Saving the Day....light

Hello one and all, and all and that guy, and his buddy too for good measure...

Glad you could make it to this here blog today to read about my life. Why you continue to read about what I do is a mystery... Are you an evil lizard monster bent on world domination so you are studying human emotions to trick us all into trusting you when once you have gained our trust you will shoot lasers out of your eyes and smite us all?

It would be awfully convenient if this were true.... lizard.

Well lizard(s) I'm stoked you could make it and hopefully your goals and aspirations of laser eyes and world conquering are delayed for at least a short time while you read this.

Lets do it.

Friday:

*warning: The following contains high levels of "bike leaning on things" pictures...

Finally after what has seemed like an eternity of cold, wet, cold, sad, wet and so on we had a sunny warm(ish) day. I sat around Greenview Manor debating my options. Fish? Hike? Pabst? hmmmm. I decided that with seven or so weeks until the kickoff of King o' Pisgah I best to be getting on a bikecycle and see what was left of my dignity...and endurance. I had forgotten my gnarcrossgravelcycle at work so I tooled it on over and picker her up. Since I was already on the Pisgah side of town I decided that a good ole' fashioned "punisher" was due. A "punisher" is a ride where by you atone for all the bad fitness-sucking activities of the past winter season. Too much good beer, pimento cheez sammiches, and pies had to all be burned away and my fitness would rise like a pheonix from their ashes... Hence "punish", and this one would prove to be more than I bargained for.

I parked at N. Mills Rec. Area and proceeded up FR 1206 to see where the gravel would take me. It was immediately obvious in the first few miles that this would be an especially difficult ride. Due to the freeze/thaw on the road and the recent rain the gravel was extra smushy and I was leaving a tire trail a 1/4 inch deep the entire way up the road. "Surely once I get into "the meat" of Pisgah" I thought,  "it will firm up and not make it feel like Im riding on marshmallows" (which in real life would be freaking awesome!!). Nope...

into the wilds of Pisgah

leaving a solid rut...

I made it the entire 11 miles down FR 1206, slogging it out in the marshmallows. It had been a long time since I traveled the entire length of 1206 by bike. There is much more climbing than I remember. Also it was beautimus and not a soul to be seen. The depths of Pisgah seemed extra welcoming in the late winter sun and even though I was already hurting it was fantastic to be out.in.it. I finally made it to highway 276 and headed down the pavement. Cruising past the Cradle of Forestry I began to formulate step 2 of my ride. I hung a left onto FR 477 and back onto gravel. What 1206 had in marshmallow, 477 added a little peanut butter. It was super soft and at times pretty tough making the hills without spinning out. Heart rate max, lungs heaving, and legs aching up the first few miles of road... Punishment

down to Beer or more gravel? hmmm

Soon enough I hit Club Gap and grabbed the drops for the screaming descent down to Avery Creek. The descent was a mix of frozen road hooking up like Velcro with my Nano 40c's, slamming into corners of peanut mud threatening to put me over the shoulder and down 40ft. into the forest. super sketchy, slippery, and fast.

gnar.

familiar faces...

All that awesome was to be in vain because the route I chose now had me going up Clawhammer road. Four miles and a touch over 1000ft of elevation gain. This was going to hurt and I knew it. My gnargravelcrossbike has ok gearing for most climbs here in Pisgah but with tired legs and a steady 5-7% grade, 36x28 was a big gear to turn up the hill. Thankfully I brought my headphones and Pantera helped me fight off the demons and kept my stoke level high grinding up Claw. Sooner than I though but much, much slower than I wanted too, I finally made the gap. Cliche' picture taken and It was down Buckhorn Gap toward South Mills River and into some real "trail".

pics or it didnt happen

ok at this point the quantity of "bikes leaning on things" is getting excessive...

Buckhorn into South Mills on a CX bike is without question one of the funnest things I have ever done. The big Nano 40c's let me monster truck it up and over rocks, logs, and down the mellow descent into the wilds of the forest. It was smooth enough to rip but technical enough (for a CX bike) to keep the pucker factor high. I have ridden this trail countless times but never on a drop bar gravel bike and it was awesome. Something about riding that bike, that deep in Pisgah, solo, was pretty cool.

