy, a quick Richmond gal, said she was going to go off and do another lap. I wanted in, so I jumped on the train and all of a sudden every one else left in our group jumped on. She was fast but the cool thing was that she didn't seem to like standing around and waiting. My kinda rider ;) Before we knew it the group was split into 3 and everyone that was able to keep up with her was grinning ear to ear for picking up the pace.
We wrapped it up and headed to DT's college-favorite bar of BW3. I've never been to one before but it was a huge, clean, Buffalo wing place that was lined to the gills with TVs showing all the college football games. Crazier still, there were tv monitors above every stall in the bathroom, so you don't miss that all important throw from Joe Collegesuperstar. Food was good.
An hour and a half later, the six of us headed down to meet the rest of the Richmond MORE crew for some riding at the second event: Buttermilk. Apparently it's the gem of the riding in Richmond, and I was impressed. High up on the side of the James (?) River are trails that undulate up and down and side to side over many rocky and rooty sections. The added thrill to this ride is for most of it you are on the edge of at least a 50 foot drop, so you can't be too sloppy or it's curtains for you. In fact, some of the guys told us a story about one guy who got tired going up one of the super-steep uphills, fell backwards, rolled off the side and plunged into a bunch of rocks. He didn't survive.
It didn't seem that long, but that ol' hateful thing came up again: waiting around and talking.
Don't get me wrong, there are rides that I don't mind waiting around and talking, but I usually have to have it in my head before the ride. Usually I just want to get out there and hammer, and this second ride put a damper on the whole Epic. It seemed like we were waiting even longer compared to the riding. Ride two minutes, wait four. The day started to drag, and nothing wears me down faster than this type of pace.
We wrapped up this ride, and at the end I found out Butch fell in some stankass bog pit. He only brought one jersey and shorts, so wasn't too enthusiastic about finishing up the day's third ride at what I think was Powhite? I was draggin' and afraid that the last ride would continue the trend of even more waiting than riding, coupled with the incoming rain, and I was just not looking forward to a freezing disappointing ride. We said our goodbyes and split for home.
It rained hard 20 miles north of Richmond on our way back, so we didn't feel so bad for our decision. I've come to hear that the weather held up down in Richmond for the last ride, but oh well, I'll just have to come back some other time.
Final thoughts about the trails? Poor Farm is fun, fast and twisty, however it has way too many intersections in some parts. It's really easy to get lost and double back. Buttermilk is steep, rocky, and scary in some parts when it's wet. I wouldn't recommend anyone that isn't comfortable with heights to ride that system, or at least for them to take it chill. However, I liked it a lot and if I ever venture down to Richmond and have some free time, this is where I'll spend it.
The first time I met this cat I think I was riding fixed, but it was because my freewheel blew up and started freewheeling both ways. I don't ride fixed much except in the winter, especially when it snows, but DT has taken up to doing it most of the time -- at least that seems to be the case whenever I see him. He was rippin' it up on the trails, riding stuff that hardly any one of us in our group would do, and most of the time he made it. Props for just trying it fixed. Doubles for cleaning most of it.
Anyways, Butch and I headed down to meet the Richmond MORE group down at Poor Farm. Others from the "northern" MORE included Maj, Scud and Beers. We got to the parking lot that was teeming with about 40 members of the Richmond MORE, and decided there would be about 6-8 groups to make it more manageable. I introduced myself to a couple of them, and recognized their aliases from MTBR and some of the other cycling boards.
It rained the night before and there was a light mist the morning of, so the many roots and off-camber stuff was a little tricky. There were puddles here and there, but not enough to cancel the ride. Besides, there was 40+ people just itching to get out.
We started off a little mellow, but as folks got warmed up, the pace started to pick up. Sam, a Richmond singlespeeder was rippin' a fast pace. I sat in third place for the bulk of the ride, but he was smooth and quick so I had a difficult time keeping him in sight. We were in the fastest group, but there was still a little too much stopping and talking for me that day. Of course it was necessary because there was a lot of us that didn't know the trails very well. However, I was looking forward to the ride and getting out there and hammering, but when I stop and sit around too much, I seem to get tired faster. Stop, go, stop, go: ride 3 minutes, wait 2 minutes, and on, and on, and on...
