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!!!!!!!!!!