Misty Mountain Winter Rain

Over the stretch of trails ridden today, I had plenty of time to conceive a way to express the perfectly damp and cold conditions of the day. After ruling out the pirate talk, I am left with nothing. There are slew of words I can describe the days revelry with. Words like cold, wet, muddy and slick are at the forefront. And those words weighed heavy on my mind as we headed ever deeper into the forest. But like a bitter sweet winter rain, the worry washed away and revelry set in.
In the clouds and raiding the trails, we climbed up Clawhammer Cove and over the gap to the Pink Beds. We rolled a high elevation loop that flows along Mills River then made our way back over the ridge, up Club Gap, to the Avery Creek downhill. Avery Creek descends from rocky and slick in the rain, through laurel tunnels and ledges dropping back into the horse stables where we refueled and climbed back up through Maxwell Cove.
The climb to Presley Gap moved at an accelerated pace. From there was only one last push to the high point of the day. The Black Mountain descent was a blast down Hickory Knob at 3700' to 2100'. From ridge-line exposure to laurel-lined trails, rocky ledges then further down to water bars and berms. With a muddy face, cold wet and happy with a cooler full of Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale in the car, this ride embodies the reasons to ride. And the answer is to make it to the cooler.