The Mutt’s Day Off

"Ferris Bueller you're my hero."

I told you yesterday that I worked late on Tuesday evening, so I had the next day off. I didn’t have any plans, because I didn’t think I would work long enough to justify taking the next day off. I was way off on my assumption. I left work at a little after 2:00 a.m. yesterday, and I drove directly home. No middle of the night, kinda drunk, passing the time by stopping at the Steak and Shake for burgers and crap for me. I just wanted to go home and sleep.

I arrived at my domicile, took a shower, and went to bed. The alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., and I had to get up to assist Lunchbox with his getting off to school routine. Yay. We left the house at about 6:45 with dogs in tow, and walked to the bus stop. I could hardly stay awake on our walk. All I wanted was to go back home and pass out. I didn’t get nearly the amount of sleep that I needed. After Lunchbox boarded his bus and the dogs did their business, I hurried back home.

I got in the door and headed directly upstairs. I hopped in bed and tried to sleep, but that wasn’t working out so well. I tossed and turned for a bit, and then I decided to just get out of the bed. “Maybe the Internets would entertain me while I became tired,” I thought. Nope. In fact, I started to feel more awake than before. I decided that I would go ride my beloved Goose, instead of wasting the day away trying to recoup my lost sleep from the night before. Where would I go? How about the Uwharrie National Forest? Sounds like a plan.



I grabbed a quick bite to eat, loaded up Goose, and headed out in the direction of Albemarle, NC, the hometown of Kellie Pickler. I’m not sure why I just told you all that, but whatever. I arrived less than an hour later in the Uwharrie Mountains, and I was ready to ride the Wood Run trails. I was in for 11.4 miles of steep climbs, sketchy rock gardens, and ears pinned back downhill. I was so excited.


Goose was waiting for me to get ready.

Well, there is a 1.5 mile gravel fire road to get to the first loop. The ride seems like it takes forever. Today was different. It really did take forever. I ended up stuck behind some kind of work vehicles. There was a pickup truck, and then there was a giant wheeled machine of some sort. It had a long arm connected to a sawblade. It was really scary-looking. I figured it was some sort of tree maiming device bent on deforestation. I wanted to get away from it as soon as possible. They held me up for about a half mile, and there was no room to pass.



Eventually they veered off the road to cut some trees or whatever, and I was on my way. Next stop: Woodrun Hunt Camp.



There wasn’t much to see at the camp, except for a sign telling you which way to go.



I started out on Keyauwee, which has some hellacious climbs through some gigantic baby heads and root steps. Oh fun.


Root staircase.



Look at all those baby heads.


Yes, it was hard to climb. However, it was worth every heart-pounding pedal stroke. The views at the top were nice. Blue skies, fall colors, and mountains. Oh yeah. Just take a look.







The Keyauwee trail was covered with dead leafy goodness, and it was pretty much a vegetable tunnel. I had a difficult time navigating the trail sometimes. I found myself veering off course often. I really had to pay attention to what was in front of me. Hidden baby heads and death traps are the norm at Uwharrie. The leaves just make it worse.


Is there a trail in here?


Ummmm, yep.

I finally made it out if the climbing, rocky, rooty hell that is the Keyauwee loop. I did have a little downhill fun, but the climbing pain was most prevalent. After about 5 miles, I arrive at the fire road, with a sign telling me the way to go.



Ah, the Supertree loop. Ears pinned back downhill, or so I’ve heard. After my quick stop for picture taking, I was ready to get to it. Immediately I noticed that the leaves weren’t so bad on this side.


Most of the Supertree trail was superfast downhill. I often reached speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour. It was scary sometimes, but a good kind of scary. There were slippery leaves all over the place, so I figured it would be a given for me to go down. I didn’t. Not even close, really. Goose and I made it through another adventure. I was so happy that I asked the fencepost to take our picture. It was glad to do so.


Our “play-date” is over.

After the ride, I paid a visit to my bike shop supporter, Middle Ring Cycles. It was nice to visit with everyone. I picked up a few of their new and improved t-shirts, and I was on my way. I was back to Charlotte in no time, and I got to enjoy a nice beer. Ah, I wish I had this kind of day off more often.

Medic!

I’ve been taking chances on some of my rides with first aid lately. Now that I am a certified Bike Patroller, I always feel like it’s my obligation to bring along my giant bag o’ first aid crap on every ride, even when I’m not patrolling. I once heard that with great power comes great responsibility or something like that. Damn you Uncle Ben! So now that I volunteer my services for the safety and well-being of trail users, I feel like I am always on duty. I guess I am, since I have this medical training and stuff. I will always lend a hand, even when I am not actively performing my duties as a patroller. I’m just here to help.



