Ride Poacher

In an effort to have more fun on the bike, I'm trying to make sure I ride with other people more often.  I usually end up riding alone most of the time, but when I heard that the little lady was heading out for a group ride I decided to invite myself along.  The ride was at the Whitewater Center, so I figured I'd just roll over there while everyone else drove their vehicles.

If I take the road (and not the backcountry route I did da udda day) it's only about three miles and I can do it under twenty minutes.  The ride started at 6:00 p.m. and I made it out there with time to spare.

I had forgotten to factor in one thing though.  I needed to be in the top parking lot by six, which was still another two miles from the entrance of the park.  I hauled ass, eventually rolling in at a fashionably late 6:01 p.m.  The group had formed.

It was a ride held by our local women's club, the Dirt Divas and they generally let the fellas tag along so we can help as needed.  And on a side note, I've been riding with them for years so I knew they wouldn't mind me tagging along.  They were splitting up into different groups based on ability, etc., and I figured on hopping into whichever one would have me.  I had a few minutes (I thought) so I walked over to refill my water bottle.  When I came back, all the groups were gone.

And I didn't have a clue where they went.

I took off at a feverish pace into the main trail hoping to catch up with someone.  I rode for a bit and didn't see anyone I knew.  Shit.  Riding alone again.  I popped out of the trail by the man made river and decided to try again.  I cut across the parking lot and sprinted over to the lake loop, figuring that the beginner group would be there (and that would be the group I could assist the best.)

What seemed like forever later, I finally caught up to a group.  They were riding at a comfortable pace and talking about which features they needed to work on.  We finished that lap and I was volunteered to head back out ahead of the group to help with spotting on some of the trail features.

I was riding most of the time though, so this is the only "trail" picture I got.

I helped provide spotting services while the ladies tackled the features to build up their confidence.  They didn't really need me though, because they were tearing up the trail forwards and backwards.

They were having fun and so was I.  I'm grateful that the ladies still let me hang around to help, because being a part of this is pretty cool.  They build each other up and are fully supportive, which is the total opposite of how guys ride when they get together.  I'm just happy to help.

When the ride was over, some folks headed over to the restaurant to grab a few beers.  I didn't want to wear out my welcome so we decided to head home.  And also because I had beer at the house.

 Thanks to Ed for the Lowcountry brew from Two Blokes.

And thanks to the ladies to letting me poach their ride without feeling like "that creepy dude."

Part Two For No Particular Reason

Continued from yesterday.  Duh.

We were just sitting there drinking beer and watching this girl hang out on the zipline.  It seemed like forever.  I wasn't worried because we had plenty of beer, but I reckon that she was concerned.  A while later, some guy (that works there presumably) rolled out on the line to attempt a daring rescue.

He pulled her back in and it was all over.  Not very dramatic I must admit, but it made for good entertainment.  We decided that we should head out, so after the beer was consumed we rolled out on our bikes to hit one last trail on our way out.  I was joking about how Lunchbox always gets a flat when we ride mountain bikes and that we finally made it through a ride without that happening.  I was happy, but I know he was.  We exited the park and hit the road home.

About a mile from the house, we hit a downhill and I was flying.  I looked over my shoulder for a second, and I noticed that my two companions were falling way behind.  I turned around to head back, and when I got to them I saw this:

Less than two miles from home, on pavement, and the man-child got another flat tire.  He has such bad luck.  Luckily Ed had a tube so we were on our way pretty quickly.  Once we got back into the neighborhoods, Lunchbox had apparently forgotten about his flat tire.  

He was back to having fun again.

Despite the small issue, it was a great adventure.  I said it before, but I'm happy to be in a new place that lets me ride to some fun trails pretty easily.  We decided that some Mexican food was in order at this point, so we cleaned up and headed down the road to eat.

The little lady decided to join us at this point too.

The food was good, but the highlight has to be when Ed shouted out, "Found him!"  Unsure what he was talking about, I took a picture to see who he he'd spotted.

Have no idea who this is?  Mebbe Lunchbox's clever edit will give you a big hint:

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

Mountain biking, beer, a daring rescue, and Waldo.

Such a rad day.

Much Adventure And Happiness

To make great bike ride.  (Thanks to Mike L. for that.)

