3 Days ~9+ Hours of Cycling

Great weekend! I started the weekend early by taking 1/2 day off Friday. E-mailed friends trying to get someone else to leave work early, no takers. I had a great mtn bike ride @ Bent Creek;up North Slope, up Sidehill down gravel rd left on Chestnut Cove behind Lake Powahtan and back to truck..3hours.
Saturday was spent riding the SS Surly on dirt roads @ Bent Creek. Another 3 + hour day.

Sunday dawned and it was quite blustery. There was a bit of indecision here. I really wanted to do a road bike ride but due to the wind I was considering another mountain bike ride. I did not want to go to Bent Creek, having spent 6+ hours on the Bent Creek trails the previous 2 days.I called a friend that had e-mailed me about the possibility of a mtn bike ride in dupont but was told the dupont ride was canceled due to trail conditions.

Back to my original plan of a road ride. I did one one of my usual routes. I started from the house to Gap Creek, Cane Creek then onto Brush Creek.I took hwy 74 over Hickory Nut Gap and down to Hwy 9. The Hickory Nut Gap is one of my favourite climbs. The gradient is perfect, not to steep not to easy and very consistent.I was also riding a set of Dura Ace tubless wheels with tubeless Hutchinson tires. These were great! Very supple ride and the tires hooked up well in corners on the descent.If any of you have ridden with me I am quite conservative on the descents.I turned left on Hwy 9 and headed toward Black Mountain. This stretch of road is usually very low traffic and the scenery is great. Unfortunately they have done away with one of the more scenic landmarks. This being the Iron Bridge crossing the river from hwy 9 to Lower Sand Branch. I always enjoyed taking a break here and having a snack and a bit to drink. The bridge is being replaced, but the replacement lacks the personality of the Iron Bridge(the iron bridge was older the me!!mmmm wonder when i will be replaced).So, on up hwy 9 to Chestnut Hill road. Left on Chestnut Hill which changes to Old Fort Rd and then left on Miller Rd and right on Hwy 74 then home. Great ride,it was a little difficult getting out and on the bike but once out I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

This weekend is the Snake Creek Gap TT < than 2 hours!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!! No Gears No Worries !!!!!!!

Wow What a day! Just when i get a little tired of riding I take the single speed out. The first 100 yards then I start to smile. No gears No worries, so simple. Takes me back to my child hood (Diana claims I do not have to go back to far). All you have to do is push down on the pedals, no worry about gear selection. If it gets to hard get off and run. How much simpler can it be.
I have a Surly Cross Check SS cross bike and it is a great ride. In comparison with my mountain bike it is so simple. I recently bought a new fork for my mountain bike. It has more knobs than my TV. It even comes with a DVD on how to set it up. It has rebound, outbound and inbound, low speed compression, blowoff adj.(I ocassionally have blowoff after a bowl of chili)it even came with a pump.
I am a little embarassed to tell this but my first ride I got back to the parking lot and met a friend (Ben Blitch) and I commented on how great the shock was..Ben looked at the shock and asked if I usually rode with the lockout on. Not wanting to appear stupid my reply was oh yeah just doing some testing trying to get it setup. I was wondering why my teeth were rattled out on the downhills. I finally adjusted everything to midrange. I figure if it takes more time to set up than ride what's the use. I am still not sure what the pump is for, something about preload.I just need to figure out where to put the air into the shock. I should probably watch the video. Then again I could just hop oh the Surly SS.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO GEARS NO WORRIES!!!!!!!!!!!
SEE ME SMILE :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

I'M GOING CRAZEEEEE

Wow what a day! What do you do when you can't ride your bike? I'm going nuts! I cannot brave the cold to go for a bike ride. I think of going but then I step outside and freeze. Diana did talk me into going and looking at antiques. I was driving her nuts so she suggested we go out.

I've called Tim and got the skinny on the cross race yesterday and found that they canceled todays race in the NCCX series. That means the NCCX winter series is officially over.

Yesterday (saturday) was a bit more eventful. Got up at 6am rode the trainer for 1 hour, fixed Diana breakfast(she worked 3rd Friday night) eggs, sausage, biscuits and apple butter. After breakfast I started to prepare roast for dinner but found the crock pot broken, trip to Target.

I decided to do a mountain bike ride in Bent Creek before going to Target in search of a crock pot. I had a great ride. I rode for approximately 3 hrs. The weather was perfect and I got to try my new grabber foot warmer in soles. These worked great. My toes get very cold, never seemed notice them being cold when I was a teenager but now that I'm past 20 the cold seems more perceptable. Also, the insoles were a lot cheaper than the cold weather MTB shoes I recently priced, $279 verses $3.

On to Target for the crock pot search. I did find a crock pot plus some cookies and other miscellaneous items while shopping. I started to go to World Market but knew I would end up buying a bar of white chocolate with hazelnuts and more than likely consuming it before getting home. This I did not need since I am overweight.
The crock pot was larger than I wanted.It is sometimes difficult to find items,appliances and food that are made/packaged for 2 people.

