Heartbreaker with Teamdicky.

Droid stats: 20.5 miles, 5365' elevation gain, 2:53 moving time, 4:05 total time, 7 mph! average moving speed, 24.5 max.


I was on the road at 6:55 this morning to meet up with Rich at the Kitsuma parking lot at 7:15. Our plan for the day: HEARTBREAKER!!!! We were on the bikes at 7:30 and right away I was feeling the lack of big rides in the past few weeks. We climbed through ridgecrest and at the ballfields I thought, I think I can follow the hardest nine miles in town route from here, you know, as a change-up. We climbed the paved road of death

photo by Rich:

to Adventure trail and after a quick call to Mike B. to verify directions, and a quick photoshoot at the overlook we were on our way to the helipad.
From there the route was classic Heartbreak Ridge. On our way up Old Toll we talked about all sorts of things: Old friends, the bike industry, PMBAR, The Boy, proxy servers, cycling teams, new friends, bike parts.... and Rich kept a perfect 6 foot distance in front of me, no matter how fast or slow I could go at the moment. When I was feeling good it was like having a tractor-beam, or an adventure racing bungee, holding me to his rear wheel. Of course he could have pulled away at any instant but this was not one of those types of rides. It was casual, it was fun, we stopped and took photos of flowers:
and we took a lunch break at the overlook which came right on time for me.


My knees were hurting from the lack of fitness and the 60something degree temps and I hadn't had a bite to eat all day. I guess that's why that 'tractor-beam' feeling was suddenly starting to fade. Well, after the longish break I was feeling great again and Rich pulled me all the way to the trailers which were upon us before I expected them.









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2011 Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race RESULTS!

2011 PMBAR RESULTS here!

New fork shakedown ride #3

125 top and bottom to start. Not quite as compliant on the small stuff as I'd like so I let a pshhht of air out of the top and the fork started acting rather nice. Enough travel on the small stuff and not too much once I was headed downhill.

New fork shakedown ride #2

115 top, 100 bottom. Excellent in the small stuff but it dove through the travel once I was pointed downhill

New fork shakedown ride

Starting at 9PM. Out and back on Laurel. Fork settings? Who knows. Whatever it was straight out of the box, plus some fiddling, plus a front flat.

Two rides in two days?!?!? What could be better than that?!?!?

Alternate title: Riding in Pisgah with my wife?!?!?!? What could be better than that?!?!?

My beautiful wife at the Wash Creek bridge:

Erinna and I got out for an over-the-top smile-producing most-excellent mountain-bike ride today. A few pictures for now, A ride description later.

Irises:

Erinna at the swinging bridge on North Mills River trail:

Erinna on Spencer Gap trail:

and at the top of the climb on Trace Ridge trail:

A Stan's flat? No way!

Jimminy Cricket!

I just had my ass handed to me. Thank you very much Greg C.
After a beautiful Easter day of hanging out with the family plus Katie, Greg, and Dahlia, Greg and I decided it would be a great idea to get on the road bikes starting at about 8PM. We hit the road at 8:30 without a solid plan other than to climb Webb Cove. Our ultimate route Waynesville->Riverside->Elk Mountain->Lakeside->Osborne->Beaverdam->Webb Cove->Blue Ridge Parkway->Town Mountain->College->Heywood->Chicken Hill->Waynesville.

Droid Stats: 24.2 miles, 2570' elevation gain, 1:39 moving, 14.5 average, 44mph max. Kick ass.

Greg set the pace early and after a couple insane passes by motorists I decided to push and hold his wheel to get that nasty stretch of pavement over with and it was done in a flash. I was seeing stars and doing my best to not need to stop for the climb through Woodfin and finally had to warn Greg that the climb up Beaverdam was NOT going to go by as quickly as the last few miles had, for me at least. He slowed just enough that I was able to catch my breath and get into a comfortable spin. Exactly what I needed I guess because the climb to Webb Cove wasn't that bad and by the time we were at the gravel I was feeling damn spry. We were both out of the saddle and hammering when, lickity split, we were at the parkway. Hell. Yes.
The Town Mountain descent really got the lactic acid building in my legs. They were on FIRE as I pushed but I still pushed as. hard. as. I. could. I was able to drop Greg in the chicanes but he easily reeled me back in on the straight-aways. I was absolutely flying at the final turn headed into downtown and Greg was only seconds behind. EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT. EXCELLENT.
We took the fun twisty way back to West Asheville and parted ways less than two hours after starting. Awesome ride Greg. Thanks for getting out. Happy Easter everyone!