10

6/4/2009 1:08:38 AM

What's the deal with the Centennial Campus trails? I have heard that they use to be good, but was unsure if they were still accessible and good. Also, I have heard that its easy to get lost out there. Anyone that has recently ridden them, want to show me the trails?

6/7/2009 1:21:48 PM

ran there in high school when there were cross country races held there. man that was 10 years ago before they changed to the golf course over by the Vet school.

6/7/2009 6:50:25 PM

i recently got back into cycling in general and decided to hit my first set of trails at crabtree lake. i had a lot of fun but some of the downhill turns scared the shit out of me. there was one especially tight corner that exits right onto a bridge over a creek. are most mtb trails around here that narrow?


[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 9:29 PM. Reason : ]

6/13/2009 9:25:31 PM

Eh? Crabtree is about as mundane as it gets for the area. Just keep riding and Crabtree will eventually be a snoozefest. I've been there.

When you say exits over a bridge, do you mean its downhill, a hard right turn, and then you have another 50 ft or so until you cross the bridge? And is it a bigger bridge with rails on the side or just a small one with no rails? I'm trying to figure out where you are describing?

[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 10:22 PM. Reason : .]

6/13/2009 10:20:29 PM

I totally did ~12 miles at Umstead Park yesterday, my first REAL biking trail riding experience (in ~8 years). I lasted 11 miles. Then I literally couldn't move my legs anymore I was hydrated but ran out of energy. 1 hour later (after friend rides back to the car, goes to the store, gets a bag of trail mix and returns), I finish the last mile or so and return home.

HELLUVA BIKE RIDE. I hear it's a trespassing zone though because it's airport property or something? Next time, I'll have to bring food in addition to Gatorade to insure I don't fail again...

[Edited on July 26, 2009 at 10:35 PM. Reason : .]

7/26/2009 10:34:32 PM

Actually, I come to find out I was next to Umstead park. The trail I was on was old 295 or something like that.

Anyways, anyone familiar with:

http://www.meetup.com/torc-nc/

???

[Edited on July 28, 2009 at 5:18 PM. Reason : .]

7/28/2009 5:18:16 PM

Which side of the road? I assume you rode up from Crabtree and crossed the bridge. Was it on the right or the left? Or maybe you are talking about 1 of the other trails near by.

7/28/2009 5:58:53 PM

It was on the left. There's a ~15' hill that is really steep with a "Scream or Die" sign. Definitely a fun trail.

7/28/2009 8:37:53 PM

Yeah, thats the best one in the immediate Raleigh area. Beaver Dam is probably a reasonable second.

7/28/2009 8:39:33 PM

shhhh!

7/28/2009 9:20:15 PM

I rode at Crabtree last week.
Broke my crank arm.
Skack wants a new bikey bike.

(yes, I know I said I was going to buy one in this thread back in April. I'm slack.)

7/28/2009 11:04:57 PM

Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not 285? Hence the I-40 exit it is closest to? Seriously could be wrong. Regardless, that is a sweet trail. Rocky road across the street is a sweet trail too, but has some hills that will kill you.

8/4/2009 8:55:11 AM

No, if there existed an actual exit 286, it would be at that road, hence the name.

8/4/2009 9:04:51 AM

Yeah, 286 sounds like it. Makes sense.

8/4/2009 9:05:43 AM

Quote :

"Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not 285? Hence the I-40 exit it is closest to? Seriously could be wrong. Regardless, that is a sweet trail. Rocky road across the street is a sweet trail too, but has some hills that will kill you."

so where is this trail? i ride rocky road and crabtree regularly, but didnt know of a trail across the road from rockyroad?

8/6/2009 12:36:17 AM

Ummm, how regularly do you ride Rocky Road that you haven't started wondering what the concrete barriers, chain, and worn trail up the embankment is leading to across the street?

If you ride up from Crabtree, the ride in will be on your left about 50ft or so before the RR entrance...assuming you're riding in from RR on the north side of Crabtree and not down below near sludge (you do know about sludge don't you?).

You really have to check out 286, it's a lot more well thought out than RR and there aren't any stupid rooty and rocky uphills like at RR. It flow really well and has some nice features that RR doesn't.

If you ride it, you'll go around a big drainage pond and about 5 minutes after you do that you'll come to an intersection. Take the intersection to the left as this is the way the trail is meant to be ridden. You can ride it backwards, and I have, but you'll get to this massive uphill that you have to walk.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 7:43 AM. Reason : .]

8/6/2009 7:19:52 AM

Ha, i never put together why its called 286

That trail is awesome, def my favorite in the area, too. I miss my bike and mountain biking

8/6/2009 8:34:20 AM

how much is a 2000 Trek 7K worth?

