Bonding

Over the weekend it was just me and the boy.  The little lady took off to Buffalo to hang out with her family so that left Lunchbox and I on our own.  Like we usually do when we have the time (he’s a busy teenager these days), we made plans to hang out somewhere.  We decided on a trip to the (almost) hills to ride.  He’d heard me talking about Lake James State Park and how fun it was so he wanted to go.  We loaded up our bikes in the morning and rolled out.

When we got there it was already really hot.  We changed our clothes and hit the trail and it felt like a sauna.  I’ve been in swamps that didn’t feel that muggy.  Still, it was fun.

Lunchbox enjoyed it too. 

The ride was awesome but since we were so hot when we finished we sat in the shade for a while to cool off.  When I asked Lunchbox what else he wanted to do he said “Mountains.”  I understood, so we drove over to Mount Mitchell State Park.  Even though at 6,684 feet it’s the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, you can drive almost all the way to the top.  A short hike up a paved path later, you’re at the summit.  We loved the views.

Recovered from our ride, we decided a hike was in order.  We took off on a trail that the touristy type folks were shying away from for some reason.  

Some of the rocks and junk were pretty cool, and some of it reminded me of the Forest Moon of Endor.

We weren’t done sightseeing though.  Since we originally hail from flat as hell Florida, we decided to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while to check out some more incredible views.

It was an awesome day of father and son time.  It was the kid’s 18^th birthday too, and he made it memorable for both of us.

Damn I love living in North Carolina.

Blue Ridge Roadies

Saturday, I took Little Miss Sunshine and we headed to the mountains. Instead of taking our mountain bikes, we decided some roadie action was in order. While I don’t really care much for the road bike, it can be fun when there is beautiful scenery. The plan was to ride from Moses Cone Memorial Park to Linville Falls. You might remember that I did this same ride last year with the Dirty Party Cycle and Mr. Shepherd, but this would be Little Miss Sunshine’s first crack at it.



We got there around lunchtime, ready to ride. I warned her that there would be lots of climbing at first, but I also told her we could stop whenever we wanted. It wasn’t a time trial or anything, and we could take all day if we needed to. We headed south on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the little lady was excited.



We rode a small downhill section for a bit, and found a little reservoir that turned out to be a prime picture-taking spot. Too bad I stood there looking like an asshole, instead of enjoying the view.



After that little break, we climbed. According to my little GPS app on my phone, it was around two and a half miles of climbing, with almost 1000 feet of elevation gain. It was tough, but Little Miss Sunshine got through it.



We would occasionally stop at some of the overlooks, and ask random people to take our photo.



Our next goal was Grandfather Mountain, which we could see in the distance.



After a little more climbing, it was right there in plain view.



We stopped again for another picture taking opportunity, and got a good look at the Linn Cove Viaduct. Little Miss Sunshine took a seat as we talked about the rest of our ride.



Just as I was trying to setup the camera on the wall to take our photo (using the timer function), a couple of roadies heading the other way stopped and offered to take our photo.



Next up was the viaduct, which is basically a bridge on the side of Grandfather Mountain. The view are incredible, so we made sure to get lots of photos.





After crossing the viaduct, it was all downhill. I looked down and saw that I was going 44 miles per hour, and I tried my best to double that speed so I could catch Doc Brown and get back to 1985. That didn’t happen, we we did find another overlook with a view of the mountain again.



We didn’t have very far to go, but there was still neat stuff to see. Little Miss Sunshine grabbed the camera and got a photo of me going under a cool little bridge.



It wasn’t long before we took a turn off of the Parkway and headed towards the Linville Falls Visitor Center. With only a little more than a mile to go, we were almost done.



Little Miss Sunshine wasn’t too tired, and she was still enjoying the ride (and being in the mountains.)



Road riding is usually a pain for me, and I hardly enjoy it. However, when you get to ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains and see such beautiful sights, it kinda makes up for the monotony of riding on skinny tires. You may be like me and not really care for road riding, but this ride is worth it. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.

Oh yeah, we had some beer afterwards.



Of course we did.

Monday Fail

Thanks to Richard from Backcountry Research for the photo.


