Dead Wood

Dead Wood-This is what my legs felt like today on my ride. Fortunately no one was with me to hear my whining about how tired my legs felt. Since the legs did not cooperate I took the opportunity to take some pictures along the way.

There are quite a few pictures of old houses, which I always find interesting. Old houses have character. The wood tells of the many storms the houses have weathered. I always wonder who the original owner was, how many families have grown up there, what hardships they faced. Where are the families now, how many have passed away, how many children played in the yard catching lightning bugs playing tag etc.

My ride today took me from Spring Mtn Community Center, Hwy 9, Silver Welch, Parker Padgett, Old Fort, old US 70 to Black Mtn and back to the Community Center on Old Fort Rd. A great ride of almost 4 hrs.

Below are pics from the ride.

 

 

 

 

2 Week Recap

Feb 1-7-The week was rather uneventful up until Friday. Friday afternoon I met up with Andy and we headed down to the 2nd Snake Creek Gap TT. This time we were by ourselves, unchaperoned woooohooooooo. We made our way to Dalton Ga. checked into the hotel and watched some useless TV.

Got up bright and early on Saturday had breakfast, signed the race waivers and then it was off to the start. You can take the bus, plane or train to the start but Andy and I chose to drive.Just kidding about the plane and train. We have the logistics worked out really well, we drive up drop Andy off at the 34 mi start then I drive down to the 17 mile start. I arrive back to the finish first hitch a ride back to the 17 mile start get the vehicle and drive back to the start.

Andy and I both did personal bests. Andy 3.04 in the 34 mile and me 1:58 in the 17 mile. Not bad for 2 old guys...well one old guy me! I started ~10 riders back from Jeff Duckworth. Jeff is an excellent racer and posted the fastest time in the 17 mile TT in January. I placed 4th in that race.I was hoping to use Jeff as a rabbit to make me go harder. I really do not have a strategy in these races I just go till I start feeling light headed then go just a wee bit harder. I picked off riders one by one and finally I saw Jeff. I passed him on a slight up hill and once by I went as hard as I could, really feeling light headed now. Finally, off the front by myself. If is a great feeling to hear "hey you are the first one through" you only hope you can hang on till the finish. Then you start hearing things..."not the usual voices I hear in my head" I hear chain slap as if someone is coming up behind me, but no one is there.You wonder, am I going to hard, should I be a bit conservative...nooo I went as hard as I could, totally focused, preshifting to stay on top of my gear and carry my momentum.Coming across the finish line I looked at my computer and saw I broken 2 hours YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! This was one of my goals for the season...great feeling.
After the race I hitched a ride to pick up the car drove back to the start line hung around talked to Nate, Andy and socialized with the other racers. After the socializing Andy and I packed up and headed back to Asheville both pleased with our results.

Feb 7-15:
Kinda uneventful, did some training rides spent a great Saturday with Diana. We bummed around went out for lunch bummed around some more came home fixed dinner and watched a movie.Sunday training ride from Black Mountain came home and got a bunch of work done on home projects.

This week:
Work, train etc>

Have a good week!!!!!!!