I have no $boat to trade

8/12/2009 2:00:14 PM

If the brakes and derailleurs seem to work fairly smoothly and look like they have a lot of life left, I could see as much as ~$250 for that bike...but, he says the fork is starting to leak, which could be a pain in the ass. If it really is just the bushings and you're mechanically inclined then that is about a $20 fix. If the bike looks like it is well used and the components don't seem to be in superb shape, then I'm thinking sub $175 or less.

I think dandigi might have a little bit better gauge on what its worth though, pester him.

8/12/2009 2:32:52 PM

I wanna hear more about Old 286. Sounds cool.

I live closer to Crabtree than Beaver Dam, so it'd be nice to be able to ride a decent trail that's not Crabtree. Beaver Dam is awesome (especially the post-ride swim), but it's so damn far away.

8/12/2009 2:36:39 PM

I'm unemployed for a short time longer, so any day during the week I'll take you out there and show you around if you'd like. I've gotten where I just don't like riding by myself and all my riding buddies have disappeared. I want to say its up to 9 miles total but I don't have a GPS of the latest additions because I've been a lazy bum this summer and have only ridden it once in a few months since they have added on.

If you can ride the South Loop of BeaverDam then you can ride 286. The flow is very similar with a quite a bit less climbing overall than BD (nothing like that final 2 miles coming out of the South).

8/12/2009 2:59:02 PM

Quote :

"Ummm, how regularly do you ride Rocky Road that you haven't started wondering what the concrete barriers, chain, and worn trail up the embankment is leading to across the street? If you ride up from Crabtree, the ride in will be on your left about 50ft or so before the RR entrance...assuming you're riding in from RR on the north side of Crabtree and not down below near sludge (you do know about sludge don't you?). You really have to check out 286, it's a lot more well thought out than RR and there aren't any stupid rooty and rocky uphills like at RR. It flow really well and has some nice features that RR doesn't. If you ride it, you'll go around a big drainage pond and about 5 minutes after you do that you'll come to an intersection. Take the intersection to the left as this is the way the trail is meant to be ridden. You can ride it backwards, and I have, but you'll get to this massive uphill that you have to walk."

i come from the side across I-40, so not really sure what concrete barriers you are talking about. I ride out that direction about 4 days a week. How often do you ride there?

8/12/2009 6:51:14 PM

his point still stands.....

If you park on the crabtree side, near the crabtree entrance, then ride across the I-40 bridge, and you usually then turn right to drop into Rocky Road, you have to be pretty blind to miss the 20 yards of concrete barriers, signs, and chains directly to your left on the Umstead side of the bridge.

8/12/2009 6:55:07 PM

^^ I've been an outright bum this summer. Last Wednesday I did a 40 minute ride around Crabtree I'm that out of shape. It was the first ride I've done since March 11. I've been road riding a little more than that though, and I'm sure I could make it around 286 in a reasonable time frame if you want someone to show you the way, but if you're riding 4 days a week, I'm going to be a bit sluggish for you. Arog is interested, so if you guys want to meet up tomorrow or the next day while we have some respite from the heat, let me know, I need an excuse to not sit in front of my day trading screens all day.

8/12/2009 7:41:56 PM

^ Hey Fail Boat, I'd be interested in riding 286 again with someone (who knows where the hell they're going so I don't get lost this time ). I don't consider my "slow", but I'm not "fast" by any means. Interested in riding this weekend (Saturday morning perhaps?)

My wife just bought me a Camelbak (Mule NV) and I'm totally stoked!




[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 10:08 AM. Reason : .]

8/13/2009 10:05:01 AM

Saturday could work, my wife and I are talking about going out of town though, I'll let you know sometime tomorrow.

And I'm not that fast these days either.

8/13/2009 10:10:44 AM

All this rain is killing me! I'm trying to get some biking in this weekend, but it looks like it'll be too wet.

8/13/2009 10:29:21 AM

Quote :

"his point still stands..... If you park on the crabtree side, near the crabtree entrance, then ride across the I-40 bridge, and you usually then turn right to drop into Rocky Road, you have to be pretty blind to miss the 20 yards of concrete barriers, signs, and chains directly to your left on the Umstead side of the bridge."

seriously?

i wasnt able to find any concrete barriers or chains on the left on google maps, can you point it out?

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 7:51 PM. Reason : cc]

8/14/2009 7:50:57 PM

Are you here

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103491494090881669136.0004495bffef1f81452cc&ll=35.842969,-78.780921&spn=0.007793,0.013797&t=h&z=16

You ride in at about that marker, you wind around for 1/4 mile, do a big drop, make a little loop, take that same big drop in the other direction, ride up the hill and you'll take a right, come back down the hill headed towards that little pond, and you'll ride around the left side of the pond with a bunch of rocks headed west.

