What else is there to say?
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Well, that was fun. Rich came up to Pisgah this AM with a new group and Mike & Kassi B., and I (plus Avery and Maximiliandogs) met them out at the Fish Hatchery at 11:00. The route for the day ended up being an excellent tour of the best known fish hatchery area trails: Davidson River->Cove Creek->Yellow Connector->225->Daniel Ridge counterclockwise->475->5095?->Long Branch->475->471-> 471D->Butter->Long Branch->Cat Gap.
The ride started with a warm-up pace to Cove Creek then Mike, Rich, and I picked it up. Rich didn't sweat a drop though and talked about a million things in a row that I cannot recall right now. That made for quick-bike-ride to the connector and up to 225. MB broke his chain just before the top and I realized that one of the new guys had decided to ride the whole day in big/big. Ummm.... good chance you'll be the next one with a broken chain if you keep that up fella.... The climb to Daniel went by quickly, we ran into Youngblood and Amy along the way, and Mike, Dicky, and I dove in and railed all the way to the bottom of Farlow with aplomb. A quick regroup and the train continued to the bottom of Daniel. Mike was in the lead and took great lines all the way, I was on his wheel with Dicky less than 5 seconds behind. Badass Dicky. The movie-fork seems to be working out for you.
The group moved quickly too, and up, the gravel road to Long Branch. Kassi then took off down the hill with the dogs and the rest of us went up towards Gloucester Gap.
What happened next? Stay tuned! Will I continue or not? Talk about running into 'tiny shoes' Jody F.? An old male stripper and his 'little dog'? new guys with downhill skillz? Flat tires? An IF with a 97 Marzocchi? Waterfalls? Tutus? Lightsaber fights???? Tune in.... Maybe I will.... Probably... I won't...
Oh, one thing non-ride related, my old old old OLD school friend Mark M. and I got to hang out this past Wednesday and eat a sushi lunch at Wasabi, drink some evening beers at ABC, and talk about current life and the like the entire day... Then Ian L., Erinna, and I watched in awe as he rocked the Orange Peel. Here he his on guitar later in the evening.... You're a f'ing badass Mark..... badass.
The ride started with a warm-up pace to Cove Creek then Mike, Rich, and I picked it up. Rich didn't sweat a drop though and talked about a million things in a row that I cannot recall right now. That made for quick-bike-ride to the connector and up to 225. MB broke his chain just before the top and I realized that one of the new guys had decided to ride the whole day in big/big. Ummm.... good chance you'll be the next one with a broken chain if you keep that up fella.... The climb to Daniel went by quickly, we ran into Youngblood and Amy along the way, and Mike, Dicky, and I dove in and railed all the way to the bottom of Farlow with aplomb. A quick regroup and the train continued to the bottom of Daniel. Mike was in the lead and took great lines all the way, I was on his wheel with Dicky less than 5 seconds behind. Badass Dicky. The movie-fork seems to be working out for you.
The group moved quickly too, and up, the gravel road to Long Branch. Kassi then took off down the hill with the dogs and the rest of us went up towards Gloucester Gap.
What happened next? Stay tuned! Will I continue or not? Talk about running into 'tiny shoes' Jody F.? An old male stripper and his 'little dog'? new guys with downhill skillz? Flat tires? An IF with a 97 Marzocchi? Waterfalls? Tutus? Lightsaber fights???? Tune in.... Maybe I will.... Probably... I won't...
Oh, one thing non-ride related, my old old old OLD school friend Mark M. and I got to hang out this past Wednesday and eat a sushi lunch at Wasabi, drink some evening beers at ABC, and talk about current life and the like the entire day... Then Ian L., Erinna, and I watched in awe as he rocked the Orange Peel. Here he his on guitar later in the evening.... You're a f'ing badass Mark..... badass.Wednesday, October 21, 2009
More than your 'average' after-work ride
Mike R., Eric C., and I got out last evening for an outstanding bike ride. We started a bit before 7pm on the parkway just before Bent Creek Gap. Our route: BRP->Big Creek->Fletcher->Spencer->Trace->BRP. more later. for now, photos:
Sunset over Mount Pisgah:
Mike trying to ride the guardrail:
Eric C on the parkway
Mike R on the parkway
At the top of Big Creek trail:
Please don't bite me!
oops, sorry for cutting off your head Mike!
