Fun Friday

I know, I have more of our vacation story to tell.  Who gives a shit.  This blog isn't in real time, you know.  And more importantly, it's Friday.

My easy day.

So yeah, since it's Friday, make sure you go out and have some fun.  Weekend fun.

Real fun.

See y'all next week and we'll continue whatever the hell I was getting into.

Fun Friday

Hell yeah, it's Friday.  I've had a good week, and of course I'll talk about later.  I've been busy for sure.

Anyway, have y'all been watching the Olympics?  It's been entertaining to say the least.

Awesome.

I have moar things to do so I'm gonna get on it.  I'll see y'all next week.  Wait right here until I return.

I'll be watching...

Creeping Along

After a long (short) week, the little lady and I were looking to have a nice day on the bikes.  We briefly considered DuPont again, but I didn't want to get burned out on one of our favorite places to ride.  We kept trying to come up with something within a three hour driving radius and couldn't figure out anything that we hadn't done before.  Until I had a strange idea...

"Let's go to the Virginia Creeper Trail!" I exclaimed.

Little Miss Sunshine had been there before, but for some reason I never wanted to go.  I figured it would be silly, with it's slow, steady downhill gravel path of boredom (or so I thought.)  We decided to do it anyway, since we're pretty good at having fun no matter what we do.  So, I cut myself off from beer drinking early Friday night so we could head out early Saturday morning.

After a trip from here to Boone, it was back roads across the mountains and through several meth towns in Tennessee to get us into the town of Damascus, VA.  Our first stop was to inquire about a shuttle to the top, because I hear that's the way to do it.

There are tons of these shuttles all around town.  We picked the first one we saw.

A little while later, they started loading up bikes.  One of the guys looked at our bikes and said, "You guys must be pretty serious cyclists."

I guess our bikes were nice compared to what they normally see up there.

After they filled up the trailer, we climbed in the van with a bunch of other folks for the thirty minute ride to the top.  Windy roads nearly made me sick (I'm not used to being a passenger), but before we knew it we were at Whitetop Station.

The view up there was pretty cool, which would be a recurring theme for the day.

The "trail" was wide, but not as wide-open as I thought it would be.  We were ready to roll, and I was ready to have fun. So was the little lady.

And moments later we started flying downhill, much faster than I thought we would.

But we stopped often to take photos and take in the views all around us.

And we also stopped at the little former train stations along the way.

The route was mostly shaded and followed a creek/river for most of the way.  Every once in a while we would stop to check it out.

And I'm glad we did...

There were lots of bridges, which had been rebuilt since their days of carrying trains across.

And we even crossed the Appalachian Trail a couple of times.

No bikes allowed, but every once in a while I would find some singletrack to ride.

But mostly we stopped to look at pretty stuff.

Every so often, the trail would open up to a little town, and there was always a place to buy stuff/use the bathroom/hang out.  It was obvious as we approached one of these establishments.

And we always stopped, because it was the thing to do.

At this point, we weren't even quite halfway.  It didn't matter, because I was having a blast.  My new motto these days is "Ride bikes, look at pretty shit, drink beer, and have fun."  We were well on our way there.  With more to go on our adventure, I eagerly awaited what was up ahead.  Riding downhill through the beautiful Virginia countryside, I was enjoying our day a lot more than I thought I would.

And I was barely pedaling too.  I could get used to this.

More tomorrow...

Bikes, Beer, and Bluegrass

Although my trip to Kentucky was for a family reunion, I brought a bike “just in case.”  If anything, I figured I’d just ride it around town or something like that.  However, after a few searches on The Internets I found that there was a trail nearby (and on the way back home) that I could ride and not spend all day doing so. 

Just a few miles south in Lexington, I rolled up to Veterans Park.

With only around five miles of trail, I knew it would be a decent ride and I would be able to have fun.  Honestly I didn’t care though, since all I wanted to do was pedal in the dirt.  I found a bluegrass station on my phone and hit the trail.

The trail was pretty fast and smooth with very little climbing (but somehow with a lot of downhills.)  Since it was so short, I stopped often to take photos. 

And I even used the timer on my camera to get an “action shot.”

It was pretty fun.  But with little to no roots I was starting to get bored.  Luckily, I quickly realized that I’d been riding the “easiest” section and that there was another part with moar difficulty.

This part had lots of rocks.

And some features…

There were still lots of smooth sections though, but it was really fun this time around.

The way it opened up sometimes sorta reminded me of FATS down in South Carolina.

That was a good thing as it breaks up the monotony.  Just like the rocks.

In all, it was a good ride.  The trail was fun, and prefect for someone like me just passing through.  It’s pretty easy to get around and not get lost, as long as you study the map at the beginning.  There were a lot of rules on it though.

Rules that would not keep me from having a post ride beer, however.

I’m so glad I got away for the weekend.  Family, bikes, beer, and lots of scenery.  I just might start feeling “normal” again if I keep this up.

Easy Day

I was gonna share some post-race thoughts and all that today, but I’ll save it for another time.  It will be soon, because I have something else to share that’s sorta related.  So instead, I’ll bore you to death with tales of what kind of race prep I did.

