Friday Training Holiday MTB ride

Some of us are fortunate enough to work for the Army and have off Friday b/c of the training holiday.

As such, I'm planning to head to this place:
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which is 1.5 hrs away on Friday and riding the trails they have. I'd expect to put in about 4 hours of continuous cycling at a moderate pace. I'd do the black trail and either trail 7, trail 3, or maybe both, to cover about 40-50 km of distance.

starting point would be at the tourism office, located here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

my plan would be: drop my kids at kindergarten at 0730, on the trails NLT 0915, ride until 1300-1330, then drive home.

the rumor is that the vosges range is the shizzle for riding in this region, and that hte trails are clearly marked (although I'm bringing my garmin nonetheless). the rumor also is that these are dedicated MTB trails, not hiking trails that happen to be ridden by mountain bikers.

this could be a complete bust, or it could be something great. the only way to find out is get out there and ride.

Anyone interested?

Hmmm, I'm thinking 'bout it!!! I notice there isn't much climbing, are the trails really technical or are they fast and flowing???

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you're right; there's not a ton of climbing, so putting in a lot of Km that day should be pretty do-able.

the best i can tell from the photos posted on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] of the trails around there, its pretty smooth singletrack. my hope is that the "red" trails are similar in challenge to rodalben, but i'm definitely going to check out the "black" trail too.

I'm in for this unless my wife changes my mind for me. I'll give a for sure later tonight and then we can work out the logistics. Is this trail network public access or do you have to pay to ride???

ok, sounds good. trail is public access, from everything I've read. obviously I'm planning on bringing some Euro just in case, and for a healthy serving of escargot.

VTT français est le meilleur!

Got the green light!!! How do you wanna do this, you wanna travel in one car. I have a rack for my truck but not sure if it's full suspension friendly, if not we could put your bike in the bed unless your transportation is more suitable??? What time would you like to meet, I have to drop my boy off at school @0700...

Think I might be down with this too. Any chance of humming a ride?

That would be bumming...damn auto correct

I can use my WIFE's minivan that day and it has plenty of room in the back for 3 bikes so I can drive no problem.

Since I have to drop of my kids at kindergarten in Lambsborn, can we just meet there and you guys can park and we'll take off from there? Lets say meet at 0730 at the kindergarten?

Here's the exact location of the kindergarten: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sound good?

Hmmm, how 'bout room for 4 bikes? I've been looking at these trails all winter trying to find a reason to get down there and ride.

sure, I don't mind trying to fit 4 bikes. I think that's about max, though! worse case scenario is we take 2 vehicles, but its a newer sienna minivan, so it can fit quite a bit in the back.

Thats what she said.

gsmolin wrote:I can use my WIFE's minivan that day and it has plenty of room in the back for 3 bikes so I can drive no problem.

Since I have to drop of my kids at kindergarten in Lambsborn, can we just meet there and you guys can park and we'll take off from there? Lets say meet at 0730 at the kindergarten?

Here's the exact location of the kindergarten: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sound good?

I think we can do two 9ers, a 650 and Spooky's little BMX Sounds like a plan, I'll make sure I have a full tank of gas in case we can't do it all in one vehicle...

I am green with envy. I have to work on training holidays.

Got the OK from the wife and arranged the babysitter, I'm in for sure. I'll show with a full tank of gas too, just in case.

Could one of you guys please bring some chain lube tomorrow? I went to Frank's to pick some up, bought two jerseys and checked out bikes for my kid, totally forgot to get the chain lube. See you in the morning.

[quote="Zenkem] and Spooky's little BMX [/quote]

Forgot to mention I thought that was funny as hell. Look forward to seing you guys in the morning.

What is the address to the kindergarten? Much safer for me not to get lost if I can toss it in my GPS.

jvanhuis wrote:Could one of you guys please bring some chain lube tomorrow? I went to Frank's to pick some up, bought two jerseys and checked out bikes for my kid, totally forgot to get the chain lube. See you in the morning.

I hate when that happens I'll bring a bottle...

spookyload wrote:[quote="Zenkem] and Spooky's little BMX

Forgot to mention I thought that was funny as hell. Look forward to seing you guys in the morning.[/quote]

Just showing my luv for the 26er...



I'll be dropping my son off at Queidersbach at 0700hrs then heading straight to Lambsborn. I hope to make it there by 0730hrs but then then there's always traffic...shouldn't be a problem...see y'all in the morning!!!

kindergarten is here on the red carrot: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

the street is "in der lach", and there's a traffic circle at the end of the road. if you get to in der lach and drive to the end of the street, you can't miss it. i'll be in a blue minivan.

see you at 7:30!

Sorry for the last minute change. Wife had a migrane last night and woke up with it coming back. Needed to be at home if an ER visit is required.

spookyload wrote:Sorry for the last minute change. Wife had a migrane last night and woke up with it coming back. Needed to be at home if an ER visit is required.

Sorry to hear that, I hope she's feeling better!!!

On the other hand, we had an excellent ride today!!! For those who were scared away due to lack of Vert missed out on the never ending climbs with 30 minute (sometimes 45 min to what seemed to be hours) of Vert and 5 minute downhills (new brake really good BTW). THX to gsmolin for hosting an excellent yet painful ride today!!! Can you post the profile for today???

It's time for a nap...

Good ride today. Wish there had been more singletrack, but thanks for coming guys. Definitely worth exploring.

Here's the GPS track. Ignore the first part, that was a ride I did this week around here. Subtracting that and the 400 ft difference between La Petite Pierre and my house, that's about 800 meters of climbing. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Next time, "Singletrack Paradise" outside of Pirmasens.

Good ride yesterday. We stuck to the official VTT trails which were a little disappointing (much like the official mountain bike park trails around here), but there were many off-shoots and other trails (singletrack) that could be explored. Nice little town for an overnight too. This one deserves a second chance on another holiday/training day, don't think I would go on the weekend though, I bet the trails would be way crowded. More climbing than I was expecting, but nothing too steep, I brought the singlespeed and rode it no problem (so those of you that have seen me on my singlespeed now know you too can handle it no problem...)

Thanks George for setting this up and for driving, too bad we ran out of time for beers but had some last night to make up for it. An all around great day.