Friday, October 31, 2014

Flats, Friday, and Freaking snow... tires too.

Friday!

well hello there...

This will be brief cause its Halloween and I have 11354 pieces of candy to eat before K.A.W gets home. I also have chores and a bike ride to attend with some Charlotte dudes. Cant be late cause Im playing tour guide and its alot of woods to show around.

Its also supposed to snow like 23 feet here tonight so theres that... I almost forgot I was living in the mountains until it went from 70 degress to 30 over night and now its supposed to snow...on Halloween...great...



I went for a ride last night with some work folks. My mountainbikecycle is still off line so I had to ride the crosscyclebikecycle. I had torn a hole in the tire bead of my mountaincycle on last Thursday's ride/run and its not worth repairing so these are on the way...

Add caption
Maxxis Ardents. A good, decent tire. Nothing too aggressive but likes to get rowdy.

So last night I wasnt alone crosscycling around Bent Creek. A few of the other folks brought their crosscycles to ride and it was good clean fun. But!... I flatted twice on the same ride. This makes me 2 for 2 on Thursday night rides and 3 for 4 on flatting the last 4 times Ive ridden the crosscyclecrossbikecycle. So after determining that my Kenda small block 8's arent enough for the gnar of Bent Creek gravel roads (HA!) I have a set of these on the way...


WTB Nano race crosscyclecrossgravelbikecycle tires. They come highly reviewed and look to be tough enough for the super gnar gnar of light duty gravel roads... I hope. 

Something I would really like to do is go tubeless but K.A.W and my savings account doesnt like the idea of dropping $500 on a set of tubeless wheels... So we'll see how these bad boys roll and hopefully this will lead to flat-free cyclogravelcrosscrosbikecycle fun.



In other news...

Halloween is tonight so for in honor of it and/or because of it here is your Booze & Tunes for this day...

I have it under good authority that this actually works and delivers pumpkin beer to your face quickly. Now, the person who told me this was yelling at a fire hydrant downtown and had leaves in his beard but he seemed legit...


Seriously its Halloween. Just drink something good and hand out candy to strange children. 

Musix for today will be a sampling of what we will be blasting out of the house as small children and their parents approach our home to receive candied treats. K.A.W wanted "The Monster Mash" but nothing says "satan's favorite holdiay" like some Dave Mustaine... So crank it to 11 and rip...



IHappy Halloween and have a rad weekend!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Random stuff...

Last Sunday I ate an entire medium pizza and half a box of chocolate chip cookies.  This is irrelevant to everyone but me. However, the side effects I have been experiencing are quite interesting. This led me down the rabbit hole of cycling nutrition, human physiology, and guilt tripping over bad food decisions...

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/10/24/physiology-and-nutrition-your-gut-is-an-alien/

I get most of my health advice from cycling websites. who needs doctors. HA! bunch of quack sawbones telling me what not to eat!

However, I have felt like crap since my dietary sinning went down and I plan on exploring this more in depth. K.A.W is already "drinking the Kool-Aid" of diet v. brain feelings and Im on my way. I think its time to get back to eating well, riding like a stole it, and generally attempting to be as awesome as possible in every facet of life. Advice on how to accomplish this is appreciated...

On an unrelated topic it appears the the beverage of choice for many a dirty Southerner now comes with the flavor enhancement of anti-freeze...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/28/frathouse-favorite-fireball-whiskey-recalled-in-europe.html

Something that is that tasty, and gets you inconceivably intoxicated had to have some automotive chemical in it right??

On another unrelated topic, I rode my cycling-cross bycycle yesterday. This was an attempt at regaining my past glory of early summer. From the way I felt climbing up to the BRP yesterday its going to be a long row to hoe...





Monday, October 27, 2014

Recappin'

Hey folks,

Hope yall's weekend was great and helped you keep the stoke rolling for a new week of work and not-so-fun-times.

Mine was pretty neat. Not much craziness but a solid few days of fun.
Autumn is here in a big way.

Friday I did chores then rode over to visit K.A.W at her work. Her students usually cook something on Fridays and this week the plan was S'mores. However, you cant have S'mores withou graham crackers and K.A.W was gra-ham cracker-less. I hopped on le' bycycle and pedaled to the store and then to her school for some S'more cookin'. Of course the kids had to help and we made it educational as well. Now her students know that marshmallow + chocolate + graham = F'n AWESOME!!!

educatin' the chilrun...


Math is important in these uncertain times,

K.A.W's friend Jen was heading into town and so the girls left to stir up some trouble in the forest, and left me with too many Pabsts', a fire in the fire pit, and my banjo. Thats really all I need to entertain me for the rest of my life. They had a nice hike on the MST in Autumns splendor...



After while the girls returned and we all celebrated the Autumnal delights sitting around a fire and chillaxing in the mellow mountain air.