Since Sunday was sure to take up my whole day, the little lady wanted an “us” day.  She had it all planned out and all I had to do was drive us there.  I was down, so we left the house and headed up to Lazy5 Ranch up in Mooresville to check out the animals.  This isn’t your normal zoo or anything like that.

You drive through the herds of animals to get all up close and personal.

They sell you buckets of “food” (similar to what you’d get at a petting zoo), and once you drive in the critters know exactly why you’re there.  They ain’t shy either.

You just hold up the bucket and they stick their heads in and take whatever the hell they want (slobbering all over the interior of your vehicle sometimes too.)

Some just stare at you.  Like this ridiculously photogenic goat:

It was actually pretty neat.  We had fun and it was a nice way to spend a few hours (and more importantly, stay off my feet to give my legs a rest.)

The next stop in our journey took us to a new (to me) brewery.  Ass Clown Brewing was tucked away in an industrial area near Cornelius, and although I’d never been I'd heard a lot about it.  We walked in and I thought it had a good vibe.  The two dudes manning the bar were friendly, and offered up a flight of beer for our drinking pleasure.

They had a huge selection of beer.  So much that I had a hard time deciding.  Since I do love the IPA, I perused the menu to pick out a few to “sample.”

The little lady picked hers out too, and moments later we were sipping on some of their finest ales.

The beer was definitely different.  Not your run of the mill, “I can brew generic beer so let’s open a brewery” stuff either.  Ales brewed with orange peels and honey, IPAs with Carolina Reaper Peppers, and even a Jasmine Tea IPA made for an interesting afternoon.  I don’t normally get into putting all that extra stuff in my beer, but in this case it worked.  If you’re ever in the area, I’d suggest a visit.

The craft brew scene is certainly blowing up.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.  Sure, I can get craft beer almost anywhere now because of it, but so can the masses.  What concerns me the most I guess is the fact that I see young crowds in these establishments.  You know, kids that should be drinking shitty, cheap beer because they don’t know the difference yet.  I kinda feel like you should have to earn your way to drinking good beer.

I drank the shittiest of beers (Old Milwaukee's Best comes to mind) when I was a youngin’, and worked my way up through Bud, Michelob, and even Sam Adams before I could really appreciate the good stuff that brewers are making now. 

That’s the way the world is now I guess.  Or maybe I’m just too old to understand. 

Luckily there are a ton of craft breweries popping up everywhere so I can enjoy the good stuff and be cranky to the kids while I reminisce about the good ol’ (shitty beer) days.

Back To The Social Norm

Social ride last night.  Groovy. 

What an awesome ride.  Social pace and all that, we cruised around in the woods for a while and had a great time.  Food, beer, and bullshit after.  I dig that.  Only one minor mishap in the form of a flat tire (not mine.)

Still fun, even though that particular trail is being dumbed down so bad it isn't even funny.  Wait, I'm sorry.  I mean, there are lots of "improvements."

I’m taking the easy way out today, and maybe even tomorrow.  There will be a change around here soon.  As soon as tomorrow, or maybe it won’t be until Monday (Friday is a holiday.)  Depends on how I feel I guess.  You know, being a long weekend and all that I might just make it even longer by taking tomorrow off of here.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited about it, even though it’s only a change to this here Internets blog thingy.  Something cool has been sent my way and I can’t wait to share it.

But I might wait.  If you don’t see anything new here tomorrow, just come back Monday.

Until then, we are under construction.

Fun Friday

I’m not going on vacation again this weekend.  In fact, I’m probably not going anywhere far away.  I’ll stay local, maybe ride my bike, and drink some beer.  If you’re headed out somewhere this weekend, make sure you take care to pack everything carefully.

I have things I can talk about today, but since I’ve started this whole “Fun Friday” thing I’m kinda enjoying taking the easy way out.

That doesn’t mean that you should though.

Yeah, Fun Friday is a time for you to just look at some of the funny shit that’s been dug up on The Internets.

And don’t worry too much about all the problems out there in the world.  Just ride your bike (or whatever else you do), drink some beverages, and be awesome to each other.

And make sure you try to forget about that whole nine to five thing you got going on.

I’ll come back next week and make up some shit to talk about.

Time To Go Play

Yeah, I’m taking it easy today.  You know, because things are about to get busy around here.

Is it too soon to do this?

No.

With one week until my departure for Winona, Minnesota it’s time to start counting down.  Although Single Speed USA kicks off next Saturday, I am hitting the road a week from today.  I won’t be doing it alone though.  Good Guy Greg has decided to join me, and we’ve been working on one helluva road trip.  I’ll get into that next week though.

For now, I’m taking another road trip.  Lunchbox and I are leaving tomorrow morning for Richmond, VA to attend training camp for our favorite professional sports team.  We go to Virginia every year now for this, and it’s always a good time.  This year though, we’re bringing our bikes to ride some new (to us) trails.  Richmond apparently has some pretty rad singletrack, and we’re ready to go shred it. 

 Thanks to my man Marcus for finding this video.

I’ll tell you all about it Monday.