We got back to the parking lot early and Sam had to take off, so we were trying to decide what to do. Suddenly Amy, a quick Richmond gal, said she was going to go off and do another lap. I wanted in, so I jumped on the train and all of a sudden every one else left in our group jumped on. She was fast but the cool thing was that she didn't seem to like standing around and waiting. My kinda rider ;) Before we knew it the group was split into 3 and everyone that was able to keep up with her was grinning ear to ear for picking up the pace.
We wrapped it up and headed to DT's college-favorite bar of BW3. I've never been to one before but it was a huge, clean, Buffalo wing place that was lined to the gills with TVs showing all the college football games. Crazier still, there were tv monitors above every stall in the bathroom, so you don't miss that all important throw from Joe Collegesuperstar. Food was good.
An hour and a half later, the six of us headed down to meet the rest of the Richmond MORE crew for some riding at the second event: Buttermilk. Apparently it's the gem of the riding in Richmond, and I was impressed. High up on the side of the James (?) River are trails that undulate up and down and side to side over many rocky and rooty sections. The added thrill to this ride is for most of it you are on the edge of at least a 50 foot drop, so you can't be too sloppy or it's curtains for you. In fact, some of the guys told us a story about one guy who got tired going up one of the super-steep uphills, fell backwards, rolled off the side and plunged into a bunch of rocks. He didn't survive.
It didn't seem that long, but that ol' hateful thing came up again: waiting around and talking.
Don't get me wrong, there are rides that I don't mind waiting around and talking, but I usually have to have it in my head before the ride. Usually I just want to get out there and hammer, and this second ride put a damper on the whole Epic. It seemed like we were waiting even longer compared to the riding. Ride two minutes, wait four. The day started to drag, and nothing wears me down faster than this type of pace.
We wrapped up this ride, and at the end I found out Butch fell in some stankass bog pit. He only brought one jersey and shorts, so wasn't too enthusiastic about finishing up the day's third ride at what I think was Powhite? I was draggin' and afraid that the last ride would continue the trend of even more waiting than riding, coupled with the incoming rain, and I was just not looking forward to a freezing disappointing ride. We said our goodbyes and split for home.
It rained hard 20 miles north of Richmond on our way back, so we didn't feel so bad for our decision. I've come to hear that the weather held up down in Richmond for the last ride, but oh well, I'll just have to come back some other time.
Final thoughts about the trails? Poor Farm is fun, fast and twisty, however it has way too many intersections in some parts. It's really easy to get lost and double back. Buttermilk is steep, rocky, and scary in some parts when it's wet. I wouldn't recommend anyone that isn't comfortable with heights to ride that system, or at least for them to take it chill. However, I liked it a lot and if I ever venture down to Richmond and have some free time, this is where I'll spend it.
posted by rickyd 2 at
10:36 PM
3 Comments:
I will agree there was a lot of stopping, especially at Buttermilk, which was one of the reasons I was trying to have the large fast group split into two groups. Then the hammerheads can go off the front, while the rest go at a fast clip, just stopping long enough for people to catch up. Problem was, I think there were too many intermediate paced riders in the back of the group. This was more evident on Buttermilk than anything.
You missed an incredible ride at Pocohantas though. Not a lot of up and down, but just enough. Super swoopy, you just get in the flow and lock it in. Next time we head down there, you have to ride it, especially the TTF section called Little WVA. The rain never touched the park. We rode miles of trail at a time without stopping at all. It was great!
By
DT, at 11:44 AM
Nice writeup Ricky! I have heard nuthin' but good stuff about the Richmond trails, and I'm dying to get down there for a change of scenery (especially to Poor Farm). It sounds like I wouldn't have survived this ride tho! I'll have to wait around till MORE schedules a kids-ride down there :)
-g
By
gmr2048, at 12:23 PM
i wish i could have made it down for this ride. sounds like a great day. Its tuff with the large group rides, the fast rides are usually sprint stop sprint stop, slower pace without stopping would usually be a little more fun, but the slower rides are usually ride slow, stop and talk forever. It's tough, but there is definitely a place for the large rides, it does help us meet more people to ride with. OH well, we need to ride soon... maybe we can get a small group to Gambril!
By
Lee, at 11:22 AM
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