Saturday K.A.W was off to Statesville, NC for her BFF Tiff's bridal shower. So once again I loaded up the crossmachine in the truck and we headed to Bent Creek for a long mellow gravel ride. Why ride gravel roads when your surrounded by world-class mountain-bike-cycling trail? Because gravel riding is pretty fun, and I was too lazy to fix my mountain bike-cycle from the ride/run Thursday night.

It was a pretty sweet loop...

Ledford Branch, up Bent Creek Gap rd to the Parkway. Down into N. Mills River campground, up FR5050 to Yellow Gap. Yellow Gap to N. Mills River trail to the resevoir road, Resevoir road to Trace ridge back to Bent Creek Gap road.

Just enough climbing to get the lungs going and enough sketchy singletrack to keep the "oh shit" factor strong. Plus I got to do a little chunky rock descending on Yellow Gap and had about 6 creek crossings on N. Mills.

"Green Tag" must mean shoot the hell out of everthing with a shotgun.

its organic!




one of 7 creek crossings on the Mills...




Saturday night we attended a B-Day party for neighbor Kirk. He had a bunch of rowdies up from Rock Hill, SC and we all drank good beer to early morn'.

Sunday we did some house stuff and then took K.A.W's father up to Craggy Pinnacle for some mountain majesty. It was great fun and hopefully we didnt blow his knees out.



King of the Mountain...


Pretty fun weekend.

Now its Monday and we only have a few short days until we can do it all over again. Just keep counting them down...

See ya next time...

Friday, October 24, 2014

Night rides... er uh...runs??

Well Friday has dawned and let us all raise our beers in celebratory shotguns!!

Well, its ok to not shotgun a beer this early in the morning. Your boss might not care for that sort of behavior and Debbie in accounting is a tattle tale...am I right!?

On a serious and relevant note...it is indeed Friday. Let the RadFestWeekend commence. I dunno about you but Im stoked on this weather and if you arent getting outside for a bit over the next few days you totes should. Its great.

The last few days here in AVL-LVN have been nice. The pups and I had a nice walk on the MST which is always great. Hard to complain about life when a 1000 mile, cross state hiking trail goes through your backyard. Its like having a wilderness oasis in the middle of the city. You never know what you might come across.

The Goose and The Bear enjoy it immensely...


enjoyment face...





Last night I went for a mountain bike-cycle ride with Jim, a dude I knew from down in the flatlands many years ago. As fate would have it we both ended up here and working a the same company. Weird... Jim is a hell of a mountian bikecycler and an all around good dude. We met at Bent Creek to join a Thursday riding tradition that has been going for many years. Some of us were on moutain rides, others were pushing Cross bikes so it was a fun group.

The ride went great up to the point that it didnt...

I flatted coming down Sidehill and, as luck would have it, couldnt get the lock ring off my tubeless valve stem. Jim used his giant engineer brain and determined that galvanized valve stems dont play well with aluminum lock rings... thats sciencebikenerd talk for FUBAR'd valve stem.

So with me unable to put a tube in I was left walking out...approx 2-3 miles. Jim was an awesome dude and rolled out to meet me halfway with the car. I started pushing out but quickly realized that this was going to take forever. So I thought "running is faster than walking right?"and so I ran out to the road where Jim was waiting. Just one more reason riding flats is awesome.

A bike ride/unplanned trail run and all was well.  Except my valve that has to be surgically removed from the rim. hmmmm...

On to the Booze and Tunes!!

This weeks beer of choice is Duck Rabbit Brewing's Milk Stout. To me the cooler temps and short days always make me thirsty for dark beers. Stout Weather I like to call it. DR are the "Dark Beer People" and they nailed it with this one. Best of all its made in good ole' Farmville, NC, USA...

'MERICA!!



Drink a good'n plenty of em this weekend...

Music to get ya going is this sweet cover of YES's "Owner of a Lonely Heart". That song is a classic and new/jam/prog bluegrass group Trampled By Turtles does it well. With synthesizer effects and all. Bill Monroe is probably rolling in his grave but whatever. Im stoked that so much good 'Grass is getting picked now-a-days. Might have to drink a DR and pluck the ole' minnow dipper myself sometime this weekend.


The video wont upload so click here to get weird...

anywhooooooooo,

I release you'ns to the weekend. Now go kick some ass and have a hell of a good time!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Mid-week action!

Hey folks,


Its been pretty mellow around Greenview Manor this week. K.A.W is busy nesting and getting our little home back in proper order after the whirlwind of the last couple weeks. She does an amazing job keeping this place up and I'm always impressed with her and her craftiness...

Yesterday I managed to get out into the woods for a bike ride. It wont be long before all my after work rides are at night so I have to take advantage of these next few weeks to rip while the rippins good.

