Oh bloody hell.

There's been a lot of attention at an international level regarding the mountain biking opportunities in Pisgah for a decent amount of time now. I'm not sure if any place on the East Coast of the (semi) United States has had the same (un?)healthy dose of media hype in the last decade. If you think you know of of one, fill me in with your wealth of knowledge.  Please don't go telling me about a place that deserves it more, but a destination that is actually getting it.  I've been to places on the East Coast that I'd dare say are better, but that's just IMHOMO (In My Humble Obtuse Myopic Opinion).

I've been riding in Pisgah since 1997. That's long before MTB Project, Trail Forks, STRAVA existed, and even before the Pisgah Map Company released a decent map that made the OG Nat Geo map look like the user-unfriendly piece of pooh that it is/was. In order to get a decent ride in without having to flip flop the Nat Geo map over seventeen times while also analyzing the contour lines and blazes or being brow beaten by a bunch of "locals only" folks on the MTBR NC forum when asking for advice, a lot of us got by with this:

Don't bust my balls if that isn't the exact book we used in 1997.  You try google image searching for a limited print paperback book cover from the mid-90s.

I used to check the book out of the library mid-week, and our assembled group of weekend warriors would all agree on a loop to follow.  Yes, I'd actually carry the book in my hydration pack.  Yes, I actually wore a hydration pack.

Anyways, the book became known to us as the Book of Lies.  Using our wheel sensor equipped old school computers, we'd often find ourselves at the suggested mileage looking for some intersection, gated road, trail head or landmark... and be very disappoint.  It was inaccurate so often, it defied all logic and reason.

But it's what we had and Pisgah seemed so big and no one wanted to spend the night in the wilderness or perhaps live there forever as "settlers."  Credit where credit is due, thank you Jim Parham for making the great unknown that is (well, actually was) Pisgah more accessible to a bunch of flatlander noobs.

Being that I've ridden in Pisgah for over two decades now, I've seen so many changes, for better and for worse.  Some through natural erosion (it is a temperate rain forest after all) and overwhelming storm damage, and some from a serious uptick in users.  As of most recently, a lot of trails have seen some attention.  Some general maintenance, some work to divert water, and some total realignment (moving the trail elsewhere) to create a sustainable trail that doesn't wash out and end up dumping tons of sediment into our creeks and rivers.

I'm gonna stop myself right there. 

This post started writing itself in my head on the lower half of Bennett Gap this past Saturday.  I'd just ran into some friends and strangers doing heavy work on a technical, highly eroded section of trail I probably haven't attempted to ride in over a decade.  BTW: My much younger daughter would tell you that a stranger is just a person you haven't met yet.

I digress.

I started thinking about how some are gonna love the work being done here.  Others are going to hate it.  Some will be more vocal than others (your guess as to which group is probably correct).  I started going down the rabbit hole of ranting about the ranters, pounding the keyboard with furor, but then deleted a few paragraphs after some further thought.  As I get older, I find myself making a conscionable effort to not add more negativity to the world, so complaining about complainers does little to further the dialogue.

I just wanted to take the time to truly thank those thick-skinned individuals who put all their hard work and effort out there just to be judged by all the "experts" and found guilty of the highest crimes in the public court of social media.  You're the ones with blistered hands, smashed fingers, and sweaty ass cracks trying to make our world a better place, and I wanna reach out and virtually shake your hands.  Also, I'll just take this opportunity to remind everyone that before you chastise our paid workers and volunteers over how they ruined your favorite trail, mebbe wait a year or two... or five before you go passing judgment.  You might be pleasantly (eventually) surprised.

*ahem*

Spencer Gap

*ahem*

Thank and blessed.