So I am going to try a new adventure….I am going to attempt to ride all the Tarheel Trailblazer trails back to back. Only the trails built/maintained by the Blazers so no WWC or Anne Springs etc. I live down south so my plan is to start up North and work my way down so I end near my house (convenient for me). Anyone is welcome to join me for any portion you want. You can join at any time and bail at anytime. 

My plan is something like this:
Lake Norman
Signal Hill
Fisher
North Meck
Southwest District*
Renaissance
BYT/Park Rd/Marion Diehl
Francis Beatty
Sherman.

*About Southwest District….I am not too keen on riding there alone so if no one ends up joining me for that part, I will likely skip it.

It’s possible I might not be able to fit it all in during daylight but I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens. I will be riding a social pace but will do very little if any stopping in order to try to fit it all in. 

There are two parts I need help with if anyone wants to lend a hand….Signal Hill because  I have never ridden there and don’t even know where is it and then also the BYT/Park Road/Marion Diehl part. I know there is a way to link them all together but I can’t remember how to do it so if anyone can come and lead that, that would be totally awesome. Climber or Worker-rider if you are reading this maybe? 

Right now I am shooting for Sept 13th or if that gets rained out I will do the following weekend Sept 20th or 21st. Post up if you think you might want to join – or if this ends up being a solo quest that is totally cool too. 

That is Rad, I would be up for some of the starting legs, depending how my body holds up. Getting back into the sport, do what I can.

PBR Tallboy wrote on 09/07/14 at 1:00pm:


Cool. I know you are an early riser also so my plan is to hit LN first thing - I believe it opens at 7 so riding about 7:15, 7:30 latest. 

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Awesome, thanks! I know there have been no problems there and I don't mean to imply that it is dangerous there or add to the perception that it is dangerous, it's just kind of unfamiliar and remote to me so if something were to happen I would be pretty stuck out there. 

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Come on out and ride whatever you want. 

Btw have you added up the mileage? I think you have just created your own dirty century or half century ride. LNSP alone is good for 25, SWDP 2.5 per lap, Renaissance is 6, Fisher Farm is 4.5, Sherman Branch is 11.5 etc. BYT is fairly long, and if you added in WWC I bet you could get in 100.

Specialist wrote on 09/07/14 at 11:52pm:


And about the same on the car...  I remember doing a "Rat Ride" of sorts a few years ago and it was a long day of riding and a ton of driving.  I think we did Fisher, N Meck, Catawba, Renni, Beatty, and maybe Sherman?  It was around Labor Day and we started soon after the sun came up and were done right around dinnertime.  I do think we took our sweet time, though.

Maybe she can be your designated driver, and we'll see how far you can get. 

Do they still have the poo rails at BYT? Cause I'd pay good money to see 182 try to ride them after 5 trails and 10 beers... 

I'll split the Youtube advertising revenues with you. You in? 

BigBikeMike wrote on 09/08/14 at 12:58am:


Gates have been opening 7am lately, I rolled through the gates 7:05am this past Saturday. I agree Signal Hill should be first for the sake of loosing drive time.

At LNSP you are supposed to be off the trail by 8:30, and out of the park by 9. I think it gets dark around 8 so a little night riding time. I used to ride Signal Hill with the gang from First Flight on their social rides so I know my way around there. I am not sure what the trail status of Signal Hill is though, I saw a thread a while back on here saying it needed some bushwhacking. I was first out at LNSP Saturday, and I ate 1235124561326 spiders.

worker-rider wrote on 09/07/14 at 9:21pm:


Perfect….you guys are awesome! 


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From what I hear, word on the street is the trail has been getting a lot of love from some volunteers recently so it should be in better shape than in the past. So how early would you want to ride Signal Hill if we go that route?

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I am thinking the 13th but have to see what the weather does. Obviously it can’t happen if any of the trails are closed.

I may try join you for the last five legs or some of the last five trails depending on the times you expect to hit them.

