Day 4: Events in Stokesville, VA

Well, it was another day for me around the camp while the boys and Delaware contingent went about conquering the local mountains. The Braley Pond – Bald Ridge – Bridge Hollow – Shenandoah Mountain Trails in particular, a 20 miler, with a 2,500 ft elevation gain. Boy, that sure sounds like a fun ride, sorry I missed it…

It was another very windy day here, the howling was intense at times, but it turned out to be very a sunny day.  All in all, this sitting/loafing about and generally relaxing has done me some good. While I would have liked to get out and take some photos of the local flora and fauna, the cold wind keeps me indoors watching the world out my big window. Taking this week off to gather some strength for the next bout of treatments was a good idea. 

While they were out on the trails, the campground was a hive of activity with more folks arriving throughout the day.  The campground was busy with people driving up the dirt road into wooded area. From there the sounds of people setting up tents echoed out into the green.  A few more RVs arrived and set up into the remaining sites along the parameter of the green. 

Many more bikes and riders passed by today, some alone, others in couples, and some in small groups, all peddling up to the dirt road leading to the wooded camping area, then completely disappearing into the woods, heading to the Lookout Mountain trail that lies beyond the campground.

 

 

 

 

A large extended multi-generational family that are camping downhill from Bob and uphill from us, like a sandwich, have settled in with all their kids.  There must be at least 20 or more of them in the combined groups.

The various family adults and probably grands, setting up their lawn chairs on the knoll of the green first thing in the morning, facing where the sunrise was earlier.  Here they planted themselves most of the day,  surrounded by their dogs and keeping a side eye on their kids on the wooden play set or playing ball further down on the green below them.  

Their kids, with their various assortments of playing/sporting gear were like giant magnets in the middle of the green. Drawing other kids out of the woods to play with them, bike around, or just hang out with their own kind.  

Later in the early evening, I admired how the older kids (in a range of teens), set up a soccer game for the littler kids. The big ones being the goalies and the little ones kicking the ball around. I have to say, the little ones were really good at the game, fancy foot work while running the ball, passing it around to others, and kicking it at invisible nets. All jumping and shouting with such enthusiasm when they apparently had made a goal.

The bigger kids were very impressive with supervision and tolerance of the little ones.  It was lovely to see. I am sure they all slept well that evening and made many good memories of this place and their camping trip this summer.

Now for the days biking trail adventures field report with details from Paul.

Yesterday’s ride was a combination of arduous climbs and lickety-split descents. Some of the trails were skinny flat bezels etched into the side of the mountain slopes. Halfway through yesterday’s 20-miler, Paul left the trail unintentionally. There were no specific trail challenges to blame, just letting his back tire go off the narrow trail was enough to send him on a different path down the mountain side.  Paul was reminded of the scene from Lord of the Rings, where “the Balrog wrapped its whip about Gandalf’s knees, dragging him to the brink”. In this case, it was Gravity pulling, not the Balrog.

 

 

Luckily, there were no major obstacles in Paul’s flight path. Except for the few clunks he heard from his helmet hitting rocks.

Luckily, Bob was riding behind Paul at this point. Bob missed the accident (sorry, no video), but immediately spotted Paul’s shiny helmet down yonder from the trail.  Paul was fine after his tumble, but retrieving Paul’s bike from the downhill slope took concerted effort.

 

Here’s a screen shot from the trail tracker app, which should have just been a straight line path along the contour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specialized ebikes do have a walk mode button, but that was no help on this terrain. They also have an instant turbo button. What they need is both buttons together to activate “turbo walk” mode.

Here’s another great idea for whoever wants to reach an untapped market. Bob commented a winch would have made for easy recovery.  How about a stem-mounted mini-winch powered by the ebike battery?  Shown here is the the Badland Apex Winch, if it could be scaled down to fit the front of a Specialized Turbo Levo.

 

Luckily, Paul had recently purchased a new helmet with MIPS protection. It did its job, as demonstrated by the couple of deep dents, and many scratches it incurred.

 

Luckily, Paul assessed he had no injuries, except for a bruised ego.

“Luckily” is definitely the operative word for this little misadventure.

And here’s the trail Pano for the day.

Thats it for today’s (Sat.) adventures. More tomorrow.