d-dubs farm

Not much to write about today. Diana and I had planned on going down to Boiling Springs Saturday and doing one of the spring training rides on the Tandem, unfortunately Diana had some back issues and was unable to ride. Since my best riding partner was out of commission I decided to do the Saturday 10am bakery ride.

This was an enjoyable ride, although there was more climbing than I expected. We climbed over Paint Fork took various roads and ended up climbing up Dillingham road to Craggy Picnic area. I got dropped on the downhills as usual but held my own on the climbs. Pet peeve #1:I do not understand why people ride to the left of the double yellow line on the downhills on a blind curve. If you can see through the curve ok. I do not want to be splattered against a car, on the other hand if you do not mind being splattered against a car then expect no reomorse from me.If you are going to be stupid you need to be tough.

Sunday was windy so I decided to do a Forest Service road ride. I browsed the ABRC website and found a ride but it had very little info.This brings me to Pet Peeve #2:People posting rides and assuming everyone knows the start location ie this is a posting for a ride on the ABRC bulletin board about a ride today Sunday February 10, 2008 " -ForestService-Nooner Making It Happen-N-A-Ville-2-3h-Reality-Pace- &-)--+=<" . Ok no more whining. I did go over to Bent Creek and do 3 hours on the cross bike...a good day!!

Sunday after my ride I came home and started working on the "Farm". My first chore was to build some cold frames: this is the start>">

I used material we had demo'd for our recent addition and the frames turned out very good. Everything seems to be square and I had no uh ohs! These are heavy duty cold frames, cedar lumber, double paned glass and coated screws. Only the best for my plants ( uh weeds!).

I actually had enough material to build 2. I am not sure what i will do with all the veggies if i fill both, but oh well I can always give the extra to friends.



And what should i plant? Onion sets, spinach, lettuce, cabbage.

Hopefully I will be able to stay ahead of the weeds and bugs. I always start off with good intentions but cycling and the weeds seem to get in the way. The weeds are definatley more aggressive than I am.

I had more to write about than I thought! I hope all who reads this has a great week!
Let me know if you need any weeds uhhhh I mean lettuce, spinach etc. I may have a bumper crop.

5' 7" 132lbs and Bulky

Interesting rider profile on Velo News:

Yuriy Krivtsov
Key Stats
Team: AG2R-La Mondiale
Nationality: Ukrainian
Born: February 7, 1979
Hometown: Nikolaev, Ukraine
Height: 5-foot-7
Weight: 132 pounds
Strengths: time trialing
Turned Pro: 2002
Web site: www.yuriy-krivtsov.com

Biography
Krivtsov’s time trial abilities have pushed him onto the world’s stage. The team believes there’s more that what he’s shown so far and have signed him through the 2009 season. Despite his bulky build, Krivtsov can also stick his nose into the wind to hunt for stages.

How can you be 5' 7" tall and weigh 132lbs and be bulky? I am 5' 7" 145 lbs, I must be FAT !! I am not sure what I would weigh to be considered skinny.

Driving Mr Daisy

The title is a little misleading, I was not actually doing the driving I was the one being driven. I met up with my two wonderful traveling partners on Friday and we made our way down to the Snake Creek Gap TT. It was nice to just sit and relax after a long work week. The trip down was uneventful small talk etc. very enjoyable.
We slept in Saturday and woke up ready to race. It works out great being 5 minutes away from the race venue. Once we had breakfast it was off the race.There was some discussion on what to wear since the start was cool and it was supposed to get warmer throughout the day. I wore light weight long johns under my bibs,my craft windproof shirt underneath my jersey and full finger gloves. This was the perfect combination.
The 17 mile bus left immediately after the 34 mile bus. The previous race there was ~ 1 hour delay between the two. This was great, because we would get back 1 hour earlier and not have to wait around to start (I get a little antsy waiting to start a race). There was some concern on the drive up as to whether the trailer would be drug off over the dips. The driver had forgotten to raise the leveling device at the tongue on the trailer and it drug over each dip. Fortunately we made it to the start line with the trailer still in tow.
Once at the start line it was a quick nature break and then off to the races! The start was an immediate uphill, actually the whole race seemed uphill which is great for me as i do not do very well on the technical downhills.Unfortunately i had to much air in the tires(40psi) I felt like i was the ball in one of those pin ball machines, bouncing from one rock to another. I made it through with no mishaps although i was disappointed with my overall time. it was only 1 minute better than last time and i was sure with a clean race i could break 2 hours. Unfortunately this was not to be.
We all made it to the finish safe and sound and each of us Andy,Cara and myself decreased our overall time.Once done it was pack up the car and head back to Asheville/Black Mountain. Once back we each got into our seperate cars and headed home. I got lost getting out of Biltmore forest(this sometimes happens to us seniors) remember I am now driving myself but made it out and back home.
Sunday dawned bright and warm, and what a great day! Diana and I went out to Breakfast came home and headed out for a tandem ride. We traveled down I-40 and exited onto parker padgett road. we parked on greenlee rd hopped on the tandem and headed out.We stopped several times for me to make adjustments. I had to set the Tandem up for what i call geriatric geometry...ie shorter more upright stem and rotating the handlebars slightly upward. Once this was done we continued our ride..2.5 hours. Great ride.
After the ride it was call the kids to see who was coming to dinner. Amber my wonderful daughter(we are truly blessed with 2 great kids) took us up on the invite. Amber came over and we had our favorite dinner, crab cakes, garlic rice and edamame(?).
All in all a great weekend spent with wonderful friends and family!!!

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!!!!!