Cumberlandworx Day 3 was weird. No mechanicals, good trails, nice views, solid company, and yet it is the first time I have really felt the transition between riding with my little kid and riding with my pre-teen. I guess the dual 27″ wheels and adult-small frame should have tipped me off, and yet.
One parallel between riding and racing mountain bicycles is that, energy-wise at least, it doesn’t really get easier, you just go faster. Today was a prime example. It’s not that our morning ride felt short, but it took us well over an hour less time than I expected. The Red Tape climb in particular just breezed by, as did the hike-a-bike portion of the Ridge Trail, and certainly, our water and food breaks are much more efficient than last year.
But the biggest difference in time is on the downhills. Claire has significantly improved in her confidence to ride features blind, and she stormed through some sections she walked last year despite conditions being drier and dustier, especially in the steeps. Her go-no-go decision-making making in particular has matured muchly. She’ll reset a section she doesn’t ride once, and then if she’s not going to do it she walks her bike and we move on.
This topic will continue to come up this year I am sure, but riding with a ten-year-old is very different than our past trips and in general. Especially when it comes to feedback. At any rate, we’ll take a break here for Claire’s trail reportage.
By: The Clairebarian
Amore
We started with a huge gravel road which led us to Amore. Amore is a cross-country trail with a couple steep bits.
Red Tape Trail
Then we road a bit more gravel to Red tape trail. Red Tape Trail is a switchback climb with a couple beautiful views and some beautiful wildflowers.
Ridge Climb
From Red Tape Trail, we went to Ridge Climb which is a hike-a-bike and it has a lot of exposure. It is a steep uphill climb but it leads to an awesome downhill trail.
Upper Rhizome
Upper Rhizome is a fun whoopie trail with quite a couple wood features (including a scary log ride).
Then we did a couple more trails.
50:1
50:1 is a cross-country trail with some ladders and two giant chairs. it’s so fun and some of it is steep, some of it is cross-country, and some of it is like a pump track
The story of the two giant chairs on 50:1
Somebody built a big chair on 50:1 and wrote GAME OF CHAIRS on it. So, another person built an even bigger chair and also wrote GAME OF CHAIRS on it.
Black Hole to Space Nugget
Black Holl is a rooty trail that leads to Space Nuggets. Space Nuggets is a whoopie trail with three huge whoops and then you’re basically at ice cream.
After lunch, Claire and Nina headed to the lake with the other families staying at the CGH, and I took my tired legs for a pedal. I do all of my best thinking on two wheels and I had already written two BikeMag pieces (in my head) by the time I reached the top of Sobo no Michi. I even spent the first couple of minutes on Trent Main thinking about how I should have one of those talk-and-type-a-thingamajigs and I could maximize efficiency while I am climbing.
Then my heart rate came back down to normal-ish and I realized I was having some kind of hot-day, multi-ride, salty-sweaty fever dream. I promise you will never see or hear of me pedaling my bike while recording myself.
With no real plan, I cruised past Blockhead and at that point, Wookie Toothpicks was the logical destination. The sun was hanging about lazily, as it does in early August, and by the end of my ride it was casting some long Andrew-shaped shadows on some of the steeper & looser descents on Lower Queso but it ended up being the perfect evening pedal.
Compared to riding the Wookie/Queso loop at Easter I hiked more of the climbs. A multi-speed drivetrain would have made some difference but less than one might assume, I think. Some of the downhills were hover-above-the-rear tire loose and this was not helped by the Rock Razor rear tire. Rear rubber with the odd solid center block would have been a winning choice for a few of the spicier parts of the ride.
I still think it’s one of the best mini-adventures anywhere. Never too far from town that the spiciness is truly concerning but enough hiking, views, and variations in terrain that you know most folks are not riding it. There’s been some lovely work to tie together the sections disrupted by logging, so cheers to the builders!
Tomorrow morning we’re hopefully getting out with Vik, so I’ll sign off by saying that we’re excited about that.
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