have a plan.

[tomimcmillar]

getting a feel for the deeper waters,
laid out a loop.  Starts at the southern
end of the Shenendoah Mtn Trail.
Follows country roads to Montery,
maybe graba sandwich, then link up
some NFS fireroads up to the high
point of WV, Spruce Knob.
Ride some trail, camp out after
an 80ish mile day. Wake up, ride
more trail then spin into Seneca.

Eat a sandwich, or a pizza.  Hit the road
and climb up to the GnarlyNorthFork.
Ride the Gnarly South to North, then spin
out thru the Smokehole and start to think
about where to bed down.

Hot food options in Franklin, then out 33
and up to the Shenendoah Mtn Trail, ride
the ridgeline south to the car, sleep
somewhere along the way.

mouse clicky mapping for the GPS
tracks puts it at 220ish, so 250-260 is
in the back of my mind.  3 1/2ish days
to get it done, have previously ridden
each leg as a day long Classique, but
that was unloaded, sleeping comfortable.

route estimate & list made.


gear shuffled.


route mapped.

[DaveH]

Oh man do I ever sense some excited anticipation.  Looks like a super route too.

Looking rather analytical Tomi!

[jonesy792]

how do you like the ergon pack?

[ScottM]

    Have fun in the deep end!  Looks good.

[tomimcmillar]

Dave..heh, analytical, yeah.  trying to wrap my head around it more than anything, trying to figure out daily mileage goals, calories...what's a reasonable expectation vs the terrain being ridden, gonna be an adventure for sure!  Am leaning towards swapping up to the 20t from the 19t, if I can break both freewheels free from their respective wheels, time's running out though...

Jonesy, totally diggin' that pack.  Been using one for two summers now, bit heavier than the HAWG by about a pound, but it rides sooooo much better.  Jeff K. was super to deal with when warranty-ing a bum zipper, there was a bad batch of zips in an early run of the bags...fixed now.

Scott, fun!?.  yeah, gotta work thru the intimidation factor first, it's fun to be a green noob again....will be in touch if I get decent GPS tracks of this thing.  Gotta get some east coast representation up on the Route matrix.   

[ScottM]

Scott, fun!?.  yeah, gotta work thru the intimidation factor first, it's fun to be a green noob again....will be in touch if I get decent GPS tracks of this thing.  Gotta get some east coast representation up on the Route matrix.   

Indeed.  Would love to see a full track... get'r done!

[tomimcmillar]

bike is loaded, need to add a couple small things yet; flip flops, baggy shorts....32lbs as it sits.

rack sack stores bag & bivy, cook kit, wool top, socks, ~6lb. 
need to stuff shorts, and breakfast food in there yet.

sleep pad strapped to bars, 1lb.

frame bag holds bike stuff; (2) tubes, pump, patches, multi tool, first aid, 10' chord, zip ties, chain lube, patch box w/ small bits in it (chainring bolts, pads, chain links...).  haven't weighed it.

stem bag has lip balm, eye drops & Advil, wil be stuff w/ ride snacks.

GPS mounted on the bars.


Ergon weighed in at 11ish lbs w/ 100oz of H2O, no food. (~5-6lb dry weight)
major items:  Water filter, rain jacket, toilettries, spare batteries, camera, Skeletool, red blinky.
Will carry bulk of my food in the pack, 3 or 4 MountainHouse meals, snacks.

Electronics...will have the iPhone turned off and stashed someplace safe, also bringing along the iPod for paved spinning sanity.

[John G]

Looks awesome Tomi.

[alpka]

Tomi, what's your gearing?

[tomimcmillar]

qwik n dirty report, blog crosspost...
(gearing was 32:20, it hikes just fine.)

day 1: 
78mile (70 of it road/pave' to Spruce)
6:45am-7:45pm, 8k of climbing. 3hrs
chill spin to Monterey, then rain for 2ish
hours until the final climb up to Spruce.
$$$$pruceberries were harvested, camp
over on the Allegheny, after that damn
swim hole hike a bike.  Build a small fire.

day 2: 
7:45 am depart, 2am arrivee', 95+mile.
highlights:  Allegheny wake up, brunch
in Seneca following a pesky early morning
flat.  Hot climb up 33, Gnarl was bigtime
payoff.  Broken rack bolt dropping off the
spine tested the ziptie repair theory.
Follow that directly with a broken band
clamp, ziptie repair #2.  Exit the Gnarl
8pm. Find a spring, into the fading light
Smokehole, make Franklin 11:30pm, push
on to picnic table camp in Brandywine, 2am. 
18hrs out in it, 10kish climbing.