Bent Creek was fun as usual and it was practically empty. I guess the cooler temperatures and lack of daylight keeps the less hearty of Asheville's bike-cyclists at home. The evening took me from Rice Pinnacle to Wolf Branch up, up Ingles Field to 5 points, down Sidehill. At this point I decided that I wanted to really hurt my legs so I turned around went up Sidehill to 5 points, down Ingles Field, down Wolf Branch. Usually I just head back to the truck at this point. Oh no, no, no...not tonight. I was going to get my first night ride of the season in..

I hooked a left onto Boyd Branch, climbed the root railroad tracks that is Boyd Branch, and topped off at the road. Lights on!... Then it was on to Corvair, aka best trail in BC, back to the truck.

Great ride and I accomplished the goal of finishing with the lights on. This time of year I really like night riding. Its not something you do too much of in the warm months. Its like an old sweater that you put on and really love at the first hint of cold. However, come February, after doing it for 4 months, I hate it like nothing else... Like an old sweater covered in dog hair and pine needles that smells like the inside of a vacuum cleaner. My mood spirals downward  as the daylight hours disappear. Vitamin D deficiency or something...who knows.

 For now it will do. Looking forward to a few with some local shredders in the near future...









In other news/interesting occurrences, the wedding gifts keep rolling in. This is one of my favorites from one of K.A.W's students. I'm not sure if he knows what it means but Im sure K.A.W will put it to good use... "yes dear...coming dear...whatever you say dear...." HA!

foot in picture for scale...
Catch ya Friday guys...

Monday, October 20, 2014

Weekend Recap....





Wow...

One week under us as a married couple and K.A.W. and I are still together.

In your face Kardashians!!!

The past week was super short for me being that we were on our mini-honeymoon in Edisto Island, SC. I only worked Thursday and then it was off for three days of rad-getting in the mountains around our AVL home.

Friday was chore day so I got-em-done and K.A.W and I headed to Montreat, NC aka the scene of the crime, for a little day hiking with the pups. Old Toll Rd. to Lookout Mtn. and back. nice 3-4 miler in some of the prettiest mountains around... Plus its where we were wed so there's that...


"Potential harmful specie"?










     Saturday arrived and I had made plans with JR of Etowah to get awesome on some Pisgah singletrack. With the pre-wedding, wedding, and post wedding fun I had not had time to get in a decent ride in several weeks. A combination of too much Pabsts, junk food, and laying about and my fitness was at close to an all time low. A proper Pisgah ride was just what I needed to kickstart the ole' lungs and legs back into fighting form.

But I didnt want to kick too hard to soon. A nice and easy 15 miler up and around the Fish Hatchery was the plan. Up 475B, Cove Creek, Daniels Ridge, Long Branch and then the piece de resistance.... Cat Gap. Cat is a seasonal trail meaning once all the tourists leave for the season it opens up to bike-cycles. Its like Christmas morning when the seasonal goodies open for the winter...

All in all it was a fair ride and we even ran into some other duders out there taking advantage of some seasonal delights as well...

On a side note JR will be leaving Gods Country, USA aka Pisgah for greener pastures in Harrisonburg, VA. God speed sir and all the best and what not...

We'll miss ya man...

duders enjoying seasonal delicacies

Hucks to flat arent advisable on a hardtail...


gnar


Saturdays ride in the books and it was on to more fun in the forest. 

David G and son were on the way up to camp and fly fish and I was put in charge of finding them a campsite off the beaten path. I picked out an old stand by I keep in my back pocket for just such occasions. I set my tent up and waited for them to arrive. Soon enough David G and son were setting up and we were all getting ready to engage in mountainfuntimes. The best part was K.A.W was coming too. 

I let David and son have a little family time and I wandered off to scout our fishing section for the next day. It was great being out there as the sun was setting. I hooked a few and spooked a few and eventually made my way back to camp by moonlight.

K.A.W had arrived and we all set around telling stories and having an awesome time in the woods.

The tent stands alone

The Bear inspecting dinner...


s'mores...

Da Goose can haz s'morez??

K.A.W aka S'more Machine

Sunday we woke up, packed up and hit the river. K.A.W set off to solo it up Looking Glass Rock with the dogs and so we departed. David G and son and I bushwacked through the forest and hit the river running. The beautiful scenery proved to be more abundant than the fish. We ended up with two in hand and smiles all around. Plus it was great that David and son could get out for a little father/son time. Good to see he's raisin' em right...in the heart of Gods Country, USA.






K.A.W even had a nice adventure hiking up Looking Glass. It was crowded but nice none-the-less. Plus the pups needed a good adventure and a nice climb up a giant rock seemed to do the trick.


too many s'mores... 



On the way out I swung by and met her as she was coming down and we ended our weekend together out in the beautimus of the forest.

We're totally crushing this marriage thing...

Catch ya later on, later on folks...