Night Lizard!
Night riding: A different perspective.
Eric C at the top of Spencer:
counterclockwise:
Sunset over Mount Pisgah:
Mike trying to ride the guardrail:
Eric C on the parkway
Mike R on the parkway
At the top of Big Creek trail:
Please don't bite me!
oops, sorry for cutting off your head Mike!
Night Lizard!
Night riding: A different perspective.
Eric C at the top of Spencer:
counterclockwise:
Saturday, October 17, 2009
When the day starts with Bill high-fiving a cowboy...
It's a good bet that it's going to be a stellar day in the woods.
photo by Bill Fehr
This morning I met Rich D., Bill F., and Dave B. at Davidson River campground to watch the start of the Pisgah Stage Race then head out via bike to spectate. Walking around at the start/finish I saw all sorts of people, sorba people, racer people, and friends and family people. It sure is fun being a part of this community. Anyway, they were off for their big day in the woods right at 8am then we headed off for our own. The temps were in the low 40's with gray skies and on and off rain.
We drove over to the horsestables and impatiently waited for the rest of the Charlotte crew to arrive. Rich was doing a map dance in his head. If they left at... and we don't leave until... then we won't meet them until... and then the whole day is ruined. RUINED! The others arrived and Bill and I headed up clawhammer. Me on the redbike, Bill on the desert storm fixed.
It was nice catching up with Bill and we had a great climb. I have to look into his claims about moon mining and the like, never a dull cognitive moment when Bill has something to say.
Dicky, Tim?, and Skadophally-trophy-brophy
joined Bill and I for the advance march up clawhammer with Rob C. and Blair taking their sweet ass time following behind. The decision was made that the best place to see racers was on 1206 or Pilot if we could make it there on time so we pushed past the intersections without pause for the slowfolks. A quick stop at the Liberty CP then up Pilot was next.
I was on and off he bike, feeling good about getting a solid night's rest rather than going out, and suddenly the first racer flew by JeriBishop.Com! 4 minutes later a pissed looking Sam K was in the number 2 spot. Our group climbed to the HumVee section where we found a photographer and the perfect place to chill/heckle/spectate.
Being that the temps were in the low 40's and we were standing around the decision was made to start a fire and open a beer or two.
The plan originally was to meet Mike B. at his CP up on Laurel but... with the reports of snow... and the perfect vantage point... we decided to stay put and watched about 35-50 more racers come through before the sweep. LEFTY!!!
We then climbed a bit more with the intent of finding the legendary snow but turned around at the quad-switchback. We turned around,
Bill on the fixie was the only one to clean the HumVee, and took 1206 back to smillsrd with a vague plan. Blair was starting to feel it and Dave wasn't far behind so we altered the return route to include pinkbeds
to club
and in the end, it seemed that Avery was in the best interest of the group.
Oh, and by the way, Rob C. has grown a fine set of downhill skills in the last couple of years....
Dicky on the otherhand... is still learning how to use one of those new fangled 'movie forks'
I was feeling great and hit a little here-to-there jump on the Avery descent and broke my left pedal. I mean, really broke it!
That made me drop back for the final descent but I was able to wedge the toe end of the cleat into the front bar so I did have a minimal amount of 'clipped in' feeling for the rest of the day.
Great ride everybody! Sorry for the quick write-up, I need to go get some food!
counter-clockwise:
25.26 miles, 3875' climbing
photo by Bill FehrThis morning I met Rich D., Bill F., and Dave B. at Davidson River campground to watch the start of the Pisgah Stage Race then head out via bike to spectate. Walking around at the start/finish I saw all sorts of people, sorba people, racer people, and friends and family people. It sure is fun being a part of this community. Anyway, they were off for their big day in the woods right at 8am then we headed off for our own. The temps were in the low 40's with gray skies and on and off rain.