day 3: 
8:30 depart.  60miles covered, 7k climbed,
back at the car 10pm.  SMT from HighKnob
to DeathStar turnoff and hiking up TearJacket
were character builders for sure. Autobahn
and SMT to 10.5mile intersection were well
worth the price of admission, as always. Then
it got chilly and rained, from 6:45pm until the
subtle muted sunset around 8ish. Car wash
city down Jerkemtight, I really like my new
rain jacket, that was a looooong hour.  Found
the limits of the little EOS light for sure, fog
didn't help much.  Warmed up in the car,
drank some beer, ate some food, slept.

236mile loop.
25k of climbing.
78 in 13
98 in 18
60 in 13.5

[jonesy792]

sounds like fun

[sherpaxc]

Dude, you can't post that and not show pics.  Sounds super epic!
Tease.

[tomimcmillar]

had to set up camp one more time in the backyard to air it all out, the glamorous part of the ride... 

still sorting thru pics, posting 'em tonight... 

[tomimcmillar]

depart


country road spinnin'


first hurdle


Almost Heaven


17 to the top


bench seat view


Huckleberry intro


rocks


roots


meadows


swimmin' hole

[John G]

Nice!  Yummy Biking goodness. 

[jhl99]

I respect that climb to Spruce Knob.  I was once was on loop ATB tour and had a day that started in Stokesville,VA and ended up Spruce Knob Lake C.G.... went through Palo Alto WV... and included 3 'major' WV climbs.  

The route description is kind of tough to follow, but it looks  like from Spruce Knob you took Huckleberry out the high meadow, and then down to the falls... and then crossed Seneca Creek, and hike a bike up to Allegheny Trail?  Then Allegheny Trail down to Seneca Rocks and 33 S to North Fork Mnt and Run N Fork Mnt N to the descent near Smoke Hole. Then the county road that goes past the NF C.G. and out to 220 and then to Franklin?  I'm not that familiar with the southern parts of your route.

Here is a http://home.windstream.net/JHLange/WV_SpruceKnobRide.html day trip report around Spruce Knob

[tomimcmillar]

Day 1 in the books, 78miles covered, decent enough night's sleep, back in the saddle:

camp

Allegheny Mtn Trail

Seneca Rocks

mmmm, The NorthFork.

JUMP!  FLY!

bikes can take you places

ferny flow

found the weak link.

double oops, makes for interesting internal discussions.

which leads to riding into the night

late exit from the Smokehole, 10ish in the pm.

late night spinnin', puts the mind in an odd place.

Made it to Franklin 11:30ish, then roll on to Brandywine at midnight w/ a semi-full belly and restocked supplies.  Will make a rack based decision there, to hit the SMT, or bail?  Pick out a picnic table and bed down, 2am.

18hours out in it, 97mile covered.

tomorrow?

[tomimcmillar]

I respect that climb to Spruce Knob.  I was once was on loop ATB tour and had a day that started in Stokesville,VA and ended up Spruce Knob Lake C.G.... went through Palo Alto WV... and included 3 'major' WV climbs.  

The route description is kind of tough to follow, but it looks  like from Spruce Knob you took Huckleberry out the high meadow, and then down to the falls... and then crossed Seneca Creek, and hike a bike up to Allegheny Trail?  Then Allegheny Trail down to Seneca Rocks and 33 S to North Fork Mnt and Run N Fork Mnt N to the descent near Smoke Hole. Then the county road that goes past the NF C.G. and out to 220 and then to Franklin?  I'm not that familiar with the southern parts of your route.

Here is a http://home.windstream.net/JHLange/WV_SpruceKnobRide.html day trip report around Spruce Knob

yeah, that's pretty much it, working on the GPS stuff to submit it to Scott.  Will have an official description for the route matrix posted here sometime soon.

[jhl99]

I forgot about the hang-glider launch on N Fork Mnt Trail... nice photo.

Did your rack bolts just loosen up and fall off? 

[tomimcmillar]

lower mount sheared off flush w/ the eyelet.
opposing band clamp snapped due to odd loading induced by the zip tie flex...