Snowshoe/Slatyfork - A Ride Report in 4 Parts

Just got back from a couple of days in WV with my brother JJ, so here's a not so quick ride report in 4 parts.

Part 1 - A well maintained bike is a quiet bike (which can be a very
good thing)...

We got to snowshoe on Tuesday evening, had dinner and settled in and planning our first ride on Wednesday morning. Up early on wednesday, we picked up our trail passes and headed out to do a ride that we enjoyed last year, cheat mountain ridge to the fire tower, then down 6000 steps to the lake. The mountain bike trails at snowshoe are laid out with the "cross country" trails on the main skiing side of the mountain and at the silver creek area just down the road, and the "downhill" trails on the other side of the mountain (the "Western Territory").

Cheat mountain ridge is a fun, mostly flat trail that runs out around the valley to the opposite side on a mix of gravel and twisty, rooty singletrack through evergreen forest. About 3/4 of the way around, JJ froze and told me to stop. He'd just seen a black bear lumbering down the trail about 30' ahead of us. The bear didn't see us and we very quickly (and quietly) turned around. We headed back along cheat mountain ridge and found a trail that wound in and out of the woods along one of the ski trails, it was part of the NORBA pro XC loop (they rode it uphill) and was really muddy and torn up.

Part 2 - So that's why downhillers wear armor...

After a quick loop around the lake and a lift ride back to the top we decided to head over to the downhill side of the mountain. The trails aren't all pro-downhill difficulty and most can be ridden on a normal XC bike with some care. The first run was great, down shay's way to an area called poo plateau that was recommended by the guys in the bike shop. The trails were nice winding singletrack with small rock gardens and were a lot of fun, but we couldn't tell why it was rated difficult, until we found the way out... the gauntlet. The gauntlet was fairly straight, but steep and covered with loose rock. It was all rideable and fun, but there were a few sections that looked pretty sketchy...

On the shuttle ride back to the top, we ran into one of the guys from the snowshoe bike shop who was guiding a kid around the mountain. Since they were heading for the same area as we were, we asked if we could tag along. We started this run under the western territory lift and went through the start gate for the NORBA downhill run, though we didn't stay on it for long. Most of the run was fast and loose rocky skid roads, but it started raining while we were on the way down. Part of the way down we stopped and the guide showed us an alternate way down that connected back up the trail after a switchback. The shortcut was steep and rocky, and for some reason JJ and I decided to try it. The top looked difficult but rideable and I made it down about 1/2 of the 50 or yards of the - thanks to the new rain - muddy trail and then... well I'm not sure exactly want happened, I might have panicked and grabbed my front brake or got hung up on a rock, whatever it was the result was a massive endo which sent me flying into the rest of the rocks... I hit a rock with my chest and got the wind knocked out of me. JJ thought I'd broken a rib, and I wasn't sure for a while. I was pretty shaken up with scrapes and bruises on both legs and arms and my chest and abs. We made it though the rest of the run, taking the "easier" way down when there was an option...

Part 3 - Beware of guides that ride rigid 29er singlespeeds...

Thursday we headed away from snowshoe, down the road to Slatyfork and a full day's guided riding from Elk River Touring Center (birthday present from my parents). We met our guide Joey (on the 29er, actually a great guy, just needed a title for this section) loaded the bikes in the truck and headed up Gauley mountain. We stated out on a trail called FS134 (it started on old forest service roads) that would through some very pretty meadows and then into the woods. The drop-in to the singletrack section of the ride was just that, it stated with a drop that was easily 60 degrees, with a bend to the right. After Joey assured us that it was rideable, and then rode it himself, JJ tried and went off the trail and then over the bars about half way down. After making sure that he was OK, I tried and made it a little further, I panicked near the bottom when I realized that I was about to hit 2 small trees and went head first into the trail again. The rest of the ride was a lot of fun, with a good amount to climbing to help make up for the previous day's shuttling... after FS134, we did gauley mtn trail to bear pen loop to boundary trail and the back up on gravel... bear pen was a lot of fun, with downhills similar to the watershed, but harder. We finished the day with a long downhill that mixed overgrown forest service roads and singletrack, and ended on a fast gravel road...

Part 4 - red = record...

with both us nursing injuries, we decided to take it easy on Friday and stated out with another run to poo plateau, this time with the helmetcam... the ride was fun, but there is no helmetcam footage, well there is, but keep reading. Somehow I got the color that the LED on the remote lights up when it's recording mixed up (note to self: red is record, not green) so I have tape of everything that I didn't want to tape and no tape of what I wanted to tape... after the run JJs wrist was too sore to ride any more (from Thursdays crash) so we called it a day and spent the afternoon relaxing and packing up (we had to leave by 5:30am the next morning to get JJ back for a soccer practice).

Overall it was a great time, both at snowshow and slatyfork. We only scratched the surface of slatyfork and I want to go back (though probably [not?] for the race). I'm still sore from my crashes, but hopefully I'll be ok to race on Wednesday.