somewhere in New England last weekend,
swiped as usual from here

TS Danny

interesting rule

all these kids got many long bodyboard rides, and incessant ridiculous pummeling in the shorebreak day after day. by the end of the week, Hayes was fearlessly paddling the shorebreak on his bodyboard and getting thrashed on a building day at the lighthouse (yeah, we know we're not the most responsible parents...).

S-turns, on our way off the island,
there were lots of long lenses, and a few surfers out,
great pics will show up soon
it looked cleaner than anything from Bill

time to clean my bike from WV, remember which parts need to be replaced, cram some SM-100 training into this week.
after what feels like a week of cobra-pose, I'm heady to hunch over my handlebars all day next weekend.

Fri morning, not looking too good at the house, east winds at 5mph. We'll head up to the lighthouse again. Gusty 25-39 mph winds later, but, tomorrow says west winds at 12mph. That could make for some good stuff, so we may stick around another day.

Broke a fin on my way in from the lighthouse yesterday. Luckily, that was an easy $16 fix. As I paddled in yesterday, a tall, tanned, frantic woman came up to me saying something about "the worst fear a mother can have". She got a call from the school (which started here on Monday) that her kid and his friend were not at school. She was afraid, and she checked the lighthouse straightaway. Her son and his buds were some of the crew dominating the peak and throwing the airs. She said she didn't know what to do, that these were "honors kids" who never skipped school. She asked me to paddle back out and tell them to come in. I couldn't help but laugh, and suggested she walk out on the jetty as far as she could and glare at them a while, and embarrass them in front of their crew. "...Yea dude, and then your mom walked out on the jetty and jerked your ass.....". I couldn't help but laugh when she needed help. I mean, this was not the first time at the peak for these kids. They knew what they were doing. Mom may have to get used to a new routine here....

thursday

still no photos from me
this one was taken north of here, but we had the same conditions this morning,
wasn't breaking at home, so Todd and I drove up to Buxton early again,
it was glassy, and looked pretty good, bigger than home, but not too much
there was a tight pack at the peak on the jetty
then a big open gap, then another another bigger pack off to the south,
I paddled out pretty easily in the gap, which I figured must be a channel, otherwise, why wouldn't guys be sitting in it catching waves.

the guys on the peak were pretty much getting tubed on every drop-in, then whipping off 2 or 3 off the tops, and an occasional air to end it. an older, bald longboarder was catching them way outside and riding them all the way in for about 100 yards.
the waves weren't as good off to the south for the big pack, and not too much was coming through the channel
still, I stayed in the gap, content to just sit there and wait as I drifted closer to the peak and jetty.
after a few unremarkable rides, a beauty comes right to me. no one else was close enough to chase it, sort of a peaky A-frame just for me. A niice long right, toward the jetty with a small turn or two on the open face. I couldn't believe I caught a good wave in that crowd. As I paddled back out, Todd just shook his head, laughed, and said, "....man, that thing came right at you....". The end of that wave put me much closer to the peak, so I kinda just hung out there for a while to see if something else would come my way and tried to stay outtta the way of the more skilled crew.

nice ones were being ridden all around me and I chased a few and got in the way a couple times too. I found myself sitting inside some of the shortboarders, which usually isn't smart, especially close to the peak.
then another beaut comes right at me, too far inside for several other guys who chased it, and it was all me again. another nice long right, as I headed toward the jetty and started to kick out, I saw the wave hit some backwash and jack up into a small tube. If I hadn't kicked out, I'd have been in that tube and woulda kicked out real close to the jetty. oh well, no barrels this year..... only a few good rides to keep the hook set....

swell from Danny was supposed to start filling in today, but we haven't seen it yet. unfortunately. the winds from Danny will arrive too. so, Friday will probably be blown out, and we may head out of here a day earlier.

Something funny I learned about surf reports back in the phone-in days. When they were late, the surf was usually good. Not that it was really that good here, but something I could make. For Todd, it sucked, too weak and gutless for his 5'10 fish. Still really hard to make, and not that steep. Had to take off late every time to even catch it. Very little face time unless you could really get the board up to speed paddling in; or you weighed under 100lbs.

No pics, haven't had the pixel-grabber with me.

tomorrow says a foot or two bigger with good west winds.
then the wind switches as the surf builds from Danny and the winds come onshore.
So, tomorrow might be the last day to surf?

for those following my attempt at surf journalism this week.....read on...

