I left the house and rode out through Swannanoa, stopping by OJ's house to take him along. We headed out through Black Mountain, past Ridgecrest and finally up the switchbacks of Kitsuma. The trail was frozen hard and at the top was snow/ice. We started to drop down the other side of the ridge when another mtn bike was coming towards us. He said the ice/snow got worse up the trail. I decided that I didn't want to wrestle ice/snow all day so we turned around. Back on the pavement we took a right turn and headed down the mountain on the dirt road. At the valley bottom, we hung a left, and headed into the woods up Lower Heartbreak.
The ground was frozen here too, or else it would have been somewhat muddy. Up lower Heartbreak to Star Gap which was dry and fast. We took a left turn on Jarret's Creek rd, following the ORAMM route. Towards the end we ran into some snow/ice/mud, and had to dismount and walk some sections.
Heading down the mountain into the valley we got on Curtis Creek rd and headed to Hwy 70 west. We followed that through Old Fort, then got on the Point Lookout Trail and headed up. I was still feeling good, and was very pleased. At the top we backtracked and headed back through Black Mtn and ended up parting ways somewhere on old US 70.
Just before 6 hrs I called Rhonda to let her know where I was and how I was doing. I was determined to make it home, but I had only planned on being out for 6 hrs. There was a fierce, cold headwind blowing in my face. Suddenly, I was tired. I think mentally and physically I was done. I knew that on a good day, the ride from Swannanoa to my house would take 30 minutes. At this point it could take an hour. I didn't have it, or didn't want it, not sure which, but within 5 minutes of the first phone call, I called in for a pick-up!
Have a great day.
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