Vittetoe761's Cajun Adventures

[Vittetoe761]

Alright guys and gals…I’m getting sent to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a couple months for work. I will be taking a couple bikes with me (naturally) and I plan to use this thread as a blog/documentary for my rides and races down in Cajunland. If anyone has any riding experience or riding buddies in that area, let me know as I will be riding solo.

I leave home (Muscatine, IA) this Saturday, March 16 early in the morning to make the 900+ mile journey to the Red Stick. Le Baton Rouge is French for The Red Stick…that’s what Wikipedia says anyways. After being confined to riding on the city streets, gravel roads, and occasionally the snowy trail on my old 26er hardtail, needless to say I am very excited to get my Giant Anthem 29er out on some dirt trails! I found out about this trip a couple weeks ago and instantly began researching the trails in Baton Rouge (BRAMBA.org) and the surrounding region (LOCOmtb.com), as well as the Louisiana XC Mountain Bike Series (LAXCseries.com).

After checking out the series website, my reaction went something like this: “HOLY COW!! The first race is my first day down there! ….Uh oh, this isn’t going to be good….” Even though I have been riding fairly consistently all winter, I am not in race shape yet…especially considering that I am making the jump from Cat 3 to Cat 2 this year, plus not riding dirt singletrack in over 3 months. So here I am…three days from departure, and four days out from the first race; my bikes are tuned up and I am ready to rip some Cajun singletrack for a couple months!

I will try to update this thread once or twice a week, depending on how much riding I am doing and what new trails and/or people I find. For all you Strava folks out there, you can check out my rides at “http://www.strava.com/athletes/vittetoe761” Hopefully you all enjoy following along!

-Michael

[jimithng23]

Looking forward to following your journey.

Good luck at the race!

[badfish41]

Good luck, buddy! Can't wait to hear about all the racing and XC trails down there. Good luck and safe travels, hope to ride with you again this year, if not sometime soon.

Tear it up!

[jJohnson]

If you make it down to New Orleans, be sure to visit Bicycle Michael's. Awesome little shop packed full of anything you could ever think of.

[Westy_3]

My visit to New Orleans is a bit foggy but I'm pretty sure I had a good time.

[Russhole]

Good luck bro. Hope you have time to ride. My out of town experience has been a lot of OT. Hope you can kick some Cajun butt. Don't eat the chitlins.

[Vittetoe761]

The journey is underway!

I left my house in Muscatine at 3:15am on Saturday morning to get a jump on the 900+ mile drive to Baton Rouge and so I could watch the Supercross race from Indianapolis which a started at 6:30. Almost hit a deer after about 15 miles, definitely woke me up! 6 states and 14 hours later, I rolled into town at 5:00 and was greeted with sunny skies and 75 degree temperatures. After checking into the hotel the first thing I did (after getting my Anthem into the room!) was check the channel list, and naturally they do not get Speed Channel. So instead of relaxing in my room drinking water, I walked to the closest watering hole to watch the race. After ordering a beer, I was informed that they "only watch ball games here..." ...Not again! After convincing the bartenders to turn on the race, I proceeded to have a few too many beers, watch the race, and meet some cool local folk before turning in for the night to get some rest before the race!

First thing this morning (Sunday) I headed west on I-10 toward Lake Charles. After crossing 20 miles of swampland causeway and many more miles of rural Louisiana, I arrived at Sam Houston Jones State Park for "Race the Plank"...the opening round of the LAXC Series. The park was full of evergreen trees on top of gently rolling hills and the race headquarters were set up in a pavilion on the banks of the west fork of the Calcasieu River...quite the picturesque setting.

After signing up for the Cat 2 race, I headed up to the starting line to watch the start of the Cat 3 race and check out the course. The soil was quite sandy on the trails but still provided a good solid base and surprisingly good traction; especially compared to the snow and ice I've been riding on for the last couple months! The trails also had a ton of exposed tree roots which made line choices very important. After completing my pre-ride of the twisty, rolling course I headed back to my truck to prepare for the start of the race.