We drove over to the horsestables and impatiently waited for the rest of the Charlotte crew to arrive. Rich was doing a map dance in his head. If they left at... and we don't leave until... then we won't meet them until... and then the whole day is ruined. RUINED! The others arrived and Bill and I headed up clawhammer. Me on the redbike, Bill on the desert storm fixed.
It was nice catching up with Bill and we had a great climb. I have to look into his claims about moon mining and the like, never a dull cognitive moment when Bill has something to say.
Dicky, Tim?, and Skadophally-trophy-brophy
joined Bill and I for the advance march up clawhammer with Rob C. and Blair taking their sweet ass time following behind. The decision was made that the best place to see racers was on 1206 or Pilot if we could make it there on time so we pushed past the intersections without pause for the slowfolks. A quick stop at the Liberty CP then up Pilot was next.
I was on and off he bike, feeling good about getting a solid night's rest rather than going out, and suddenly the first racer flew by JeriBishop.Com! 4 minutes later a pissed looking Sam K was in the number 2 spot. Our group climbed to the HumVee section where we found a photographer and the perfect place to chill/heckle/spectate.
Being that the temps were in the low 40's and we were standing around the decision was made to start a fire and open a beer or two.
The plan originally was to meet Mike B. at his CP up on Laurel but... with the reports of snow... and the perfect vantage point... we decided to stay put and watched about 35-50 more racers come through before the sweep. LEFTY!!!
We then climbed a bit more with the intent of finding the legendary snow but turned around at the quad-switchback. We turned around,
Bill on the fixie was the only one to clean the HumVee, and took 1206 back to smillsrd with a vague plan. Blair was starting to feel it and Dave wasn't far behind so we altered the return route to include pinkbeds
to club
and in the end, it seemed that Avery was in the best interest of the group.
Oh, and by the way, Rob C. has grown a fine set of downhill skills in the last couple of years....
Dicky on the otherhand... is still learning how to use one of those new fangled 'movie forks'
I was feeling great and hit a little here-to-there jump on the Avery descent and broke my left pedal. I mean, really broke it!
That made me drop back for the final descent but I was able to wedge the toe end of the cleat into the front bar so I did have a minimal amount of 'clipped in' feeling for the rest of the day.
Great ride everybody! Sorry for the quick write-up, I need to go get some food!
counter-clockwise:
25.26 miles, 3875' climbing
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Split Shift
This afternoon I got in a little over an hour of riding at Biltmore.
I worked all morning then had to be back at 6pm for a few hours so, during my extended lunch break I rode right out of the back of the employee parkinglot for Black->Blue->Green->Arbor Trace on the fixed. Right as I was at the furthest point out I got a call that the client was there so about 20 minutes before I expected to I hauled back to the Jeep in the parkinglot, and like superman turning back into Clark Kent, changed from mountainbiker to button-up-and-tie guy.
I worked all morning then had to be back at 6pm for a few hours so, during my extended lunch break I rode right out of the back of the employee parkinglot for Black->Blue->Green->Arbor Trace on the fixed. Right as I was at the furthest point out I got a call that the client was there so about 20 minutes before I expected to I hauled back to the Jeep in the parkinglot, and like superman turning back into Clark Kent, changed from mountainbiker to button-up-and-tie guy.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
We are secretly planning our takeover of the world.
Fixed gear riders of Pisgah! Untie! wait.. um... Unite!
I just walked in from a quick spin around the neighborhood side of Bent Creek with Gabe H.
neighborhood?->corvair->powerlines->rice p->???
Anyway, lots of short steep climbs, a little tech, some fun singletrack, a bit of doubletrack, and lots of good tales and catching up. About an hour out on the fixie. Thanks for the light and water and tour Gabe! Let's try to get out there for some more rides during this prime night riding season.
I just walked in from a quick spin around the neighborhood side of Bent Creek with Gabe H.
neighborhood?->corvair->powerlines->rice p->???
Anyway, lots of short steep climbs, a little tech, some fun singletrack, a bit of doubletrack, and lots of good tales and catching up. About an hour out on the fixie. Thanks for the light and water and tour Gabe! Let's try to get out there for some more rides during this prime night riding season.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)