Yep, I failed. I don’t really have time for a full post today, due to some obligations from my real job. Sometimes I have things prepared for a day like this, but this time I do not. It looks like I’ll have to get back into the swing of things tomorrow. Maybe I just missed the signs, but I knew it was gonna be one of these days. Hell, I saw this sign on the way to work this morning:





I live about two hours from the Blue Ridge Parkway, so either I took the long way this morning, or I was lost.



Okay, enough with trying to squeeze a gem out of today's lump of shit. I’ll be back tomorrow with some stuff that may or may not be slightly more interesting. I know, I know, you’re a little skeptical. Just wait right here until tomorrow and I promise that things will get better.

Tour de Blue Ridge

The final day of the B-43 Cycling Vacation Extravaganza saw us in the mountains again, but this time we brought along our road bikes. Since Mr. Shepherd, The Dirty Party Cycle, and I all dabble in roadie action from time to time, we decided that this would be a good way to cap off the week. We would ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The plan was to take two vehicles, and stage one at each end of our ride. First, we stopped at the Linville Falls Visitor Center to drop off the Dirty Party Truck.



We loaded up the DPC’s road bike into my truck, and headed north to Moses Cone Memorial Park, some twenty five miles away. This would be the first time any of us have ridden on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so it was interesting to drive the route first. A short while later, we arrived at our destination and got ready. We would have plenty of time later to take in the sights at the Moses Cone house, but here is a preview:



After Mr. Shepherd sparked up a conversation with someone at the park, he convinced him to take the ever-important “before” picture.



We hopped on our road bikes, and uh, hit the road. We headed south towards Linville, and prepared for a nice ride. Just in case we weren’t sure which way was South, there was a sign to help us.



The ride started with a little downhill action, but it quickly turned to climbing. It was 8.5 miles of climbing, to be exact. It wasn’t horrible by any means, but we were still working out the kinks in our legs after all the riding we did during the days prior. Every once in a while, I would shoot up ahead to get some photos, since I needed some pics to document the ride.



I stopped every once in a while if I saw something of interest, which led to more photos.



After about 10 miles, we came upon the Linn Cove Viaduct (on the side of Grandfather Mountain), which is somewhat of an engineering marvel.



I’ve seen this plenty of times in a vehicle, but the view from a bike saddle was way more impressive. We stopped to take it all in. Since this was Mr. Shepherd’s first trip on the Parkway, we stopped to check out the surroundings.





I setup the camera on the side of a wall and set the timer (and hoped like hell a swift wind wouldn’t throw my camera down into the valley below), so we could get another group shot (with Grandfather Mountain in the background no less.)



We took of on our ride again, but I kept the camera out. Since traffic was pretty light (aside from the numerous Hog Packs that actually knew how to share the road), I was able to snap so photos while I traversed the viaduct.





After we crossed the viaduct, the really fun downhill started. I reached speeds of 43 miles per hour (figures), and it was fun as hell. In fact, most of the rest of our trip was downhill, aside from a few short climbs. I did stop again at a viewing area to get one last look of Grandfather Mountain.



After the downhill/short climby sections, it was kind of flat. We entered into the Pisgah National Forest, but our ride would end way before we traversed it all.



With only a few miles to go, we were feeling good. I kept the camera out and got a few more shots.







We were almost there, and a conveniently placed sign told us so:



After a short, fun-filled, twenty-five mile ride, we had arrived back at the Linville Falls Visitor Center. We left a cooler there with drinks and food, so we chowed down. The best part of the day had to be this:



That watermelon was so good. While we were tear-assing through it, the same guy we talked to at the beginning of our ride walked up and chatted with us again. He offered to take the obligatory “after” shot, for which we were greatly appreciative.



We opted to end our ride there, after only twenty five miles. We had originally considered riding back to Moses Cone, but the weather had different plans.



We packed up ourselves and our bikes in the Dirty Party Truck, and headed back to Moses Cone. We were satisfied that we rode what we did, especially with the chance of the skies dropping a shit storm on us. That would have been just miserable, especially if shit really did fall from the sky. Oh yeah, no flat tires this time either. We ended the day by having some good food, and drinking beer from mason jars (hey, we’re in the South.) Vacation over, but I have another one coming up in a few days. Isn’t that just grand?