We got a new living room rug today, Levi matches it nicely.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Lantern Carving
Noah and I carved up some Jack-o’-lanterns tonight. Noah cried when I wouldn’t let him play in the pumpkin guts any more.
We got a new living room rug today, Levi matches it nicely.
We got a new living room rug today, Levi matches it nicely.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Casual Cycling Week
This was a great week of chilling out. The week started off with some needed rain that soaked the trails for the Wednesday ride. We rallied a huge greenway effort of ten riders instead of roasting weenies, for about 40 miles of greenway racing in the dark on wet leaf strewn trails. With a stop by Preservation Pub mid ride, we had about as much fun a late-night urban cycling can allow.
Saturday was the annual Hill of Truth 12 Hour Race.
I decided not to race this year, my fitness is low and I just didn’t feel it. Jeff and I course marshaled the first shift of the day. We loaded the bob trailer with chairs and beer and I hauled it out to the middle of the woods for a day of heckling.
A few pictures from the race:
Dorothy had a great outfit, beautiful bike and always a smile.
This bunny was on the first lap, he had to stop straiten his ears and ask us wich way the course went right after this shot.
We were at the bottom of a long hill. It was intresting to see the huge difference in downhill speed/skill of different riders. Based on my foggy observations DJ was the fastest descender of the day followed closely by Ben Ramsbottom
Chris Ivory was hands down the fastes full rigid rider we saw all day. That new Dekerf is a sweet ride.
Jen Smelser was riding strong all day. She finished 3rd in the women’s solo competition, that’s pretty impressive for someone who’s only been riding a couple of years.
One of the sweetest moves of the day was Allen’s pass on the inside of this guy. Allen had the fastes line through this corner of anyone in the race. That right 29er cutting the inside of the corner “detuning “ the trail.
Partying in the pits was top notch. Kegs, grills, and good times all around.
Sunday was a Specialized demo day at the ridge. I road a carbon Enduro for about an hour and a half. It was an amazing bike (at $5400 it ought to be). It was a fantastic bike with the most controlled suspension I have ever ridden. If I were in the market for an FS bike I would look hard at the aluminum version of this bike. Afterward I went back out in the woods for a ride on the Wily with Chuck Grant. It was a funy pair of bikes to ride on the same day, they weigh about the same thing except one has 6” of travel and small wheels and the other is fully rigid and rolls on big hoops. I have to say for riding casual around the ridge the rigid bike is more fun to me.
Tara and Noah are doing well. Tara had some old friends stop by on their way through town this weekend. Noah is eating sweet potato, peas, carrots, rice, and bananas. He’s going to give avocado a try this week.
Ride Log:
24th Greenway ride after 2 solid days of rain. 3:00
26th Missed the bus in the morning, the road around doing errands and visiting friends in the afternoon 1:00
27th Pulled a trailer full of chairs and beer around the ridge “Marshaling” the race. 1:00
28th Specialized Demo at the Ridge 3:00
Saturday was the annual Hill of Truth 12 Hour Race.
I decided not to race this year, my fitness is low and I just didn’t feel it. Jeff and I course marshaled the first shift of the day. We loaded the bob trailer with chairs and beer and I hauled it out to the middle of the woods for a day of heckling.
A few pictures from the race:
Dorothy had a great outfit, beautiful bike and always a smile.
This bunny was on the first lap, he had to stop straiten his ears and ask us wich way the course went right after this shot.
We were at the bottom of a long hill. It was intresting to see the huge difference in downhill speed/skill of different riders. Based on my foggy observations DJ was the fastest descender of the day followed closely by Ben Ramsbottom
Chris Ivory was hands down the fastes full rigid rider we saw all day. That new Dekerf is a sweet ride.
Jen Smelser was riding strong all day. She finished 3rd in the women’s solo competition, that’s pretty impressive for someone who’s only been riding a couple of years.
One of the sweetest moves of the day was Allen’s pass on the inside of this guy. Allen had the fastes line through this corner of anyone in the race. That right 29er cutting the inside of the corner “detuning “ the trail.
Partying in the pits was top notch. Kegs, grills, and good times all around.
