Biking Bison

Showing posts with label Paris Mountain. Show all posts

Riding the Paris mountain downhill course

Before you watch this video and think I am an amazing rider, please let me clarify... this is not me! Boy do I wish I could fly like that! However, I have a job, wife, and 3 little kids to support, so I am a little less extreme. This video is shot in real time, and takes the guy 2:28 to finish the course. Mark and I rode the course again on Monday afternoon, which is located on the Sulfur Spring trail coming down from the upper parking lot at Paris Mountain, and we finished it in just over 5 minutes. Now, we had been riding for nearly an hour, and had climbed for a good percentage of the ride, but this does not shave 2:30 off of our time... These guys are good! Real good!

Keep your eyes on the road... that goes for you too Mr. Cyclist!

Here was today's ride.

I got to the park, unloaded my bike, and jogged over to the bathroom to change my clothes. It was cold, way colder than what I had brought riding gear enough for. Nonetheless, I decided that once I began to sweat, I would be plenty warm.

Here is a side note: while changing, a woman in the bathroom on the other side of the building flushed the toilet, and the floor drain on my side let out a sonic explosion that scared the mess out of me.

I took my normal route up mountain creek trail, and headed out towards the Hincapie challenge. This climb was particularly miserable today with no gear shifting possibilities. It is weird how your mind fights with itself, and I started making excuses why I might need to stop for a moment...is my seat set too low?... is my shoe coming untied?... do I need to stop and check the crank arm that fell off last week?

As I told myself to keep going and not quit, I spit over my left shoulder, and suddenly found myself off the road and in the ditch on the right side of the road. This was stupid mistake. Why would anyone be so idiotic to lose control of their bike while spitting? Now, I had ridden into the ditch, and because of my pep talk with myself earlier I refused to quit. This meant I rode up the hill in the ditch for about 15-20 feet before I could get back on the road again. What a momentum killer!

Now some of you might be saying: "So what, it was only 15 feet, what is the big deal?" The deal is, this Hincapie Challenge is a horrible hill. It is like riding up the trunk of a redwood tree. So, 15-20 ft is a huge deal!

Fortunately I made it home with no broken bones or bike components... it was a great ride.

Moral of the story: Keep your eyes on the road. It is a painful return when you get off track.

What ways are you getting distracted from the goal you have before you?

did you see that one legged mountain biker?

Today's ride was destined to be trouble. I started out by leaving my camel pack with all my tools in it at home. I had to change a flat before I took off, but without my tools, the job took an extra 10 minutes.

I took the same route as last week, but today's ride was on the single speed. (this is a bike stripped from its gears and derraliers.) It would be a tough workout. However, my crank arm came loose halfway up the hincapie challenge. I turned back towards the truck, because like i said earlier I didnt have any tools with me today.

Partway back, the crank arm actually fell off. I rode the rest of the way with one pedal like a handicap man. I am glad I have two legs. Only one leg stinks...

A Beautiful Day to Ride at Paris Mountain

I have been carrying my bike around on the rack for too long, without riding it at all. Yesterday, I finally was able to get away from work for lunch. (I typically do a number of work related lunches throughout the week) This weekend I am riding in a race at Dupont, hosted by SORBA, which will consist of 45-50miles of mountain bike trails. I have done a race there in the past, but it was (only) 35 miles. This will be a real challenge.

Yesterday's Paris mountain ride goal was to see if I could sustain a fast pace, without taking any water breaks after long climbs. Saturday's ride will be considerably long, but the only way I will be able to get a good time is if I only take breaks at the food stations.

I parked in the first parking space on the right when you enter the park, because it is about 3 feet away from a restroom where I could get changed quickly and get out on the trail. I aired up my tires (about 30 psi) particularly because my rear tire has a slow leak.

