Summer Dreaming

One of the best rides I've ever done goes over Chestnut Ridge. That's it in the far distance in the picture. Here we should be looking right about at Coopers Rock State Forest. Between that ridge and the closer hill is the Cheat River canyon.

I've only done this ride one time, but I'm looking forward to trying it on a bent this year. The ride goes up a steep back road to the top of the ridge, then down the other side toward the Big Sandy Creek at Rockville-just a few cabins. From there you can you can detour down an old logging road (more of a rough path now) to see Wonder Falls and Big Splat. Those last two links just take you further down on the Big Sandy page; it's well worth a look.

From the Rockville bridge you head back up on a dirt road, then some good pavement on top before heading down into the Cheat Canyon. The steep and rough dirt road takes you to the Jenkinsburg Bridge over the Cheat. This bridge is closed to vehicles and is a popular destination for risky extreme rope swings. The Big Sandy joins the Cheat here. There is great swimming near the bridge and at Blue Hole just up the Big Sandy.

Now it's just up and out. There are some amazing steep drop offs along the road out. Usually someone manages to drive a car off the side once every year or two. The road would take you to Masontown, W.Va. but we turn onto Ridge Road about half way up. One of my buddies on this ride was ridiculing the other two of us early in the ride for our triple chainrings. After walking up Ridge Road he had the local shop put a triple on his bike the very next day.

Then a nice long decent back to the start. The longest 30 miles I've ever done, but also the finest.

It was 9 F for my ride today when I took the picture at the top of this post. That was just about when the wind blew my bike over, breaking the kickstand off. I can hardly wait until summer (well, even spring, but this ride is for hot, muggy summer). I can feel the heat and sweat right now.