pisgah - day 1

Drove down to Asheville NC from my parent's house up in the mountains (halfway from Asheville to Boone up off the Blue Ridge Parkway). Found Robb's house alright. Made our way to The Admiral for dinner and then over to his friend Ed's house to assemble the Dieringer 2.0 for today's ride.

After a nice breakfast we made our way back to Ed's and the three of us ventured south to do the Fish Hatchery Loop in southern portion of Pisgah National Forest.

Here are details from Robb's GPS and my photoshopping fun with google maps:

counter-clockwise loop

zoom out is here



total elevation gain: 3,894ft
total distance traveled: 17.5miles
ride time: around 3hrs
lost bottles: 1 (until I backtracked and found it)
gearing: 32x21
flat tires: 1 front and a broken valve core after pumping up the new tube (but it held air). I'm going back to Stan's tubeless. Every time I ride with tubes I flat.

First climb was long fire road (475). I felt okay but my left knee definitely did not like the intensity right off the bat (read: tendinitis). Was liking the 32x21 gear ratio though. Snapped a video of 'Greg'.

'Greg' on the inaugural ride for the newly 'modified' frame...

Robb's frame was sent back in early Dec for some 'tweaks'. Somehow the lines of communication broke down during paint and the frame arrived on Robb's doorstep for some guy named 'Greg'.


It appears that 'Greg' is Robb's alter-ego. Someone say Hot Pockets? Greg is a Pre-Madonna. Greg likes to stick to his trainer's regime and only rock his Assos and Rafe clothing. Greg likes to ride his singlespeed with a PowerTap to make sure he's hitting his targeted power levels while on a group ride. In other words, you'll be ahead of Greg in all the races you enter where he has entered this year.


Back to the ride.... Upon summiting we took 225 to Caney Bottoms and went along an awesome descent to the Cove Creek campground. I lost a bottle so I turned around and rode back up the descent and found my bottle up near the top (of course).


Ed waiting for me while I was looking for my lost water bottle.

Leaving Cove Creek campground we headed up some pretty steep singletrack to Daniel's Ridge. From Daniel's Ridge we dropped back down onto 475. That descent was awesome. Very rocky and followed a river with some beautiful views. I rode slow to take the views all in.






up close and personal


Robb trying to live up to Dicky's stardom.


After bunny-hopping this gap [not] we decided for a photo op. Yes, I was boiling in full garb for cold weather but riding in 60degF temps. I haven't ridden in temps like this for a few months. Felt like wanting to pull over and shave the beard on a few of the climbs.

My space-cadet moment came when Robb asked me if I can shed any more layers and I said no since I already shed my first layer t-shirt. Little did I realize I could have taken my knee-warmers off. Doh!


From 475 we climbed up to Long Branch and rode some awesome singletrack that meandered through some lush Rhododendron patches and eventually put us out at the Fish Hatchery parking lot. Somewhere along this singletrack I flatted my front tire.

"I should have run Stan's"


"I should have used CO2."
I found a way to snap the valve core off my new tube when pumping it up with my hand pump. It held air so I finished the ride like this.


Tomorrow we go out for another ride. This is fun!