Sunday was a Specialized demo day at the ridge. I road a carbon Enduro for about an hour and a half. It was an amazing bike (at $5400 it ought to be). It was a fantastic bike with the most controlled suspension I have ever ridden. If I were in the market for an FS bike I would look hard at the aluminum version of this bike. Afterward I went back out in the woods for a ride on the Wily with Chuck Grant. It was a funy pair of bikes to ride on the same day, they weigh about the same thing except one has 6” of travel and small wheels and the other is fully rigid and rolls on big hoops. I have to say for riding casual around the ridge the rigid bike is more fun to me.
Tara and Noah are doing well. Tara had some old friends stop by on their way through town this weekend. Noah is eating sweet potato, peas, carrots, rice, and bananas. He’s going to give avocado a try this week.
Ride Log:
24th Greenway ride after 2 solid days of rain. 3:00
26th Missed the bus in the morning, the road around doing errands and visiting friends in the afternoon 1:00
27th Pulled a trailer full of chairs and beer around the ridge “Marshaling” the race. 1:00
28th Specialized Demo at the Ridge 3:00
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Great new blog to check out
I stumbled across a great new blog today. Mike Curiak is one of my cycling heroes as well as one of the toughest cyclists ever to mount a bike has just started a new blog. Mike has been instrumental in the development of 29” bikes and pushing ultra endurance racing to a limit not even imagined a few years ago. He travels all over, taking beautiful pictures of places most of us will never see. Check out his blog with its beautiful photography of some fantastic riding locations.
If you’re in the need of some new hoops follow the links on Mike’s blog to his business. He is one of the top MTB wheel builders in the business.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Home Alone
I somehow made it through a week of Tara and Noah out of town without wrecking the house or going hungry. They got back late Friday night, sounds like Noah was a great traveler. He got to visit with his grandmother all week and made 2 trips to see his great grandfather too.
I did allot of trail work at the ridge this week. There was a fire out on West Shore Wednesday, Friday night I went in the woods for a ride and to survey the damage. Much like the spring fire, more damage was done to the park driving heavy equipment around to make fire breaks than the actual fire caused. I wound up spending part of my evening pulling downed trees out of the trail, knocking down loose dirt clumps in the trail, laying dead wood in areas to influence rides into the trail bed whether or not it was recognizable, and rock armoring an area where the fire break crossed the trail in a fall line manor.
Saturday and Sunday I did bridge repairs to two dilapidate structures in the park, one on Red Shore and one on Pond Trail. The Red Shore bridge is part of the race course at next week’s HOT 12HR race and though it hasn’t been an issue lately with the drought,all the rain we are supposed to get this week coupled with a few hundred people riding laps through that bog would have been a problem. The bridge on Pond Trail was a little dinky bridge in the bottom of a gully I just replaced the deck on the existing cedar structure. It’s narrower than the old bridge but not as sketchy .
Next week is the annual Haw Ridge 12 hour race it’s a big local party as much as anything and sort of marks the end of the summer riding season. I’m about tired of hanging around the park and look forward to something different for awhile after this weekend. I see some afterwork fixy rides in my future and may even hit up the IC Queen a little. I haven’t ridden Norris in months and have a huge desire to get over there soon.
No pictures this week, look for a mid week video update on Noah though.
Ride log
15th Haw Ridge 3:00
17th West Knox fixy ride 1:00
18th short neighborhood ride :30
19th Haw Ridge 2:00 ride :30 trail work
20th Haw Ridge 1:00 ride 3:00 trail work
21st Haw ridge 2:30 ride 2:00 trail work
I did allot of trail work at the ridge this week. There was a fire out on West Shore Wednesday, Friday night I went in the woods for a ride and to survey the damage. Much like the spring fire, more damage was done to the park driving heavy equipment around to make fire breaks than the actual fire caused. I wound up spending part of my evening pulling downed trees out of the trail, knocking down loose dirt clumps in the trail, laying dead wood in areas to influence rides into the trail bed whether or not it was recognizable, and rock armoring an area where the fire break crossed the trail in a fall line manor.
Saturday and Sunday I did bridge repairs to two dilapidate structures in the park, one on Red Shore and one on Pond Trail. The Red Shore bridge is part of the race course at next week’s HOT 12HR race and though it hasn’t been an issue lately with the drought,all the rain we are supposed to get this week coupled with a few hundred people riding laps through that bog would have been a problem. The bridge on Pond Trail was a little dinky bridge in the bottom of a gully I just replaced the deck on the existing cedar structure. It’s narrower than the old bridge but not as sketchy .
