It Ain’t A Party Until…

Lunchbox and the Space Cowboy show up.


So yeah, last night was the Queen City Bicycles annual Christmas party, and it was a great time as always. Great food, beer, and friends, all while we hung out in a bike shop. I think I ate way too much, but that’s not hard to do.



With tons of people milling about, it was kinda like an after race party, without the stinky, sweaty racers.





We were permitted to shop (even though it was after hours), and Lunchbox bought a new hat. He was happy to show it off to past Tarheel Trailblazers President Mr. Jim. Jim reads this poor excuse for a blog sometimes, so he might like the fact that I’m trying to make him famous on the Internets.




I even did a little shopping.



As a special bonus, the Dirt Divas were there to sign their calendars. Lunchbox made sure to get acquainted with them



There was even a special guest, Queen City Bicycle’s own Toughman Terry:



Little Miss Sunshine did a little shopping too, and had her eyes on a new bike.




It was fun, fun, fun. Big thanks to Bart for having a bunch of beer drinking cyclists in is shop for the evening. We pretty much hung out until the end, well at least until the end of the beer. The good beer didn’t last long, but some of the locals made a beer run. They showed up with PBR, so that was my cue to get the hell out of there. I wasn’t about to go from IPAs to PBRs. That would’ve been a recipe for disaster.


With all of this holiday stuff going on, it seems like my offseason training is getting pushed aside. I’ll make sure not to let that happen, since I have most of the day free tomorrow. D-Wayne wants me to head up to his neck of the woods for some riding, but I don’t think I can squeeze that in tomorrow. I have yet another holiday party to attend, so I might be cutting it close if I went out of town. It looks like I may stay local, or even head out to Uwharrie tomorrow morning. I don’t give a shit where I ride, as long as I get my bike out somewhere.


Oh yeah, of course I’ll be building some more trail. Full weekend report coming up on Monday.

When There’s Nowhere To Turn

I choose beer.


Not much bike riding plus increased beer consumption means that my “offseason” is going down the shitter in a hurry. I really didn’t want this to happen, and it’s really my own fault. I have alternatives for when the trails close around here, but I’m just not that motivated I guess. We even have a trainer (it’s technically Little Miss Sunshine’s), but I refuse to use it. I’d rather not ride at all than sit in the house pedaling my ass off and going nowhere. I should do something about this lack of riding soon though, or else next season is gonna really suck.


I guess if I’m gonna mention beer, I might as well make myself useful around here and tell you what I’ve been drinking.

First up is the Yellow Snow IPA, from Rogue.



I’ve had it before, but I haven’t been able to find it locally up until recently. It’s very good, but not the tops on my list. With points for a clever name though, I’ll give it a thumbs up. However, this beer does not get a thumbs up. Yuck.


Next up is a brew from one of my favorite companies, New Belgium.




It’s called Fresh Hop, from their Lips of Faith series. I recently discovered this one, and I’m glad. It’s not as strong as the Ranger IPA, but it tastes freaking phenomenal. I may have found a new favorite IPA.


Lastly, I found an Imperial IPA that caters to my need for lots of alcohol and high drinkability. The Unearthly Imperial IPA from Southern Tier in New York State.






Little Miss Sunshine brought me a few of their fine brews the last time she took a trip back to Buffalo, and I really enjoyed them. Now, their beers are available all over my local area. This new concoction showed up on store shelves recently, and I’ve been a little more than hooked on it. With 9.5% abv, it doesn’t take much to get me going. I am definitely a hop head, and this one does not disappoint.



Speaking of beer, I’m going to a party tonight. The Queen City Bicycles annual holiday party is this evening, and it’s always a good time. Bart (the owner) always invites us local cycling folks to hang out in his shop to drink beer, eat good food, and socialize. He also encourages everyone to bring a canned good to donate to Loaves and Fishes. If you’re local, then I hope to see you there.


What, no bikes today? Well, not mine anyway. If you really have the need, then check out this video.

I’ll see y’all tomorrow.

All Business

One thing that cut into my riding time over the weekend was trail building. Most people probably think that the trails they ride are built and maintained by some government entity, but that’s not the case at all. Most of the time it’s actual mountain bikers that build the trails they ride. Even though I had an opportunity to work on one of our “official” local trails, I chose to work on something else (sorry.) Yes, it’s back to my neighborhood trail.


I went out early Sunday morning, and looked over the stuff we had built already. Everything looked to be in fine shape, until I spotted one of the log rolls.





Shit. Was it vandalism? I thought for sure that the surrounding neighborhood riffraff had made an attempt to mark their territory. The damage was minimal, so it wouldn’t take much time to fix it. We weren’t quite finished with it anyway, as we had planned to return to pack some more dirt on it (we were pressed for time last week.) I later learned that The Chili Man and Junior Chili were riding over there, and Junior Chili’s small bicycle had actually clipped the top log and knocked it down. No worries, since Old Man Chili was the one that helped me build it in the first place. I packed in some more dirt and now it will last for a long time. Success.