Friends and I are doing something similar Saturday.  Don't underestimate drive time.  We are only planning 4 and it will take us from 8 until 5 or 6.

Extra credit for riding the Single Speed.

Emily,

I just used Google maps to calculate 2 hrs. 37 minutes drive time.  102 miles.  Clearly you need to start at Signal Hill otherwise you add 21 minutes.   

Can't wait to see you do this!!!!

climber wrote on 09/09/14 at 5:04pm:


You know if you want to see me do it, you have to be there for the whole thing right?

catsruletn wrote on 09/10/14 at 4:05pm:

Good luck with that.

Right now I am waiting on the weather. It's not looking too good for Saturday so there is a very strong possibility this will get moved to next Saturday the 20th.

I am eying a route that goes something like this...

Francis Beatty (I can ride there at dawn or maybe even a bit before the sun comes up)
Then head into town and hit Renni, SWDP, Park RD/BYT complex
Then head to Sherman
Then head north for LNSP, Signal Hill, Fisher Farm, NM. I realize it would make more sense to ride Signal Hill before LN but I have to clear LN before the sun sets so I want to make sure and get it in while there is still enough daylight.

My options for night riding are better up North so that's why I am starting South instead. Sherman is a tricky one. It's sort of out there and not really in line with any of the other trails so it's a challenge to get it on the route no matter how I look at it.

Fingers crossed! This should be fun!

Looking forward to it!!

I havent done anything awesome in a while. Count me in

You guys are funny. You make me sound way cooler than I actually am. 



Several people have asked about total mileage. I'm really not sure since I am not clear on the mileage of certain trails but this is my best estimate: 

Francis Beatty 6.5
Renaissance 6
SWDP 2.5
Park RD/BYT/Marion Diehl 15-20?
Sherman 12
LNSP 31
Signal Hill 4?
Fisher Farm 5?
North Meck 3.5

So total about 86-91 give or take?

NC_Pyga wrote on 09/15/14 at 9:36pm:


I plan to be at Beatty before dawn and long gone before the trail work starts. 

As far as in general it really depends on how much work is going on as to whether the section of trail that is being worked on will close or not. Usually not but if the work is extensive or heavy machinery is involved then yes.


So the weather forecast is looking good for Saturday so as of today, this is on for Saturday the 20th. This is my new itinerary. I realize it may not make sense to everyone but there are multiple factors that have gone into planning it and it's the best I can come up with when I take everything into consideration. Please note, if you plan on joining for the whole thing, bring lights. I plan on starting in the dark and ending in the dark. 

Francis Beatty 
Renaissance 
SWDP 
Park RD/BYT/Marion Diehl 
Sherman 
LNSP 
Signal Hill 
Fisher Farm 
North Meck 

I will plan on getting to Beatty around 6:15am and will ride as soon as the trail opens. Anyone is welcome to join at any time along the route and I plan for this to be social but I/we cannot wait for anyone. In the interests of time as soon as I/we arrive at a trail head I/we will start riding without waiting. And likewise anyone that wants to go ahead and go faster than me is most welcome to do so. You won't hurt my feelings in anyway and I would encourage you and cheer you on the whole way. I will update again towards the end of the week with any last minute changes or anything. 

catsruletn wrote on 09/16/14 at 1:05am:


Question is do you have enough batteries?  I got you finishing at 10:00PM and I think that's conservative.  Thats about 3 hours of battery time.  Can't wait to hear the report.

Will you be updating this board with your progress so others that may want to join for some of the legs can time their arrival at the various trails to coincide with yours? I would like to try hook up at one (or more depending on timing and my legs) Rennie, SWDP, BYT and Sherman. I wish I had the legs to try the whole thing.

What would be great is if you had once of those live tracking apps so we can see your progress live online.

Solar wrote on 09/18/14 at 5:47pm:


All trails will be open. 

Ok so we are rolling with this tomorrow morning as planned and just hoping by that time the trails will be open. If we encounter any closed trails we deal with that as it comes. It will be part of the adventure. 

So who is all going to attempt this?  Wait I mean DO THIS!