8/14/2009 8:48:19 PM

I've only been on the bike 1 time this year, that was back in March I think. I've become such a slacker. But in my defense, ever since I shattered my elbow at the RR entrance I've been scared of riding alone. All my friends have moved away.

8/14/2009 9:30:00 PM

I hear you on that, I'm careful as hell when I ride alone and I generally don't like doing it at all for the boredom factor.

At the moment, three of us are going to meet at 9am and go for a lap around. I'm not in great shape so we won't be riding too fast.

Anyone else thats up for it, meet at the red Acura Integra on the Old Reedy Creek side of the trail.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 9:46 PM. Reason : .]

8/14/2009 9:42:06 PM

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103491494090881669136.0004495bffef1f81452cc&t=h&ll=35.841056,-78.779955&spn=0,359.972126&z=16&layer=c&cbll=35.841119,-78.781359&panoid=Cd-kWnkPYP34QahW4msStA&cbp=12,276.89,,0,8.39

where is the entrance with the concrete barriers and chains?

8/14/2009 9:58:03 PM

The barriers are pretty new, I wanna say they werent there in March when we rode it, and I went to ride it again in early May and they were there. Its the barriers they use to divide interstates, maybe 2-3 of them? They generally start where the guardrail stops. You'll see the ride in. There was an older ride in (that I think you can make out in street view, but only vaguely) that is blocked by some chain, and you can see where they just added another one 10-20ft down from it.

Trust me, just go out there and you'll see it.

Or meet up with us, the more the merrier.

8/14/2009 10:06:19 PM

thanks for the invitation, but i'm in atlanta

8/14/2009 10:34:22 PM

i work on Weston so i usually ride during lunch, sometimes on the weekends or after work if the weather is ok

8/14/2009 11:06:43 PM

LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS

8/15/2009 10:37:10 PM

tight lips build elitism

8/15/2009 10:48:57 PM

286 is a kickass trail. Anytime anyone wants to go riding let me know (even after work). I love riding in packs

Fail Boat, it was a pleasure meeting you and having you show me the route. I just bought some tire wrenches and a patch kit, should we go riding together again...

Anyone up for this week some time?

[Edited on August 16, 2009 at 6:29 PM. Reason : .]

8/16/2009 6:29:35 PM

When I was pushing it up that last hill to come out, it reminded me...I actually have flatted one other time. On that occasion, I ended up having to push the bike up a soft hill as steep as the last one at 286 for probably 2-3 miles. I guess 4 years is a long enough time to forget or else I'd probably make sure every ride to have tubes and air.

8/16/2009 7:20:57 PM

I'm going to be hitting up the trails again later this week. I'm shooting for Thursday (20th) at 6:00pm, although my schedule may require me to go tomorrow (Tuesday 18th) instead at 6:00pm. I want to ride 286 (I know, again... ) Anyone want to come with?

8/17/2009 9:15:16 AM

I'd like to do 286 again, and during the week. But the time, I'm not sure.

Also I have some bruises and shit that are killing me atm from saturday's ride.

8/17/2009 11:17:07 AM

I'm good for a ride tomorrow afternoon.

8/17/2009 12:48:32 PM

Okay. We'll meet up then about 6:15pm tomorrow (Tuesday) on the bridge? A co-worker of mine might tag along too.


[Edited on August 17, 2009 at 12:52 PM. Reason : .]

8/17/2009 12:50:38 PM

I'm not sure I can partake. I bruised my upper inner thighs pretty good when i slipped off the pedals in that one creek bed, lol.

Also my right wrist cracks every time i unbend it, though I think that is from the 5-6 hours i spent washing/detailing my car this weekend

8/17/2009 5:01:09 PM

Haha, it's cool man. Next time

8/17/2009 9:41:51 PM

9 hours until the riding begins!

8/18/2009 9:03:27 AM

Okay, I officially got my ass kicked. Thanks for coming out Fail Boat. I might still go back this Saturday morning (I enjoyed the ~7mph pace MUCH better) pending riding pants purchase

8/18/2009 11:32:42 PM

i may be up for a ride on Saturday. It will probably be my last NC ride before I move out west next week!

8/19/2009 12:09:50 AM

Yeah, we we're talking about a ride Saturday, morning would be nicer as it was pretty damn hot yesterday. I had a headache up until I went to bed last night and woke up feeling like I had a mild hangover, I assume from mild dehydration despite the 2 liters of water I took in before and during the ride.

We rode about 7mph this past Saturday to about 9.3mph up until the last mile or so yesterday. I'm pretty sure even when I was in reasonable shape that I didn't typically ride 286 quite that fast (though I was probably capable of it).

8/19/2009 8:24:44 AM