A nice feature story on the surf from Bill up and down the east coast.

some great shots from New England, where they have the coastline nooks and crannies to handle a big swell. Seems like it was a one and done for all the spots, as Bill moved quickly.

I'm curious where that bridge shot was taken? That photog was shooting where we were at Rodanthe, and it's nowhere around there. Or maybe it's Oregon Inlet bridge from an odd angle that shows it looking like two spans?

Rodanthe again

most people here can actually surf
many others have decent cameras and this is some of their work
both swiped from Surfline

both of these shots are from Rodanthe yesterday, about the time that Barry and I were there.

it was onshore again here at the house so we drove up with Barry on his way off the island and went out there where it was side-offshore. we made the paddle this time, drifted a long long way, and took off on a few waves. I caught one, a small decent one, and got worked on the takeoff on all the others. my arms, shoulders, and back are so worked from the paddling, and it feels good to stretch the body in the opposite direction for a few days. a few weeks of this and my cyclist hunch would be mostly gone

I managed to take this one near the house

Todd arrives tomorrow with his family and quiver,
he surfs well, and would've had no problems tearing into the past 2 days

Bill day + 1

enjoying this unsecured network here,
I'm taking pics, I might as well post them here, I have no other outlet,
shitty camera, heavily cropped and adjusted to try to eek out a viewable image

this wreck either just became uncovered, or was pushed ashore a couple hundred yards down from the house

nice waves 30-miles away, around the bend at S-turns,
too much for us
didn't even try to attempt another paddle out on longboards
been here 2 full days. caught squat, and tomorrow looks like more south winds

Bill day

lots of boards on cars

not many in the water,
unorganized closeouts,
lots of water moving around
no grooming happening from that long period bit
decent winds, but no one out at the lighthouse,
i have to think the locals with 4-WD knowledge found a protected pocket somewhere

saw on the Weather Channel people getting good waves in OC, MD and Cape Cod and thought I was missing something, so headed up to the light to see.

3 guys were out, one caught a couple waves with a lot of waiting and positioning

you can barely see the surfer human if clicky

Victory at Sea

12 feet at 15 seconds. That's big, and sounding a lot like true ground swell. Rare for these parts. High tides at 8:30 AM and 8:30 PM. The road will overwash in Rodanthe and probably be closed for a while. Barry may get stuck in Nags Head until after low tide and the plows get in and get the road back open.

Should be offshore winds for a couple days, could be epic for those who can get out.

old skool

weird Wild

a very small turnout for what might've been the last orienteering-style Wild 100. And, as Buchness delicately put it, it was also the "worst course ever". The course checkpoints were unusual in several ways and I didn't mind a bit.

as I rode the long, mostly flat and uper gnary Red Run Trail into CP-1, I was curious why no one ahead of me was coming back out to get to CP-2. Finally, as I almost made it to CP-1, two other guys were coming back out of it. I spent a bit more time than necessary at 1 staring at the map trying to think of good reasons not to backtrack. Many other racers rolled in while I waited, all of them continued on down the trail, not back-tracking. There were at least 3 other ways to get to CP-2, and they were all shorter on trails. Looking at the map, you'd never think what I did from 1-2 made any sense. The route I took isn't even all shown on that map above. But it worked. I was the 5th person to hit CP-2, only 30 minutes behind Benji & Jonathon, and 15 behind the two other guys who backtracked ahead of me. Buchness rolled in to 2, having done a big climb that I didn't have to do, as well as a hike-a-bike. We left toward CP-3 together and both overshot it. He turned back sooner as I confidently and stupidly rode on an extra few miles, compounding my map reading error. By the time I found CP-3, I was the 9th person in.

Leaving 3, seeing all the other riders behind me approaching 3, I could tell that my finish position for the day was finalized. Unless I broke something, there was no way anyone would catch me, and there were no more real decisions or trail choices to make. The rest of the way was pretty straightforward and on the easy side. Well, easy, other than climbing up Tea Creek Mountain Trail in the wrong direction... That was certainly no fun.

