How to survive Heartbreak ... Ridge in Pisgah, NC
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Hey Guys, welcome back; its our fourth and last day on this Pisgah trip and I believe we've saved the best for last, this ride is definitely going into my favorites playlist. Today we're riding Heartbreak Ridge via the Old Mitchell Toll Rd. Google maps clocks the stats for this ride at 4400 ft climbed and and epic 5400 descended. Once at the top you'll border the parkway and get the chance to look back on some amazing views. After this, the real fun starts as you ride over to Heartbreak Ridge and make your way down the spine of the mountain for what seems endless fast downhill.
This route start extremely steep and then mellows out to a decent grade with some ups and downs, but trending uphill for a long time. It is worth noting that this road closes Oct 1st to Jan 1st for bear hunting season, so plan around this.
After some more traversing you'll make to a flat spot that's perfect for a break, if you so desire you can pedal to the Parkway, but there isn't much to be gained by it; instead we used it as a chance to eat our packed-sandwiches lunch and continue on to Heartbreak Ridge propper.
So if you haven't yet noticed, when you use this route, this is a descent that you earn. The climb is quite managable in that the grades are not crazy once you pass the first push, but it requires a good amount of endurance. If this is something you want to try out, make sure you can pedal a good 3 hours, carry lots of water and bring snacks, lunch, etc. Also plan on an early start to give yourself plenty of opportunity before the sun comes down. Last but not least, carry spares for the basics, like a master link, a tube, bacon strips, a derraileur hanger and a multi-tool. This is a super remote ride, you don't want to get stuck out here. I really can't overstate how much it would suck to have to walk down this.
Heartbreak is naturally split in two by this massive unexpected climb, in all honesty, its ridable, we just didn't know it was there so we didn't power into it. A few yards after the top, you come to the best view spot on the trail in my opinion. Its another good place to refuel and get some pics.
My favorite part of this ride is what came after this stop, perhaps the trail is more fun, or perhaps its because I had already warmed up at this point, but I felt much faster despite the trail being narrower and more exposed.
There's a pretty well known section were the trees are perfectly aligned so that its nearly impossible to get through without clipping one particular tree. Despite it being the first time I had ridden here, I recognized the section immediately and backed off a bit, and well, I still hit it, but nothing serious. In the end, it was nothing, but it was one of those typical mistakes that we make, get through the hard section no problem, fall down stepping off the bike.
And while its not very visible in the camera, it's also rooty off camber, to me, it really added to the fun, you had to stay on your toes to navigate this section as you deal with diagonal roots covered with leaves and the winding left and right of the trail, quite the elusive techy flow combination.
Along the way you'll encounter some switchbacks, but they're nothing major, if you saw my Pilot Rock video for reference, those are much much tougher. On this ride, we've yet to encounter the real switchback-filled section.
This whole section of the trail gets super fast, the rootyness goes down a bit and you have a chance to let go of everything and just let it float. There aren't any particularly challenging features, but you will find some downed trees that have been converted into small drops. However, if this is a trail that you ride regularly, or you're willing to stop and spot them, most people can drop these, today, we didn't feel like it so we walked a few along the way.
As you can already tell, to get back to the road, we took Star Gap, there's a couple of ways to get down from here, but we went with the short one. The character of the trail here changes a bit, despite the fact that I think its technically easier, with the more open vegetation and vast views the exposure got to my head a lot more. And if you don't love them per se, you might as well make an effort to enjoy them, because there's a looot of them, I'm not even showing you all of them here. I'm happy, after reviewing the footage, I was doing the last ones much faster than the first, so yey for progress.
As the trail comes to an end, there's one last challenge, a nice rocky feature. In hindsight, I should have scopped it before as I have to admit I did scare my self a bit, but, it all worked out.
Heartbreak Ridge on Trailforks: www.trailforks...
Love the beginning when you showed the google map of the trail and actual surrounding it help viewer more understand the area and the length of the trip. Excellent riding, cool edit and also I don't know if the music during the ride added anything, for me its more distraction, rather hear just bikes and nature, but its just me maybe others love it. I am jealous, still didn't get any riding on regular bases, again 1-2 feet of fresh snow, well will go ski agaaaaain.... awesome episode, thank you, cheers from white Colorado, V!
Hey Verdon! Thanks for the feedback. Music is a subject I'm trying different things with now, some people love it, some people don't, I get it, I'm not sure exactly where it'll end up, but i'm always changing a bit to see how it works. I do try to make the volume low so the bike sounds don't disappear.
I know you havent been able to get riding with all that snow, but I'm also jealous, I'd be skiing all the time if I were there!
BlindstuffMTB Yes we have awesome ski season; but now we escaped to Fruita for some 4 days of awesome riding..... back home will go skiing again, what a life..... we are very blessed and thankful, V!
sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know of a way to get back into an Instagram account??