So, what’s the purpose of this rant? None really I guess. Don’t we all just ramble once in a while? What was I talking about? Uhhhh, first aid! I said Monday that Lunchbox and I went to the mountains for a ride, but I left out part of the story (as usual.) Again, I didn’t bring along my first aid bag for the ride, but it was in my truck in case we needed it later. There are park rangers all around to help, so who needs my measly little first aid kit?



Well, it turns out that I needed it, albeit not for anything serious. Lunchbox had a small encounter with the sharp pins on his Crank Brothers pedals, so he had a few gashes on his leg. It wasn’t serious, so we waited until we finished our ride and I cleaned him up. He didn’t even want a band-aid. I guess he wanted to show off his injury. That’s my boy!



After this highly complicated medical procedure was completed, I spoke to the patient. I told him, “Be careful. This could get infected and you could lose your leg.” I offered to amputate it right there on the spot to save him the trouble (and costly medical bills from “real” doctors.) He declined, which I imagine was a wise decision. I’ll save the power tools for another time I guess. He was happy that I saved his leg, and he was ready to walk on out of there. Me too. I’m not a doctor, geez.


All smiles after his boo-boo.

So yeah, I guess I take a chance every time I ride without first aid on my back. That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to help. I’ll do what I can. If you’re out on the trail and you see me without my first aid junk, don’t worry. I always have some kind of knife. And that my friends, will fix anything. A wise man once said, “Scars are tattoos with better stories.” I can probably give you a few scars if you want. Let me know.

DISCLAMER: I got stuck working most of the night last night doing a phone system upgrade. While my posts are usually full of mindless babble, this one may have been worse (or better depending on your point of view.) I got home in the wee hours of the morning, and I had only about 3 hours of sleep. By reading today’s post, you will be suffering as I am. Luckily, I have the day off today. I may just take Goose out for some “alone time.” Maybe I should just go back to bed.

Told Ya I Got Skillz (Clinic)

Yep, this one is actually me. While most people celebrate Halloween doing scary things like begging strangers for candy that could be poisoned or laced with razor blades, I prefer scary mountain bike things. I mean, every time I get on my bike there is the possibility that I will scare the crap out of either myself or some random observer. If I don’t frighten you with my super-fast racing ability, I’ll get you with my propensity to crash for no apparent reason. Couple these ridiculous things with the Introduction to Freeride Clinic, and you have one scary Halloween.



First, I would like to thank the Tarheel Trailblazers and Mark from The Cycle Path for putting on this clinic. I attended this clinic last year, and it was great. While I have somewhat mastered most of the skills they teach (yeah, right), Lunchbox and I wanted to support this event and also provide our assistance. This ride is similar to our bi-weekly kids rides, so we wanted to help out the little ones in attendance.



We started out in the grassy field by the parking lot, where the guys had set up some structures. They had a bar set up for bunnyhops, a few jumps, a skinny, and a teeter totter. The adults gave a brief demonstration, and then everyone was given a chance to try each obstacle (with spotters of course.) When it came time to try the teeter, Lunchbox was ready to show everyone how it’s done. He was confident, surprisingly since he went over the bars on the exact same obstacle last year.

Lunchbox likes to play on the seesaw.

We played around on the obstacles for a bit, and then it was onto the trail. The trail at Fisher Farm Park is a little over 4 miles, and the difficulty ranges from Green (easy) to Black Diamond (difficult.) We stopped on the most challenging trail features to assist those that needed assistance (just like on the kids rides.) The trail was a little slick from rain the day before, so some things were a little more difficult than normal. I didn’t get any good photos from the trail, so please, use your imagination.


We had a great time, and no one really got hurt. That’s a good thing, since I didn’t bring my first aid bag along for the ride. I figured that the trail was short enough and I could easily make it out to get the necessary medical supplies if needed. I hope that we can combine the skills clinic with some of our regular kids rides in the future, especially since children are our future. Believe it.

Another Busy Weekend

My weekend started a little early, thanks in part to my job giving me a vacation day, and Lunchbox getting a day off of school. I mentioned last week that Lunchbox and I were headed out to the Kerr Scott Trail System in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on Friday morning. We left pretty early in the morning, and headed up Interstate 77 northbound.


On the road again.

We arrived on the scene at around 10:00 a.m., and had to hit the bathrooms after such a long drive. We changed our clothes, got the bikes ready, and we were ready to hit the Overmountain Victory Trail, one of three trails in the area. It is a six mile out and back trail, and it is full of fast downhills, slow steady climbs, and really fun banked turns. This day was made even better by the beautiful fall colors. The leaves were in full effect.

Trail entrance.


