A Good Cure for Vacations

Not even 12 hours after getting out of the car from vacation, H. and I were back to business. H. and Hannah on their way to Auburntown for a horse show while Officer 8Ball and I were gearing up to hit the N/S trail at LBL. It's usually best when faced with a week and a half of non-activity and an ailing ankle tendon to just jump right back into long arduous rides. Even better when done after being away from home and having minimal food supplies (2 powerbars, 2 pieces of licorice, and a beef jerky for 8 hours of effort) and money for said trip.


Waking up to no breakfast options I sipped on my last ensure alongside some coffee. The ensure was to be my midway feast on the ride, but I was starving. By 10:45am breakfast had worn off and a quesadilla from the local grill and chill tied me over as we drove up to the Land Between the Lakes. Mike and I were wanting to change up the ride some. Instead of riding early in the am and finishing the ride in the hottest portion of the day, we decided to start out in the hottest portion of the day then enjoy dusk/night riding for the return trip. We definitely nailed that, 90ish degrees with 900% humidity is always fun. Sad part is that I think the humidity level raised even higher as the sun fell. It was like riding in a pouring rain without the mud, we were sopping wet but our bikes' bearings didn't have to suffer.

A typical trail start with 8ball, get a few hundred feet in and stop to adjust the EBB. Luckily this was the only mechanical for the day, aside from a stick briefly derailing my chain.

I'm a huge fan of out and back trail systems like the N/S or the Womble. They offer a different feeling and flow than the local loop trails. Despite ORAMM, SWANK65, and the Snake seeming to be much tougher terrain, the N/S out and back never fails to not kick you deep into the pain cave. Perhaps it's because once you reach the length of Swank or Snake in terms of mileage and time, you still have 30+ miles to go.


The trail has been getting rougher and rougher each time I head out. Most has to do with lake flooding and a bit of fall line trail. Baby heads cover the ups and downs as well as the lower bay nooks. Deep sand and old dead fall make the legs feel dead in some portions, but 70% or so of the trail is fast and fun, albeit chattery.

Lay off the steroid donuts. This bridge collapsed as beefcake here was walking across it. (not really, the spidermonkey move is required to cross it)

A bit before the North turnaround point, we paused to watch the boat races. Some were getting up to 140-160 mph!

A point to point trail offers the rider the feeling of being alone in the wilderness. You don't hear chainslap from riders elsewhere on the loop or frequently cross paths with anyone. Pretty much just you, your bike, and wildlife. We passed some huge bobcat footprints, a toyota stuck axle deep in the mud, 3 snakes (2 massively huge copperheads at night), a boat trailer parked across the trail, and 2 rednecks having safe sex in the woods just off the trail. How do I know they were having safe sex? They still had their life jackets on.


We got 2ish hours of excellent night riding in out of 8 hours/64 miles of bike fun. The lack of calories taken in and the 35x18 gearing was putting a toll on me, but I managed to ride solidly and still have fun. Since the only potable source for water is at the North end, I mounted up the clamp on 3rd bottle mount that gRant gave me. In it I placed the water bottle battery for my headlamp. 2 24oz water bottles in their normal holders and a 1.5L platypus foldable water bladder was carried in my Epic Designs frame bag along with food, lights, and spare tubes. This was the longest off-road ride I've done with the frame bag. It solidified my love of carrying the weight on the bike vs the body. It worked perfectly and is quick and easy to get into and out. gRant had told me when I ordered my Moots that I should get the 3rd water bottle bosses, but I said "nay". Upon delivery of our Moots frames, he again told me I'd regret not getting the 3rd water bottle bosses. Again I said "nay".

Well, it would be pretty nice to have them, but I'll not say I should have because, like Dicky, I derive joy from saying gRant was wrong, but not as much fun as drinking beer with Peter (I'd say drinking beer with Dicky but we all know he just holds the empties).