I was dumb lost my password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me!
@Rudy Matteo instablaster =)
@Travis Xzavier thanks for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im in the hacking process atm.
Takes a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
A great video and thanks for the narration too.
This trail is next on the list. Looks like an epic ride. Not as gnarly as middle black descents but def. feels tough due to the length of descent. Great video.
It's not as gnarly in general, but it's overall much more of a challenge. Well worth it!
Nice! Seems like an Epic Ride!
Thanks Steve! Its pretty amazing, crazy hard work, but so rewarding.
@@BlindstuffMTB yes, a lot similar to life, nothing is easy but it is very rewarding after putting in the work🤙
Packin my bag for pisgah after this one, great video
Thats what I like to hear, Brian. I'm already thinking of when do I go back.
Brilliant ride, lots of hard work for a well earned great descent, loved it :)
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Great ride on an iconic trail Stefano! 4,500ft. is no joke, quite a testament to your fitness!
I wouldn't say I'm particularly fit, but if there's one thing we do a lot of in FL its pedaling, I'd better be able to make me way up lol. I really didn't expect it, but riding in FL is actually great training for climbing.
Stefano, this looks great! I'm headed to Pisgah next week and we will do this. Thanks for the video.
Nice, have fun out there Mark!
Really loving your channel, especially the Asheville trails! I got my first FS bike this year (Jeffsy FTW!) and I just came back from my first trip to Asheville. Your vids as well as the viewer comments have given me some great ideas for new trails to ride this summer, thanks!
Thanks John! These comments are what make this channel fun to me, I'm happy to have helped out! Enjoy the Jeffsy, such a great bike, I love mine.
Great video..tough trail..ive yet to do this one yet
Whenever you have a full day to dedicate to it, go for it, its really worth it, very Pisgah in general, but it has a unique feel to it.
I loved it. Wouldn't have been upset to see more haha.
That's one of my all time favorites, wanna head back!
Just got back from Pisgah/ Dupont this past weekend. Great video. Makes me want to go back next month instead of Tsali. Good job man!
I've never made it to Tsali for this reason, every time we talk about it, its like, nah, lets stick to Pisgah lol.
@@BlindstuffMTB I love Tsali for the experience of setting up camp then rolling out right from there. The trails are awesome and the views are legendary. Also having Fire mountain right down the road makes our 4 day camping trips epic. Pisgah has so much variety though it's insane.
@@markbridges6386 sounds like I have to try this
Good pre-brief. Map route, location, etc. Good narration.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome video Stefano. I am stoked to do heartbreak ridge when I do ORAMM. They make the heckle spot seem so hard or sketchy. You just attacked it with no looks hahaha.
Thanks Ben! Heartbreak is absolutely amazing, at the top of my favorites list. You can do hecklers rock absolutely no problem. It looks scarier that it is imho.
This is literally in my backyard, and I've got Kitsuma out the front door. Holler at me next time you want to come up; I can take you off the beaten path. Cheers, brotha!
Thanks dude! Didn't know, that's awesome, you're so lucky to be so close to all these great trails. Will keep it in mind.
Bikes n' Brews is there a good way to loop Heartbreak via the toll Road now that Ridgecrest has closed access?
@@davidfaustino7025 Go into town and enter the old toll road via appalachian way. Be warned though, the climb up Appalachian and the first section of gravel is a burner. Very steep.
choneofakind Thanks. So when you are done you take mill creek road and ride all the way back to town?
@@davidfaustino7025 Yeah, that's one way! Depends where you park. I tend to park at the old fort picnic area and ride to town first. Then at the end, it gives me the option of either riding Kitsuma, or just costing back to the picnic area.
No BS that's a really good video. I am planning a ride but you opened my eyes to time needed. I think we are doing Curtis creek and then down HBR Memorial day 2019. Hell yea. Good job man very good stuff.
Thanks Brian! Give yourself time to go about it calmly and you'll be good. Its well worth the effort.
Great video. That ride is definitely on my list
Thanks man, go for it, you're gonna love the trail.
Great vid. I rode this last December with snowflakes falling and WAY too many leaves on the trail to see what was underneath. NOT recommended. We shuttled it but you did it the tough-man's way. WTG, bro!
In late fall / early winter that must be insane! We may have pedaled up, but both those rides were the tough-man's way to do it for different reasons. Glad you enjoyed the vid!
This is awesome stuff Stefano...wait, what? Bear hunting season?
Thanks Matt!
I'm not into hunting or anything, but I found this really fascinating, there's rudimentary (think boy scouts) housing along the road in a few spots with many small dog houses. The mt michell bear hunting club meets there during the season and they'll go hunting etc from that spot on multi-day excursion.
I didn't include it in the video, but we got to look around the area and it was interesting to see.