Pretty soon it was back onto 1206 and my legs were feeling ok. I grinded out that last little bit of climbing up past Laurel Mountain and onto the two mile descent back into N. Mills, civilization, and beer. 

It was a good day.

Saturday:

I woke to two stumps attached to the lower half of my body. My legs were shot and sore beyond belief. All that mucky, marshmallow gravel put a hurting on me and I need some mellow mountain vibes to set me right. Thankfully K.A.W was itching to get out in to the forest so we loaded food and beer in the packs and headed into the hills. After last weeks snow-death-hike with Mike P., K.A.W and I decided to tackle the other side of the road and head into Shining Rock Wilderness for some R&R. We started up Flat Laurel Creek and within five minutes of entering the forest my legs and my mind were already feeling stellar. We strolled easily along the trail talking and taking in the warm, early winter Pisgah sun.

Flat Laurel Creek is one of our favorite short backpacking routes. Being in the presence of so many good memories we started planning the coming season's adventures. Soon enough we made the Sam's Knob intersection and, of course needing to climb a 6,000ft mountain, we started up.

Once on the summit it was peace, picnic, and Pabst for a good long while.

We had plans that night to see some rad 80's music cover group called The Breakfast Club so we cut out before nightfall and headed back to Ashevilletown. We'll be back soon though...

mountain trails are there to be followed...

Sam's Knob

its hard to stay away from that place.

The concert was pretty nuts and I totally should have dressed for the occasion. Ralph Macchio, Olivia Newton John, Boy George, Niki Sixx, and all your favorite 80's icons were there in the crowd jamming to Foreigner, Eddie Money, Duran Duran, and all the other music that sucked during the 90's but is now popular again for some reason? Next time we go I think I will channel my inner John Hughes and gear up right...

maybe try this look...

 

or this...

Either way they played some good tunes and generally Rocked the Casbah.

Sunday:

Burton.

He came up to chill and get a little rad in the forest on mountain bikecycles. Neither one of us felt like we were ready to go for PMBAR coming in a few short weeks and we needed saddle time on the trail. The plan of attack was to head to Turkey Pen, ride up Squirrel Gap toward something and then ride something else and so on and so forth until we were tired. Hopefully in the neighborhood of 30 miles +/-.

Add caption

We were cruising up Squirrel when my derailleur started skipping and making a ruckus so we stopped just shy of Horse Cove. Upon further inspection It was discovered that my cassette was in imminent danger of going to shit due to the three middle cogs coming loose from one another. No bueno. We sat there a moment deciding what to do. Risk it or ride out. Well that decision was easy because I took one pedal stroke and the cogs sheered from the housing and crippled my cassette.

no bueno...

 At least I had the largest three cogs to ride in... So it was an easy spin back to Turkey Pen and then downtown AVL for Charlotte beers in Asheville and fried green/pimento cheese sandwiches.

radimus...

Good times with good people. 

A weekend well spent by my count. I feel much better prepared for King o' Pisgah after doing a long(ish) ride and finally getting back onto some legit Pisgah singletrack. We have longer days now and this means post work riding in the light of day like the good Lord intended...

Hope you lizard monsters all had a great weekend as well...

Party on,

Slog

slog

släɡ

informal

verb

1. work hard over a period of time.

"they were slogging away to meet a deadline"

         

2. hit forcefully and typically wildly, especially in boxing.

"the fighters were slogging away"

noun

1. a spell of difficult, tiring work or traveling.

"it would be a hard slog back to the camp"

...My personal favorite:

noun

2.  a slow hog.

     "somebody get that slog off of Rusty, it's eating his breeches."

In summation I feel like this is what the next 7 weeks are going to be for my bikecycling endeavors. King o' Pisgah is quickly approaching and I feel like I'm chasing my tail trying to prepare for it. Shitty weather, bikes in ill repair, and a general sense of "meh..." are all fighting against me to keep me from rad mountaincycle racing enjoyment. Im probably (definitely) making a bigger deal out of this than necessary but I cant help but feel like I need to be in full on Beast Mode come early May for PMBAR. The downside is I have a long way to go

The plus side is with the impending Savings of Daylight, I have new day lit post-work hours to "train" and 7 weeks worth of it. Time to put the ole' grease in the elbow, nose to the grindstone, pedal to some type of metal, and hammer something, something, and whatnot.........................................

