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by Walt Scarbrough
November 1999
"I know where we are, I've done this ride once before - heh
heh." Despite the fact that my scheduled ride leader was back in his tent sick, and I
had a local guidebook and ride sheet, my nervous laugh when describing my confidence in my
ability to lead this ride should have been a warning to all who followed. For those that
had shown up for the Fall Retreat in Damascus, VA, I had 20 who wanted to do my "not
too hard of a ride" on Saturday. You would think they would have gotten worried when
I could not even describe where to meet to start the ride.
After unloading bikes, loading them back on to our cars, and driving a
little way and running into more riders who had to load their bikes back on their
vehicles, we finally got under way. I was hoping to take everyone on the Old 84 ride,
which I had ridden once last year and remembered as being a great ride and not too
difficult. After everyone was ready, we took off out of the parking lot and headed across
the road. Mistake # 1 - our first turn was SUPPOSED to take place just across the road. To
make matters even worse, Thomas Horsch, IMBA's VA rep, had made an arrow out of several
sticks for us to follow. I didn't even see these, and those that did, thought I knew where
I was going. Heh heh.
We lost our first three riders 3 miles into the ride. We had been
climbing non-stop up to that point. It was a medium grade on a Forest Road and the fall
colors were at a peak. They decided to bail and go do the VA Creeper Trail instead. We
finally arrived at what we thought was the peak where Joan Thompson and I looked at the
elevation profile of the ride. We were worried as it showed we had two climbs that were
even steeper before we would be done. Oh well, it looked like a fun downhill, so off we
went. We all met up at a clearing before taking off yet again. This time, there was a
vehicle headed up the road towards us and I was sure the hammerheads were going to get
hurt as they went screaming around the corner. Fortunately, there was no head on
collision, so we proceeded on down the mountain.
We knew we were in trouble when we came to an intersection of two
forest roads. My guide said to turn left on the road. Unfortunately, right was our only
option. It was at this point that the 17 of us were able to conclude we had missed a turn
and were doing a part of the ride backwards. So, off we went to the right with yes - you
guessed it - another hill climb. After finally getting to the top, we located the Iron
Mountain Trail, which is some of the best singletrack the area has to offer. One at a
time, we hopped on the trail knowing it came out somewhere near the vehicles.
We weren't too far into the trail when Daisy took a tumble and received
a nasty looking gash on her arm. Luckily, Carolyn (my better half) is a PICU nurse, and
Nancy Brichetto is an orthopedic nurse practitioner. Between the two of them and the five
of us that stopped, we came up with enough water, gauze and Neosporin to fix her up. Back
on our bikes and off we go again. This time, we see several riders coming towards us. It
turned out to be Sam Poyner and David Moore of the Sumner County Adventure Team, Skeeter
from the Mountain Trails Bike Club (Nashville) and Hugh Worthy of the CBC. They were as
lost as we were. As Hugh came up the hill (making the younger guys look bad,) he and Daisy
exchanged kind words to each other that made the entire ride worth the effort. I jokingly
stated I nearly lost my breakfast at their exchange, but it sure is nice seeing people
like Hugh and Daisy out enjoying the woods on their bikes and sharing moments like this
together.
Enough with the sentimental stuff - off we go again. We came back out
on the forest road where we had been earlier and decided to split into two groups at this
point. Rob Horn of the NTMBA and Jay Franklin, IMBA Board member and past-president of
SORBA, led a group along the Iron Mountain Trail back to the campground. The rest of us
hung a left and returned to our vehicles.
Getting back to the campground, we arranged to shuttle Daisy and Joan
to the top of the VA Creeper Trail and leave a car for them at a lower parking area.
Everyone stated they enjoyed the ride, even if it turned out to be harder than I had
expected. "Don't worry," I said, "I've got a great ride planned for
tomorrow that I've been on once before. Heh heh."
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