Got home put the roast in to cook, watched it snow and surfed the net. Diana and I fixed some veggies and rice and had a wonderful dinner. That's about it for my weekend. till nex time!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Recap & One Cool Chicken

My weekend went by fast, as they all do. Saturday was spent traveling to Tennessee to do the 1st cyclocross race of the Knoxiecross series. I hooked up with a fellow crosser from Sylva to carpool to the race.
The course was great and it felt good to be racing cross again. I had a very eventful race. First lap I shifted my chain into my spokes(adjustment),huff...huff...huff work my way back to the front, midway through the race front flat, change wheel....huff...huff...huff work my way back to the front, 2 laps to go rear flat, I had just passed the pits and had to ride/run it out. Great training I ended up 2nd. Deb(fellow crosser) won her race. We did not lollygag around.As soon as we picked up swag we hit the road back to Asheville.
Once home I cleaned bikes and waited on Diana. She had done a ride with a couple of friends in Etowah and was going to run by grocer to pick up dinner. Steak and roasted garlic potatoes, great post ride meal mmmmm! We eat steak about 1-3months.
!!!OH YEAH WE BOUGHT A TANDEM!!! We've ridden one several times. Some of our first dates were on a tandem. I worked at a bike shop in my younger days. The first bike shop in Hendersonville. Opened shortly after the invention of the wheel. Great memories, Simplex, Suntour, Fiamme, Clement ........ the bikes Jeunet, Follis, Mirelli, Peugot.......the artful Campagnola catalogs..........suicide brake levers........unfortunately Dale (the owner) was ahead of his time and the shop went out of business. I later learned Dale a great friend somewhat of a dreamer died of a massive heart attack while working out at the gym....Sorry for the flashback!!
Back to the weekend. Sunday Diana and I carpooled with Deb to the cyclocross race in Davidson NC. Another great race although I was aggravated at myself for not realizing the race would cost me $20 rather than $15. It is the only race I am doing in the winter series and I had forgotten that I would have t buy a #. The race went well no mechanicals , the legs were a little flat. I finished 5th, Deb won again and we were on our way home.
Home at a decent hour, dinner off to bed and ready to start another week!!!!!!!!!!

Great Friends...Hard Racing

Great weekend spent with good friends and a great mountain bike race. Diana and I journeyed to Dalton Georgia Friday evening so I could participate in the Snake Creek Gap mountain bike time trial.

The trip down was uneventful, it was hurry home throw stuff in the car run by bicycle shop to pick up new fork and off to Dalton GA. We went via I-40 and I-75. It scares the daylights out of me driving the I-40 gorge at night with the large trucks. We made it through the gorge and stopped somewhere along the way for a bite to eat. We arrived at our destination at ~10pm.I thought of installing the new suspension fork on the bike that night but decided against it based on my experience with a previous last minute bike build.

Off to bed for a good nights sleep (i never sleep well before a race) and an early morning start. We actually got to sleep in since the race was only 5 mins away, slept till 7am. Up and at'em pack the car eat breakfast off to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and on to the race venue.

Once at the race we met up with Andy and Cara and waited for the shuttles to depart. The race oraganizers/volunteers shuttle the racers out and they race back to the finish. It is very well organized event. The 34 milers were shuttled out first,Andy was part of this group. Approximately 2 hours later the 17 milers were shuttled to their start.Diana,Cara and I sat in the car to keep warm while we waited for the start of the 17 mile race. Once given the go ahead we loaded our bikes onto the trailer,Diana volunteered to drive us to the start line. This worked out great!

At the start it was a last minute pit stop then off to the races. You roll up to the line single file and the timer tells you when to start. The start is uphill which is great! You immediately get the blood to flowing and your body temp up. The race itself was great. Throughout the race I was having a good time but felt I was going so slow. I broke my chain, my water bottle jarred out of the cage forcing me to stop and retrieve it, front skewer came loose stopped and tightened it and then stopped to take off my skull cap(home made)and gloves! I had forgotten my skull cap and made a skull cap from a sleeve i cut off a thermal top that was ~ 6 years old. I finished the race safe and sound but I had no idea how I had done. I only knew I had a great time.
Talked to a bunch of people after the race and thanked the volunteers for their support. Said goodbye to Andy anc Cara and headed for home. We were unable to follow the same route home due to a trffic jam on I-75 North. We chose to go east on 52 then head north through Murphy and Andrews. This was a beatiful drive and there was no difference in travel time.

Arrived home fed dogs, showered and hit the bed.Sunday was another great day! Got up 7:30am (have to quit sleeping in day almost shot) immediately looked for results from previous days race.Unfortunately they were not posted :(. Fixed breakfast unloaded car and loaded truck in preparation for tandem ride. Diana and I had a great ride ~ 2.5 hours.The legs were a bit sore from the previous day's endeavor but it felt good to be riding the bike! Wile riding we planned our dinner menu. This was pretty easy since it is one of our favourite post ride meals.Linquini and shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce mmm..mmm good!It was spicy enough to make my head sweat which is good!
Arrived home, yep you guessed it, I immediately looked for race results again. This time they were posted! I WON the old mens category and finished 3rd overall in the 17mile event. I was very excited. Sometimes Diana does not know what to do with a hyperactive 50 year old. She has threatened Ridlan.

That was my(our) weekend!! Thanks for reading.