We tried to start out at a slow pace, but that was nearly impossible after the first few minutes. I led the way at first, and I wanted to make sure that Lunchbox didn’t have too much trouble keeping up with his awesome racing dad. He stuck with me for the most part, but I still made sure we took plenty of breaks. This was a fun day on the bikes, not a race. I wanted him to enjoy the trail, and most of all, enjoy riding in the mountains. How else would I get him to ride more of these mountain trails?

So far so good.

There is a loop off of the main trail called Shiner’s Loop, and it has this really neat jump on it. At the risk of being selfish, I asked Lunchbox to take my picture as I hit the jump. I was hoping that I wouldn’t bust my ass while he took a picture. I’m usually “camera shy”, which means I will crash when there are cameras present.

Successful attempt!

The trail was nothing but fun. The singletrack snaked around all of these pretty views, and it was it prime condition. We circled a lake, and we also saw some steep drop offs. Lunchbox enjoyed all of the fast downhills and banked turns. He took everything like a pro.




Lunchbox played cameraman again and got me riding some downhill bank action. Little did he know that I am too fast for film. If it wasn’t for his cat-like reflexes, he wouldn’t have captured my photograph at all.



We hit the halfway point after six miles, and sat for a little bit at a picnic table. We ingested some carbs, checked our equipment and headed out again. On that side of the trail, we saw several small deer, and even some really fat squirrels. It was nice to see nature’s creatures in well, nature. Beautiful fall day, excellent views, and a few critters were the highlights of our day. We took the trail back to the beginning a little faster this time, and it was even more fun. I recalled one crazy drop-in I saw on the way out that I knew I wanted to hit when I came back. Lunchbox positioned himself with the camera, and off I went. It took a few tries to get a good shot, and I still didn’t have a horrific crash. Lunchbox said it would have been cool to film me crashing. He is such a funny kid.


Crazy death drop action.

In all, it was a great day. We left the trail and headed out for some lunch to stuff our faces and talk about our great riding experience. We got back on the road headed for home, but we quickly made a detour. Remember when I said that there was an Amish Paradise in North Carolina? Well, Lunchbox insisted that we stop there for a visit. We made a trip to Shiloh General Store in Hamptonville, NC.

No, there is no website link. Amish people don’t have computers, do they? Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if these ones did. While at the store, we heard the telephone ringing, all while we were standing in an air-conditioned room with tons of electrical amenities. Amish Lies, is what Lunchbox calls this store. I even witnessed a young Amish lady taking out the trash.



They are still traditional Amish people I guess, with their values and stuff. These particular people just liked a little comfort I suppose. As far as I know, they are hard-working people, and they make a nice living working the land and such. Why, just look at this ad I saw on the bulletin board.

Train your way? I wonder what that’s all about.

What an interesting day. We started out the day as gnarly mountain bikers, and ended up in Amish country. Who the hell does all of these things in one day? Welcome to the world of B-43. I told you we were weird. One day you will get it. By then, we will have gotten worse. Tune in tomorrow for more weird junk, if you dare.

Oh So Scary

I figured you would be back to see what’s going on around here. I know I said yesterday that I would most likely not post up today since Lunchbox and I are headed to Dark Mountain, but I couldn’t resist. Halloween is approaching, after all. So, in keeping with the holiday tradition, here is our Halloween Celebration.


Little Miss Sunshine has a cartload of pumpkins. Little do they know that they are headed towards their demise.

Last night was pumpkin carving night, so we got everything ready. We first covered our table with a plastic cover to help ease the cleanup burden.


Getting ready for surgery?

After we gutted all of the volunteers, Paul decided that he would help us clean up.


Mmmmm, I likes pumpkin guts.


Wait! I can help clean up this mess!


Mine obviously had too much beer.


Little Miss Sunshine went for a traditional Halloween theme. Or she really loves cats. And spiders.


Of course, Lunchbox carved a skater into his. A mountain biker would have been too much work.

Even the animals got into the pumpkin action.






Here is their final resting place.

So, there you go. Halloween at the B-43 worldwide headquarters. And you thought only our riding and poor grammar were scary. We should be ready for all the beggars searching for free treats tomorrow night. I’m looking forward to it. For now though, I’m looking forward to heading out the door and getting on the road. We have a little bit of a drive ahead of us, and then we will be in Wilkesboro. This should be a fun day. Thanks for visiting, and see y’all Monday.

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I Got Skillz

"Ever take it over any sweet jumps?"

This picture cracks me up. No, it’s not me. I’ve been over the bars before, but never in such a hilarious fashion. I’m smart enough to let go so I can fly through the air at the greatest of ease. Sure, I can ride, and I’m not too bad at it either. My riding ability has improved greatly ever since I acquired Goose. Experience plays into my increased skill level of course, but the bike helps a lot. My bike may not cost as much as yours, but price has little to do with the quality of my Diamondback. I am convinced that they make great bicycles, especially for the price. It looks like this post might be a lovefest for Diamondback. Oh joy.