With that little bit of maintenance out of the way, I turned my attention to phase four. I cleared the corridor of the new section, starting with a tight switchback turn that takes you back into the woods. I could envision the entire trail in my mind as I went along, but I couldn’t make the trail fast enough. About halfway through, Lunchbox showed up and I put him to work.





With his pair of trusty loppers, he trimmed all the trees around the new section. He removed a lot of stuff that would be in our way as we rode, and I didn’t really even have to tell him what to do. He rides bikes too you know, so he has a good idea what he’s doing when it comes to clearing the trail.


As we got deeper into the woods, I started seeing lots of different elevation changes on the property. This trail is gonna be so choice, but it won’t be easy. I’ve incorporated several tight switchback turns, so you’ll have to mind your p’s and q’s out there. I got a lot done in the two hours we spent out there.






The only thing left was to test ride it.




The little bit of trail we have so far is pretty freaking awesome. It flows well, but you have to stay on your toes in a few spots to avoid any mishaps. I haven't added any big features yet, but the actual trail part is really fun. So far, I’ve only been riding my singlespeed out there. There won’t be any super tough climbs, so my 32X18 gearing is perfect for it. The only thing left (other than actually finishing the trail) is to come up with a name for the place.


So far, we’ve been calling it “The Trail.” We’ve already started coming up with names for some of the features out there (more on that later), but we needed a name for the whole enchilada. After spending every day coming up with crap to put on this blog, I was having trouble coming up with anything even remotely creative. That’s when I turned to my fifteen year old son.


Me: The trail needs a name. You know, other than “The Trail.”

Lunchbox: Yup.

Me: I can’t think of anything. You got something?

Lunchbox: Yeah. What about “Captain Jim Bob’s Space Adventure”?

Me: I like it. Let’s go with that.


The name makes absolutely no sense at all. That’s okay, because it came from a wacky teenager. I haven’t told The Chili Man yet (I guess I just did), but I’m sure he will like it too. So I guess from now on we have a new moniker for our previously unnamed (or poorly named) trail project. I can’t wait to get back out there to work on it. Hell, I can wait to get back out there to ride it. When we get a little more of it finished, I can even do a few night rides. Sounds like it might be time to take The Chili Man on his first nighttime mountain biking adventure. Stay tuned.

One Ride

That’s it. With all the “free time” I had over the weekend, I managed to get out on the bike just one time on a local trail. After a late Friday night (and after an exhausting week), I overslept on Saturday morning. Lunchbox and I had a ride planned, but were now pressed for time due to our laziness. We eventually got out of the house, and dropped by North Meck for a quick ride. I brought along my SS bike, so I knew at least I couldn’t dilly dally along in an easy gear. Lunchbox knew the deal, and was prepared for some “hot laps.”


After talking to the trail coordinator for a few minutes, we learned that he had been doing some improvements to the singletrack out there. We hopped on our bikes and took off. I felt great, and started regretting the fact that we slept in. I felt like I could ride all day, but we didn’t have the time for it. Damn it. At least we got a ride in.

Lunchbox was glad to be outside.



After that, we had to get to the North Meck Christmas parade. It’s become a holiday tradition of ours since we moved to North Carolina, so there’s no way I would miss it. It’s a small-town parade, and it reminds me a little bit of the one we had where I grew up. Mark from The Cycle Path always lets us hang out in front of his shop (it’s right along the parade route), so at least I get to be around bike stuff the whole time. Lunchbox even likes hanging around the shop. You never know what you might see.



This was your typical Southern parade:






Since he likes when I mention him on the Internets, I’ll post up a photo of our pal Billy Talley as he drove in the parade:



Although I didn’t get it in the photo, he was pulling a fancy boat behind that big ol’ truck. He’s representing Talley’s Pier 77 Marine, which sells fancy boats and fancy boating accessories.

Little did he know that there was a pirate ship about to take him out.



He won’t be smiling when those buccaneers catch up to him.


So yeah, that was my Saturday. This time of year, it seems as if cycling takes a backseat to all the holiday stuff (and shitty weather.) I’m really trying to get in more nighttime weekday riding, but it keeps raining right in the middle of the week and pissing all over my plans. I have a backup plan for this week, but that only comes into play if it’s not too cold. Riding in the rain isn’t too bad, but if you add cold temperatures then I have a hard time getting outside.


I may just have to tough it out this week, or else I could turn into a lardassian.




Or a Hutt…whatever.



Too much Star Wars, you say?

Piss off, I say.

Where Did It Go?

My weekend, I mean. It seems like I hardly had one. When the sun started setting on the city of Charlotte Friday, it was time for me to go home and start my weekend. With no real plan, I thought I had plenty of time to make shit up as I went along. Since it’s dark by the time I get home and I didn’t charge my lights, a night ride was out of the question. That really didn’t matter, since Little Miss Sunshine informed me that it was time to go get our Christmas tree. Even though it wasn’t as exciting as a bike ride, I knew it would be an adventure.





Well, it wasn’t quite like that. It was actually pretty painless. Drive to a place that sells trees, look a bunch of trees, and pick out one that would fit in our house. The whole process took about ten minutes. And just like that we were on our way home with the tree.