Emily, have fun and don't hurt yourself too much! I just opened NM, so you can do it also. If I weren't at Snowshoe, I would join you for part of the crawl.

Four of us rolled three laps at SWDP and cleared any deadfall. The tree that is lying across the trail is easily hopped and so we are leaving it for "character" as a "trail feature." The trail is dry and ready for your ride. 

Godspeed. 

Been up since 4. Left my house at 5:30.

Heading to renni

This is probably a little too late, but is there anyone riding this whole thing today using Strava or another app we could follow along with?

That would be cool to see segment updates posted throughout the day.


Regardless, good luck CatsRuleTN and to the others riding along.

May your path be dry, your wheels true and your legs relentless.

Swdp

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

She's making good time.

I got back a little bit ago from riding the BYT / PRP / MD leg with Emily and crew.  They had some mechanicals in the early legs including a flat and a broken derailer.  This put them about an hour behind the pace I thought they would be on.  They had me leading for most of the ride which probably also cost them some time.  Somehow we had less riders when we got back to the car than we left with.  BYT has a tendency to do that.  So off they went heading for Sherman's.  Go team!

climber wrote on 09/20/14 at 6:26pm:



You didn't happen to come across a back country strap did ya? I came back a little lite.

KevinB wrote on 09/20/14 at 7:20pm:

Nope.  Sorry.

Signal hill

Fisherman farmzzziz

Go get them spiders spinning there webs! 

Everyone have a safe ride home once meck is knocked out!

So I'll post more details in the morning but I just wanted to say before I finally go to bed: Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Thanks to everyone that came out and rode with me, everyone who helped with words of encouragement, all the trail coordinators who helped with trail maintenance and trail directions and trail open/closed status and all that they do. This was an awesome day of trail riding in Charlotte/troutman/states ville/Davidson and it was an awesome day of friendship. Both old friends and some new friends also. You guys all know who you are and you are all awesome!!

I'm going to bed now. Its possible, just possible I might take it easy tomorrow. Possible.

Way to go everybody

Congratulations on an unbelievable ride! I'm not sure if you realize just how many people we're supporting you from the forum. I couldn't tell you the view count at the beginning of the day but from early afternoon until this morning the string had over 300-400 views!
I'd love to know if the mod's can see exact count from Saturday alone.
There were a lot of people vicariously riding along with you... Either that or me and couple other people viewed the thread over 100 times each.

Either way I sense the beginning of an annual tradition brewing, & maybe a fundraiser.

Anyway, we're ridding RRT this morning if you want to join us, you know, for something different?

Seriously, congrats

Congrats ems you are a machine girl! Awesome accomplishment...sorry about the snafu with the trail status!

Very impressive! And +1 on the fundraiser idea.

Solar wrote on 09/21/14 at 11:23am:


Yeah someone else pointed out the views to me too. It is very cool and really all the support I got was the coolest part of the whole day. It was really heartwarming to see how many people got behind this idea that initially was just a thought that popped into my head and then gathered steam from there. 

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I normally love climbing....but it's possible I might cry if I had to climb No Name right about now. 

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Thanks and no worries at all. I appreciate you updating me on the status the day before so I could plan ahead.


So a little recap of the day probably in a weird random order since that's how my mind works:

I got up at 4am and left my house at 5:30am. I met several other hardy souls at the entrance to the park and the first ride started at Francis Beatty about 6:20am as soon as the gate guy arrived to open it and let us in. Initially it was myself, Tom, Greg, Tyler, Kevin and Ethan. We saw Kevin for a little while at the start of the ride but he quickly "went on ahead" and well legend has it that he finished riding all the trails in like 4 1/2 hours or something. 

This was a day of mechanicals galore. 

I started it all off with a nice rear flat less than half way through the very first trail. Lucky for me, I had like 4 very helpful guys along for the ride that took proper care of it just like that while I stood there holding stuff. 

Next up was a broken pedal at Renni which meant one person was walking out. 

