Southern Maryland Adventure Riders--A CornerSpin We Will Go-Hi Ho!

Sometime late last spring, we were out riding on a very tasty road called Sugar Tree. It's got all the classic ingredients of wholesome fun. For 1) it's dirt 2)it's about 80 switchbacks (+/- an order of magnitude) over 18.2 miles 3) it has both elevation and descents. Needless to say, the road just handed my butt. It was like I hadn't ever ridden a bike. Meanwhile, SLiP210 (or was it MTNFlow? ) coming hot off his CornerSpin class was just a full fledge, 80-switchback eating monster. In fact, he had such a zest for attack, he even handed a few riders a pass in the corner using his new found talents.

Anyhow, we had a pretty big summer planned and if there is one thing that CornerSpin has a reputation for is you and finding terra firma. The better part of dignity told us we should head to CornerSpin when we got back from summer travel, lest we end up living vicariously through others in a body cast.

What the heck is CornerSpin

So the fall came, and we had 5 other ADVers signed up for Nov. It was perfect, until we suffered this ill-fated setback on an idle September ride through the woods:

We learned there are 26 bones and 33 joints in the human foot...the hard way:



Needless to say, we missed November.

Watching from a far...

Although there is one more fixation surgery to go next fall, Doc really couldn't find a reason "not to live". So we signed up for a nice March Winter retreat:

Strike two. Did you know it snows in North Carolina? At the end of March? We'll it does!


I was so relieved when the 20F forecast with snow was cancelled the class. It wasn't really the barometer, but as an outdoor facility they even thought 8-15 hrs of mudding exercise would take the wind out of our sails.

I do have pity on the CornerSpin scheduler. She really moved heaven and earth to accommodate everyone back into the que. Some folks like us, chose the next scheduled weekend, while they even held a special session the Thurs/Fri before Easter for those that requested it!

So tomorrow Blaster and I embark on the next building block of dirt riding. And the weather looks to be primo!

Yeeouch! Hope you healed up well!

Just remember, when you get back...If you show me yours, I'll show you mine

Is that your Girl Scout camping tag line?

Have fun guys. I can't wait to hear your experience. Hopefully you'll do a better job than I did of keeping the rubber on the road.

Actually no, We have to go back in this Fall to fuse three of the bones in my foot and fix some ankle damage which wasn't found earlier (impingement and torn ligament).

It was pretty sad that I couldn't do it last year with the other guys but at least I can go now.....and I am looking so forward to the class and learning some new skills and continuing to improve!!

Have a great time

Are you taking your GoPro? Have a great time!

Alas we have arrived at the hotel. Vids might need to wait to get home to upload. Are you jealous about the connection speed at the hotel?



Abnormally, we left well after sun up. Should 2 people leaving for the weekend pack this much stuff? Are we a bunch of teenage girls?


The first order of business was a stop here:


Next up a little more shopping here


And if you love you Tractor Supply, you should never miss an opportunity to shop here in Petersburg, VA (at I85/I95).

Got me some GS leashes (ok not really leashes, more like tug ropes..)


And decided to buy some more pots that I can finally survive my egg hard boiling cooking 'style'


Maybe today's post should be entitled the pictures I missed. With nothing to do other than Wunderlust out a window, I still managed to miss all the good pics. I missed the renovated dairy farm, I missed the truck from "The Cars movie" which looked like Nater the tow truck and had bunny ears. But look, I caught this thing!


We thought we had scored a nice sushi dinner, but a word to the wise, when the Japanese restaurant is right next to the Kmart, it probably doesn't serve raw fish.

Our RTE training kicked in, and we were able to geolocate another food trough. Blaster is in love. They serve sweet tea without even asking if it is "sweet or unsweet".

Off to get a good night's rest, first day of school tomorrow.

So what you're trying to say is that it's much better to have others shoot video and pics and then have you edit.

Got it!

Well today was even worse. Pressed the start button before I pressed on. Then later on the locking the front brake went ass over tea kettle. Knocked the camera out of whack 90 degrees. So if anyone needs 45 mins of riveting front tire vid, please let me know. I can only offer this rare vid to the high bidder.

Thats funny.....

Excited to hear what you have to say about the whole adventure...what did you think of one-hand-on-the-tank loop?

If memory serves me you'll get the "Ribbon of Shame" tomorrow afternoon. I took dirt naps every time I tried this, Garrett did much better than I did on this exercise, I believe it was his favorite of the day.

Post some pics if you get a chance.

There is a little known fact about Disneyland. Walt was very concerned about scaring "little" people, so he used the technique of forced perspective to create an illusion of height. Buildings along Main Street are built at ¾ scale on the first level, then ⅝ on the second story, and ½ scale on the third—reducing the scale by ⅛ each level up.

At CornerSpin, they use somewhat the same techniques. The track is miniaturized of all the infamous racing turns.

OMG, that place looks fun!:eek1

So....what's the score now? did you survive? did you break anything?

Blaster for the Win!

Final dirt nap tally for the weekend.
Blaster -6
Dorito -5

Carnage report:
(1) Tweaked bum knee
(2) Forearm raspberries
(1) Foot heal bruise
(1) Rubbed (non-lactatable) nipple
(1) Knee raspberry
(1) intake manifold
(1) stuck carb float

.......gained and a hoot of a time.

In the spirit of starting with the ending: The closing thought from class. There are 2 things in life you will never teach a man. The first is how to make love. The second is how to drive a car

The second reference is how valuable training is. Of course, most folks believe that training is over-rated as they can already do the skill, with never the second thought of how much you are leaving on the table.

I am sore and beat but had a great time and learned some new mad skills! I had a great time today with putting the things we learned yesterday together. My bike had a few minor issues but I worked through them and made me a better rider. First was that the float kept getting stuck which made keeping it running a bit of a task at times but I learned to keep the throttle on a bit. The second was that I had the TTR with the heavier suspension but the brake lever would bottom out on the peg mount so I would push through some of the turns, we got that fixed and got to working the breaking exercise. Of all the classes we have taken I think I came away with more new skills from this one....money well spent!! I will definitely be back again and again. If you have worries about wrecking and ending up on the ground this is not the class for you. If you aren't wrecking you aren't pushing. The tally for the day for me was I think 4 dirt naps....everyone of them is because I was pushing the new skills to the limit.....no extra bumps or bruises for the day but the ones from yesterday are still pretty sore.

The one hand on the tank drill was really fun and eye opening, especially when baking it in too the corners. :eek1 I never would have dreamed that I would be doing the things I was doing by the end of the class. One hand on the tank with the rear brake locked or almost locked and the front brake on the threshold of locking all while backing it in and getting through the corner....woohoo!

By the time I got to the ribbon it was the third exercise of the morning and I was getting a bit spent so I didn't really get much out of that exercise.

We didn't get many pictures but a ton of video with quite a few dirt naps captured, the GoPro's worked pretty well for my first time out with them.

When Aaron first told our group we would ride with one hand on the tank I thought he was joking...and then the wave of panic set in. I thought there was no way I could ride the circuit at the same speed locking the wheels and powering out. I knew I was going to be the worst in the class and make a complete fool of myself...I was never so happy and proud to be wrong. Body control was the best skill I learned and something that I continue to use and work on.

Who were your instructors besides Aaron?

Glad everyone had a great time!