Next week is the annual Haw Ridge 12 hour race it’s a big local party as much as anything and sort of marks the end of the summer riding season. I’m about tired of hanging around the park and look forward to something different for awhile after this weekend. I see some afterwork fixy rides in my future and may even hit up the IC Queen a little. I haven’t ridden Norris in months and have a huge desire to get over there soon.
No pictures this week, look for a mid week video update on Noah though.
Ride log
15th Haw Ridge 3:00
17th West Knox fixy ride 1:00
18th short neighborhood ride :30
19th Haw Ridge 2:00 ride :30 trail work
20th Haw Ridge 1:00 ride 3:00 trail work
21st Haw ridge 2:30 ride 2:00 trail work
Monday, October 15, 2007
Pisgah
We went to Pisgah for the weekend. It was my first time over there since PMBAR. We met up with some old friends and made some new ones. It’s amazing how so many folks from such different “walks of life” can come together in the woods and throw down such a big time together. Noah had a ton‘o’fun making people smile, staring at the fire, and trying to eat gravel.
Saturday started out cold, so Tara and I went into town to warm up the child and get some breakfast. Upon our return a big ride was about to start. I made hast, got my act together, and jumped in on the ride not knowing where I was headed. With this type of group, heading into the woods without the details can get you in trouble quick. I quizzed a few folks on the route as we headed up Clawhammer and got several different stories. Turned out to be a great ride we went over Black Mountain to Turkey Pen and down to Mills River. At this point Zack, Jody, Jonathan, Dave, and I decided to head up Mills River instead of the intended Squirrel Gap Route. I don’t think any of us had ever ridden all the way up Mills River before. We knew there were a ton of stream crossings but it was warm and the water was aslow as it was ever going to get. Mills River was really cool, super rocky and technical in sections with about a million logs to hop along the way. I lost count on stream crossings early on but its more than ten and probably less than twenty, nothing over the knee as long as it’s the middle of a drought. I can see that Mills River would ruin your day if it was cold, wet, or you were tired.
Sunday was a slow start for most, Tara got to go up and ride the fun part of Black Mountain for the first time. She had a hoot even if it was just a little riding for the weekend. I did a similar loop but added some on the end, Clawhammer>Maxwell>Black>?>Grassy Road>Sycamore>roads back to White Pine. I had never ridden Sycamore before (thanks for the recommendation Jonathan), for some reason I thought it was a sanitized “easy” trail. I was terribly wrong on that one. Tara and I were the last to leave the campground I guess we didn’t want to leave until all possible fun had been
I never got the camera out all weekend, so no photos of my own, I did plagiarize a couple though from Beefcake and Brad (thanks).
Several good shots are available at:
Biking in a Zen Manner
Beefcake's
Eric's Ride Log
Bad Idea Racing
Brado1 + his Slideshow of the weekend
Pisgah is one of my favorite places to ride but I’m, going to have to get that North Carolina crew to come over the hills and give some Tennessee singletrack a try.
Tara is off to Philadelphia for the week, Noah is going with her and Candie is flying up from Florida to keep Noah while Tara works. It should be a very big adventure for all of them. If the rain holds off maybe I will get to ride allot this week.
Ride log:
8th Rode to SORBA Meeting 1:00
10th Haw Ridge 2:00
11th Haw Ridge 1:30
13th Pisgah 6:00
14th Pisgah 2:00
Saturday started out cold, so Tara and I went into town to warm up the child and get some breakfast. Upon our return a big ride was about to start. I made hast, got my act together, and jumped in on the ride not knowing where I was headed. With this type of group, heading into the woods without the details can get you in trouble quick. I quizzed a few folks on the route as we headed up Clawhammer and got several different stories. Turned out to be a great ride we went over Black Mountain to Turkey Pen and down to Mills River. At this point Zack, Jody, Jonathan, Dave, and I decided to head up Mills River instead of the intended Squirrel Gap Route. I don’t think any of us had ever ridden all the way up Mills River before. We knew there were a ton of stream crossings but it was warm and the water was aslow as it was ever going to get. Mills River was really cool, super rocky and technical in sections with about a million logs to hop along the way. I lost count on stream crossings early on but its more than ten and probably less than twenty, nothing over the knee as long as it’s the middle of a drought. I can see that Mills River would ruin your day if it was cold, wet, or you were tired.