I started around 15-20th going into the singletrack and was holding the pace for the first couple miles before feeling the effects of the Iowa winter. I backed off the pace a bit to avoid completely blowing myself up on the first lap of the three lap race. A handful of riders got around me and I found myself all alone for most of the race except for the leaders of the 40-49 class catching me from behind (they started in the wave after my class). My lap times went up by about 1:30 each lap and I was pretty spent for the last lap...my tongue kept getting caught in my spokes.

I ended up 28th overall in Cat2 and 6th in the 20-29 age group. After the races were over, the keg was tapped and the green beer was flowing...perfect addition to a St. Patty's Day race! I met a couple of guys, Ben and Ben, from Baton Rouge that were in my class and we made plans to do some riding over the next two months. All in all it was an awesome day and I learned that I have a lot of work to do in order to be competitive at the next level. I am going to take tomorrow off from riding but will be checking out Comite Park and Hooper Road Park here in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

Sorry for the long winded post, hopefully you were able to stay awake through the whole thing! Thanks for reading!

[Vittetoe761]

Race time!


These bridges littered the course...long, short, straight, curvy, skinny, wide...you name it, they had it!

[IMG]http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p631/Vittetoe761/IMG_20130317_151043_723_zpsd2e9fa41.jpg[IMG]


No shortage of pine needles!




No shortage of tree roots either...


Can you find the smooth line? ...neither can I...




Cat 2 results. There were more riders that hadn't finished yet when this was posted, but I didn't get a picture of the final results.


Definitely got my tongue caught in the spokes on the third lap!


I'm in...Iowa??

[badfish41]

...my tongue kept getting caught in my spokes.

I feel ya, brotha! Mind if I use this quote April 15th when describing my Stampede?!?!

Good work, man. Takes some guts driving 900 miles, staying in a hotel, getting up in the morning and racing 15+ miles on a new course. I have a feeling this you'll be reeling those guys ahead of you in in no time at all.

Good stuff, keep it coming!

[Vittetoe761]

Thanks Jake! Gotta love the tongue in the spokes line...use it up!

[jimithng23]

you've got a FS 29er - all lines are smooth!

good stuff, man - I really enjoyed this first installment of your Cajun Bayou Adventures!

[Kings]

Love the write up and a little jealous that you're riding trails right now. I bet that Anthem worked out pretty well on that terrain!

Keep up the good work!

[speedjunkie]

Ya thanks for the write up and the pictures. Looks like the deep south might have some good riding.

[Vittetoe761]

I've been slacking on updating this thing, but have no fear...there has been ample riding and I have the photos to prove it.

Here is a quick "teaser" of what I did this week before I get the full write ups done:

Monday- cruised around town on my old hardtail 26er. Here is a picture of the Louisiana state capital building from the ride.


Tuesday- Rode the Kerry Stamey / Comite River Park trails in Baton Rouge for the first time.


Wednesday- Three mile jog...my rear end wasn't ready for this much saddle time...

Thursday- Stanley Consultants Annual Crawfish Boil...crawfish and beers with the guys from work.


Friday- Laps at Comite after work

Saturday- Superloop Saturday! The Comite trails tie up with the Hooper Road trails to make up the Superloop...12 miles start to finish.

Sunday- The Beast! West Feliciana Sports Park in St. Francisville is home to some of the toughest, gnarliest, most fun singletrack I have ever ridden. Here is a clip I shot from my phone.
http://youtu.be/RRShh3sjcno

[Vittetoe761]

Comite (pronounced Co-Meet) is the go-to local trail here in Baton Rouge. From what I hear, it was built in the mid-late 90's and has been ridden hard ever since.

BRAMBA maintain the trails, along with Hooper Road and The Beast, and they have done a good job of upgrading the trails to make them more sustainable and better drained. The soil is quite sandy which has allowed natural berms to develop over time and also keeps riders on their toes when it dries out. The general lay of the land is fairly flat with various 10-15 ft ravines scattered throughout the park creating a pump track feel in some sections. Very high Fun:Work ratio.

