Mother's Day!

It was mother's day so called up my mama and wished her a beautiful day then off to spend the day with mother nature. Met up at Tavis' house that he is watching, this huge monstrosity that is a geothermal monolithic dome, that sits right below the Blue Ridge Parkway. Absolutely amazing and absurd at the same time. He and Jane cooked us up a killer breakfast before we headed to ridgecrest to meet up with the rest of the posse for a ride on heartbreak ridge.
Si's van stuffed full of bikes, with lawn chairs for our sitting pleasure. Dirtbag mountain bikers are a different breed and I love it!
The posse at one of many overlooks, this one on the way up.
beautiful western nc singletrack
Bruce rolling through the rhododendrons. I gave a him head start after this section, was he able to hold me of on the descent? No, but he gave it a valiant effort.
So glad to be riding in these mountains for two weeks and this day turned out to be the only rain free day of it. Beautiful day with amazing people.
Rolling along!

Full Moon Ride

John, Tony and Jane before John's wedding.
John and Ann met on bikes so it is a very big part of their new life together. It was held at deerfields which is a 900+ acre homestead nestled up to the Pisgah National forest.
They definitely compliment each other well.
We then met up for a full moon night ride. Rounded up a few who were up to to wet & moisty night ride. Shanna, Gabe, Jane, Tony, Si and Tavis came out to play.
Gabe does ride bikes.
Rolling along climbing north boundary.

All sprawled out in the parking lot after a fun bike ride in the woods. We actually even got to see the moon for a minute or two.

Lazy Day!

Rolling around west Asheville last night with Gabe was pretty chill. We ran into these two and started a conversation. Mandy and Ryan are touring the US., started in San Fransisco and headed east then going back via the northern route. All about sustainable living and creating a documentary on it. Interesting folks for sure.
Gabe actually rides bikes, sometimes
Rainy day and John canceled his pre-wedding ride so we went bowling. Jane, Tavis, Tony and I. And yes, we do suck! You know if the high score is 100 it's a bit ridiculous, but good times for sure. It was nice having a casual day, then pedaled around town with Gabe for a while in the evening after throwing a round of disc golf. Full moon ride tonight, it's gonna be sweet.

Another Day in Pisgah!!!

Here's Jane not wanting to be beside of me, and yes that is her jersey I am wearing. And as a matter of fact all of my clothes are still wet from yesterdays ride. Pleasant, huh?

So, yesterday's ride got cut a little short, but whatever. It was good to go spend a day with Marshall, just pedaling our bikes. It's not often there is another guy on a carbon ss, but that's how we roll.
On to today, Jane picked me up and we headed over to the campsite from the night before so I could take down Marshall's shelter and pack up my hammock and rainfly. Then it was off to the ranger district for some sweet and techie riding. Jane decided it was a day for the geared bike and away we pedaled. I didn't have a shirt so had to borrow a jersey from Jane. If you would have seen me, you would think that I would be fast or something. Got in around a 2hr pedal, that had a few little techie climbs with some nice and fun descents. Spent a fair share of time snapping some pics while generally just enjoying being in the woods.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, it would have been perfect for the ride that was planned yesterday, but shit happens.
This trail on top of black mtn was ridiculously green and absolutely beautiful.
It's all of these hidden little sections of trail that I miss the most about riding in the east. It's always wet and rooty with water trickling off of everything.

After the ride, we had to stop and get some ice cream which is a great way to finish a ride. Put a new hollywood rack together and installed it on Jane's rig then got dropped off at Gabe's house where Big Nate and Gab were rocking the grill with hot wings, steaks, corn, squash, zucchini and potatoes. Followed that up by hitting the brew & view for a world bicycle relief fund raiser that was showing the video, seasons. Have to say it was a good day!

This trip has made me realize that when I do the Colorado Trail this summer that I am not going to do it at the time of the race. I would rather do it in a fast but casual pace in the 7ish day range. 500 plus miles of singletrack in 7 days is still a good pace, but maybe I can at least enjoy the sights along the way.

Going to go ride with John Greene and Anne tomorrow for their pre-wedding ride. Should be a good time. peace

Throw Down with Marshall

Threw down an 8 plus hr ride yesterday with Marshall. Had planned on a 100 mile single speed mtb ride, but the weather was against us. Rained for most of the day , which turned into 8hrs of being wet. We ate really well, kind of turned into a ride where we ate lots of food.
The rain started and didn't stop. We still rolled on for quite a while. Solid bicycle riding was had by both participants, the water was just a good motivation killer.
Sitting in the rain just enjoying the water.

The campsite was rad. It was nice and dry the first night but the second night was very damp. Luckily, Adam came to hang out and rescued us. We kicked it in the rain for a while before we bitched out and headed back to Adam's house. Spent the night there and slept like a baby. Woke up the next a.m when Jane came to pick me up. I'll talk about that ride in a bit. peace.

Heartbreak, baby!

Hit up Heart Break today with miss Jane. The ride up Old Toll is less than smoothe, but is a nice and steady rock field. It kind of resembles a dried up creek bed. So beautiful and lush. 4ish hour pedal. Small little rain storm right before the top. We had a nice little picnic right where the descent began.
The view while descending was absolutely gorgeous and the rhododendrons were in bloom, pinks, white and light pinks. The fragrances were absolutely heavenly. Stopped and took a lot of pictures but still carried a nice little pace.
Jane climbing through the rhododendrons
and me doing the same. What an amazingly beautiful day and glad I got to share it with Jane.

The greenery is so stellar. Then with the rain hanging on the leaves, oh my. Can't wait to go spend some more time in the woods. Taking it easy tomorrow and going for a hundo-ish with Marshall on wed. Camp tomorrow night and wed. night. It's gonna be sik! peace

sunday, sunday, sunday!!!!!!

Tony on the major jake fixie cheating on the descent! One day he may buy an actuall mtb, maybe.

Tavis blazing through the river crossing on lower trace
Happy Tony, ride bikes!
Tavis and Jane, just rideing along.

Absolutely beautiful day! Got a 5ish hour ride in today. Tony, Jane, Tavis and I got a sweet and damp ride in today. I just wanted a quick but mellow pace after yesterdays 8+ hr ride. Met at BC rode a few trails, then met up with Auto on lower sidehill, then proceeded up to the parkway. Tony turned around here after we had an impromptu track stand contest followed by who can pick that smashed bottle off of the ground while riding your bicycle with out dabbing. Not sure who one but I'm pretty sure it was me. Dropped 5000 to spencer gap and then descended trace ridge. I remember it being fun but not that fun. It felt soo good to be able to completely let it go and feel the flow of some killer singletrack. Saw the trail crew for fire control and then rolled on down to the camp ground. Hit 5000 back up to the parkway then just followed the gravel road back to BC and the car. Tavis killed it on the climbs, he dropped me a few times and just kept on roling and of course Jane was Jane and just kept the pedals turning. Back to Gabe's where we had a cookout with some friends whom I haven't seen in several years. Nice chill evening with some amazingly cool people. Good times. Heart Break in the am, it's gonna be sweet!