It’s a fall morning in Western North Carolina, and all the cabins at Pilot Cove are booked
solid.
Inside cabin 64, everyone is eating breakfast.
This is the weekend of the Seth’s Bike Hacks guided trip: a three day all inclusive retreat
with mountain biking, campfires, and good clean fun.
It’s sleepaway camp—with beer.
This is the first such trip I’ve held, which means all the attendees are taking a risk.
Some riders signed up as early as September, not really knowing what to expect.
I did have input on what we’d be doing, but the real brains of the operation were
Barret and Jenna of Red Wolf Mountain Bike Tours.
They made sure everyone was fed, beered, shuttled, and guided—not necessarily in that order.
Included were these cabins, which look more like condos to me.
Everyone had a washer and dryer, queen or king sized bed, and even a free set of hand
up gloves.
Every day, we’d eat breakfast at cabin 64, which was essentially the party cabin.
After breakfast Red Wolf shuttled us out to wherever we’d be riding that day.
On the first morning, we rode Dupont State Forest.
Including Chad, Tricia, and Mike, there were a total of 5 easy going guides on this trip.
They managed our route, time, and safety, so we could all focus on having fun and making
memories.
On any trip, the memories are really what you’re paying for, so let me tell you about
this guided trip by recounting some of my best memories from it.
The first one is having dinner by the campfire on night one.
quick
It was starting to drop into the 30’s that night, which kept the beer nice and cold.
We had just ridden Pisgah, which properly humbled everyone including me.
This primed the group for a very North Carolinian dinner consisting of gallons of mac and cheese,
ribs, potato salad, and grits.
When in Rome, eat grits.
Our only light sources were a few lanterns, the fire, and headlamps, which made it a super
memorable dinner.
The food was delicious, and everyone got to know each other by the campfire.
On the next trip, we’re doing this again.
My next memory is riding the final section of Big Rock trail in Dupont Forest.
Alex was with us that day, so he led the charge as I filmed from the side of the trail.
During that day we took as many opportunities as possible to capture people huckin’.
Big Rock is one of my favorite trails because it’s so unique for this part of the country.
Rarely do you see sustained slick rock climbs, huge slabs, and actual exposure in North Carolina.
I think the group enjoyed it as well.
It’s strange that any good memory would be of a crash, but this one at Dupont goes
down as one of my luckiest ever.
I hiked back up to bomb this rock garden while Barret and Alex waited at the bottom, knowing
that the rocks were a little slippery.
I ended up taking the line to the far right and catching my bar on the tree.
Not only did I walk away without a scratch, but my carbon bars were perfectly fine.
I call that a win, but I wish more of the group was able to witness it.
There’s nothing like watching a good crash that you don’t need to be a part of.
Another great memory from that weekend was killing some time at the Reeb Ranch.
After riding Dupont we had a couple hours before dinner, so the Oskar Blues Reeb Ranch
opened up so we could ride the jumps.
They even let me ride one of their dirt jumpers.
With a pump track, dual slalom, and slopestyle course to ride, it’s anyone’s guess why
we spent time hucking the teeter totter.
These things happen.
On the next trip, we’ll definitely go to the Reeb Ranch, and we’ll probably huck
this teeter totter.
Another great memory from the trip was taco night at Oskar Blues.
I had told Barret that I wanted an epic taco night, and he took that pretty seriously.
The infamous Chub Wagon actually catered our taco night, with specially made chorizo and
a whole slew of other fillings.
We at them on the floor of the brewery warehouse like savages, although we probably could have
grabbed tables outside.
That night, everyone even got to meet Drama who was super bummed to have missed the tacos.
On my next trip, we’ll definitely be doing Taco night.
The final memory I’ll share from the trip is shuttle day.
After two days of nonstop riding, we wanted to give everyone’s legs a break and finish
off their arms and hands.
So we loaded up and drove to the top.
I had swapped my pedals to the dirt jumper the day before and forgot to screw one of
them back on my bike.
So it was just in by one thread.
It fell off on the fire road and I needed to go find it.
It threaded back in without a problem, and we continued on.
That was the last day of the trip, and by that time everyone had gotten to know each
other.
It was less like a group trip, and more like riding with friends.
Although Red Wolf Tours took care of all the arrangements, and our guides made sure we
could ride as many trails as possible, I couldn’t have held this trip without these attendees.
They all took a risk, traveled from afar, and trusted that a guy who eats pb&j burritos
would deliver.
That might be scarier than the trails.
I hope you enjoyed my recap of our guided trip.
With all we learned holding this trip I can only assume the next one will be even better.
If you want to attend next time just keep an eye out on the channel for an announcement.
For all who attended, thanks for making this possible.
I hope you had as good a time as I did.
Thanks for riding with me today, and I’ll see you next time.