Keep your head up out of the mud.

Ill start this update with a couple of Noah shots,
He is getting better at lifting the head up,


The clothes dryer can be very soothing,


My old friend James Luna stopped by the other day to say hello and see Noah. James is a fantastic woodworker capable of a wide array of unbelievable creations. He made Noah his first rattle,


I woke up to some crappy weather Saturday, nothing better to do but mess with some trails. I have heard some complaints lately about the short bridges on “Scenic Shore” so I went out to tackle them.
Short bridge before,


After,


Ladder bridge before,


And after,


Lookout Levi!


If they had a saw why didn’t they just cut it all out? This tree was making me mad, that stretch of trail has such nice flow and I hated having to stop and hoist my bike over all those branches.


Haw Ridge Road Gap,



I got in a few rides so far this week,
Tuesday was a solo effort at the ridge, well solo except for Levi, I hit up some climbing trying to work the bugs out of the Captain before PMBAR. It was two hour plus ride.
Wednesday was the wiener ride. I left the lot with Allen (on his new Badger), Steve, and Monte. It was a cruizy ride down to just Steve and I by the time we got into the heavy climbing. Wound up with an hour in a half ride.
Thursday was an extended Farragut greenway family walk for a little over an hour.
Friday was a bike commuting day with extended side trips, it was a little over an hour and a half of actual riding but the trip took almost three hours, I installed a fork on someone’s mountain bike and was anything but sober for the last leg of the ride.
I hope tohit up some miles and climbing for Sunday.

Cohutta Weekend

This past week end was the Cohutta 100, I had early season intentions of doing this event but our recently family addition changed those plans. We did have several folks from Southern California come to town with our good friend CarolAnn for the race. They all seemed to have a big time and enjoyed their stay in the south even if they couldn’t get their Chick-fil-a ala protein style. I know we enjoyed seeing them all.

We still went down to the Ocoee the day of the event and saw lots of friends and both got a little riding in, that’s right Tara got her first bike ride in axactly 5 weeks after Noah’s birth. Speaking of Noah, he went to three restaurants and a cookout this weekend and was a model child the whole time, sorry no pictures of the boy this update but I promise this week I’ll get something up. Tara’s brother and sister’n’law (Amanda) are staying with us today with their 4 children (That’s right 5 kids are screaming in my house right now). Amanda is a professional photog and has been snapping away at Noah with her fancy camera so maybe she will leave me with some high resolution shots.

Rides since the last update,
Tuesday, solo road ride, 40+ miles a little over two and a half hours
Wednesday, Ridge ride on the SS with Steve Apking, moderate to high pace, lots of climbing and a ton of a little over two hours
Thursday, Grocery ride hauling a case of beer home, almost an hour because I stretched it out.
Friday, Haw Ridge Epic, 4 hours attacking all the biggest climbs testing out the Captains new drivetrain.
Saturday, Cruised around Tanasi observing yet still staying out of the way of the Cohutta 35/100 around two and a half hour ride.
Sunday, took some of the Cali contingency on a brief Haw Ridge tour. I had a Crank Brothers catastrophe that cut my ride to an hour and a half.

Since I don’t have any pictures this update I’ll leave you with this bit from Cleverchimp, it’s a series of TV commercials from the Netherlands promoting cycling to the masses, the commercials are not in English but you can get the drift of what most of them are trying to convey. I can’t imagine the US with this type of cycling advocacy…..

Leather Fetish

It’s been a rainy weekend with little opportunity for outdoor activity so I caught upon some sleep, Noah time, and some overdue bike maintenance. I introduced a new Brooks into the stable and took the opportunity to clean and treat all my leather saddles. I have a thing for these old English cowhides, they aren’t light or high tech but they are the most comfortable bike saddles I have ever tried, and are a beauty to behold, a classic design that has stood the test of time.










I have 2 Swifts a B17N, and a new Team Pro TI, there all a little different and I like each for its function.



Not your typical bouquet but at all that Leather and semi precious metal makes a great centerpiece to my eye.



Noah wouldn’t cooperate for any pictures this weekend, maybe sometime next week I’ll get some more shots of him. CarolAnn and her California crew come to town this week for the Cohutta 100, we are looking forward to seeing them all.

