Stokesville, VA

Nearly every time I walk into the shop at work, I glance up at my rooftop tent perched high atop an industrial shelf - just begging to be taken down and mounted on top of the car. This weekend, I did just that!

With my wife traveling to Tennessee to visit her brother, I had four days to spend however I chose. The destination for a single-overnight trip would be Stokesville Campground on the edge of the George Washington National Forest.

My dog Ruprecht and I headed west on a beautiful Thursday morning, catching the first blooms of the trees lining 64 West.



By midday, we had reached our campsite and I began setting up the tent and awning.



Around 2pm I chose my route, a modified circuit pulled from the Stokesville 60k route on mtbProject.





The ride was phenomenal, with long climbs on gravel roads followed by blistering descents on singletrack. After roughly 25 miles on the saddle, I was reunited with the old boy.



That night, I made a fire and heated a smoked sausage to share with my grateful companion!

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VA Highlands Horse Trail (Damascus, VA)

When my buddy Whit mentioned a trail he knew of in Southwest Virginia that was open to motorcycles from October through April 1st, we quickly began looking at our calendars for a possible weekend trip to the area before it was off-limits.



Although the trails are open to our motorized vehicles before April 1st, most campsites are closed at that time of year. Luckily, though, I found that the New River Trail State Park opened a few days earlier than most.



The site was beautiful, with easy access to the river for help in cleaning cookware and an occasional dip in the chilly water after a day out exploring.

Whit and I arrived on Thursday to setup camp and gather firewood, and were met by Art & Nick later that night.

On Friday we chose to hike The Channels since waiting until Saturday to explore the popular route would likely result in overcrowding.



Whit and I dropped off the other two members of our group at the main parking lot, which was full, then headed to an alternate pull-off which required 4WD to access. Once out of the vehicle, Whit and I trudged up a fairly overgrown route to meet the other two at the summit. We then explored one of the two "channels" between rocks before heading back to the truck.



Saturday was the main event - a roughly 100-mile loop on the VA Highlands Horse Trail and Iron Mountain Trail!



A 45-minute section of twisty roads led us to the entrance of the trail. It was a relatively calm double-track trail with stream crossings every once-in-a-while. Nick, our least experienced rider, had never experienced such challenges. He was also a bit handicapped by his motorcycle, a Triumph Scrambler with smaller wheels, less supple suspension, and shorter ground clearance. He was a good sport, though, and gave the trail his best shot.



Eventually, the slippery rocks got the best of him and toppled rider and bike in one of the water crossings. Our group jumped into action to lift his moto and get him out of the water - once again in motion after a minute or so.



At some point we decided that our pace was not quick enough, so we split into two groups - one on gravel roads and another on the double-track trail for a section of the loop. We reconnected at Hurricane Campground and high-tailed it to Damascus for a late lunch.



After lunch, Art & I decided to tackle the Iron Mountain Trail while Whit & Nick rode gravel and asphalt back to our campsite.



I was nursing a slow leak in my front tire, adding air every few minutes or so. Eventually Art and I decided to get off the trail since this method of adding air was eventually going to bite us in the asses.

Back on the road, I made a few turns on the twisty asphalt before again feeling the tire sink. We pulled over and installed a new tube. Although the swap went relatively quickly, I didn't feel like a return to the trail was a wise decision, since even asphalt roads all the way back wouldn't get us back to camp before 8pm or so.

Art and I straightened the curves and tore ass back toward the New River Trail State Park, only to catch Whit & Nick at a T-intersection. Reunited, we decided to grab dinner on the road before finishing the ride back as a group.



Just before we pulled into the campsite, the sun was creating an orange-glow beneath a beautiful crescent moon (not pictured, unfortunately).

Once back at camp, we lit one last fire to warm us as we downed a couple beers and reminisced about the day's adventure.

On Sunday, Whit and I trailered back three of the motos, Nick decided to ride home via the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Art visited his folks in Harrisonburg. We were all back in Richmond by nightfall and eager to try to "conquer" the route next year with a bit more planning and experience under our belts.



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Valley of Fire State Park, Utah

After two days in the snow, I headed back to Vegas with a stop planned at the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.



After a drive on their scenic loop, I departed the rental car and set out to complete the Pinnacles Loop on foot.



About a mile into the hike, I decided my feet could withstand the rocky terrain and stashed my AF1's under a rock.



The views of the rock formations were amazing!



About two thirds of the way into the loop, my feet were beginning to feel a bit tender. A couple missteps on thorns didn't help either. Despite the pain, I carefully made my way to the end of the loop, then the extra mile or so to retrieve my shoes.



When all was said and done, I'd added roughly two miles to the 4.8 mile loop, checking my Strava App once back to the pavement, which had logged 6.6 miles in total.





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Brian Head, Utah

Another trip to Vegas meant another trip to Brian Head, Utah!



The conditions this time were markedly better than last, with snow clouds passing between blue skies all day on Thursday, then heavy snowfall all day on Friday.