"Me likey my bikey."

Some time ago, I mentioned that I ride a Diamondback Sortie 3. I absolutely love this bike. While I was describing the origin of the name “Goose”, I also asked, “What the hell is a Knuclebox.” Well, the good people over at Diamondback put together a video that was shown at Interbike in Las Vegas this year. It explains the Knucklebox suspension design very well. I suggest you watch it.

Knuckle Box Fundamentals 2010 from Paul Giarratano on Vimeo.

I hope you weren’t bored to death. I wasn’t, but I know everyone isn’t as in love with their bicycle like I am. Weird. Anyway, I wanted to share a little nugget of information with my viewers so you can all be edumacated on the inner workings of my bicycle’s suspension design. Again, I’m not whoring myself out to sponsors here. Wait, maybe I am. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Diamondback will send me something as a token of their affection. (Pretty please?)


Okay, so now that I have most likely lost your attention, please come back. Test ride a Diamondback and you will see what I mean. You get more bike for your buck, trust me. Wait, did I lose you again? Quit being stubborn and try something new, will ya? It worked for me.


Speaking of something new, tomorrow is the day for Lunchbox to try something new. Although he is a “mountain biker”, he hasn’t really ridden his bike in the mountains. Our local trails have challenging terrain, but nothing too crazy. Tomorrow morning we are rising yet again at the crack of dark to head up to Wilkesboro, North Carolina to hit the fabulous Kerr Scott Trail System, or Dark Mountain as most people refer to it. I took the day off of work (Lunchbox has a school holiday) so we can head up when bike traffic won’t be so heavy. Depending on what time we head out the door, I may not get on here to post anything, so you will probably have to wait until Monday for any further discussions on the happenings at B-43. I have a busy bicycling weekend ahead, so there will be plenty to talk about next week. Stay tuned (or logged in.) See ya.

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Hangin’ on the Bars

I guess I was so busy complaining about trash that I forgot to include a report about my new handlebar situation. After all, Sunday’s ride was my first real trail ride since the installation. After unloading the bikes and heading over to the pump track, I immediately noticed a huge difference in my riding position. I liked it a lot. I was more upright, but not so much that I felt like I was on a hybrid bike. I had about the same skill as usual on the pump track, meaning that I could make it all the way around several times without pedaling. That was enough of a “riding position” test. I didn’t feel as if I needed any further adjustments, especially since I checked and double-checked everything when I first put them on. Now it was onto the trail.


The trail starts out with a quick little downhill, and there is a small jump that you can use to clear the remainder of said downhill. I hit it without hesitation, and I was successful. The “without hesitation” thing was foolish on my part, since I was supposed to be getting used to my new bars. I guess I have no regard for my own safety (or Goose’s for that matter.) The little downhill intro felt nice, and it was followed immediately by a climb. That’s when I noticed the biggest difference. By sitting more upright, I was able to place more of my weight towards the rear of the bike without adjusting my position on the saddle. That makes for some prime climbing. It is rare that some bike fit adjustment benefits me so quickly. I usually have to mess around a while to get the proper proclaimed advantage.


As I wound my way through the twisty, rooty singletrack, I noticed that the handling was much improved. Just like with the climbing, I didn’t have to adjust my arse on the seat so much when I took the turns. I could lean into them without fear of rubbing my derriere on the rear tire. Another big plus is I have no more neck pain. I was hunched over before, and I had to strain my neck to keep my eyes on the trail. Confidence has been gained. Why the hell didn’t I do this before the race season ? Oh yeah, probably because it wouldn’t have done anything to keep me from getting tired during the races. Lesson learned.


Once again, the change I initiated turned out to be a good thing. I think I may have achieved a “proper” bike fit, for now. My new Easton EA50 high-rise handlebar did the trick. Who knew I was such a genius? I certainly didn’t, and if you read this blog regularly, you don’t think I am at all. Good call.


One other thing I failed to mention yesterday was the fact that Little Miss Sunshine came up with a name for her bike. She loves her new finely-tuned suspension, and the way it keeps her from feeling the rough spots on the trail. In fact, she calls it “bouncy.” Normally, bouncy would be a bad thing (like throwing you and the bike all over the trail), but in her case it’s comfortable. She just bounces smoothly over roots, instead of beating them to death with her bike (and her spine.) No worries, her suspension is set up perfectly for her (I checked with her mechanic, me.) Anyhoo, she called her bike “Tigger”, in reference to the Disney character of the same name. He sure loves to bounce.