Sunday was a slow start for most, Tara got to go up and ride the fun part of Black Mountain for the first time. She had a hoot even if it was just a little riding for the weekend. I did a similar loop but added some on the end, Clawhammer>Maxwell>Black>?>Grassy Road>Sycamore>roads back to White Pine. I had never ridden Sycamore before (thanks for the recommendation Jonathan), for some reason I thought it was a sanitized “easy” trail. I was terribly wrong on that one. Tara and I were the last to leave the campground I guess we didn’t want to leave until all possible fun had been
I never got the camera out all weekend, so no photos of my own, I did plagiarize a couple though from Beefcake and Brad (thanks).
Several good shots are available at:
Biking in a Zen Manner
Beefcake's
Eric's Ride Log
Bad Idea Racing
Brado1 + his Slideshow of the weekend
Pisgah is one of my favorite places to ride but I’m, going to have to get that North Carolina crew to come over the hills and give some Tennessee singletrack a try.
Tara is off to Philadelphia for the week, Noah is going with her and Candie is flying up from Florida to keep Noah while Tara works. It should be a very big adventure for all of them. If the rain holds off maybe I will get to ride allot this week.
Ride log:
8th Rode to SORBA Meeting 1:00
10th Haw Ridge 2:00
11th Haw Ridge 1:30
13th Pisgah 6:00
14th Pisgah 2:00
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Short Week
I’m out tomorrow morning family in tow, headed to an undisclosed location in the forest, possibly with some bikes. If I run into anyone out there it will be pure coincidence.
I’ll leave you with a trailer for a new Fixy movie “MASH SF”
I’ll leave you with a trailer for a new Fixy movie “MASH SF”
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Digital Start Over
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while but I had major computer failure that resulted in a hard drive reformat. I luckily was able to salvage all my pictures and Itunes.
Tara, Noah, Levi, and I went camping at Tanasi last weekend. It was great weather, cool enough for a campfire. We both got plenty of riding in. Noah had lots of fun going hiking and playing in the woods.
Noah recently got his first bike helmet. We have borrowed Jeff’s kid trailer and taken Noah for some short rides in the neighborhood. He’s still to young for the trailer really, but a ride down the street too the baby swing seams to be ok.
This weekend was filled with Haw Ridge activities. Saturday a group of folks went in the woods to do some trail repair for the upcoming 12 hour race. I had been planning on replacing a decrepit bridge in the park and took advantage of the group effort to help haul material into the woods. I wish I would have taken some before shots this new bridge is a huge improvement over the old one. I think it ads flow to this stretch of trail.
Allen helped me out allot It would have been an all day job without him. Wally was riding by and we peer pressured him into some hammer duty.
Sunday was a Trek Fisher demo day put on by CBC. The turnout was unbelievable and may be the largest demo Trek has ever put on. Tara got to ride a new Paragon she came home talking about new bikes.
Ride log:
25th Neigborhood tour 1:30
26th Haw Ridge 1:30
28th Haw Ridge 1:30
29th Tannasi 3:30
30th Tannasi 3:00
2nd – Neighborhood ride :30
3rd Haw Ridge- smallest weenie ride of the year, light are now required for after work rides. 2:00
4th Commute to work thunderstorm on the way home
6th Haw Ridge/Bridge building 3:30/ride 1:30
7th Haw ridge 3:30
Tara, Noah, Levi, and I went camping at Tanasi last weekend. It was great weather, cool enough for a campfire. We both got plenty of riding in. Noah had lots of fun going hiking and playing in the woods.
Noah recently got his first bike helmet. We have borrowed Jeff’s kid trailer and taken Noah for some short rides in the neighborhood. He’s still to young for the trailer really, but a ride down the street too the baby swing seams to be ok.
This weekend was filled with Haw Ridge activities. Saturday a group of folks went in the woods to do some trail repair for the upcoming 12 hour race. I had been planning on replacing a decrepit bridge in the park and took advantage of the group effort to help haul material into the woods. I wish I would have taken some before shots this new bridge is a huge improvement over the old one. I think it ads flow to this stretch of trail.
Allen helped me out allot It would have been an all day job without him. Wally was riding by and we peer pressured him into some hammer duty.
Sunday was a Trek Fisher demo day put on by CBC. The turnout was unbelievable and may be the largest demo Trek has ever put on. Tara got to ride a new Paragon she came home talking about new bikes.