Each loop is about 5.5 miles so I usually do 3 laps per ride. Already rode with both of the Bens that I met at Race the Plank last weekend, and was able to meet a couple more riders through them this week...the network is growing!



Comite has some nice flow built into the trails


More sandy flow!


Steep! The line on the right has at least 2' of vert...makes it interesting to get up and over it.


Berms for days...just lay into em and lean back!


Fun little section...drop down the hill and be greeted by a 5-6' long tabletop with 3 different lips of various pitch.


More flow...


First half of "The Bowl"


Second half of "The Bowl"


"Skid Mark"


"Skid Mark"


"Newton's Drop"

[jJohnson]

That looks like some seriously fun trail down there.

[badfish41]

Great stuff, Michael. Thanks again for sharing and keep them coming. Just looking at those pictures is getting me all fired up to ride some ST here in the MW.

Cheers brotha!

[Vittetoe761]

West Feleciana Sports Park in St. Francisville is home to one of the best trails in the area: The Beast...and The Beast is tough to tame! The trails were built by and are maintained by BRAMBA, and in my opinion it is the best of their three systems. The only negative about this trail system is that its located 45 minutes north of Baton Rouge, making it more difficult to get volunteers rounded up for trail days.

I finally found elevation changes that are similar to what we see in the Midwest...to the tune of 500-600 feet per lap. One lap around the loop is about 6 miles, but the locals say that it feels more like 8 miles due to all the climbing involved, and I agree! The trails attack the hills in a different manner than most FORC trails, which utilize bench cuts and traverses to make their way up the hills...The Beast attacks the hills by going straight up! This results in steep, rooty climbs that are very technical, and there are a lot of them!

The trend of sandy soils continued, but only on the lower portion of the park running along Alexander Creek. The sand that I encountered at The Beast was deeper than the other trail systems, and there was more of it, allowing riders to get a feel for letting the front wheel float and meander a bit. The upper portion contains the majority of the climbs and is made up of a typical timber soil which provides good traction.

I managed to do three laps at The Beast on Sunday, and was feeling pretty spent by the end of the day...definitely a good trail for race training as well as technical skill building.

The trailhead looks so innocent...


Shortly after dropping in, you come to the "Carpet Climb" ...very steep, and it keeps on going!




Did I mention they have large Oak trees in south Louisiana?


Steep, fun downhill bridge section...



Tough rooty climb around a corner


The uphills are steep, but the downhills are steeper!


More rooty corner climbs...


There are quite a few ravines that only require pumping, like this one. Fun trails!




The trails are laid out over this valley...up and down, rinse and repeat.




This climb was my nemesis...finally cleaned it on my last attempt.


The Escalator...drops down into a narrow spine between sections of creek bed.

The approach to The Escalator.





Immediately after the escalator comes a long climb up a soggy trough that Strava says averages over 21%

Here is where the climb get especially soft and rooty...

It dries out toward the top, but remains steep!


After the climb, the trail drops down into a string of bridges and benchcut trail, making up the Ewok Canyon!


The switchback climb takes riders back topside...these corners are very tight and steep, requiring some serious balance to clean.



More bridges...


Don't get bucked off the trail!


The beach!



Hope you enjoyed the tour of The Beast!

[Russhole]

Hell yeah. Looks like some good ridin'...might be worth a road trip some time.

[Vittetoe761]

I'm thinking it might be worthwhile...it would be tough though because ideally you would want to come here when it is cold back home, but I guess the trails get sloppy here in the winter because it's the rainy season. ...something about swamp land not drying out very fast haha

[Vittetoe761]

Took my GoPro with me to The Beast on Wednesday night...got the majority of a lap recorded. Enjoy!

[Vittetoe761]

Another week has wrapped up, and my exploration of mountain biking in the deep south is in full swing. I logged over 80 miles on the bike this week and continue to gain confidence as I get rid of any rust from the winter.

Monday
I took Monday off to rest up from the long weekend of riding, which was much needed after logging three laps at The Beast on Sunday afternoon. I can't emphasize enough how rough, tough, and generally gnarly that trail system is...makes everything else I've ridden seem easy!