Then next up also at Renni was a...well pretty much the strangest mechanical I have ever seen. Hard to describe unless you were there to see it. Let's just say that Awesome Straps are awesome right up until they are not and then things go very badly, very quickly in epic fashion. And you might end up riding a single speed for the rest of the day.   

Then off to SWDP which was in great shape and we escaped with no mechanicals!

Then onward to the whole BYT/Park RD/ Marion Diehl compound. No mechanicals here either which was great but man that complex of trails will test your mental concentration. I once again underestimated how much effort it takes to do all of it more from a mental standpoint than anything else. We all escaped uninjured though besides one bruised rib which was minor.

Then off to Sherman for a little recovery which was sorely needed at that point. We started off great but low and behold yet another mechanical struck at the very end of the Lake Loop with a crank that was attached to a shoe but no longer attached to the bike. We tried fixing it trail side and everything seemed cool but not so. It came off again which meant yet another person was walking out. Thankfully he brought a second bike as back up so once he got back to the car he was good to go.

Then off to Lake Norman. With all the mechanicals and whatnot we were off schedule at this point. We tried boogieing as hard as we could to try to fit in all the trails there but night was falling fast. It hurt to push hard at that point, but push we did and got in as much as possible. We arrived at the Hawks/Monbo trails at 7:20pm and debated on what to do. The permanant sign said trail closes at 7:30 meaning we didn't have time to fit those two in. There was a paper sign that said trail closes at 8:30 which meant we would have had time to do them but in the end I didn't want to risk a ticket and some pissed off rangers so I made the call to cut out. We ended with 20 miles there roughly. I would have to liked to fit in all 30 but such is life when you are on an adventure. 

Now it is night and we head off to Signal Hill which I have never ridden before. About 60-70 miles into a ride...it's night...I'm riding a technical trail I have never been on before...what could go wrong right? Anyways the trail actually ends up being really fun and nothing bad happened. No crashes and no mechanicals. 

Then off to Fisher. About 1/2 mile into the trail I suddenly become aware that I have vastly underestimated my caloric needs for the day when I become very lightheaded and dizzy. Navigating fairly techy singletrack at night when tired and feeling like you are about to pass out is a little unnerving so I slow way down and 2 gels later I start feeling much better. Once we get back to the car several helpful souls offer me real food and I am soon good to go again. Amazing what some real food will do for you. We skip the very techy black sections on Fisher because it just didn't seem wise to try them at this juncture. Not that any of this was "wise" but well you know what I mean. 

Then off to our final destination North Meck! I am feeling good again, everyone is jazzed to be within sight of our goal so it's an all around good time. It's a fast flowy easier trail and it was a great way to end the day. End time was 12:40am. 

Things I learned....

Bring food. Lots of it.
There comes a point when chamois butter doesn't help. At all.
It's good to know where the trails are. If you are following people who know where the trails are and you get separated by traffic lights, other cars etc. chaos then ensues. Uturns, cars pulled off on the side of the road, honking of horns, confused looks....
It is also good for people to know which lot you are going to at the trails that have multiple parking lots.
Plan for any kind of mechanical issue you can think of. And the ones you would never think of. If you can afford to bring a bike mechanic with you that would be ideal. 

When all said and done we got in 80 miles with no major injuries and everyone smiling at the end. It was a great day.

Congrats!! Sounds like quite a ride, maybe one of these days I'll be as good as you and just a beast at riding!!! 

Thanks for the adventure Emily.  That was a great ride.  We had a strong group and I don't think I would have been able to keep going after BYT except group motivation.  We had quite a few curve balls thrown our way, but all in all we did a pretty good job.  Bike mechanicals, traffic jams, and parking logistics.  You live you learn.   For instance, next time I will make sure I properly secure my Awesome strap so the tube does not fall out, catch the chain on the way down, get pushed through the derailer spinning it 180 the wrong direction.  My own fault for which my penance are a new derailer, hanger, and the rest of the day on the SS.  Could not have done it with a better group though.  Good ride  everybody...really