Let's do it, she said. It will be fun, she said. And this is her saying this now. But you know what? It was fun! Challenging, maybe a bit on the crazy side, but fun!! Would we do it again? Yesterday we said no. Today we're saying maybe. So what was "it"? The Tail Chaser 250 is a 250 km ride primarily through Henderson and Transylvania counties on paved and unpaved roads. The entry fee goes to supporting the local Boys and Girls club so it was money well spent. Saturday morning started with breakfast at Oscar Blues Reeb Ranch. Breakfast was very good.
They even had one of those new fangled automatic floor cleaners going around the place. Every scrap expertly cleaned up on the spot.
One of our favorite roads was Neddy Mountain heading toward's Charlies Creek..
Another great road was Pinnacle Mountain. It starts out with nice twisty pavement like the photo below.
And then transforms into a nice gravel road. You have no idea you are being lulled into a fresh hell.
Now for the fresh hell. You have been lured into the point of no return. Cameras and Video never do a hills steepness any justice. The same goes for ruts in the road. When we arrived at this hill, somewhere near the lead pack of riders, there was one rider at the bottom contemplating his line, one halfway up the visible portion of the hill trying to turn around after spinning out, and one rider off to the right further up just contemplating the day. We went around the stopped rider, off to the right of the rider heading back down, and lost momentum. I figured i'd have to try to turn around a 538 pound bike on the side of a steep and loose rock hill. Our GS, by the way, has Anakee IIIs on it. Given that option I tried one other thing first. Susan dismounted and I just attempted an uphill start. The tire spun maybe a half revolution and HOOKED UP. Now all i had to do was keep everything pointed uphill for another 150 feet. Oh yeah, and cross a rut that was almost a half tire deep and cross angled to the slope. Yippiee! Looks easy in the pic. It stopped dedicated dual-sport bikes!!
(and now to stop and go to Part II less I lose everything like I did a few minutes ago.)
They even had one of those new fangled automatic floor cleaners going around the place. Every scrap expertly cleaned up on the spot.
One of our favorite roads was Neddy Mountain heading toward's Charlies Creek..
Another great road was Pinnacle Mountain. It starts out with nice twisty pavement like the photo below.
And then transforms into a nice gravel road. You have no idea you are being lulled into a fresh hell.
Now for the fresh hell. You have been lured into the point of no return. Cameras and Video never do a hills steepness any justice. The same goes for ruts in the road. When we arrived at this hill, somewhere near the lead pack of riders, there was one rider at the bottom contemplating his line, one halfway up the visible portion of the hill trying to turn around after spinning out, and one rider off to the right further up just contemplating the day. We went around the stopped rider, off to the right of the rider heading back down, and lost momentum. I figured i'd have to try to turn around a 538 pound bike on the side of a steep and loose rock hill. Our GS, by the way, has Anakee IIIs on it. Given that option I tried one other thing first. Susan dismounted and I just attempted an uphill start. The tire spun maybe a half revolution and HOOKED UP. Now all i had to do was keep everything pointed uphill for another 150 feet. Oh yeah, and cross a rut that was almost a half tire deep and cross angled to the slope. Yippiee! Looks easy in the pic. It stopped dedicated dual-sport bikes!!
(and now to stop and go to Part II less I lose everything like I did a few minutes ago.)
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