Tuesday
Tuesday was supposed to be another rest day for me, but after getting off work and seeing sunny skies and temps in the mid-60's I knew I wasn't going to stay inside all night. I decided to look up the closest disc golf course, load up my backpack, and take off on the Raleigh to throw some D! It was about 8 miles of riding to get to the park, mostly on paved shoulders with cars zipping by at 50mph to keep things exciting. I got to the park, played the first hole and met a random older gentleman (probably in his mid to high-60's) who offered to give me a guided tour of the course. So off we went, slinging D's all over that park...good times! We finished up the 18 hole course just as the sun was going down so I rigged up my lights and rolled out.

I decided to take a different route home and ride the Mississippi River levee trail back to my hotel. Now, I had previously ridden this levee trail from downtown to my hotel and it was paved asphalt the whole way, so I assumed it was going to be paved a good distance beyond my hotel as well. Unfortunately, we all know what happens when you assume things...you have to ride a semi-loose gravel, cow pie covered levee for about 10 miles with a dead cell phone and no spare tubes. A couple miles into this journey along the levee I realized that I left the charger for my lights at home...I also looked up at the sky and saw a very bright moon shining. I decided to save my battery, shut my lights off and enjoy this ride through rural Louisiana by moonlight, which was a great decision as it made for a peaceful, enjoyable ride home. I finally arrived at the hotel at 9pm, dropped my bike off and headed over to Walk-Ons for a couple tasty Abita Ambers (delicious locally brewed beer) and some dinner before resting up. I was going to need it as I was heading to The Beast for a group ride the next day after work.
Strava

Wednesday
Wednesday was a good day. A group of 6 riders made the short trek north to St. Francisville to take on The Beast. The first lap around the trails was a good time as we took our time, regrouping every so often to make sure everyone was making it through safely. This resulted in me feeling fresh throughout the entire loop for a change...its amazing how different it is when you take a break from time to time! Towards the end of the lap I realized that it was getting fairly late and it would be getting somewhat dark by the end of the second lap. I told Ben Allen, who I had been riding with throughout the first lap, that we needed to hightail it back and get going on another lap if we wanted to finish before dark...so we took off, sprinting ahead of the other riders.

I reached the trailhead at the end of the first lap before Ben, and made the mistake of hopping back into the trails to ride the last little bit with the other riders. Ben didn't realize this, so he took off on the second lap about a half mile ahead of me. He thought I was in front of him so he was pushing hard, and I knew he was ahead of me so I was pushing the limit around every turn, downhill, and climb. Turns out that is a really good way to simulate a race pace because I was feeling it big time by the time I finished the loop. I'm talking to the point where my legs felt like noodles, I could barely stand up, and thought I was going to vomit for a little while...cue Wayne Campbell, "Excellent"...now THAT is a good training ride! After loading up we headed to the Wing It Grill for some good eats, more Abita Amber, and some bench racing about the local trails, bikes, and even the trails in Iowa/Illinois!
Strava

Thursday
Thursday was a rest day...nothin' to see here folks!

Friday
I decided to head out to Comite to spin some laps after work on Friday. I was still feeling it in my legs from The Beast on Wednesday, so I took it easy on my first lap and took the opportunity to check out some new lines and pop a few kickers! Come time for the second and third laps, I was ready to go and was pedaling away better than normal. It is amazing how much easier it is to pedal on smooth flat ground after riding steep, rough terrain a couple times in a row! The trails were really starting to shape up as well; the dirt was drying up to the point that it was rolling extremely fast, but the corners still offered plenty of traction resulting in a very fun ride! By this point, I am really starting to learn the ins and outs of the trails at Comite and know what to expect around every corner, how to set up for it, and how my bike is going to react. Again...good stuff!
Strava

[Vittetoe761]

