beware the death cookies

2 thursdays ago i played hookie and met up with some friends to go mountain biking out in tellico plains. zeke and i stopped at a great bakery/coffeeshop downtown (i'm not sure the name of it but i highly recommend!)  then headed to our meeting spot at north river campgrounds, where van and carey were waiting for us. the day began with a 2.5hr climb on forest service roads (with a little paved mixed in). yeah, what a way to warm up! the grade was never that bad, but consistent, climbing from around 1100' to 5000'. our efforts were rewarded with our arrival at an scenic bald covered with wildflowers. in the distance we could see the cherohala skyway (where i thought i would be today). 

after some refueling, we backtracked briefly before hitting some singletrack. now this isn't the groomed flowy stuff i've been riding as of late; it was rough, overgrown, barely used, raw stuff. it reminded me of trails we'd hit on remote adventure races.. the road much less traveled. then throw in the rocks/boulders, and it became very pisgah-esque. that's where the "death cookies" (named by carey) entered the picture. we'd be riding along, then the randomly placed loose rock would jump in front of your wheel and just stop it. as long as you could see around the overgrown brush, you could navigate around these suckers, but every once in awhile they could catch you by surprise. luckily, no unplanned dismounts!

the ride was awesome - quite nice to escape to some place new & explore without much of a plan. looking forward to the next mid-week rendezvous soon i hope!

bald river falls

carey & van

zeke & carey