Bear sightings are extremely rare here...Nearby Harmons’s Den..and other more remote trails ..I’ve run into more than a few
I just did this ride and friggin LOVED it! You guys did a great video summary.
Thanks Andrew! Happy you liked the video and got to enjoy the trail. How did you access the old toll road, heard from another commenter that access through the conference center is not being allowed anymore.
@@BlindstuffMTB Thank you for asking! Here's a link (shorturl.at/fFK67 ) of how I rode up from a Montreat parking lot. Also, I didn't bring an extra innertube and blew my rear tire out on a rock near the end of Heartbreak (hardtail bike). Had to walk the dern thing off the mountain and hitchhike back to Montreat!
Nice to see the google map to start !
Thanks Rob. People seem to like it, so I'm probably going to do that with the longer rides from now on.
I can't even pedal on flat ground for an hour, let alone climb for three 🤣
Only way to do it is to ride more, no replacement for time in the saddle. And, it just happens to also be fun.
Awesome ride, gonna get up there one day!
Well worth it, its hard work, but you're gonna love it.
Great info, I need to make a trip up there it’s not too far.
Do it, you will not regret it.
Looks like an awesome trail. The climbing blows my mind. I couldn’t imagine climbing for 3 hours.
Good points about spare parts. That’s a pretty high consequence place to have a mechanical failure that you couldn’t fix. Was there any cell service out there?
Its a great all day epic! Thankfully the climb is steep only in one spot, the rest is quite continous grade, so you just get into pace a forget.
There's cell service in some spots, but in general, no.
I have subscribed to your channel
Heartbreak Ridge followed by... Switchback City- crazy, like 50 switchbacks? What's your speed in the super fast section around 7:10?
And what's Philip's secret? Just bombs away? Don't think I realized he's always on a hardtail. Great vid!!!
Thanks! Glad you liked the video.
I honestly lost count of the switchbacks hahaha, it feels like a thousand. Strava says around 27mph, there's always a lot of error in that data so don't take it to precisely.
No one really knows what Phils secret it, lol, but seriously, he just seems to do fine if he's picky with lines, hardtails are amazing, they just require being super active on the bike.
16. There are 16 switchbacks on Star Gap. They are far more fun going down than up.
If I ever make it to the US, Pisgah has to be on the list 🤘It looks fantastic.
How do you record and animate the Google Earth sections. For the life of me I can't seem to get it done 😂
You do have to come to Pisgah, some of the best riding in the US.
Here, I followed this: ruclips.net/video/eXPxZ633rGE/видео.html
You rode HB and toll road but you didn't tag in Kitsuma at the end??? Next time you have to!
That route is definitely great. Did it during day 2 of the Pisgah Enduro, but on this day we chose not to go for the extra lap
I heard the conference center closed trail access there now making it much harder to get to the Toll Road. I think the timing was close to when you published this. How did you get onto the Toll Road on this ride?
When I rode it, it was fine to access through the conference center. No idea why they changed it and I haven't ridden it again.
Found this ridelog showing access from montreat. Hope it helps.
Trailforks Ride
www.trailforks.com/routepopular/10415469/
Def hit this trail dry
Hi, I can have jeffsy cf pro 27 2018 for 3000 euro, but I ma not sure about the 27,5 wheels, cause I am 6,5 tall. Is 27,5 any good for such a tall guy?
I'm not sure since I'm only 5'11", but from what I've seen, its more about feel of the bike than anything. If you get the right size bike, which for you is for sure the XL you should be good.
Nice video ! I'm planning on going this weekend where would you recommend to park ? and once you get to the bottom what's the best way to get to your car? @blindstuffMTB
If you can, use two cars. Park one at the top of kitsuma and one at the bottom just to save you that climb. If you only have one car. Park at the bottom of Kitsuma, ride up the point lookout trail greenway. This should guide you: www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/25214431/
So like all day.... lol. Problem is I'm not going alone and I need to free up enough time.
Its for sure an all day ride.
@@BlindstuffMTB definitely bringing a friend. Never know when you'll need somebody to trip if you're chased by bears... or in case I wreck.
Stefano, how do I get a sticker? Would love to sport it on my Jeffsy!
I'd be happy to send you some. Contact me on IG or through my website.
Yeaaaaa surviving the Tod's the in bike yes or not alternative in the sevilisetion o cataclism is yu and demais good sender's of llegad the home o bonker in the vosqus. Cia boy's biuti vosqus in the USA is parecid the Sur of Chile bois good for the downhill o Enduro etc exelent practic men's cia leter 🇺🇲👏💯👏🍀🇺🇲🤘🇨🇱😋👌🚲🚲❤️🚴🚵🚲❤️❤️❤️🍀🍀🍀💯💯💯
🤘🤘🤘