A few last things, I saw this on How to Avoid the Bummer Life and had to share it: (My bike is red)



I’ve been pretty preoccupied with fixys lately. My own fixed skills are getting better all the time but then I see this and think I should just give up:

This Week’s Rides

I got out for a couple of rides this week.
Tuesday was a pre-weenie ride since rain was forecasted for Wednesday. I road out with Matt, Allen and Thomas. I felt good and took the lead. The group dwindled with time and I wound up the last hour or so by myself. Hit the top of K2 twice and crossed over V Trail, lots of interior climbing too. Total was nearly a two and a half hour ride and was my best after work ride this year.
Thursday was a Farragut Greenway ride with Jones, Allen and Phil. These Farragut greenway rides are fun; high pace, lots of climbing and a bunch of swoopy bike trail. On a 42/16 fixed gear it’s an intense ride.
Friday I snuck in an afternoon ride with Thomas at the ridge before the rain started. It was cruzzy and fun ran into friends along the way and had a great time. Of course we crossed K2 again, I cant realy remember the last time I road at the ridge and I didn’t include Rainbow/K2/criminal/Saddle as part of my ride at least once in the day. Its my favorite stretch of trail in town right now.
Its supposed to rain all weekend so probably not much riding, maybe Ill slip a road ride in between showers.

Local Doug Ferguson started up a new blog. Doug is a super talented rider that travels around to ride allot and always takes lots of sweet pictures. Check out his site sometime.

Easter Dragon

My mom came and spent Easter Weekend with us and met Noah. She brought Noah a ton of presents from Mississippi. One of the cutest was a stuffed animal of sorts’ weather it’s a Dragon, Giraffe, or pony, I’m not quite sure.


Whole family unit dressed for Easter.


Thomas and I got a decent 3 ½-4 hour single speed effort in with Hank and levi Saturday at the Ridge, I went back for a quick hour and a half solo sprint on Sunday. I have mixed emotions on the upcoming Cohutta 100. I haven’t had a ride over 4 hours in quite a while and I feel confident Cohutta would take me 12 hours easy. I could probably make it through but just how much will it hurt me and for how long? The 35 mile option is silly for me because that’s my normal SS ride at Tanassi and theirs no reason to pay $50 to do my regular ride. I think I have till Wednesday or Thursday to decide and get my registration in the mail.

I have clearance for Pisgah this weekend, look for a real cycling post soon.

Handmade Goods

One of Tara’s coworkers made this sweater, hat, blanket combo for Noah. Its pretty cute, and must have been quite an effort to produce.


I went out on a Farragut Greenway ride with a few others Monday night. I was turned on to several greenway sections I didn’t know anything about. We rode a little over two hours at a good pace and where probably on city streets less than 40% of the ride. All I could think about is how cool it’s going to be to tow Noah in his trailer on some of the extra swoopy sections. I know greenway riding sounds lame but it’s more like mountain bike racing on pavement , we laid down nearly 30 miles in just over two hours with tons of weaving and curb hopping along the way.

Tuesday I hit the ridge after work. This was my first mountain bike ride without a mechanical issue in several weeks. Thomas and Hank met me for the second half of my two and a half hour ride. I was a little tired from climbing the 42/16 up the steepest hills in Farragut Monday so we kept it flat and fast.

Thursday was commute to work by bike day. It was the only way to squeeze any more riding in this workweek. Plus I feel good doing it. I had full intentions of gearing the Wily and putting some skinny tires on it for the commute but I never got around to it so alas I’m once again on the fixy but I’m coming to terms with fixed commuting and think it may be my preferred steed.
Hour and a half ride round trip.

Surf'n Monkey

Tara’s mother, Candee, spent the last week with us. She was a huge help and we enjoyed her stay. Noah is approved by one grandmother well se if he passes inspection with my mother this coming weekend. Here are a couple shots of the boy,
First one is playtime on the Monkey blanket in his monkey suit,


After “Monkey Time” we were going to go Surfing but the waves were flat so we took a nap.


I got a couple of brief rides in this weekend. I went to the Ridge Saturday with intentions of laying down a serious single speed effort for the day. About 45 minutes into the ride I blew out a few spokes in my rear wheel and limped back to the car. I went strait to the shop and fixed the wheel with intentions of finishing my ride, but alas I had lost zeal for the day and swung by Concord for a brief ride just to test out my repair handy work. Total ride time Saturday about an hour and a half. The four wheels I built this winter gave me a much better understanding of correcting a seriously messed up wheel and have some confidence my repair wont cause even more damage. Sunday it rained all day but I still squeezed out a little over an hour and a half fixy ride exploring some new greenway additions to my part of town that I didn’t know about.