Friday, January 30, 2015

Getting there...

Hello again...

Glad you could make it. Come in, Come in... Would you like a cool beverage? No? Have a seat...

some champagne?




Friday is once again upon us. The day when we are released from our toils and we shake off the ties that bind us to our daily occupations. Congratulations friends, you have made it. I certainly hope that you have made plans to get out and get weird somewhere abouts. Weekends are meant for getting rad and a radless weekend is a sad one indeed....

K.A.W and myself are heading down to the Motherland. UnionCountyNCGod'sCountryUSA. Our nephew is celebrating the one year anniversary of his birth and I wouldn't miss that for the world. I'm sure he is stoked too. As stoked as a one year old can be about a date that he has no concept of yet. I'm not sure how rowdy a one year old's birthday will be. However, watching him smear cake and frosting all over his face and head will bring me great joy. Lil' nephew aka "The Dude" is cool. End of story.

Not a whole hell of alot going on at Greenview Manor this past week. K.A.W is still in the throes of her Whole 30 Diet Challenge. Shes on the home stretch and come next Tuesday shes done. Back to booze and burgers for our little family. I'm crazy improupressed (combination of proud and impressed) by her commitment and will power. I would have given in at the first sight of cold beer. The best part is that she has been on a cooking rampage this past month and we're eating like hippie royalty. Organic, hormone free everything. Anyone who thinks you cant have tasty health food is dumb. I could eat this healthy forever... except for pimento cheese. Its like orange ambrosia...cheesy manna from heaven... and it now comes with bacon in it!



Not only is K.A.W an amazing Paleo diet chef, Crossfit beastmode ass kicker, she has now added competitive runner to her impeccable resume'. The last two events she raced in, a 5k and an 8k, she pretty much crushed it. Its awesome being married to someone who takes their health and fitness as important as I (minus the pimento cheese). If I could only get her on a mountaincycle full time she would be a great training partner... Although knowing her competitive nature she would probably surpass me and that could get weird...

local bearded folk giving K.A.W some encouragement...
The shirt says it all...




I have been slowly getting over my post, not attending the Icycle/beer drinking competition in the forest, funk. Bailing/wussing out on the race left me with the thought that I need to start toughening up and taking this "training" thing a little more seriously. Not sure how to do that quite yet but I may start by living by the ridiculously pretentious set of rules established by the Velominati. Specifically rules #5 and #9. For the purposes of being awesome come race day, it would help. For creating fun times on the bikecycle? Not so much... Bikecycling without beers and good friends is barely bikecycling at all. Likewise making bikecycling "work" in any form is lame and should be avoided at all cost. Unless you have set goals that require you to "work" hard at being better on the bike. Its a conundrum for certain. Fit is fast and fast is fun... Fit requires work... hard work. Hard work = more fun on the bike? hmmmm.

The day before the day before yesterday:

In order to expedite my "training" for the KOP I have been eating lots of local, fair trade, artisinal hummuses and riding as much as possible. Tuesday had me on "The Machine", my magnetic trainer.

The Bear not amused by The Machine...


Riding a stationary bike in and form is just fractionally better than not riding at all... fractions of fractions.... of fractions. The Machine sucks but I found this little gem on the world wide web to hopefully make for less suck riding in place while staring at a wall...

The day before yesterday:

Wednesday I went out for an old fashioned moving bikecycle ride, in the real woods. E-Dub and I made some ambitious plans to do a long night ride starting in Bent Creek and ending who knows where. It was pretty cold starting out but it was a clear evening and the stoke was high. Starting on Lower Sidehill, up Sidehill proper to FR 479. We hit the gravel and kept going up... To the Parkway. At this point we were all in to keep it going. Down FR 5000 to Spencer Gap. Up Spencer to Trace Ridge. Crush the loose rocky climbs and proceed into the abyss that is Trace Ridge at night. Bomb the descent and proceed to slog back up the Parkway. At this point it was cold as hell. Really cold. So cold that I couldn't feel my feet, hands, or most of the exposed skin on my face. My water bottle was freezing over. This motivated us to make the climb up FR 5000 back to the Parkway even faster than usual. What made it awesome was the moon provided us all the light we needed. Climbing a desolate gravel road in The Pisgah by moonlight was stellar. Shadows playing off the trees and the sky clear enough to see the ridge lines off in the distance made for a surreal pedal up the road. After we hit the Parkway we rode a little more and ended up back to the truck no worse for wear.

Hell of a Wednesday night ride...

???

cliche' "bike leaning on stuff" picture 
little muddy out there... 

Enter the abyss of The Pisgah...






Yesterday:

Thursday it was too nice not to ride so I headed out for a quick solo at Bent Creek. I hit trails that usually end up being less traveled and that was nice. I didn't see a soul despite it being in the upper 40's and mostly dry. Mellow solo night rides are great at clearing the mind and just zoning out into the forest and the thin ribbon of dirt in front of you. I try to go as long as possible without using my light and its crazy how in tune your senses are when ripping 30mph down a mountain trail at night without illumination. Dangerous but fun. Finding a balance in between "training" and fun is crucial. No matter what it is you do for fun, eventually you burn out. You have to mix it up and find new ways to keep it fun and keep the enjoyment there. Something about riding through the forest at night with no noise besides the tires in the mud, your own breathing, and the rustle of leaves is transformative. No matter how shitty I feel before I start pedaling, I always feel great when I stop. Five miles or fifty its all good...




Today:

Today, being Friday, I'm off work and getting into some mischief around the town. Its super cold and windy, like 25 degrees and 30mph winds so bikecycling might not be happening....we will see. I need to remember my Velominati Rules and #5 and #9 and suck it up.

I hope you all have a marvelous end of week celebratory few days. Catch ya back here next week...

Party on.




***Oh yeah... apparently there is a ballsport game or something this weekend too? Its supposed to be a big deal so if you choose to participate in said ballsport game have fun and eat all the pimento bacon cheeses.

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