I mentioned yesterday that it was a nice day on Sunday.  Hell, it was a nice weekend.  It would have been the perfect time to head for the hills, but I had some things to do here locally and couldn't be away that long.  I needed some singletrack though because it's been way too long.  I've been on a few adventures from the house on several different bikes, but singletrack has been almost nonexistent.

That's when I decided to finally get off of my ass and execute a plan I made back when we first moved into the new house.  Mucho Mexican foodz and many beerz the night before gave me the go ahead, so I woke up early in the morning to see how easy it would be to ride to the Whitewater Center.  The map said it would only be three miles of road riding, so I took off hoping that it would be somewhat enjoyable (the trip over there I mean.)  This was the first time that I'd started a ride so early in a long, long time.

I had to pass through two neighborhoods on the way out of mine, and then it was on to the open road (and a fairly busy one I might add.)  Spinning like crazy on a single speed mountain bike isn't the best way to move swiftly down the road, but it wasn't too bad.  One small road climb, a left, and another left put me pretty close to my destination.  But then I got held up.

I waited for a bit while the train rolled by ever so slowly.  Eventually it passed, and a screaming road downhill put me within eyesight of the exit for the Carolina Thread Trail section out at the WWC.  It would be dirt riding from here on out.

Oh, how I missed you, singletrack.  That trail was fast and flowy, and I was enjoying the shit out of a nice day in the dirt.  Once I reached the end of that trail, I ended up on the Figure 8 Trail and its multitude of bridges.

Once I reached the end of that trail, I came up on a running race.  I was warned by the little lady that it was going on out there, so I just sat back and waited for the runners to uh, go running by.

Then it was more trails, until I eventually popped out at the man-made river.

While I was out in the open, I chatted with my pal Leaf Life about my ride over there and where I lived.  He gave me a few suggestions to try for the next trip over there that may or may not reduce the amount of pavement I have to ride.  I can't wait to try it.

Anyway, A little more trail riding happened and then I rolled up to the parking lot to make a restroom pit stop before I returned home.  I ended up running into tons of my local bike friends, and they were all just getting started on their rides.  I said goodbye and head out a different way than I came in.

That little path goes along side the main road going into the park, and although it was wide as shit, it was hella fun.  Eventually I popped out to the entrance.

It was here that I pondered taking a different route home.  I headed the opposite way down the road I came in, and found myself in a very good place.

Donuts are excellent ride fuel.  It's a scientific fact.

I headed north from the donut trailer, and after a small amount of riding on the road I found another path.

This wasn't part of the suggestions I received earlier, so it was a nice surprise.  Especially when it headed into the woods.

Which woods?  I have no freaking idea.  It was fun though, and after a short while I popped out in front of a neighborhood that leads to mine.  

The trip there took twenty minutes (including waiting for the train.)  It was exactly three miles from my garage to the end of the Thread Trail.  The trip home took about twenty five minutes, which included the donut stop.  It was about three and a half miles.  I felt relatively safe on the road portions of my ride, and more importantly, it didn't wear me out.  The fact that I was able to hop on my bike and ride to some of the best trails here in Charlotte in a short amount of time was so awesome.  I figured that the travel time was about the same amount it would've taken me to load my bike on the truck, drive to the WWC, and get ready to ride.  

You can't beat that with a wet noodle.

I am so happy.  In fact, soon I will have to invite some people over so we can do a group ride from the house over there, and then return for beerz and foodz. 

I love this new house.

Road Alone

Last week I had a grand idea.  I knew that most of the local trails would be closed, and with some travel coming up the next few weeks I didn’t feel like driving out of town.  Instead of riding inside like I’ve been the last several Saturdays, I decided that a long-ish outdoor road ride was in order. 

The plan:  Ride from my house on the north east side of town to the Whitewater Center (on the total opposite side of town.)

It sounded really far at first, but when I started looking at a map I realized that it would only be a little over twenty miles one way.  I looked at The Google, loosely planned a route, and scribbled some stuff down on a makeshift cue sheet.  I was ready.

The next morning I took off.  It was a little cold, but the forecast called for a high near seventy degrees.  A light DeFeet base layer, arm warmers, and knee warmers were sufficient, even though I was a little chilly.  My route took me out of my neighborhood and straight to TomTom’s house, where I would hit the local greenway for a small section. 