From here on out its ride, eat, sleep, beer, eat, ride, pimento cheez, sleep, ride, repeat. I have no excuse to not be ready except my own apathy and lack of mental fortitude.  I cant begin to explain in human words how stoked I am that daylight Savings begins this weekend. This is going to be HUGE. I used to be able to rip out post-work rides in the daylight and this was great for motivation. As much fun as night riding can be it does not compare to daytime shredding. "Warmer" daylit post work hours are good for another reason too. As stupid as it sounds Im actually looking forward to getting on the roadbikecycle and cranking out some paved miles. Its great for mind numbing, monotonous exercising, which on paper sounds lame but for relaxation and forgetting the stress of the day its great... Pedal, Pedal, Pedal, Pedal.

As long as you aren't run over by a car.

Gripe-fest over... onto the weeks occurrences:

K.A.W and I have been stone cold chilling here at Greenview Manor, AVLUSA. Asheville and most of WNC is in the process of thawing out and slowly inching its way toward Spring. Wednesday Momma Nature decided to tease us all with a dose of 70° sunshine and light breezes. Of course you cant pass up this kind of weather while your in the throes of a deep dark winter. I telephoned E-Dub that I was going to ride a real live mountaincycle somewhere in the greater Asheville area and he was down. 

It had been at least two weeks since my last trail ride and I could.not.freaking.wait to get out there. Wet, mud, shit conditions aside, we hit a little secret spot down the road a ways expecting the worst. To our surprise the trail was in great shape, mostly because it is barely ridden and super rocky. God bless these mountains and their well drained soil... We climbed the road and I felt the two week absence from trail rides almost immediately. Legs and lungs burning, nose on the stem, and rocks and roots rolling underneath. It was awesome. Pretty soon we made the ridge and proceeded down the rock strewn trail, over logs, creeks, and boulders into the darkness. We only rode about 8 miles but it was a hard earned 8 miles and reminded me of why I ride and why I need this more often.

 

Thug Life.

E-Dub's camera  phone is 17 years old.

This weekend is looking pretty stellar weather wise and of course I'm getting out in it. Daylight savings is kicking in and its starting to look better all the time.

I hope youn'z have a great weekend and do your best to get rad somewhere. Stay tuned for the recap coming yall's way next week...

Party On.

"Smokey and the Bandit" is the greatest movie ever.

Fact.

Smokey and the Bandit is the greatest movie of all time. This my friends is an unquestionable truth. Very similar to gravity, sunrises, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. It is ageless, timeless, and will be there forever after you and I are long gone....

This has nothing to do with today's post.




Thursday:

If you recall it snowed, depending on your locale, last Wednesday night. AVLUSA received a healthy five inches or so and K.A.W was called out from work due to Nordic conditions. But yours truly wasn't so lucky. Word came in from work that they would be open and so I set off through the frozen wasteland of Asheville, NC. Only a few of us hearty folks were there, mostly thanks to four-wheel drive.. I was cool with having to work because that night K.A.W and I had plans to attend some psychedelic bluegrass jam/hippie music courtesy of "The Larry Keel Experience w/ Dangermuffin" at the Asheville Music Hall. The prospect of having to go in on Friday and miss the show seemed dismal. As Hank Jr. spoke so eloquently "I got a shotgun, rifle, and a four-wheel drive and a country boy can survive" and if it weren't for that 4x4 I wouldn't have made it. Good for it too because the show was awesome and Larry and Dangermuffin rocked the house.

If you not a fan of "The Larry Keel Experience" I suggest you get right and tune in.

Friday:

K.A.W went in late and I was left flying solo. Too cold to ride and too cold to fish I cleaned up a bit and waited for her to come home from work. K.A.W was due for some snowventures, and so was I since having to work Thursday. We loaded up some packs and took off for a little secret spot right down the way from Greenview Manor. Once in the forest I suggested that we follow some recently roughed in trail and see where the green tape led us. We climbed an old logging cut and slowly gained the ridge. We followed the flagging for quite a while not really sure where it led us,

After being a little "confused" for a bit we spit out of the forest and onto a forest road back to the truck. Exploring some new forest is always and interesting experience. Doing it in 30° snow is a whole other trip. I'm learning quickly that the best way to start the weekend is getting outside, no doubt.

