Christine wanted to leave a little later than 7AM, Richard wanted to take his road bike for a few miles of pavement after the dirt ride. Tim only had a few his small and middle rings due to a bum front shifter and Keith has a squishy rear shock that makes climbing Dark Mountains average of 118 feet per mile an inefficient proposition. But we went, we saw, we conquered - each rider in his or her own way.
Accompanying our rag tag bunch of riders were Jenny Popp and Beverly Robinson of the ChampionŠ Women's Mountain Bike Racing Team. The seven of us set out for a few early-morning laps of this relatively new trail nearl the home of Merle Fest on the shores of W. Scott Kerr reservoir. Our purpose - to become familiar with the track in preparation for the May 29-30 Burn24 twenty-four hour mountain bike race.
The drive up ensured that we were truly dedicated to our cause with varying bouts of rain for the entire hour-long drive. A mere drizzle welcomed us to the parking lot just below the dam and our group began the equipment-unloading ballet that begins every ride.
After making sure that my Zeal glasses were speck free, we began the short (0.25 mile) climb up the steep doubletrack to the first bit of singletrack. With the heart rate monitors close to the set upper limits, we entered the first of 5 miles of prime moonshine country (Western North Carolina) singletrack.
For more information about Dark Mountain and Mountain Biking in Wilkes County, click here.
