Went to Elkins yesterday to hop on the Allegheny Highlands Trail,what I like to call it, the Elkins Rail Trail. There’s sparse snow on the ground, and the trail is starting to feel kind of sloppy due to the excess moisture. With the terrain slowing me down a bit, I wasn’t expecting to be going that slow, but I still pushed my hardest.
That is my problem. When casually riding, I still end up in Zone 4-5, trying to finish as fast as possible, regardless if my goal is time or distance. I mean… this is a rail trail… Isn’t it supposed to be about fun and leisure, not blowing up at 186bpm for no reason other than trying to go faster? I don’t race, but this is still off-season.
How do people tell their selves to go slower? Do they bring along their girlfriend/wife (ba dum tsssssh!)? About 2/3rds of the way through the ride, I told myself that redlining this is silly, and I should just be going aerobic… I planned on keeping my heart rate around 140-150.
Didn’t happen. I don’t even think I grabbed my waterbottle until mile 12 or something? I did stop at the Tucker County border (unintentionally) and took some photos and video. Awesome rock walls with ice and snow aplenty. I had to jump over a two foot wide creek to get some of these shots, and this made me feel like a genius wearing carbon road shoes… I never said I was brilliant.
Went over to Elkins, and hung out with the Millers, and Joey/Mandi of Joey’s Bike Shop this past Sunday. I attended their semi-regular Shingletree Shuffle group ride, and may I tell you, it was possibly one of the best ‘cold rides’ I have ever done with a bunch of other people. I’m starting to believe that Elkins, and its surrounding area has some of the best riding territory, bar none.
By the way, here’s some footage; sorry for the shake, I was holding the camera in my hand:
After finishing a scheduled appointment in Elkins, I pulled out the cross bike that I ever so conveniently stashed in the vehicle the night before and headed off to complete the Elkins to Parsons section and turn around. I had been on the rail-trail once before, with a friend of mine, and we pedaled at blistering speeds. he ended up taking a corner in the gate sections too hard, and ended up crashing.
I’ll sadly admit that I also hit a car barrier when I clipped one of palisades with my MTB handlebars, and ate dirt; it was not a pretty sight. To my defense, my handlebars were (I’m guessing..) 76 cm apart, when my handlebars were 60 cm wide… Yeah…
This most recent ride on my cross bike with 42 cm wide handlebars made cruising all around a breeze. Little hesitation was taken for slowing down for these barriers, and I was fortunate enough to not see another bicycle on the trail the entire time. This parked Jetta was as close as I came to passing another two-wheeled object on the trail:
There were many people jogging and walking on the trail, and even a family pushing their gaggle (three) baby strollers along a paved section. Being on the rail-trail is a desirable thing not only of exercise, but due to the scenic nature and geographic variety along the way. Most of the path follows the river, and you also ride past a lot of farm land with different kind of animals; I like making noises at the cows… but they too often run away in response 😦 Several spots along the trail were also carved out of a hill or mountainside, displaying jagged rocks, or layers of history to be seen and appreciated.
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The photographic opportunities on the rail-trail are limitless. I only brought a Kodak Zi8 portable webcam with me, but I was still able to get some great footage/shots of the area around me:
Video:
Macro:
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This looked like I could eat it! 😮 Spring Garden Mix, I say!
Bike Photo-ops
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Right before reaching Parsons, you come across a small industrial complex with the smell of pine, then you see a mountain of sawdust and wood mulch. It might have been the biggest mulch pile I have ever seen in my life…. I want to say it was 9 to 12 meters high, it was ridic. This was all behind closed gates for the Kingsford corporation! That’s right! The little charcoal briquettes that people use for campfires are made in West Virginia! This alone was worth the trip!
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I finally made it to Parsons, and I know this by seeing the Sheetz. Several people replied to my question of “What is there in Parsons?” by saying: “Sheetz.” I’m sure there are more interesting places to go and visit, but my lycra-clad self wasn’t interested in romping around off the bike for too long.
The ride back to Elkins was met with strong headwinds which were more demoralizing than anything. I was ready to get back to Elkins and scarf down some Taco Bell. Since it was an out-and-back, not too many things were worth highlighting or speaking about that were not yet covered. I did see a creepy old waterworks plant with an open door. I was tempted to go in, but there might have been some Parsons equivalent of Crazy Carson in there or something…
I also saw another place which I swear had to be a crack house or something. There is always a nice Nissan 350Z parked by it, but the trailer is so crappy looking… Must be a meth dealer or something 😮
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All in all, the ride was great. The terrain is very forgiving, and about 1/5th? of it is paved. Pace on a mountain bike can be kept at about 24 kph, without overexerting one’s self. I would suggest anyone looking for a good recovery ride to come and try it out; or if you are wanting to make a day out of it, ride all the way to Thomas!
While going down the rail-trail in Elkins, I was cruising along and kept riding past old farmhouses with tons of crap laying around them. I thought to myself
This would be a great area for the American Picker dudes
Lo and behold, I end up just pacing myself faster and faster without noticing, all while pretending to be Mike Wolfe and freestyling all over that rail trail like there was money to be made. It was a blast.
WV Cycling 