I opted for the Plus category with the extra checkpoint thrown in to race with Buchness and Quigley and get some extra miles to start my SM-100 training. It was a small field this year, maybe only 30-40 people overall.

good news: Gil got a lot of feedback about his idea to abandon the orienteering bit, I think the Wild will remain the same, though with no bushwhacking at Forest Service's request.

olddogsnorestnewtricks

A lof of driving lately, with a lot more on the near horizon. Was laying down on the couch yesterday after returning from VA, trying to get a shorty nap before dinner. Thinking about the Wild this weekend; the cleaned but unreplaced brake cable, the un-cleaned bike, my stiff neck, the drive. and the next week. Oliver comes in and lays down with me and says "...I'm bored, you're bored, why don't we go to the skate park"? I think, 2 days before a big race? Sure, let's go see if can learn some new tricks.

We take bikes & skates, I borrow the neighbor's 20" out of his garage again. I can now say I've ridden a bike in a 1/2-pipe. That taller section shown above is carvable back & forth like a smooth berm. Hurts the legs a lot more than the pump track for some reason. Also learned the manual-to-hop up that small platform onto the ramp. At this rate, by age 50, I'll be able to do what's routine for a 12-year old.

We met the local old-man skater expert (who is responsible for the skate park) as he was finishing up the end of a skateboard class for kids. He and his crew travel on Sundays to various parks with pools and bowls. He loaned me a board so I didn't have to try the longboard on the pipe. I can still ride a pipe, though only in the backside direction. Tried a few frontside turns and ended up on the deck a couple times with some ramp burns.

Wondering what I'll learn at the Wild?? Maybe how to find Gay Knob for the last time?

What we think of the new Dolly Sods North Wilderness.
As Joe says, Bombs are Better than Bikes.

copyright Single Speed Outlaw 2009

Spruce Knob - just Grand, for now

Huckleberry Trail

the destination trail
from 4840' down to 3085' in about 6 miles

Judy Springs Trail,
I like to ride this after dropping most of Huckleberry.
It's hard to leave a mile of Huckleberry on the table, but the view.....

pretty easy to find your way around with all these sign and map thingys all over the place.

climbing Big Run Trail

Needed to see a lot more of these signs, on the trails specifically. It's hard to be a happy member of the hiker-biker-horser triad after seeing what we just saw.

check out the Sinks of Gandy while you're there too.
but, get there soon....

GW / North Mountain

Orange love

8 miles of ridgetop with a 1300 foot drop onto the road a mile from my dad's place.
the 1200' Orkney Springs descent was less than stellar,
the top 80% of it was on an old FS road and a gasline. no wonder this trail got "built" and added to the map so quickly. the bottom mile or so was pretty good

the ridge trail (North Mountain) was part of the GET,
wonder why the northern section wasn't signed like this?

thanks for the call

I got a voice mail from Buck about a session about 4 hours from then at his buddy's new backyard plaything. I have to say, I'd been a little intimidated just by his description of this track. Seriously. I didn't have a small-wheel bike, which this track really needs, I wasn't feeling 100%, and I thought I was having my menses, so I just needed to think of an excuse not to go.

I borrowed my neighbor's 20" GT, changed my wet panties, and hit the road thinking I was pretty cool driving up Interstate 81 with a BMX bike in the back of the wagon. Like, I shoulda been doing this at age 17, not 3o years later....

By far the most challenging pump track I've ridden (which is all of 4 of them..). It's not challenging in making it around without pedalling. The hard part is making it around without grabbing brake, and not looping out of the track into the fence. Like Raystown; speed control is it.

These boys were throwin' down. Floating, gapping, and manualling all over it. I was pretty content to work on smoothness and just stay on dirt. Got a few baby manuals late in the game to stoke the ego a hair.

Bonus was hitting Al's beer & pizza and catching Withers and Skippy there after their ride. Stone's 13th Anniversary Ale, Ten-Fidy, and Racer 5 all on tap.
a damn fine Tuesday evening.

roundup

The Franklin 225 is coming later this month to Chambersburg. Celebrates the 225th anniversary of this county. A weekend of big road riding.

*****

Do you know who Marla Streb is?
Did you know she's a graduate of Mount Saint Mary's College?
Did you know her firm is contracted by the University to build an IMBA stacked loop trail system with trailheads at the town park and the university?


View Larger Map

*****

In other news, and in my little opinion, this is one of the most important developments in mountain biking recently. Singletrack trail was built here in a National Park by Rich & Dan. Yes, a National Park, similar to Shenandoah or Catoctin. Same thing in a Pennsylvania State Park thanks to the Laurel Hills club.

*****

The next 5 weeks will be busy season. Trips to the sticky green Slatyfork, Cape Hatteras, Great North Mountain, and Spruce Knob will all be capped off at the Stokesville bash.