How do astronomers organize a party?

They planet...

We're coming straight outta AVL with this here post today. Glad you could make it. You (the one reading this) are the reason we're all here. My only blog reader.

How I loathe you...

K.A.W and I had a pretty outstanding weekend here in AshevilleNCGod'sCountryUSA. Much outside festivness went down and Momma Nature cast her radiant goodness far and low across our western Mountains. I hope ya'll had a great one too.

Lets begin with a recap...

Friday:

My apathy toward getting outside when its dark and cold was getting the best of me. The last two weeks had me sitting at home moping and drinking and drinking and moping. Cold, wet, and sad is no way to spend the weekdays. Getting out on the weekends in the daylight is great but riding 40 miles over the course of the week is no way to get rad in Pisgah for the KOP this summer. Somethings gonna give and soon.

I wanted to go out and do a stupid road/gravel ride that would be brutal and help establish a bar to shoot for in my "training" for the KOP. Somewhere around the 65 mile mark. However Friday chores got the best of me so all I could do was gather up The Bear and head to a local sweet spot for a fun run on Thelma Lou.

Suns out (no guns present) and we had a great time. Good for it too because The Bear doesn't get to do much riding. Mostly because she's a dog and cant ride a bicycle, but also because she cant hang on long mountain rides. Even so she enjoys it immensely and so I like to take her on my short rides. I know she enjoys running free and frolicking hither and tither through the mountains.

Good times with the pup.

Back at Greenview it was beer thirty, or beer o'clock, or quarter past Pabst and just chillen-pickin some tunes on the banjo  and bluegrass and beers filled the evening nicely.

Saturday

Plans had been planned to ride with a critical mass quantity of Charlotteans in Dupont. However, at the last minute word arrived that one of K.A.W's former co-workers and all around pleasant Durhamite, Mike P, was in town and wanted to shred in Pisgah proper. I, never shying away from radness in Pizgarh, of course obliged, and we set off for a run around the fish hatchery.

475 B, Cove Creek, Daniels Ridge, FARLOW Gap, Daniels again, and out on Davidson River. Big climbing day and it was much needed. My legs have a long way to go and sitting on my ass drinking fine Russian beer ain't getting me there. Plus I always enjoy riding with new people and showing them trail they haven't been on before. The day started mellow with numerous tugs from the ole jug that Mike P had brought along. Whiskey makes everything better... Mountain biking included. Ride up Cove, crush Daniels Ridge and onto the suckfest that is the Farlow Gap climb...

Farlow Gap starts with a soul crushing gravel/singletrack climb of several thousand feet over just a few miles. Once you make the top, drop your seat and clinch your butthole cause its big mountain riding all the way down. Huge rocks that swallow your wheel, steep pitches to put you over the bars, and its all covered in leaves making it awesomely sketchy. There is nothing else like it in the district. Its hands down my favorite trail and its a shame I don't ride it more often. Mike P slayed it like he had done it a million times before. Probably helped a little by the liquid courage we imbibed before the decent. It had been a long time since I'd been up on Farlow and I forgot how great it is. I have a good feeling me and Farlow are going to see more of each other in the coming months...

Pugs?

liquid courage...

There is a trail there somehwere... 

pimento cheese...

Ride done we headed to the Pisgah Tavern for more booze.

Sunday:

Up early and on the trail with The Goose and The Bear for a mellow Sunday Morning stroll on the MST. Lots of stuff to smell and to poke heads into...

Weather this coming week looks stupid good so its on the bike as much as possible and looking forward to the Icycle/beer drinking competition in the woods with bikes too. If your there come say hello and shotgun a Russian beer with me.

 Hope to see ya there.

Have a rad week folks,

Party on.

Weekend recap from last weekend right before this weekend so not this weekends recap at all...

Fast and hard...

Just how I know you all like your blogging....

Last weekend in pictures because I've become quite lazy with my bloggage and my bikeage so I'm heading out to do some stupid ride somewhere and its going to be stupid.  See you'nz Monday.



Friday:

A little ice on the trail...

Steep Canyon featuring Jerry Douglas

Saturday:

Hiking up Snooks Nose...

The Goose getting special treatment

Pictures dont capture how steep this trail was...

The Big Ditch...

claw marks...

Paleo hiking lunch

Sunday:

Shredding in Pizguh...

Gotta get up to get down...

Hello!

And greetings to one and all (but really one because thats the number of people that actually read this mess)...


In case you are a lobster or a pine tree or a football I would like to let you know that its pretty cold outside. This news may come as a surprise to you I know. Its ok... I was surprised too.

For the rest of the living population of North Cackalacky you already know this and by now are sore and tired of hearing "boy its cold" and "sure is a cold one today" or "sweet Lord in heaven I'm freezing to death!".

Weather is what we talk about when we have nothing else to talk about and this is just one more sign that we are all lame and getting old and boring. You can either embrace it or get weird... So from now on when someone mentions "can you believe this cold?" just stare vapidly at them and say "We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold..."