The process of getting the decorations out of the attic took a lot longer though. I nearly fell down the stairs at one point when my knee gave out (I thought it was fully healed), and I almost punched a hole in the ceiling when it happened a second time while I was actually in the attic. After feeling like Clark Griswold, we eventually got everything down and started decorating.

It probably doesn’t surprise you that this is my favorite ornament:



Instead of looking like some fairy tale tree from one of those sappy movies, our tree actually looks like it belongs in a toy store. Most of the decorations are “non traditional”, including stuff from cartoons and of course Star Wars. That’s how we like to do it, and it’s been that way for years. Another family tradition we have is to watch this:



We don’t do things anywhere near normal around here, and I’m pretty proud of that. I hope today’s post got you in the Christmas spirit a little bit, because it’s gonna be here before you know it. It’s not snowing here in Charlotte, but with all of our holiday preparations it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Did I actually ride my bike this weekend? I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.


First I gotta empty the shitter.

Free Time

When I woke up da udda morning I found myself with some free time. Free time around here doesn’t mean sitting around drinking beer (okay, it does.) It was early in the morning, and I had a few things to do around my house. While I was out front, The Chili Man rolled up on his fancy new 29er and asked if I was working on “The Trail.” He meant the secret neighborhood trail I’ve been working on the last few weeks, no doubt.


I hadn’t had a chance to tell him about it, but he does read the blog. Since he lives a few houses away from me, it wasn’t hard for him to figure out where it was. He volunteered to join me for some trail work, which I was planning to do anyway. We grabbed our tools and set out for some diggin’.


This was my third week in a row out there, and things are coming along nicely. We are now on phase three (which was initially supposed to be phase two by the way.) Phase three is a long section with a slight downhill, and it was actually the first spot I saw on this piece of land that made me want to build trail there in the first place. Lunchbox and I had set aside some logs which would later turn into trail features, since I’ve had a vision of what this section should look like for quite some time now.


I cleared the corridor and flagged out some trail, and The Chili Man got busy harvesting dirt for a couple of jumps. He dug for a long time, which gave me an opportunity to cut the whole section I had been dreaming about. When I finished, I help pile the dirt over some log piles to make the jumps. The Chili Man did most of that backbreaking work, but I did contribute a little.


Here’s what we’ve done so far:





This section is pretty smooth, and it looks like you can get a lot of speed. The jump at the beginning was built on a drop off, so you get sent flying down the trail into the next jump. After that the trail winds around the outside of the property, and will eventually circle back into the middle of the property. I had to stop there, because that shit took a long time.


I’m looking forward to phase four of the build, because there is a nice valley in the middle of the woods. The plan is to wind back and forth through it, making good use of the natural elevation changes. We have a few more ideas for features, but I’ll probably hold off on building those until we get a good bit more trail cut. So far so good though.


I really appreciate the help of The Chili Man. We took a test ride out there, and he got a chance to see how much his hard work paid off. It’s really satisfying to ride a trail that you worked on, so I’m sure he’ll be back for many more workdays. Since it’s so close to where we live, I can’t see a reason why we won’t get it done soon.


In other news, George sent me a present for my birthday a while back. Well, since it showed up a few days before my birthday, I will assume that it was a present for such occasion. I am obviously Bike 29's most favorite team rider.



Tires. Yes.


This “offseason”, I thought I might need some knobbier tires for when the conditions around here get shitty. I rode the Kenda Nevegal back when I first jumped into the 29er “fad.” I found them slow and heavy, but they did grip like a monkey on a coconut tree. I decided that I would go with them again to help my “training.” Since they are a bit heavy (compared to the Slant Six I currently ride), it could help me get a little stronger over the next few months. Plus, I won’t be all sliding around in the muck when I ride in less than perfect conditions. I haven’t had a chance to put them on, so hopefully I can get to it this weekend.


Sounds like I have a lot of shit coming up, but that’s not really the case. Hell, I haven’t even mentioned actually riding my bike. I probably will, but I haven’t decided when and where just yet. I guess you’ll find out Monday.

Trail Wars

Yesterday’s post probably sounded like we had a shit time out at FATS. Quite the opposite was true. Even though our ride was interrupted several times (and eventually cut short) by mechanical issues, it was still fun when we actually rode. Mr. Shepherd really enjoyed riding down there, and he can’t wait to get back. In fact, he said he wants to get his revenge on FATS as soon as possible. Well my friend, I’m ready when you are.


I ran my GoPro for the short time we rode, and I got a little bit of good video. Well, not good by real mountain biking standards, but good enough to make a kind of entertaining video. Since I am somewhat a Star Wars nerd, I put my own twist on it (or George Lucas’, whatever.) While we were riding trough the woods, I kept humming tunes from the movie. This gave me the idea to go all Star Warsy on y’all.

Check it.




By the way, that wasn't the crash that caused all the damage yesterday. Unfortunately I had moved my camera to my helmet before that, and I was riding in front. Damn it.



So yeah, that’s about it today. You’ve suffered through enough.