I looked at my cell phone. The time was 12:30

I took off over the walking bridge on the Lake Placid trail, which is supposed to be for hikers only, so I am careful not to tick anyone off by riding too close or coming by too fast. I followed it around to where it connects to the Mountain Creek trail, and continued on past the amphitheatre. Just after the log crossing (which I only go over on the return trip) I caught up with a hiker. I read a blog recently about why hikers hate bikers, and one of the reasons is because we "sneak up" on them and scare them. I made myself known way in advance, then let her know which side I was passing her on, and she seemed to appreciate the gesture.

I continued up Mountain creek, and turned left when it connected to the Sulfur Springs trail. I crossed the road to the sulfur springs parking lot, then headed up the sulfur springs trail toward mountain lake. There is an old gazebo, where I turned right and took a short, unofficial trail through the woods, which connected back to sulfur springs trail/access road, where I turned right. I do this so that I won't have to carry the bike up the steps by mountain lake.

This access road took me back to the main road, just between the start of the hincapie challenge, and the archery range parking lot. I turned left and suffered through the climb up the road, which for me is the hardest part of this entire ride. It just seems to go on forever.

At the top parking lot, I did one circle to catch my breath, then continued on up fire-tower trail. (Have you noticed that I have said "up" when describing every turn so far?) Fire-tower is a trail that deceives easily, because it appears fairly flat, but is not, and will wear you out. Near the end of this trail, I reached the connection point for the newest trail at Paris Mountain, Kanuga. I turned right, jumped on this trail connector, then headed down (finally) the left fork of the Kanuga trail. This is one of the most fun downhill sections of trail anywhere. I have to be careful here because I can really get going much faster than is safe for me to be riding.

I reached the north lake loop trail and turned left. It was a beautiful day to see the lake, and the trail wraps around and rides along the dam on the far side. What a nice spot! But today I was just trying to keep my speed up, because now I would have to climb back to the top. I took a left on pipsisewa and headed back up the mountain. This climb is miserable, but when you know the trail, you learn when to kill yourself, and when to take it easy. This trail connects to Brissey Ridge, which I climbed all the way back to the parking lot. I was able to stay in the middle ring up front the whole way, which was a good sign that my endurance was holding on strong. The climb from the north lake back up to the parking lot is miserable, but once you get to the top, it is all downhill... almost.

At the parking lot, I crossed over to the Sulfur Springs trail again, which has a short hard climb away from the parking lot before a hairy decent down the mountain. This trail is very dangerous, because it is rocky, rooty, steep, and beginning to wash out badly. Yesterday, there were some trees across the path that made the trail even more treacherous. I did get off and step over one tree that I would like to go back and ride over another day, but earlier I had committed myself to not do any jumps, logs, or wall rides that I could mess up my clock time by damaging my bike, or scraping myself up. Yesterday, the clock was king. I also realized that my brakes were adjusted too tightly. Before the race Saturday I will have to adjust them. I liked that my stopping power was faster, but the extra tension created too much muscle fatigue in my hands.

Sulfur springs brought me back to mountain creek trail, where it connects at the archery range parking lot. I took a left, and continued downhill, on the homestretch now. Just before reaching the amphitheater, I did take the log crossing, because I just love the way it is built, and headed back toward the xterra. instead of turning left toward the lake placid trail, I went on straight, and hit the connector trail that comes out at the park center. I went across the porch, and off the other end. This gave me some elevation to get speed back across the flat section by the lake.

All that was left was to cross the long wooden bridge, and shoot up the hill on the other side to the parking lot. I quickly dismounted and checked my cell phone for the time.

It was 1:43.

1 hour and 13 minutes. A personal best by 1 minute.

Riding Paris Mountain at Night

I have to give the disclaimer immediately, that this video is not of me. It is done by Jonathan Pait, someone I only loosely know through the blog world, and is a contributor to the Greenville News.

I have ridden at Paris Mountain a number of times at night. However, i have never been fortunate enough to have a light with me. Usually I have overestimated my own riding speed, and bit off more than I could chew, or pinched a flat mid-ride, which forced me to come home after dark. Nonetheless, these guys look like they are having fun, and I hope to give night riding a try in the near future...wanna join me?

Don't Rub It!

I went out and rode the downhill course again today at lunch. The trail was pretty unforgiving after so much traffic...