Saturday - Mount Zion
On Saturday I decided to make a little road trip to the Mount Zion trails in Brookhaven, Mississippi; about a 2 hour drive from Baton Rouge. I had heard good things about these trails and didn't have anything better to do, so I rounded up my gear and headed north. I knew it was going to be a good day as soon as I rolled into the trailhead. There was a pavilion packed full of the necessities...large BBQ smoker, picnic tables, spare helmets, bikes and a handful of good ol' boys hanging out drinking cokes and grilling lunch. There was also a sweet wood berm right next to the pavilion...now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! So I gear up, hop on my bike, say hey to the guys in the pavilion, and go check out the trail map before heading out. While I'm looking things over I hear one of the guys yell over at me, "Hey where are them tags from?" So I ride back over to the pavilion and tell them how I'm from Iowa but I'm staying in Baton Rouge for work, etc. We chatted it up for a bit, I got a couple "You ain't from around here, is ya boy...'s," they gave me a couple pointers and heads ups about the trails, and I was off rolling.



The very first corner on the trail has a nice, steep berm in it to lay into...yet another sign of good things to come. One lap consisted of around 500' of climbing, plenty of tree roots, a lot of berms, and a lot of bridges. The trails at Mt. Zion have no shortage of flow as the brakes are not needed very often...just a lot of lean angle on the berms! On the first lap I found a large seesaw, fly-away jumps, steep wood berms, roller bridges, among other things that resulted in a ton of fun! There are also a few tough climbs to get your lungs burning and your legs aching. After finishing up the lap I went up to the pavilion and chatted with the locals some more, telling them how much fun I had on the trails and so on...they were glad to hear I liked it and I could tell they had put a lot of work into them to get to this point! There was a chance of rain that afternoon so I figured I better get back to riding again to make the trip worth while! I put in a fairly hard lap on my second time around, hitting some sections a little better than my first time around and also found a couple more fun little lines throughout the loop.

After my second lap I was sitting on my tailgate drinking some water when one of the guys came up to me and asked if I had found the "Black Diamond Trail." ...why no, I hadn't found this thing, but you've got my attention! Apparently there is a 14' tall, 2' wide skinny bridge across a valley, and a gap jump across a creek...but its not on a marked trail, rather off on a "secret" off shoot from the main route. Needless to say, it didn't take long for me to take off looking for this "Black Diamond Trail"...thinking to myself "That guy's full of it...no way this skinny is 14' tall" and so on. Well...when I finally came to the entrance to the "Black Diamond Trail" I could tell I was in for a good ride. The first section had a sign naming it "$100 Hill" and it was steep with large tree roots crossing the trail at an angle...good times! After $100 Hill, I rounded a corner and found the 14' tall skinny I heard about...and the guy wasn't kidding, this thing was up in the air! The trail went up a hill in a ravine and under the skinny before wrapping around to the entrance to the skinny. The skinny itself wasn't too bad, I just made sure I didn't look down off the sides! The exit off the skinny consisted of a 2' drop onto a wider section of ladder bridge before returning to dirt. The trail then rounded a corner, and pointed downhill towards the creek gap. Barreling down the hill I went, onto the ladder platform and over the 6-8 ft gap across the creek...woohoo! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the downhill or skinny, but here is the drop:







So much fun I had to go back to the top and hit it again to capture it on video!


Here are some GoPro videos from the Mt Zion ride...Part 3 shows my favorite portion of the trail.





Sunday
I had plans to ride two Superloops with Ben Allen this afternoon at Comite & Hooper in Baton Rouge, but those plans were derailed when a heavy thunderstorm rolled in after my first lap around Comite. It was especially a bummer because the trails had even more grip and were rolling faster than on Friday, so it was shaping up to be a good day! ...Oh well, can't win them all right?

Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of rain in the forecast for this week so the trails will most likely be closed for a while...for some reason I don't think you guys are going to feel sorry for me though

[nobrakes2007]

These are basically the exact type of trails that are found throughout southeast Texas and Lousiana. Pretty much entirely flat except for a few descents/climbs in and out of ravines and gullies. Makes me miss the southland!!!!

[Vittetoe761]

Hey nobrakes...have you gotten to ride any of the trails in the midwest yet? I think the trails with hills down here are very similar to what we have at Sugar Bottom, Sunderbruch, etc.