Busy Weekend

Saturday: Finally got off my butt and got some "bike" stuff done. Saturday I dragged all of my bikes out and gave them all a tune up and fixed a couple of flats. I also tuned up the girl's bikes and got the small bike ready for my 3 year old. She has been content with her radio flyer tricycle up until about a week ago. Now she wants to ride with her sisters. No problem, found the old training wheels and put them on the bike that 1 & 2 learned on. After a few attempts figuring out the brakes, she was zooming up and down the court. I guess watching her sisters ride around for the past couple of years shortened the learning curve.

Single speed line up

Sunday: Ride The Buttermilk. Small group of people met up in Richmond to ride the James River Train System. We met at the civil war museum parking lot at 8 (yeah, 6 am departure from VB) and got on the trail around 8:30. Might be the lack of riding I've been doing lately, but I don't remember walking as much the last time I rode here. There are a few climbs and rock gardens that are pretty technical, but I can usually tackle the uphills and switchbacks. Not this weekend. There were several sections on the Buttermilk where I couldn't carry enough momentum on the ss to get up and through and had to unclip and take the walk. We hit a section in Forest Hill that I hadn't ridden before and it was awesome, flowing goodness. We rode for about 3 hours, although at least 45 minutes of that was the typical stop and wait (for yours truly) associated with a group ride. Afterwards we went over to Banditos Burrito Lounge for post ride drinks and lunch. Stats and Google Map of the ride:

James River Trail System

Two buddies and I (More Beers Than Gears crew) finally got to ride the James River Park System in Richmond a couple of weeks ago. This is a combination of trails (Forest Hill Park, Buttermilk, North Bank & Belle Island) in downtown Richmond along the James river. Probably the best maintained and challenging mtb trails I have ever ridden. We parked just outside of Forest Hill and used that as our entrance and exit point. Forest Hill was a good warm up and really flowed. There were a couple of pretty heavy climbs that really got the heart pumping, especially for three guys on 29er single speeds. We crossed the river on Westover Hills Blvd and rode the trail by Pumphouse Park before heading to Northbank. Northbank is the trail used for the Xtera Challenge every year and it kicked my butt. Lots of technical climbs and descents on tight singletrack. After we finished Northbank, we crossed the river on the pedestrian bridge off of Tredegar St and headed over to Belle Island. The trails and river were packed with people. We did the lap around the island and then headed out onto the rocks to mess around. With so many people laying out on the rocks, it didn't take long before we decided to head across the bridge back to the south side and to Buttermilk. Buttermilk was about 5 miles of hand cut awesomeness. Lots of technical rock gardens and creek crossings, some small climbs and quick downhills. One piece of advice about Buttermilk is that momentum is definitely your friend. There were several times were I hesitated going through a rock garden and paid the price by having to unclip and hike through it... I know, such a freakin nancy. We finished up with Buttermilk and headed back through Forest Hill to our car. Total mileage for the day was 11.7 miles, ride time was right at 2 hours, max speed was 26.7mph with an average speed of 5.4 mph. Elevation and distance chart below.