Douthat Trip

Last week we took a trip to Douthat State Park near Clifton Forge, VA. This place has been described as a "Mountain Bike Disneyland"...it's remote, no cell service, no phones, no TVs in the rustic cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

We celebrated Jack's birthday. He's the world's last Power Rangers fan, so he got his wish...everyone dressed up as Power Rangers. Here they are out on patrol on part of Douthat's 40-mile trail network.


I managed to get in 3 fantastic Mountain Bike Rides...this is some of the best riding I've ever done. Rides were tough though, it was either up or down. The largest climb was about 1700' of elevation gain over 4.5 miles, all over rocky single track. The descents were bumpy but fun. I nearly had the trails to myself. In 9 hours of riding, I only saw riders twice, in groups of 2. I caught up with 2 guys climbing Middle Mountain (the big 1700' climb), and noticed one was riding a "fixie". They invited me to ride along. I followed them up...amazingly the fixie dude was able to climb most of the way, only walking a few of the tighter switchbacks. I didn't stick around to watch the guy try to descend on that deathtrap...they were taking breaks on the way up, so after chatting for awhile I pushed on. It would've been interesting to see how the guy descended at high speed without coasting, but I also didn't want to be around if he crashed...this was after all his first fixie mountain ride.

The water was up on Stony Run. Several creek crossings. It was about 39 degrees when I started my first ride...stepping through this creek wasn't much fun that time, but got progressively more pleasant when temperatures crawled into the 80s.

Glad to get some "epic" rides in with the Epic.