Despite the heavy snowfall, strong winds laid bare some of the connector trails between Brian Head's two peaks, so some of the trails were actually closed.



I spent Thursday soaking up the sun and riding out-of-bounds. Eventually, I went a bit too far skier's right and ended up in a neigborhood beside the resort. Eventually I made it out of the woods and simply walked back to the lift to sneak in one more run before the end of the day.



On Friday the snow was nonstop, which made staying out in it a bit of a challenge. I was able to complete about a dozen runs before calling it a day.



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SXCS Hangover Harescramble (Wicomico MX & ATV)

It was time to knock the cobwebs off the YZ (and myself) to take part in the Hangover Harescramble!



Although the weather has been all over the place (evidenced by riding the stand-up three times in December!), this weekend had returned to typical winter temperatures in the upper thirties. With that in mind, I layered beneath my riding gear and donned some warmer gloves for the event.



Since we're in the offseason, the event is extremely popular due to it being the sole opportunity to ride for many of us. In my line there were THIRTY-NINE racers!

Although my Yamaha is kick-starting much better now that I've replaced the fuel pump, I still fully expect to be the last off the line - which was the case this time as well. Still, I slowly worked through the pack of riders and found myself in 7th place by the end of the second lap.



On the third lap I turned a corner to find a tree right in the middle of my intended path! I was thrown from the bike, but managed to get back on and running relatively quickly. Later in the same lap, my bike stalled due to hard braking, which set me back a few seconds as well. With those two setbacks, I lost a position and ended the fourth lap in 8th, which was still a great result considering the gigantic field I was within.





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Moto/MTB Weekend (Stanardsville, VA)

A few offroad trips on the KTM's supermoto wheels went surprisingly well, but when the VA Highlands Horse Trail opened for the season I decided to swap back to dual-sport wheels and tires.



As the weekend approached, however, Whit and I decided to postpone the long drive to those trails. The drive is almost five hours long and neither of us could afford to take off more time from work to make the drive worth it. Instead, we chose to venture about an hour and a half from home, landing at our friend's farm in Stanardsville.



On Friday, we loaded up my trailer with two motos and two mountain bikes and hitched the collection of wheels to Whit's Lexus GX for the weekend trip. We took our time getting to the farm on Friday, stopping for dinner in Orange, VA.



The next morning we unloaded the motos and followed our friend Chris into Stanardsville's downtown for breakfast, before setting off into the hills to explore.







We quickly found gravel and explored for a few hours before Whit's GS began making a slight ticking noise. We decided to end the ride early to avoid any possible damage to his motorcycle. We retreated to the farm, spent some time relaxing there, then set off in his truck to explore around the area. We did hit a small snag when a tire blew, but we had the spare on relatively quickly and even made it to a tire shop to have an appropriately-sized tire fit onto the rim. Once back at the farm, we grilled some bratwursts and watched the cinematic classics "The Wraith" and "Tremors" before calling it.

On Sunday, Whit and I packed up most of our gear before loading the mountain bikes into Chris's truck and heading to Blue Ridge School.



The three of us had a blast on the trails, sliding around many of the corners due to a thick layer of fallen leaves covering the ground.

After the ride, we returned to complete the final loading of bikes back onto the trailer and headed back east, with plans to complete our original trip [to Virginia Highlands Horse Trail] in early Spring before the trails close again for the summer.

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VCHSS - Pipsico

In an effort to finish up my Skoolie project (3+ years so far), I've sat out the majority of VCHSS races this season, only making it to three thus far.

I suppose I've been a bit lax on riding my mountain bike also, and I think those losses in physical stamina were on full display this weekend.

Although I did catch the 1st place rider near the end of the first lap (which was run as a "double-lap" as we circumvented the start/finish line initially), I was well-aware that my arms and legs were beginning to feel heavy.

I knew I'd need to stay alert most of the race, though, since the dry conditions meant deep silt were piling up, concealing hidden obstacles underneath. I typically attempt to stay seated during these races to conserve energy, but this course did not allow for that luxury.



For nearly the entire second lap, I attempted to pass Mike, the rider in first place. Eventually, we caught traffic which made the pass even more unlikely. I had made the choice to divert from Mike's line whenever he attempted to get around the traffic, in the hopes of passing him (whether or not that meant I got ahead of the traffic). At one of the hillclimbs he went left, so I chose to go right. That was a BIG mistake, as that option was clearly the long way through. I not only stayed behind the traffic, but slipped into third place as our other class competitor, Tim had caught us both.

I eventually made it back to the two of them, but then a root hidden under deep silt turned my wheel and sent me into a tree. I flew over the bars, smashing my thigh on the way over.

When I got off the ground I spent a moment just making sure my leg could hold weight before hopping back on the bike.

Not much of that lap was left, and my leg was throbbing, so I decided to simply finish out the race without another fall.



I stood most of the last lap, as bending my leg meant a possible cramp. That lap was when I realized just how out-of-shape I'd become. It was rather hard to stay in the upright stance, but I made it to the end without issue, finishing in third place about a minute and a half behind Tim, who'd overtaken Mike.

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