 Immediately walk away when finished.

This should not only change the subject of conversation but also create a newfound sense of awe from your friends and family. And/or cause suspicions of hard drug use... either way your not talking about the weather.

So onward...

Its cold.

Things have been mellow around Greenview Manor this week. Getting back into the game of life post Holidays. K.A.W is attempting to do this new crazy diet sweeping the nation: The Whole 30. From watching her this week, and her meal preparations, the diet consists of asking yourself..."does this taste good?" If the answer is "yes", you cant eat it. Seems simple enough. The goal is at the end of 30 days you are supposed to start glowing and slowly ascend into the heavens, or something like that I haven't really been paying attention.

Seriously it seems like a good challenge to help expedite good eating habits. I'm a huge fan of eatin' right (when applicable), and getting healthy so you go girl. Its been a real struggle for her the first couple days but she has really stuck to her guns. I tried tempting her with delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon beer last night and she refused. Impossible to comprehend...

I'm sure she will complete her 30 day suckfest and feel like a million bucks. Then its back to pimento cheese and Kool-Aid and Hot Pockets and all the terrible things that make life wonderful.

In bikecycling news,

I haven't been riding too much this week. The cold and whatnot you know. I managed to get out Tuesday for some Bent Creek shreddage. Cold, muddy, and not a soul out there but me.

In other mountaincycling news I finally got Thelma Lou back up and running.

She has been without proper tires for a couple months. Apathy, laziness, whatever the reason I put off tire buying for so long that I forgot how it felt to ride a hardtail 29er. The answer is its pretty awesome. As I type this, the sun is out, the birds are singing, and it seems too nice to not get a little rad outside today.

Beer and Music:

Here's your Beers!

Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale. Good for cold Winter nights and cures what ails ya!

Since K.A.W are going to see them tonight, your music for the weekend is pretty much anything from award winning bluegrass sensations The Steep Canyon Rangers. 

Party on...

Happy New Beer!... er..uh Year?

Hello friends...

Welcome to 2015 aka the year of the Sheep! (according to a 1 second Google search).

Ovis Aries! The noblest of the Bovidaes... Sleep aid, eater of much grass, and pretender of being a cotton swab. Its such a wonderful feeling knowing that you will be responsible for all of the worlds happiness and sorrow for the next year... You sir, are an inspiration.

Now on to the mediocrity that you all have come here for.

You may have noticed that I changed the name of this here blog. Why did I do this? I dont know. Just did. Deal with it.

The new year is a time of rebirth and reassessment of one's life. Resolutions to be made, then broke, then made again. Plans to be planned and then forget about and then oh shit was I supposed to send that in Tuesday?

 All things are new again.... 

This year things will continue as normal for K.A.W and myself. LVN in AVL and whatnot, getting rad as much as we can, and generally having a good time. We have now been married for almost three months and have yet to attempt to smother one another in our sleep. I call that a win. No wedding to plan equals no stress about upcoming nuptials and all the free time to do with as we please. Our plans for this year are simple. Fun in the mountains, vacay out West sometime this summer, and drinking all the beers. 

In the meanwhile I have this to look forward to in a couple weeks:

Riding my bike while drinking beer at night in the cold ass woods at night with beer. I cant wait. I have never done this event before but have been assured by co-workers that its a grand time. The event is a beer drinking competition in the woods then someone yells GO! and we all ride our bikes hither and fro through the mountains. Then we drink more beer and race down steep hills at night, dodging bears, moonshiners, and rhododendron trees then drink more beer. 

I'm not sure of the accuracy of this description, since I haven't raced the Icycle before, but one thing is for sure: I'm gonna ride some bikes and drink some beers and that's a big ole' W in my book.

In other bikecycle news:

I have committed my monies and I am registered for the 2015 King Of Pisgah race series in good ole' western North Carolina. 

This series is an accumulation of some of the most grueling and soul sucking mountaincycle races in our far shining hills. I'm either going to finish or never ride a bike again... or both. Who knows but hopefully there will be a t-shirt at the end.

My reasoning for wanting to hate life on a bikecycle all summer is simple: I need the challenge. After racing in my first (and first race ever) PMBAR last year, I was left wanting more. I had immense fitness and no where to use it. So I did what any twenty-something male with pent up bikecycle angst would do... I ate Pop-tarts and drank good-ass-beer all summer long. This year I wanted to take up a challenge that I knew would test me mentally and physically, and keep me fit all summer long. I also wanted a goal that I could do on a bike. I have no real goals in the series other than to finish and not get disqualified. Seems legit.

Since this is my first post since we broke for the holidays here is a photo recap of Banjo Life's events in no particular order and for no particular reason:

So there ya have it folks. Blog is back and worse than ever.

So be prepared for a year of mediocre blogging and always remember...

Eggs contain eggs.