Every now and then a video clip surfaces that makes you want to drop everything you’re doing and ride. Enjoy this little jewel from Devinci bikes.

Plans were made, the stars aligned, and it was on. What started off as a bunch of s#!t talking actually turned into a road trip this time. Before we knew it the end of the work day had arrived and we were on our way back to the bike park. Two trips to Snowshoe in one month you ask? Damn straight chief. Now that calls for one big ol’ Dr. Dre “hell yeah”. OG, Steve-O and me loaded up the truck and rolled out for some late season shredding up in West VA.

Because we left town so late we decided to crash out in Lewisburg Thursday night. When we hit the road Friday morning all of us were surprised by how windy and cold it was outside. The further we climbed toward the resort the further the temperature gauge dropped in OG’s truck. By the time we unloaded our gear topside we were looking at cloudy skies, 20 to 30 mph winds and temperatures down to the lower 40’s. The park had been pounded with rain for three days before our arrival and the trails were soaked to the core. We took a cautious warm up run on the Basin side and immediately knew this trip would be full of low speed technical runs. Tire pressures were dropped in an effort to gain extra traction and all of us had to employ a light touch on the brakes to prevent the wheels from locking up and washing out. I hadn’t ridden in conditions this sketchy since our little slop-fest at Sugar earlier this summer. In short, we all got our asses handed to us at least once during this session. We spent the rest of the day running the most technical trail combinations we could think of and, in a kind of twisted way, enjoyed riding some of the trails we usually skipped during past trips. A to K, B to I, C to J, M to O, D and E…you name it and we rode it all at least once. There was a race scheduled for Sunday so the course (on trail P) was open for practice runs. By the time we finished the race course our bikes were caked with mud so thick that it looked like we were running tires without any tread. Hats off to the racers, especially the ones who don’t get paid, that were pinning it down the course under these seriously sloppy conditions. The bike park patrol let us duck the ropes for one final shred down the hill and with that day one was over. We wrapped up the evening with our traditional post ride spaghetti dinner, poppin’ bottles of Yuengling and back to back episodes of OG’s favorite television show: Gangland.

In terms of the weather, day two was a sparkling jewel. Pure blue skies, no wind and abundant sunshine had us all anxious to buy our lift tickets and hit the trail. We reserved this day for the Western Territory. While still sketchy in some areas, conditions had improved noticeably from the previous day. Expanding on day one’s theme we headed straight for the rock gardens. World Cup, Upper Hare Ball, 5 Year Back and Quick Draw were all repeat offenders for most of the day. In fact, we ended up taking only one run down the groomed trails the entire day. There is nothing like holding on for dear life down Lower Hare Ball while water is running through the middle of the trail to get your stomach tied in knots and your hands shaking. After OG led us down what seemed like impending doom we began a demented game of picking the wickedest rock garden combinations we could think of. Each one of us took turns leading the others down some serious beat-down terrain. By the end of the day my bottom bracket, cranks and chain were toast, Steve-O’s derailleur cable was completely shredded and OG’s pedal was about to fall off.The fact that I could barely lift my bike off of the shuttle trailer told me that mission Beat Down had been fully accomplished. We rolled back to the condo and mowed through some left over spaghetti. Then we headed out to the village to check out an old school dual slalom race under the lights. It was an informal race with a winner takes all cash prize. Old school rap blasted out of the PA system as spectators drank free Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest while heckling the racers that zoomed past in everything from serious race gear to full on chicken costumes. The atmosphere was lighthearted and laid back with both the crowd and the racers having a great time. One final beer at the Foxfire Grill and we were straight up exhausted.

All good times must come to an end and reluctantly we packed up the gear early Sunday morning and left under a blanket of fog. As fate would have it we timed our trip just right as the next wave of wet weather rolled in. Another killer weekend of ripping trails was in the books!

The boys from Gastonia have been putting the trails at Wilson’s in heavy rotation on their play list lately. A few weeks ago they gave us gave a shout and asked us if we wanted to join them for a good ol’ fashioned all day trail ride. An all day group ride at Wilson’s? Of course the answer to that was a resounding “hell yeah!” Plans were finalized in a flurry of e-mails and text messages. Before we knew it Sunday’s big ride had arrived.
Roll call for this outing was as follows: Wes, Jake, Nick, Glen, Guido, Morris, OG, Steve-O, Little Carlos, Ronnie and yours truly were all in attendance. It was the first time some of the fellas had made it up to sample the healthy selection of killer single track that Wilson’s has to offer. The parking lot at the dirt mounds was slam full with the buzz of folks loading gear and fine tuning bikes before the ride. The excitement was straight up contagious and all of us were feeling the vibe.
We settled upon a warm up shuttle run down Headly Ridge to start things off. Usually we tack Headly on to the end of the day if we have spare time but it actually felt good to hit this trail with a fresh set of legs for once. Having the energy to throw the bike around and hit some of the larger gaps was a great way to start the day. Little Carlos caught a bad one and wrecked pretty hard on the way down. A severely twisted knee meant the day had to end early for him. Luckily he was in good enough shape to drive home for a doctor’s visit and some rest. It was a reminder to us all that even if you’ve ridden a trail a hundred times you still need to keep your head in the game.
Stoked off a nice long drop in elevation we loaded up the trucks and headed back up for the main event: Raspberry to Greentown to Beehive. It’s a nice mix of screaming fast downhill and extended climbs topped of with a shot of Beehive’s deliciously gnarly rock gardens at the end. We couldn’t have picked a better weekend in terms of trail conditions. Everything was fast and in good shape. The Gastonia boys showed off their great trail riding skills and dialed in a few trailside repairs throughout the day. When everything was said and done I couldn’t decide if we had more fun riding or talking s#!t the whole time! Major props go out to everyone for hooking it up and making this an awesome ride. The day ended with several serious cases of single track perma-grin and rounds of exhausted high fives. Below are some pictures of the crew in action.