Downhill MTBing at Paris Mountain

So I found out a few days ago about the paris mountain downhill race! The Greenville News did a great article on this weekends festivities.

Now this race is in my own backyard. It is on a hill I know very well, at a specific location on the trail I am very familiar with. (RSS readers click here to see video)

In all fairness to myself, This is the ONLY time I have ever fallen on this rock. In fact, that is why my buddy Mark wanted to get it on video... so he could show his buddies how someone he knew was doing it. Here is where I went wrong. When I got to the very edge of the rock, you will notice that I turn my head towards the camera. Somewhere along the way, I decided it would be a good idea to grin sheepishly at the camera before continuing over the ledge. As you can see, this particular idea was about as bad as I could have come up with.
Now if you will click on the small picture link for the race pic/vid site, you will notice these guys floating over the same rock with brilliance and ease. they look so peacful don't they? Aren't they looking like it is a bunch of fun?

Don't be fooled: These pictures got me too. I went out this morning to see how close I could come to their estimated winning race time of about 2:12. I decided to take my single speed, because I like the longer wheelbase, and who needs gears going downhill anyway? I parked at the sulfer springs parking lot, and suffered painfully all the way up hincapie's challange to the top parking lot, wishing that I had brought a gear bike instead. After reaching the parking lot I climbed up to the pinnacle of the sulfer springs trail, where I believe the race will start.

Then I hammered all the way down the hill. I mean I flew... like the wind! I did go over the handle bars once to avoid bear-hugging a tree in a section that I should have never got into trouble on. But I felt fast... real fast! They had added a few new elements to the trail, which were a bit suprising, but I made it. I grabbed the brakes and abruptly stopped when I reached the Mountain Creek Trail sign down by the sulfer springs parking lot again so I cound click Erin's stopwatch. (which I borrowed to get an accurate time - I don't care if it is a girls watch, leave me alone!)

You wanna know what I did it in? 5:06. What a loser!

Needless to say, I am still undecided about droppong the $40 bucks to register for the race. I would have to go directly there from church, without any trial runs on race day, and hope for the best. Mark and I are going to go over there this afternoon and do it one more time to see if we can improve on our times at all. I'm not very optimistic.

Mountain Biking at Paris Mountain in Greenville SC

So someone else did the work for me, but this is what it looks like to come back on Mountain Creek Trail at Paris Mt.

MTB - Had a great ride!

Corey called me up and asked me to ride today at the drop of a hat. Fortunately I was able to do so today. It was a blast!

We rode Paris Mountain...

We parked at the culdesac at the top of the mountain so that we could get back to the truck easier if need be. We climbed Firetower trail pretty quickly, I stayed in 2-6 through 2-8 on the whole climb. Its a deceiving climb, but we had both done it a hundred times it seems, so no big deal. We reached the top of the newest trail at Paris, Kanuga. What a ride! We went left at the top, and just flat out hammered down to the lake. I got into the big ring up front coming over the top and just let it rip. for a sweet 5 minutes of descent. We took a left at the bottom when we hit the North Lake loop. We completed the loop all the way back to the base of Kanuga where we had come down. Corey wanted to climb this new trail and see how it felt on the way up. I hated every minute of it. What was incredible on the way down was miserable on the way back. I ended up shredding my chain at one point when I stood up in the pedals for a moment - which slowed our overall time considerably. Fortunately, I have had this happen before and I had the chain tool with me to fix it. We climbed back to the top of Kanuga, but instead of heading home on Firetower we took the downhill run of Kanuga over to Brissy Ridge. Again, it was an awesome downhill section. Corey asked me if it reminded me of slalom skiing up north as a kid, and I most definitely had to agree. This particular trail has some tricky off camber turns that really could be nasty mistake if you aren't on your game. Then the familiar climb out on Brissy Ridge back to the Xterra. We cam in at 68 minutes even with the broken chain. It was a great ride. I love riding with guys like Corey. His legs are waaay stronger than mine, and it is all I can do to stay with him.

Awesome.