Dan Casey

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Kyle Inman, A Roanoke-based mountain bike race organizer, tells it like this:

About 29,000 years ago, an enormous serpent plunged out of the sky and crash landed in what we now call Craig County, Va. Over the centuries, the mighty Smaug's carcass hardened into rock. Wind-blown dirt filled its crevices and trees took root there. Today, it's a craggy mountain ridge that runs up Jefferson National Forest, humped like the giant fins that ran down Smaug's spine.

The maps call it North Mountain.

In the mountain-biking community, it's known as the infamous Dragon's Back.

"Awe-inspiring, trepidation-building, fire-breathing mountain bike country," Inman says.

I joined him and some of his mountain-biking cohorts from East Coasters bike shop out there on a sunny and warm spring afternoon. What I came to realize was this: No matter how many adjectives Inman overloads his description with, it's still an understatement. One day and many over-the-counter painkillers later, I still felt like I'd spent 12 rounds in a ring with a boxing champ. My arms ached; my knees felt like rubber. Body and ego were cut up and bruised. With a lot of effort and a little luck, I'd gotten up that bastard and down without breaking my neck. But I'll be damned if I'm going back.

'We'll take it easy'

The word on Dragon's Back has passed through the area mountain biking subculture over the past six years. Probably more than anyone else, Inman is responsible for that. In 1993, he convinced the New Castle Ranger District of the Jefferson National Forest to allow a race there. Since then it has grown into a key race on Virginia Mountain Bike Championship Circuit. East Coasters in Blacksburg and Roanoke are the chief sponsors. This year's race was April 11. It was during a visit to the Roanoke bike shop that Ian Webb, a part-time mechanic, invited me along to Dragon's Back. Webb, director of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Development Center, assured me, "We'll take it easy.'" Webb did. By the time we got there, he realized he'd forgotten his front wheel. The rest of the group, six in all, had complete bikes. We had no excuse.

Grouse, deer, turkey

Dragon's Back Trail system is beautiful in its simplicity. At the bottom, there is a wide and winding dirt road off Route 311. About 1,500 vertical feet up is North Mountain Trail. A rock-strewn roller coaster that runs along the mountain's narrow ridge, it offers gorgeous views of Catawba and Ellett valleys.

Once part of the Appalachian Trail system, its path is parallel to the dirt road. Over a span of about 4 miles, three trails go up the mountain, connecting the road with the ridge: Deer Trail, Grouse Trail and Turkey Trail. Each climb is roughly 2 miles long.

We chose the middle one -- Grouse Trail -- for the climb up. The plan: we'd go up the Grouse, hang a right on North Mountain Trail, run the ridge for a mile and come down on Deer Trail. Then we'd ride back to the cars along the dirt road.

It was easier said than done, at least for the three of us who are relative novice mountain bikers. East Coasters manager Wes Best, mechanic Adam Childress and Inman roared up the trail. That left me, David Bullington and Jerome Guinn in their dust.

Near the bottom, the Grouse Trail is a couple feet wide. It's rocky enough to make highway rumble strips look smooth by comparison. It's steep enough that if you get stopped by a rock, it's hard to get your momentum back on the restart.

And that's the easy part.

The trail soon narrows to barely more than a foot as it a hugs a steep slope. Bone dry, quickly eroding down the mountain and covered with leaves, Grouse Trial becomes downright treacherous. Stoppingfor a picture is a recipe for disaster, as I was soon to find out.

At one point after a stop, I was struggling to get momentum again when my front wheel dug into some soft leaves on the downhill side. The bike lurched to a stop. As I vainly struggled to stay upright, it slowly tilted toward the down-slope side.

Crash!

I was sliding and rolling about 10 yards down the rocky hill. The bike followed, bounced a few times then landed on top of me. Cursing, I checked for broken bones and then crawled back up the cliff, clumsily dragging my wheels.

Back on the trail and about a mile into this climb come the absolutely impossible switchbacks, tight and steep hairpins layered with lose shale. There are seven or eight of these monsters, then suddenly you're on the ridge.

Bullington and Guinn were kindly waiting for me on the windy ridge top. Then we set off to find the others, and Deer Trail, which Inman had told me was not well marked. Bullington and I never found it; we went back down the way we came up. Jerome Guinn managed to. As for Ian Webb, well, he rustled up a wheel by the time we got back down. As we packed up our stuff, he was just getting started.

Warning

One thing that mountain bikers should pay close attention to in any national forest is hunting season. 1999's spring gobbler (turkey) season in the Wildlife Road area runs from April 17 to May 22. Hunting is permitted during those dates from dawn until noon. There is some type of hunting permitted in the Wildlife Road area pretty much continuously from the second week of September through the end of February. For more info on dates and times, contact the U.S. Forest Service in New Castle at 540-864-5195.

Getting there

Take exit 141 off Interstate 81onto Virginia 419. Go to the light at the bottom of the hill and take a right on Virginia 311. Follow this up and over Catawba Mountain. At the bottom of Catawba Mountain is Virginia 779. Stay on 311 for 4.9 miles, until you see a sign on the right that says "Wildlife Road." Take a right here. Take this road for 3.4 miles, until you come to a clearing. A 1- by 2-foot sign clearly marks the Grouse Trail on the right.