I was very much aware of the now as my companion and I paused at a fork on the Poverty Creek Trail. I was sore from our three-and-a-half-mile ride—we both were. Most of our biking experience had been easy riding on sidewalks, city parks and roads.
Mountain biking is a totally different animal. In a word, it’s tougher, if you are on a legitimate trail. The wooden signs at the fork identified the paths before us. The Poverty Creek Trail, the trail we had been riding since early afternoon, was known to experienced mountain bikers as the Basin Trail. It was a 7.2-mile ride that acts as the spine for the Poverty Creek Trails system—more than a dozen hiking, biking and horseback riding trails that surround Pandapas Pond, located three miles from Blacksburg. Pandapas Pond has long been a destination for local and regional mountain bikers looking for challenging trails and beautiful scenery, even before the land became an official part of the Jefferson National Forest.
“These trails are used by a lot of people,” says Nathan Sharp, a Blacksburg resident and devoted mountain biker. He’s been riding the trails around Pandapas Pond for years. “You can go out there pretty much any time of the day, or any time of the year, and find people riding the trails.”
If we changed directions and took the trail not yet traveled, we would be starting out on the Jacob’s Ladder Trail—a.k.a., “the Beast”—a 1.3-mile roller coaster of a trail described by one veteran rider as “the screaming-est downhill around.” The terms “beast” and “screaming downhill” conjured images of X game competitors—20-somethings who are almost happy to suffer a bone-jarring crash for the sake of a thrill. We, older and not exactly bike jockeys, opted quickly to continue on the Poverty Creek Trail.
Located at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet and surrounded by a cool canopy of Appalachian hardwoods and pines, Pandapas Pond is an eight-acre man-made pond created by James Pandapas, a pivotal figure in the history of Blacksburg. Pandapas was active in real estate development and housing during World War II and brought the first industry, Electro-Tec, to Blacksburg in 1947. He purchased a 500-acre tract between Brush Mountain and Gap Mountain, called Poverty Valley, in 1948. The businessman decided to develop the land into a recreational area for Electro-Tec’s employees, a perk he thought might attract potential employees from other states. The plan worked well; many young professionals and their families were drawn to Blacksburg by the beauty and tranquility of the pond and its environs.
Latest Comments
Cycling attracts businesses ...including mine!
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October 11, 2010 19:09:45
Connectivity by bicycle raises property values
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October 10, 2010 21:02:12
Blacksburg's Trails are great!
Posted by Lyndsay McKeever October 10, 2010 20:39:59
Bicycling Tourism attracts big dollars
Posted by barbara duerk October 10, 2010 18:15:40