BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I have had my bike fall over as well with one pannier. I bought the roll top ones and I love it

sweet! I've been using pack-it cubes to organize the stuff inside. I migrated them from my suitcase.

If you're going to go all cargo bike style, you should just go ahead and fit it with a double kickstand, no falling.

I saw one of the back roller bags on the 5 Boros ride in screamin' Hunter/Safety Orange. It looked awesome, I was jealous.

"I saw one of the back roller bags on the 5 Boros ride in screamin' Hunter/Safety Orange. It looked awesome, I was jealous."

I don't know about looking "awesome", but they sure do work well and have (so far) kept me from getting shot at while riding in the woods during hunting season-

@dooftram, well perhaps I'm just more fond of the color orange than you. I think it looks sharp with that grey Surly, too. Nice combo!

@dooftram: Whoa, thanks for posting that picture. Do you ascend Cheat once you hit Durbin and meander up through Elkins, or trundle down 250 towards NRAO/Greenbank? On that ridgeline you're more likely to run into bear runners then hunters. Perhaps you take the Cass RR? Do you ride down to WV or drive then ride? I've been pounding those woods for two or three decades, one way or another (though I don't hunt animals), so recognized your location a few miles north of Wildell (if I'm not mistaken) like my backyard, which I guess it kind of is. Have a small place near Stoney Bottom/Clover Lick, and friends at NRAO and Hillsboro and Lewisburg and... They want me to bike down and visit.

Ah, Durbin-Frank-Bartow. Thanks for triggering the memory. I housesit on occasion for a former director of that forest and judge and avid bike tourer who helped advance those trails. She's going to be tickled pink. She's my "neighbor" at Rocky Bum, (what we call Stoney Bottom, though it's really "Campbell Land". She's a local, and after twenty years coming and going in Pokey County, I'm tolerated.) Go there often?

Nice bags and bike too.

OP: Apologies for drifting OT.

such a beautiful part of wv too. i spend a lot of time in the summer at snowshoe...

@fungicyclist, photo doesn't do it justice but that particular meadow is my one of my favorite places on earth, and it is just north of Wildell. Glady is mostly hunting cabins and that strange, tiny post office. So you do hear the odd gunshot, but it's much quieter than PA woods at that time of year. Up and to the left of that sign is a stand of trees and a babbling brook where I often camp. There are ancient apple trees that still bear small and edible fruit in the fall, blackberries galore in mid/late summer, trout not far downstream.....I could go on forever about that place. Please thank your friend for me. And for the handful of people I've taken down there who loved it as well.

I rarely see anyone on the West Fork Trail or going up that path in the picture, except myself. The ride into Durbin is a good day trip. I sometimes ride over to Middle Mountain on the network of forest roads. The hike over to the High Falls and a swim below them is excellent on a hot summer day. I tend to drive down for a weekend, basecamp, and take daytrips on the bike more than doing longer tours through the MNF, but I've also ridden longer loops using the Greenbrier Trail through Clover Lick, etc. Beautiful. Almost heaven, indeed.

Do you remember the little store outside Huttonsville Prison on 250 that sold arts and crafts made by the prisoners? That place was brilliant. Great road to ride through that valley.

And back to the topic (sort of), perhaps we can convince some of the folks on this board to use their fancy panniers and bikes to see some wild, wonderful WV. That's what they're for, afterall. Sounds like you'd be a good guide, fungicyclist.

Pocahontas Co. has the highest elevation and lowest population of any county on the East Coast: birthplace of 7 rivers.

Only been to Snowshoe two or three times.

cburch, do you stop at Meck's for the pastries and view of the GBT? I assume you do mtb stuff up there near George and Micky's resort atop the Big Black? It's an hour's drive but only a few miles from those new trails on the south face of Cheat, (near where the helo went down two or three winters ago) which are stunningly gorgeous and may still be mostly unused...

@fungicyclist Pocahontas Co. has the highest elevation and lowest population of any county on the East Coast: birthplace of 7 rivers.

It's an astonishing, isolated, mountainous place for sure.

But Mt Mitchell, Yancy Co, NC is higher. Highland Co Virginia, to the immediate east, is lower in population and population density. With Pocohontas Co. being in WV and partly to the west of the Eastern Continental divide, it is arguably not East Coast.

Mick, you might be correct; I haven't checked the population density (which is what I meant to reference) in 25 years. And there's this new Census. Does Yancy Co. have a higher averaged elevation? Pokey does fall entirely to the east of "The Big Black", the range including Cheat, but some of the rivers do flow to the Gulf, so I guess an argument could be made it's not East Coast proper. Geologist friend of mine claims it is, but I guess it's an arguable issue?

Regardless, I shouldn't make statements of fact without fact checking myself. Certainly shouldn't be touting Pokey Co. anyway; I don't want it to change. Most Pghers won't go any further then Elkins: Cheat is daunting. Heck I've met residents of Elkins who won't go over Cheat. Then again, I know a young woman who has never left the Southside... Over the years it's obliged me by staying basically the same.

Dang you dude, now you've got me googling. Yancy Co has the highest average elevation in NC, however, "Pocahontas County has the highest average elevation of any county east of the Mississippi." So bite me. http://www.pocahontascountywv.com/quick_county_facts.aspx

And I'll bite myself as Highland had 6 people per square mile as of 2009 while Pokey had 9.7 as of 2007.

Thanks for your interest.

i spend most of my time at snowshoe. i always mean to go ride the amazing trails around slattyfork but i just can't pry myself away from the downhill. i'm going to try to get stef to come down with me this summer. check out the telescope and the cass rr and all that good stuff. people that only go to that area in the winter to ski have no idea what they are missing. i want to buy some land down there so badly.

@fungicycle So bite me.

Consider yourself bitten.

Would like to go back to slaty, the last and only time I was there my front shock broke and had no return. I ate it pretty hard in a creek bed and mailed it in from there. Beautiful country.

@salty - I've had my Packer Plus panniers for going on 5 years and think they're great. I wish I had the waterproof instead of mesh outside pockets, but I still like having that extra place to put smaller items.