Eh... That wasn't so bad...

The Tuesday Night Dinner Club met at Smoker's Cove last night for a bit of playing around on Black Mountain. Mike B. picked me up in Asheville and we met Jody F., Mike R., and Ed M. at just after 6:00. A short while later we were on the bikes and headed to climb Avery Creek. Our route for the evening: 276->477->Buckhorn->Avery->???->Clawhammer->Black.

http://app.strava.com/activities/39953352

Last week I was killing it during the TNDC ride. This week was the opposite. I was in a world of hurt. The warm-up hurt. Avery hurt bad. Avery hurts everyone but the guys were way WAY ahead of me. We took the right turn off Avery onto ??? over to Clawhammer and my legs started to think about warming up but I was still off the back. 

When we turned onto Black everything turned around. My legs and lungs were finally speaking the same language and climbing was coming easy. The super steep technical climbing up Black comes in a close second for moments of the night. The best was the descent down a totally blown out Black Mountain. I've never seen it in such bad shape and following Jody was a blast. We rocketed through what should have been completely unridable. It was amazing. The buff lower section was as fast as ever, too. It was a fun night on the bike for sure. Along the way Mike B mentioned how lucky we are to have 'this' (he gestured towards the cosmos). These are the best of times. We have health, trails, and means to have and ride bikes, deep in the forest, at night, with great friends. Awesome. Thanks for the reminder, Mike.  I, too, am truly thankful.

Tuesday nights never disappoint. (KILLING IT).

Right at the very last possible instant I got a babysitter and was out the door headed to Turkey Pen for the TNDC ride. Those guys know how to have a good time and knowing the rain was on the way and Erinna is working this weekend I knew it would be best for me to show up. The cast: Jody F., Mike R., Clint S., Than W., Shanna P., Chad M., Trent B., Taylor ?., and myself.

Three dogs and an upsidedown turtle on Squirrel.

Dog Ride!!!!

Mike and Kassi BD, their two dogs Max and Macey, Sophiedog, and myself went on an excellent Pisgah ride today. South Mills->Cantrell->Squirrel->Mullinax. Yeah, it was hovering at or below freezing and we were walking in creeks? So what?

more later?

Fossil fuel burning douchenozzels, Woody Woodpecker, and the elusive American Honey Badger.

 http://app.strava.com/activities/38252964

 

On MLK day morning  Mike B. and I met up with Teamdicky at the Kitsuma parking lot and we were on the bikes and headed to Heartbreak Ridge starting at about 9:30. Mike had been on a ride recently that followed the 'Marshall H.' way up to Old Toll so we decided it would be fun to do some exploring and to follow that route.

That way took easily 25 minutes longer than the traditional way up but was easily 50%, ummm, easier. Along the way we made a few navigational errors that turned into brilliant mistakes. We found this cascade, for example:

Once we were on Old Toll the pace picked up significantly and all three of us were in no man's lands, Rich off the front, Mike (having not yet fully recovered from his 24 hour flu) off the back, and me in the middle. It was a beautiful day to be on the bikes. Temps in the very low 40's (if we were lucky), high winds, and blindingly blue skies.

After a quick break at the overlook Mike's legs woke up and it was tough keeping him in sight. I almost bonked chasing him as I mistook the not top for the top and didn't have any matches left in the book until a long rest at the trailers.

 

I took the lead for the descent and was feeling great, feeling FAST for the first little while. After a bit though my hands felt like I had just been at batting practice with an aluminum bat. They were hurting soooooo bad. I let Mike take the lead, finally had the notion that something was wrong with my fork, made a few adjustments, then was feeling fast as ever.  We took an extended break at the downed tree below the rootball of death, then rocketed to the bottom without incident.

We took it easy for the climb up Mill Creek and made it back to the vehicles in an unremarkable time. Mike and I had curfews to tend to so we were done and started to load up but Rich, ever the endurance freak, decided to knock out Kitsuma real quick. That was a fun ride guys, thanks for getting out. Thanks for making it up to the mountains, Rich!

tick boom... tick tick boom...

Jody F and I got out for a great little ride this morning. I scooped him up from Swannanowhere and we were on the bikes headed for a Heartbreak out-and-back at 11am. There's not much I can say about the ride other than:
1. Heartbreak is a very hard way to warm-up.
2. I am a busy man. Jody, right now, has more on his plate than I do
3. I need to figure out what's going on with the Rocky and slow speed unscheduled dismounts.
4. sitting down and letting the bike work under me is soooooo much fun. Jody and I had the most chill yet fun filled descents of Heartbreak that I've had in a loooooong time.

 http://app.strava.com/activities/38014227

I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

http://app.strava.com/activities/37459225