Prodigy

Gi-Gi, Zoo, Dummy

My mom (Gi-Gi) came to visit last weekend. We did allot of hanging out, eating, and went on Noah’s first trip to the Zoo. Everyone had a grand weekend. Hopfully Noah will get to see Gi-Gi more in the future

































We got the new Big Dummy together and took it on our weekly farmers market trip this Saturday loaded both direction taking egg crates back to the farmer we get our eggs from and returning with lots of tasty veggies and breads. The bike turned out really cool, and I expect it will be part of our family for many years to come.









I did a little rework on Tara’s road rocket to make it a more appropriate greenway crusher. That’s an 18lb full carbon bike with a triple and runs 32c and is probably the nicest greenway machine in Knoxville. We met the Murrays for a booze cruse Saturday night, I think Tara was pretty happy with it.







I left the camera at home on Sunday but went on a road ride with Shawn, he brought along Lindsey and Fred neither I’d ever met before but where both super cool and I hope to ride with again. We did a Parkway/ Dragon/ Parkway ride that I was absolutely not nutritionally prepared for but I some how limped through the climb back over the parkway. Something about those 636 curves that I just cant restrain myself from going all out.

Next weekend is another camping trip to Damascus. We have a groupe campsite that holds 50 people, Hopefully more than just the Nicholsons and Murrays show.

Pickens Plan

I'd seen the commercials but didn't know much about it until recently. Its worth some thought.

The Nicholson’s are doing our part reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We made it 4 days over the last weekend without cranking either of our cars. And we invested in "new technology" to further our independence from our automobile.

July Ride log

2nd Haw Ridge 2:00
3rd Neighborhood Fix :30
4th Haw Ridge 2:30
5th Rocky top 100K (fixed) 4:00
6th City Ride with Tara and Noah 1;30
7th Farragut fix 1:00
8th Commute to work 2:00
9th Haw Ridge 1:30
11th SK8 :30
12th Ocoee/Tanasi 4:30
14th Commute 2:00
15th Commute 2:00
17th Farragut Fix 1:30
18th Rich Mountain moonlight ride 3:30
20th Ocoee/Tanasi 5:00
23rd Haw Ridge 1:30
26th Creeper 1:30
27th Iron Mountain+ 4:00
29th Farragut Fix :30
30th Commute / booze cruze 2:00

43.5 hours in July mostly during 90+ deg temps.

Rich Mountain/Cades Cove Moonlit Ride

I fired up Monte Jones early last week about the upcoming Friday night full moon. With his email magic and a little word spread around town 17 folks showed up for a moonlit -Townsend>Rich Mountain Road>Cades Cove Loop>Rich Mountain Road>Townsend.:










Sunday Jeff and I went down for a Tansi ride/Ocoee shredding day:

COSIDER A THIRD CHOICE

Georgia’s - Bob Bar




And of course Ralph Nader is in there again.

Rocky Top 100

This weekend was the Rocky Top 100, a metric century (100 kilometers or 62 miles)that starts and ends at "Barley's Pizza and Beer", it was raining at the start and I happened to pack the fixy in the car the night before. I knew the rain would keep the speeds low, make drafting uncomfortable, sketch everyone on the corners basically making normal road tactics impossible. So if I was going to have to do my own ride I might as well ride the fixy. Honestly, I had a goal this year of riding at least one cycling event on the fixy so it was a perfect opportunity. It was a major effort but not quite as hard a day as I had feared. I learned a few lessons.

I’ve got more fixy skills than I realized, not the skidding/trackstanding type but the kind that get you up and down hills mile after mile without blowing out the knees.

30c tires at 75 psi make riding wet pavement allot easier than the normal roadie fair.

Die-hard roadies are an unsociable lot whose egos take a hit when overweight fixy rides in sandals stomp them.

It’s more rewarding to me to take the hard road and overcome at my own level but I’m not sure if that’s a masochism or an excuse.

I did this ride last year on the road bike and perfect conditions in just under 3 hours, it took less than an extra hour this year and was worth every minute. This was Thomas and i's 2nd road event in three weeks, I bet Thomas is shaving his legs by the end of the month ;-).

Noah’s cycling is really taking off, I think he has a future in downhill racing:



June ride log:

1st – Road ride 2:00
2nd – Farragut Fix 2:00
4th – Haw Ridge 2:00
5th – Road Ride 2:00
6th – Commute to Work 2:00
8th – Farragut Fix 1:30
9th – Commute to Work 2:00
13th Commute to Work 2:00
14th - Ride to the Farmers market 1:00
14th – Raccoon Mountain 3:30
16th – Commute to work 2:00
17th – Commute to Work 2:00
18th - Haw Ridge 2:00
21st – Cherohala Challenge 7:15
22nd – Farragut Fix :45
23rd – Neighborhood Fix :30
24th – Urban fix/Tomfoolery 1:30
27th – Commute to work and to Party 1:00
28th – Trailer Ride with Noah 1:30
29th - LeConte hike 7:00
30th – Commute to work 2:00

Forty Seven hours and thirty minutes in June, With a couple of big effort days in the mix but commuting to work is becoming my “base”.

LeConte

11 cyclist/friends go for a hike together in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

Newfound gap> Appalachian Trail > Boulevard > Jump Off> Boulevard > Myrtle Point > Boulevard > Cliff Tops >LeConte Lodge > Alum Cave > Beer

14ish miles of rouged Appalachian/elevation hiking. It took about 7 hours and hurt worse than the 115 miles on the bike last weekend.

Thomas has some fantastic pictures of the day over at Harvest the Ride.

I took a few pictures:









I have to give credit to Mike Ford who came along after having finished riding the entire Blue Ridge Parkway in the previous 7 days. Had I just fished that kind of ride, I probably would take at least one day off.

Ron Paul on oil/Iraq

Picture Catch-up

Its been a busy month and I've fallen behind on the updates.
We've been on some trips latly, camping and family biking in Virinia:




We went to Florida and played on the beach:

We did some sailing and various boating:

We went to Tara's grandfather's 80th birthday party. I can only hope to be living life to the fullest at that age the way he is.





Noah and I have done some fishing latly, we have been moderatly successfull.

Noah is growing so fast he is already wearing my sandles and helment

Of course theirs been a little riding going on.

I road the Cherohala Challenge yesterday, 115 miles with +10,000' of climbing. 7:18 total time with a 6:45 ride time, 46.5mph peak!!!

Lots of fun packed days latly