Lake Moomaw & Jackson River Trail (Hot Springs, VA)

Pedaling a rail-to-trail for my birthday weekend has become a favorite tradition. Originally, it was enjoyed by my wife & myself, plus my mother and her husband. Eventually, though, my brother and his girlfriend decided to join us for the ride. Each year I try to find a new section of crushed-gravel trail to enjoy. This time I landed on the Jackson River Trail near Lake Moomaw in Hot Springs, VA.



Since the trail is so conveniently situated near Lake Moomaw, we decided to tow my jet ski and my stepfather's boat. On friday we spent the day exploring the coves and small islands of the lake, sipping drinks and floating on tubes in the warm sun.



I'd just finished epoxying footholds into my 2012 Superjet, topped off with gray Hydroturf and neon splatter paint to match my '88 650sx.



The ski ran flawlessly and I was even able to coerce my brother into giving it a spin.





The next day we drove to the Natural Well Trailhead, about a quarter of the way down the 14 mile trail. From there we headed to the southern end of the trail, stopping every now and then to take in the scenery and watch the flowing Jackson River as it wound through the woods below us.



We reached the end of the trail in Covington, took a short break for water, then turned around to retrace the 10.5 miles we'd pedaled. On our way back, we dismounted to walk to the swinging bridge.



We'd planned on continuing north to the start of the trail, then back to the cars, but by the time we were back at the Natural Well Trailhead we'd decided we'd rather head back to the AirBnb to dip our feet in the creek while sipping on a cold beer - so we did!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Follow

VCHSS Peninsula Classic (Dinwiddie, VA)

After the supermoto race at VIR, it was time to reconfigure the YZ250. I swapped number plates and wheels, then fitted a new kickstand to the moto. The bike came with Cycra Powerflow plastics, so I had a second set of graphics from SKDA to apply to those parts as well. Within a day, though, the bike was ready for the dirt!

I'd missed a couple VCHSS races (one was during the supermoto), but wanted to make sure to get to this stop, as its venue was only about a thirty minute drive from downtown Richmond. I pulled into the Virginia Motorsports Park around 9am on Sunday, finding some friends to park near. After registration, it was a short ride to the start line where we scoped some of the "moto-style" jumps we'd see for the first time on lap one.

It was obvious that the open sections would be particularly dusty, as we kicked up the silt just walking on them.

As we watched the earlier classes leave the line, my friend Lory & I realized that they were allowing for live-engine starts. When it was our time to go, our entire line started their engines and awaited the green flag. As per usual, I let everyone beat me off the line, immediately losing sight of the ground in a cloud of dust.

As we rounded the first turn, fallen riders emerged from the dust - proof that the holeshot just wasn't worth the effort.

Once in the woods, the logjams began. For some reason (perhaps the tightness of trees), this event seemed to be more prone to congestion. I made my way past a few slower riders, but for most of the first lap we all just simply had to adopt the pace of the slowest rider since room to pass was nonexistent.

Eventually we spread out some, but my intermittent stalls dropped me back into the traffic a couple more times.

After three laps, I saw the checkered flag. My friend Lory was in the front of the pack, so he was able to complete the entire four-lap race, netting a fifth place finish.

During the break between races, I'm going to fit the Rekluse clutch to the YZ in order to eliminate the stalls and hopefully remove one more excuse I have for finishing near the end of our class!



Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Follow