Mountain Goat Trail

Last Sunday morning, my son and I rode the Mountain Goat Trail at Sewanee.  This was his first ride on a Rails to Trails paved bike path, and he very much enjoyed the largely motorway-distraction-free experience, as well as the opportunity to ride through wooded sections that felt “like the middle of nowhere.”  The trail starts near Woody’s Bike Shop in Sewanee and ends at the Dollar General Store in, I think it is, Monteagle.  No more than five miles, probably closer to 4.6, each way.

The route includes a few gentle hills, maybe two secondary road crossings and one crossing at Highway 41.  Parking’s available at the Sewanee trailhead where there’s also an informational marker discussing the history of the former railroad as well as a topographical map of the trail.  At one point, there’s a 90 degree turn where the trail is constructed of wood and elevated over a declevity and around a property line.  In another place, gravel and sand tends to wash across the bike path from an adjacent gravel/sand pit or quarry – that’s the property around which the trail turns with the wooden elevation.

My son managed managed all of the trail well on his Modikoso superbike except for the gravel and clumps of sand across the path from the quarry.  He had to dismount and push the bike over it.  I rode over it on the Jamis Supernova with no real concern.  On the way back, oddly enough, we found the hazard had been, it looked like, completely washed away.  Odd, because although there’d been slight precipitation during the intervening time, nothing that would clear the trail.  Maybe somebody from the quarry hosed it down?

 

 

Orbea Mystery Ship

Turns out my new bike’s frame probably isn’t made of Columbus Starship tubing, according to the helpful inside sales representative at Orbea USA.  He thinks it is probably made from Columbus  XLR8R tubing.  That said, the frame lacks the usual decal or badge identifying the tubing’s manufacturer and type.  Both, according to the Columbus website, are at the high end of their various aluminum product lines.

On a group ride yesterday (I was able to ride all the hills I had to walk last weekend) the Orbea’s front derailleur cable delaminated and burst through its housing.  Bummer and an expense for me.  Today I drove over to Woody’s Bike Shop where Brian changed out all the bike’s cables and re-wrapped the bars in a blinding yellow that vibrates in harmony with that of the frame’s paint scheme.  I saved a hundred dollars by opting for ordinary, as opposed to Campagnolo cables and housing.  Also reduced the bar’s height by two spacers for better fit.  The visit with Woody and Brian was educational, too, and easily worth the longish drive.

Long past time clean & sweep the garage, as well as paint its interior. A realtor would call that 1974 paneling “dated.”

I rode about 28 miles this afternoon, and the last five or so miles, the seat provided a level of discomfort usually experienced only at about the 60 mile mark.  Either I’ll get used to the seat (which to the good does not numb my external genitalia), or I’ll replace it with another that will hopefully fit better.  Nice day for a ride, though.