No big secret …it’s been a tough winter for riding in these parts. Most of us, including myself, have spent the last couple of months going through some serious downhill withdrawals. A few weeks ago the weather finally got above freezing and the crew decided to make a break for it. We settled upon spending the day riding what some affectionately call the “Hickory Loop”.
This fabled ride starts at the top of Headley Ridge and snakes its way down a mix of tight woodsy single track and wide open double track that allows riders to clock some serious speed. A couple of nice berms and jumps are also thrown in the mix for good measure. Once you reach the bottom you load as many people and bikes as possible into a truck and head back to the top. Then you go back down. Then you load back up. Then you go back down. Then…well I think you get the idea.
We had a great crew show up take part in this mid-winter shuttle fest. Tosh, Craigory, Nate Dogg, OG, C-Los, Steve-O and I were all ready to ride. We also ended up meeting with a few other local riders during the day to make for a killer group ride. To be honest it reminded me of the old days when ten or fifteen folks would show up to rip the trails. Everybody was super stoked to be shredding and it defiantly showed through in everyone’s riding.
As the afternoon approached the ground began to thaw and we all agreed upon one last sloppy run down the hill to finish things off. By the end of the day hands, lower backs and legs were all toasted from being a tad out of shape and a hot meal was certainly at the top of everyone’s list. It’s a good thing we rode that day because the next three weekends were full of more snow and ice! My sincere apologies go out to Mother Nature for the excessive use of giant shuttle vehicles all day. I promise we’ll park the trucks make it up to you with a nice long grinder of a ride in the spring. Below are a few pictures of the ride.