After that I had to wind around through several neighborhoods.  This is where the cue sheet came in handy.  Some turns were made after a few hundred feet; others after a half mile or so.  It was a little confusing but nice because it kept me off of some busy roads.  Eventually though, I had to mix it up with traffic.  I was a little worried but there were plenty of bike lanes.  Too bad they were full of gravel and other assorted debris.

That section was the longest on one particular road, and the worst part was that the bike lane ended (pushing me right into busy traffic.)  About a mile without a bike line lasted what seemed like forever, but eventually I ended up on some lightly traveled country roads.  It was like that until I reached Paw Creek.

Paw Creek is also known as the Tank Farm, where all the area’s gasoline is stored while it waits for tanker trucks to pickup and deliver to gas stations.

Since it was a Saturday the traffic is that industrialized area was pretty light.  It remained that way until I got close to my destination too…

 I still had a mile and a half or so until I reached the actual whitewater park, and that road was also lightly traveled since the trails were closed.  I’m glad they were, since I obviously brought the wrong bike for trail riding.

After a small potty break and a lap around the man-made river, I started to head back towards home base.  The highlight of my day was when a car pulled out ahead of me with balloons hanging out of it.  They were driving really slow as no not lose any, which meant that I would eventually start to gain on them.  Once I got close, they pulled over.  The passenger hopped out and proceeded to stuff the balloons into the back seat.

It was funny as hell, especially when they drove off again in a car filled to the brim with party favors.

I pretty much took the same route back.  I took a few photos of stuff I missed the first time though.

The busiest road I had to cross on the way back had a bike lane leading into it.  The turn arrow (in the bike lane) suggested to me that I would be spit out onto that busy road which I knew for sure didn’t have a bike lane.

I was wrong though, because as soon as I crossed the intersection, the arrows directed me towards a nice little bike path.

The rest of the ride was nice too, and I even stopped to get another picture.  This time is was sorta scenic.

 

Once I got back home, I’d tallied 43 miles for the day.  Not bad, and I sure as hell didn’t feel drained.  It was really fun, and other than stopping at my destination and to take some photos I kept a pretty speedy pace.  I really enjoyed being out on the road on such a beautiful day, even if it was on skinny tires.  I was alone, on a bike, and had a ton of fun.

Just the way I like it.

The Easy Way Out

After spending the day in the cold air at the Whitewater Center on Saturday, I started feeling kinda shitty that evening.  I woke up Sunday feeling even worse.  I had the chills and body aches, but with no other outward symptoms I figured I would be fine.  Maybe I pushed myself too hard “training”, because it sure as hell wasn’t due to the fact that I had too much beer. 

Some people did though:

Yeah, we “partied” out there.  And by “partied” I mean heckled and drank beer.  We’re pretty good at that.

And we got a few good photos for a new Facebook page out there (that I don’t want to mention because I’m nice sometimes.)

I feel a little better now, but still kinda shitty.  With another TC session this morning, it’s all I can do to create a decent blog post (that’s most days.)  So, here are some more rad photos:

And quite possibly the raddest was of Bill The Thrill:

And presented to you in gif form:

Big shout out to Eastwood for those awesome photos.

What an fun day.  

I’m tired.  See y’all tomorrow perhaps.

A Nice Day Out

There’s no need to talk about all the cyclocross shit going on out in Austin.  I don’t care.  Besides, plenty of other people are talking about it.  I’ll talk about what I’m good at…me.

Saturday started off pretty good.  It was freezing here, so I ended up at TotalCyclist early in the morning just so I would get in a good ride.

I worked my ass off in that class. While I am indeed “training” (without any specific goal) I’m just trying to push it as hard as I can while I’m in there.  I paid dearly; because once the class was over I was worthless.  I stretched for a while, took a shower, and took my sweet time heading over to the Whitewater Park to watch some folks race in the drained man-made river.

There are lots of photos out there on The Internets, and I took some too:

Oh look, it’s Big n Buttery!

And the Faster Mustache guys:

And gulp, and skinsuit?

 And, in contrast to the above photo, the coolest aero helmet ever:

There’s some really cool stuff I got from Eastwood, but I’ve put up too much today.

Let’s pick this back up tomorrow.