Tour de Lilly Mtn Bike Ride; Davis, WV

October finally arrived & the first weekend getaway at Davis, WV was upon me & the J-dog. Thursday late evening we rolled into our favorite Campsite #6 along Camp 70 Road in Davis, WV. After quickly setting up camp, I made my way into town to watch the Vice Presidential debate & eat a burrito at Hellbender's. Surprising, or maybe not, was the amount of Obama supporter's in the little town of Davis. Not surprising when you consider that Davis is the "Highest Incorporated Town in WV". They are the highest in elevation, but I am guessing that they are just plain "highest".

Friday morning I wake up not feeling so swift. A couple stops at the "can" & I think the meat plug has cleared out of me. I dress up in my gay biking clothes & hit the trails at the Canaan Valley Institute property. The leaves are starting to change color & some are even dropping on the trail, making the rocky, rooty trails of the area that much more challenging. "Rock Garden" "Roots" and "Bogs" pretty much sum up the riding characteristics of the local trails.

Can you find the correct line through this rock garden? I just created my own!There is not much smooth here, not for the faint of heart, or weak of bowels as I was. After "cleaning" Moonrocks, and being amazed that I can visualize the line down the rock face, I head back to camp for a nice meal of steak on the fire, mashed potatos, shrimp, bacon wrapped jalapeno's stuffed with blue cheese (thanks Jason for that), followed by a light dessert of Bratwurst, slim jims, and Lord knows how many Belgian Ales I bought on the cheap from the Vintage Cellar . That night I crawl into the tent to 36 degree F temperature. Long story short, it was freaking cold. The J-dog was shivering so I had him crawl up next to me on the air mattress & I pulled an extra down blanket I brought over both our heads. We finally got it warm enough to sleep, and we crashed until 8:00a.m. the next morning.
The Tour de Lilly began sometime around 10:00a.m. leaving from a super cool bike shop, Black Water Bikes . I picked up my sweet free t-shirt, "It goes to 11!" and met some of my friends who were also in town for the ride. We head out with this loop as the Tour de Lilly 2008:

STP trail - ATV connector trail- Son of Plantation -Plantation -Pipeline- Canann Loop Rd- Pointy Knob (fucking understatement of the century) - Canaan Loop Rd- Railroad Grade- Plantation - Davis Trail - Yellow birch -STP trail - back to town, whew!!! In all that was 22 miles of rocks, roots, mud, bogs, stick in derailleurs, broken rear triangles, bloody elbows, sticks stabbing your legs, people landing on their backs on rocks (let me know if you need a massage for that Sonja). But through the pain, mostly from swamp ass, we endured. I have to thank "Oldnoob" Todd for giving me the best words of wisdom that day. At the halfway point there was a bailout option & people were saying "fuck this, we're going back to town". I ask Oldnoob, "do you plan on doing the whole ride." And the big smile on his face & simple "oh hell yeah" answer was all the motivation I needed to man up. The 2nd half of the ride is were I finally got my legs & I felt 100 times better than the first half. Total ride time of 3.5 hours for 22 miles in Canaan isn't so bad when it was always meant as a fun ride. And that it was, even for a shivering J-Dog!! Next up is a visit to Frostburg, MD to see my old pal Chili. I think we'll be riding there, probably more barstool than bike, but either way it has to be easier on the butt than those WV rocks! A huge thanks to Danny from MD for finding my GPS when it ejected somewhere along Plantation trail on, I'll just go on a limb & guess when I hit a rock. Also thanks to Dwayne & Scotty for stopping by Sunday to BS in the morning.