Saturday:

Up early to attend the North Buncombe Middle School Chilly Challenge 8k and Chili Cookoff. K.A.W had signed up to race with a team from her gym, LT's Primal Fitness. I tagged along to cheer her on and to hopefully score some free chili. When we got to the race a we discovered a member of her team couldn't make it and it was suggested that I run in his stead. Free chili was promised so of course I was in. This was actually pretty cool since I could help pace with K.A.W and also since getting back on my trail running game, I was interested to see how I stacked up against some real live runners. The course was fairly flat and mostly on pavement. My hips and knees didn't like that so I kept to the shoulder of the course to run in the dirt and grass most of the way. K,A,W was crushing it and kept a solid pace through the the entire course passing folks smoothly and working her way up the pack.

not thrilled at having her picture taken...

runners, how I despise them...

With the last mile left all uphill we quickened the pace and passed a few more folks that were slowing down. Once through the finish line it was to the snack table for me and free chili. At the chili judging they announced winners and K.A.W was surprised to see that she had won second place in her age group. She scored some free socks and a new PR on her 8k time. Beast mode... Super proud of her.

Later that afternoon we were sitting around Greenview when we got a text from Durhamite, mountain biker, and recent shredder of Farlow Gap, Mike P. He was in town and wanted to go on a mountain adventure. Loaded the packs once again, beered up, and we all headed up to Middle Prong Wilderness in search some good mountain vibes.

Finding a place to park proved difficult.

Once there we headed down the MST toward a bald I knew of a ways off. Middle Prong is fairly remote and it was no surprise that we were the first to venture down that section since the snows earlier in the week, Post holing through ten to twelve inches of snow is no easy thing to do. Mike P had not come equipped for this level of adventure but he followed along stoked to be outside. After what seemed like forever we made it the bald within five minutes of sunset. I don't know how that timing worked out... Just seemed like it was meant to be. We were rewarded for our efforts by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever been fortunate enough to see.... Words cant describe.

After a bite to eat and soaking in of the mountain vibes we headed back to the car. It was getting really dark so we turned on the headlamps and hiked the 4 miles back to the car by headlamp.

Hiking at night in the wilderness is always strange but doing it in deep snow, following our own footprints back to the car, made it extra surreal.Thankfully Mike P had fun because that was quite a bold "quick hike" for one to do so late in the day. But he's always up for some radness in the mountains and surely will be back soon.

 Sunday:

Not much going on. Got a call from E-Dub about a possible mountaincycle ride in the N. Mills and headed over. I didn't want to make the same mistake as last time I tried to ride after a storm. I took my fishing gear just in case. After some confusion on where to meet I found E. and weighed our options. From the looks of FR 1206 it looked bleak.

mudfest 2015

He had spoken with some hikers  who said that Trace Ridge was still under many inches of ice and snow and so we decided to bail. Neither one of us wanted to slog it up the trail just to be plowing through ice on the way down. E headed to work and I headed to fish. Not much was biting on the river and after an hour and a half I headed home. Still not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning.

On the way home I got a text from Swannanoa Luke who need assistance with some bike work. I got home changed and rode the gnarcrossgravel bike over to Luke's house to assist in some tubeless tire set up on his mountaincycle. We had a beer, setup his tires, and discussed future radventures out in Pisgah and beyond. Like me, Luke is beyond ready for the warmer days off Spring. I haven't been on a proper bikecycle ride in what seems like an eternity and I fear that I will soon go mad. I hoped that running would fix my longing to ride a bike but it seems that it doesn't cut both mentally and on the physical side. The ten mile round trip to Luke's house convinced me that I need to get on the bikecycle soon and often. Just a few short months to race season and I feel behind the eight ball.


Well.

That was the way it went down folks. Hope ya'lls weekend was excellent and filled with great memories. Just a few short days until the next one...

Have a great week.

Party on.