What a perfect day to Ride up and over Brushy Mountain. Today we had planned on a small group of 5 or 6 to leave Cool Breeze Cyclery at 7:30 am and head up to Brushy Mtn. Brushy is the closest thing to real mtn. riding within an hour of Davidson, NC. With the bigger rides coming up like 3 mountain madness and Blood Sweat & Gears, many riders head up to brushy to get in some good climbing miles.
Our planned group of 6 ended up being 3 with a few no shows. When we showed up at the local church parking lot, several other riders from the Davidson, Lake Norman area, were also preparing to start their ride. As we started out on our bikes we rode by the Church cemetary. One couldn’t help to notice quite a few grave sites with American Flags posted next to them. Thankfully, the former military veterans were remembered on this Memorial Day.
The three of us agreed that we were not going to charge up the mountain and simply planned on getting a good steady workout. I started out wanting to ride a slow pedal mashing big ring. The burning pain in my quads however quickly made me switch over to the small ring. Climbing usually means pain for me and today was spot on for a good leg burn.
Once we rolled into the local Brushy Mountain volunteer fire department near the top of the climb, we met up with the other riders and took a little break. The Brushy Mtn. VFD offers some good shade, a few park benches, and most importantly and old fashion well pump that allows rider a chance to refill their water bottles.
After the break, we headed up and over for the descent down the back side of Brushy. It is always nice to see Wilkes Valley from the top of Brushy on a beautiful clear day. The descent is always fun but like always, never last long enough. Once we got down to the store, we took a quick break and headed back up the mountain.
The back side of Brushy is a much smoother climb with nice pavement. We all found our rhythm and climbed our way back to the top. The switchbacks always prove to be a good challenge. About a mile left to the top one of the other riders caught me and passed me with ease. Until then, I thought I was doing fairly well. I noticed a support bar mounted from his seat running up to his lower back. Geez, with the back pain I was experiencing, I surely wanted to know if it helped or not. I pulled into the fire dept. and realized that I had seen one recently at Cool Breeze. I asked the guy if he liked it. Come to find out, he makes them and also sells them to the LBS.
The product is called PowerBack Performance. From the appearance, I could easily see how the brace could hep you leverage your back muscles and potentially prevent you from pulling on the handle bars with your hands. One of the riders in our group hopped one of their bikes and seemed to like the product as well.
You can read more on this product at PowerBack Performance. They have several versions of the PowerBack brace. Roadies and Tri or TT bikes alike. I certainly look forward to trying one out soon myself.
Til 2mro when I try to hang on to the A group (try being the keyword).
CyclingGuy