Ride log:
25th Neigborhood tour 1:30
26th Haw Ridge 1:30
28th Haw Ridge 1:30
29th Tannasi 3:30
30th Tannasi 3:00
2nd – Neighborhood ride :30
3rd Haw Ridge- smallest weenie ride of the year, light are now required for after work rides. 2:00
4th Commute to work thunderstorm on the way home
6th Haw Ridge/Bridge building 3:30/ride 1:30
7th Haw ridge 3:30
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Gauley
Jeff and I went to West Virginia to contemplate life.
The one thing we decided is life sure is good in West Virginia.
I’ll have Noah out there one day.
I’ve been off the bike allot lately and it’s done wonders for outlook on riding. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in the peripherals of the sport and loose touch with the pleasure of just spinning peddles and feeling the breeze. One of the reasons I have trouble enjoying kayaking any more is the sport became too much about the details and not as much about the overall experience. Along those lines, I decided recently I’m ditching the Ipod while riding no matter how loud my bottom bracket gets. I think the Ipod brings a layer to the experience that disrupts the purity of why I’m on a bike in the first place.
Ride Log:
18th Haw Ridge 2:00
19th Haw Ridge 2:00
The rest of the week was spent on the river !
The one thing we decided is life sure is good in West Virginia.
I’ll have Noah out there one day.
I’ve been off the bike allot lately and it’s done wonders for outlook on riding. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in the peripherals of the sport and loose touch with the pleasure of just spinning peddles and feeling the breeze. One of the reasons I have trouble enjoying kayaking any more is the sport became too much about the details and not as much about the overall experience. Along those lines, I decided recently I’m ditching the Ipod while riding no matter how loud my bottom bracket gets. I think the Ipod brings a layer to the experience that disrupts the purity of why I’m on a bike in the first place.
Ride Log:
18th Haw Ridge 2:00
19th Haw Ridge 2:00
The rest of the week was spent on the river !
Monday, September 17, 2007
Down and Out
I have been sick to some degree for about a month now, I kept starting to feel better, and then relapse within a day or two. I finally broke down and went to the doctor last Thursday, started some antibiotics and have been pulling myself together again. Hopefully I’m kinking it for good this time. This past weekend I did some leisurely riding, Saturday involved a 30 mile’ish greenway ride that took about 4 hours (stopped for lunch and beer along the way) and a trip to Raccoon Mountain. I hope to get back in the saddle for some decent rides soon. The blacksheep is giving me allot of issues right now. I got a new EBB for it after the crack but its slipping really badly plus my back wheel is breaking spokes every other ride. I checked the tension on the back wheel a week or so ago and it was ok I think it’s just dying and a new rim and spokes are in my near future I hope to try one of those Stan’s rims next.
Monte's new Badger finally arrived after over a year log wait/ordeal. Monte, Allen, and I went out on his inaugural ride of the new bike, the lime green looks sweet threading the trees.
Noah is getting pretty wiggly these days, he’s constantly squirming from one place to the next by any means possible. The weather was so nice this weekend we did a little outdoor tricycling.
Ride log:
September 3rd - Labor Day – Tandem Ride with Tara 1:30
4th - Fixy ride around town 1:00
5th - Haw Ridge 2:00
6th – Forks of the River Tour with Brian Hann 1:30
8th – Haw Ridge with the Badger boys
9th – Ocoee 2:00
15th – Extended Greenway super casual lunch outing with some pallet jumping behind the abandoned grocery store 2:30
16th – Raccoon Mountain, Love that place!!!
Monte's new Badger finally arrived after over a year log wait/ordeal. Monte, Allen, and I went out on his inaugural ride of the new bike, the lime green looks sweet threading the trees.
Noah is getting pretty wiggly these days, he’s constantly squirming from one place to the next by any means possible. The weather was so nice this weekend we did a little outdoor tricycling.
Ride log:
September 3rd - Labor Day – Tandem Ride with Tara 1:30
4th - Fixy ride around town 1:00
5th - Haw Ridge 2:00
6th – Forks of the River Tour with Brian Hann 1:30
8th – Haw Ridge with the Badger boys
9th – Ocoee 2:00
15th – Extended Greenway super casual lunch outing with some pallet jumping behind the abandoned grocery store 2:30
16th – Raccoon Mountain, Love that place!!!
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