Muggy in Montvale

Hey! So there's this little place along 460 that is very combustible. It's affectionately known as "Kaboom Town". Where is this "land of en fuego" you ask? Oh it's about 20 minutes east of Roanoke, and Montvale is home to several gasoline distribution tanks. My goal today was to go and ride the trails at Montvale Park. I guessed that the Cove would be a muddy mess given the downpours of the past few days, I just rode Mill Mountain Friday night; and I've wanted to check out these trails for a while. I figured they couldn't be any messier than the other options. I also didn't know how I would feel today. I've struggled for the past 6 days with two extremely sore legs. Yep, overdid it at the gym and paid the price for 5+ days. It was so bad at one point, I couldn't walk up or down steps and needed to grab a door knob to get up and out of my chair at work. Stupid Jen.

Prior to today, I rode this past Tuesday (~10.5miles) at the Cove with Paula – it was the 1^st day post gym goof, so the pain wasn't too bad; well at least until I went to climb. I found myself walking up stuff I've ridden all year long. I just couldn't push/pull the pedals. OW. Friday, the idiots formerly known as weathermen had forecasted rain all day, so I didn't take my bike to work nor did I charge my light for the previously planned Friday night lights ride. At around 7p, Paula called and asked if I still wanted to ride. Of course I did. We ended up meeting at 815p for a night ride on Mill Mountain. It was fun. My legs were sort of cooperative. The lights were great, that is until P's ran out of juice. We rode back up the old road by my light alone and called it a night (~6.2miles). We will probably ride like this again. It's a different vibe at night, plus we saw some weird stuff – reflector raccoons, pooping spider and camera lightning – you had to be there.

Montvale Park is fairly new I'm not sure when they began work on it, nor what the future holds. If it is anything like Falling Creek Park in Bedford, then I expect that there will be more amenities eventually with a sustainable trail system. So far, I can only find the trails. There are two ways to get to them. There is a parking lot on Quarterwood Road or you can park at the baseball fields below Montvale Elementary, which was the option I chose. I was going to attempt to ride the race course for the Montvale Mayhem race that's coming up in October. When I got there, I realized that the weathermen had once again erred in their prediction that it was going to be a cooler, less humid day. It was downright warm and very muggy. UGH.

Anyway, I unloaded my bike and headed out. From the parking lot, you ride towards the baseball diamond then hang a left on the freshly mowed path around a field. I think Kenny P. has a passion for grassy fields. =) I wondered where the trails actually were then I was given a hint of a little yellow diamond with an arrow. Cool. A left then a right takes you to Goose Creek which is probably rideable, but since I was solo I decided to walk across the quaint, cute footbridge. It's not quite wide enough for my handlebars, but I managed.

The first trail I came to was called Yellow Drum. I had noticed this on the map and wondered about the name. Of course, I was reading into it thinking of some cool connection like an Indian had lived here and had a tom-tom which led him to be named Yellow Drum. Well that fantasy was blown to smithereens when I rounded a curve and saw a large, yellow drum. Industrial ya'll. Like you'd see recycled oil in. I laughed, but soon found myself wrecking on a slippery tree root. I'm quite proud that I remembered how to roll. HA HA. My concentration was completely screwed up by the yellow drum. I guess I will remember Yellow Drum for a while. It ranks right up there with Fat Albert (if you've ridden at Falling Creek you know this reference). =D

Let's see, I can't remember specific details about any one trail at this point (I will list what I remember at the end). I can say there are a lot of log hops, which I don't care for because I'm just not that good at it. I felt like some are poorly placed and take away from the flow of the trails. Then again, maybe they are fine going the other direction. There are a lot of tree roots, a few rocky places, plenty of turns and a few bridges. I didn't even bother to try to ride the 2x8 board. I figured with my mud-caked tires, I'd surely wreck. There are a few dips which are very rideable. The trail bed itself is in good shape considering all of the rain this year, however there is a lot of trail litter and debris from the storms and there are a few low hanging trees, branches and vines. I don't know if it was just the hour I was riding or what, but there were hundreds of spider webs. I found myself getting creeped out by them and having to stop on occasion to pull them off. The signage at the park is good, intersections are well marked and the signs are durable and legible. I did get confused at one point where it looks like there are two parallel trails - one is Easy Street the other is Beale's Treasure/Ridgeline (I think). The BT/Ridgeline is marked but the other isn't. I also got totally confused by the yellow and green diamonds with arrows. I'm not sure of their significance, but it didn't seem to me like they were going anywhere. I followed the green ones for a bit after finding the Quarterwood parking lot, but after a bit they switched to yellow?!? I thought the sign for the parking lot was a bit odd too. It points the right way, but there isn't another sign (or at least I didn't see one) after that for the parking lot. I wound up finding the road then turning the wrong way on the road. Hmmm.

I did have the map with me today, and it is helpful. I'm betting after a few more rides there the trails will be easier and easier to navigate. It was my first trip out there and it was warm, so it took me forever to ride 7.25 miles. I would have liked to have ridden more, but I had already been there an hour and a half. Maybe next time, there will be less humidity and less spider webs. I do look forward to riding there again.

Trails	Thoughts as best I can recall…
Easy Street	Fun, fast trail… easy… =)
Beale's Treasure	The climb was a bit of a challenge (keep in mind, I'm not in great shape right now.) It's kind of like a short, curvy Arrowhead(?) The part below the access road was kind of interesting. Off camber in places.
Cliffhanger	Nice connector trail. I think this is where the 2x8 wood bridge is.
Coyote Ridge	Kind of a scary name given the literal meaning of Yellow Drum. Great trail, probably one of the best here. Has a good flow.
Ridgeline	Fast trail, downhill, two bermed turns, of course one right-handswitchback that I couldn't do. BOOO!!! Great trail – really like it.
Yellow Drum	HA HA HA, can't get past my stupidity with the name. Rooty, short trail
Moto X	Not ridden – if it's what I think then I've got to try it.

This post written and published using Microsoft Word.