On Friday night I headed out to Shenandoah to do a night training session at Old Rag. I met up with Veronica at around 7:30pm at the bottom parking lot. We started on bikes with a long climb up to the Sky Line drive up Weakley Hollow Road and then up Old Rag Road. After about 5 minutes on the bike I realized I had forgotten my GPS. I should have turned around and got it because the elevation gain was a doozy and I would loved to have tracked it and seen the profile. The climb was approximately six miles of pure hill on loose gravel. It was a great way to start the evening. The descent retraced our climb and was fast and fun. It was only the fourth time out on a mountain bike for Veronica and I was impressed with the speed she flew down the hill. Half way down my rear tire blew out. On inspection, a big tear in my new rear tubeless tire. I think I am going back to tubes from this point on. A quick change of the flat, a detour down a hill we shouldn’t have gone down, and we were back onto the decent propper but it wasn’t long before I managed to lose the front end of my bike on a washed out section and wrecked. No major injuries but did end up trashing my helmet. It was beginning to become an expensive training session.
Back at the cars we transitioned to the trek and started up to the peak of Old Rag. I love the Old Rag hike. Climbing up through the rocks is a lot of fun. I kept on telling Veronica about all the great views we would have seen if only it wasn’t the middle of the night. The weather was perfect and even the strong winds along the ridge were warm and refreshing. We descended to Weakley Hollow Road on the West side of the mountain and jogged down to base of White Oak Canyon and started up the brutally steep canyon trail. At some point I want to come hike this trail during the day. I have only ever done it at night. The sound of all the waterfalls is nice but a visual would be even better. Toward the top of the trail we cut off on the horse track and ended up back on Old Rag Road. By now it was 3am and we had been biking/trekking for six hours on some pretty hilly terrain. This is the real witching hour.
We jogged back down the fire road to the Corbin Hollow Trail head, trekked back down the trail to Weakley Hollow Road and then picked up the pace back to the parking lot and finished at 5am.
Veronica did a great job. She was a great companion and really held her own throughout the whole session. I am looking forward to doing some racers with her in the future.
This is probably the last over night/long training session before the Wild and Wonderful race coming up at the end of May. I felt good for the whole session and feel ready for the race. I just need to go and get a new helmet and rear tire. This sport really is a never ending money pit.
Total bike was 15 miles with a total elevation gain of 3,000’. Trek was 16 miles with a total elevation gain of just over 4,700’. Hike route here.
Back at the cars we transitioned to the trek and started up to the peak of Old Rag. I love the Old Rag hike. Climbing up through the rocks is a lot of fun. I kept on telling Veronica about all the great views we would have seen if only it wasn’t the middle of the night. The weather was perfect and even the strong winds along the ridge were warm and refreshing. We descended to Weakley Hollow Road on the West side of the mountain and jogged down to base of White Oak Canyon and started up the brutally steep canyon trail. At some point I want to come hike this trail during the day. I have only ever done it at night. The sound of all the waterfalls is nice but a visual would be even better. Toward the top of the trail we cut off on the horse track and ended up back on Old Rag Road. By now it was 3am and we had been biking/trekking for six hours on some pretty hilly terrain. This is the real witching hour.
We jogged back down the fire road to the Corbin Hollow Trail head, trekked back down the trail to Weakley Hollow Road and then picked up the pace back to the parking lot and finished at 5am.
Veronica did a great job. She was a great companion and really held her own throughout the whole session. I am looking forward to doing some racers with her in the future.
This is probably the last over night/long training session before the Wild and Wonderful race coming up at the end of May. I felt good for the whole session and feel ready for the race. I just need to go and get a new helmet and rear tire. This sport really is a never ending money pit.
Total bike was 15 miles with a total elevation gain of 3,000’. Trek was 16 miles with a total elevation gain of just over 4,700’. Hike route here.
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