Much Better

After feeling like poo for a few days and not riding my bike, I finally had a chance to make things right. Being sick sucks, but being off of my bike sucks even worse. Sunday morning I got out on my road bike for a little alone time, and I actually enjoyed it. I have a new bike accessory, and I got to use it for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn’t tale a photo of it though. The only photo I got was the one above.


I bought a mount so I can attach my Android phone to my bike handlebars. Big deal, right? Well, I thought it was pretty neat. For one, it allowed me to take that not so flattering photo while I was riding, but there’s a much bigger reason for me to have such a device. I do have a bike computer, but it tells me useless stuff like my speed and distance. I like to see much, much more when I ride. I have a few GPS apps to use for exercising, and having that information right in front of me when I ride is a huge plus.


I can see exactly what kind of pace I’m keeping, and most importantly, my exact location on a map. Why is that important, you ask? Well, now I can turn my usually boring road rides into a new adventure. Each and every time I set out for a ride, I don’t have to stick to some predetermined path. I can switch things up a bit, and make changes on the fly without getting lost. When I ride, I usually have a good idea of the local roads and such, but this can take things to a whole new level. I like having new toys.


The road ride wasn’t too exciting though. I’m glad I got out on a nice clear morning. It was a beautiful day, and there’s nothing better than starting my day out with a bike ride. I wish every day could start that way. Today I’m back at work, and that’s no way to start my day. I did more than road riding yesterday though, but since it’s Monday I’ll take it easy. I don’t feel like yapping all morning here, and you probably don’t feel like reading all morning. I’ll be back tomorrow with some of this good riding stuff. Well, I can’t promise that it will be good, but I can promise that I’ll be back.

Not Feeling It

Well, I’m feeling it, but it’s not good. I’ve been a little under the weather the last few days. I don’t know why, but I guess it should be expected. I usually get sick twice a year, and it normally coincides with the change of seasons. In this case, we’ve had some lovely fall weather here in the mornings, so I was waiting to be sick. I’ll get better soon.

I need some bike time, pronto. I was supposed to go on a group ride yesterday, but it was cancelled. I was gonna go there anyway, but I wasn’t feeling up to it. I should get out this weekend though. I basically have a week’s worth of riding scheduled for Sunday, starting with my now regular road ride. We also have a kids ride in the afternoon. The only downside is that I’m on call for work again, so that might just shit on my parade. I can’t win for losing.



Even though I haven’t been riding bikes, that won’t stop me from talking about them. My friends over at Diamondback have officially joined the full squish 29er revolution. Sure, they were among the first to produce a 29-inch mountain bike (the Overdrive, which I ride), but now they are stepping it up a notch. Take a look.

This is the entry level Sortie 2 29er, which is actually setup pretty nice for "entry level."



Up next is the Sortie 3 29er, which costs a little more but is equipped with full Shimano Xt and carbon bits:



Finally, this is the Sortie Black, the top o’ the line 29er squishy bike from Diamondback. It has Shimano XTR and Fox Kashima-coated suspension. It’s pretty pricey though.




They look really nice, but I’m not sure if I’m in the market for a squishy 29er. I have the small-wheeled version of the Sortie, but after going to big wheels I don’t see the need for all that crazy suspension. Maybe if I see it in person, I will change my mind.


Speaking of seeing it in person, I have a chance to do just that. There is a big bicycle industry trade show next week in Las Vegas, and I have a chance to be there. I’ll talk more about that next week though. See y’all then.

Media Day

With what’s left of my race season uncertain, I really don’t have a whole lot to talk about. That doesn’t usually stop me, so here goes. First off is my injury report. My hard headedness is not cured, and probably won’t be. My arm on the other hand, is better. While I’m not any sort of medical professional (I do work in a hospital though), I can tell you that it is healing up just fine. My wrist was probably just sprained, and the rest of the pain in my arm is gone. The swelling is down to an almost back to normal state. That means I’ll be back on the bike (and the skateboard) pretty soon. How soon? Maybe tonight for the bike, and whenever I get a chance for the skateboard. Until I do, here’s a reminder of how dangerous (and funny) skateboarding can be.





There is a group ride tonight, and I’m gonna try my best to get there. It’s really close to home, so I really have no excuse. If I can hold on to the handlebars, I’m in. If I can’t, I’m probably in anyway. I told you I was hard headed, and if I get hurt worse then Little Miss Sunshine will probably say, “I told you so.” Being a medical professional herself, she knows better than I do. That’s what makes me somewhat of an idiot sometimes though; not listening to the sound advice of others.


Next up, is another video. This one is my own creation. I had a part two of my Uwharrie ride in the works, but YouTube disabled the audio because I didn’t have permission. Bastards. It wasn’t that great anyway. Since it was pretty much a total fail, I put together some slightly better footage from my trip to Bent Creek. It’s kinda long, but I wanted to capture the entire run on that particular trail. I get good and hauling ass on the last part, and every time I watch it I’m reminded why I like that place so much. If you can suffer through it, you may see why too.





That’s all folks.

Skate And Destroy

I told myself that after the majority of my mountain bike racing season was finished that I would try to spend a little more time on my skateboard. I was so afraid of getting hurt and jeopardizing my bike stuff that I kinda stayed away from it. The problem with that is that I get really rusty, and it takes way too long to get back in the groove. For someone that’s been skateboarding for over twenty five years, it’s a little frustrating. Things aren’t as easy as they used to be. You know, when I was much, much younger.




Anyway, Sunday I promised Lunchbox that we would go skate. The Dirty Party Cycle wanted to go to, and he promptly showed up at our house to pick us up. We headed over to our local skatepark, Soul Ride, for some fun on four (small) wheels. And yes, it was fun.


Much like the joy I get from mountain biking, skateboarding makes me feel all happy inside. It’s sort of like being a kid again, except that the DPC and I are the old farts out there these days. Lots of people my age still skate, including some of the pros I idolized back in my youth. It’s a good feeling to be out there on my board, and I need to make sure I do it a little more often.

I did take a few photos. Here’s the DPC getting his skate on:



And of course my son was there:



They even teamed up on the ramp:



No, there aren’t any pictures of me. Lunchbox offered to take some, but I was cool without any photographic evidence of my skate session. Well, there was one photo.



Ice on my arm. Yes, I got hurt. I was just skating along minding my own business, when this tiny splinter of wood locked up my front wheel and threw me to the ground. If you’ve ever spent any time on a skateboard, then this has probably happened to you too. I wasn’t doing any fancy tricks, just rolling. I slammed violently on the concrete with all of my 230 pounds, using my right arm as a cushion. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to react. My elbow, forearm, and wrist took the brunt of it.


Three days later, and it’s still swollen. It could be broken. It could be sprained. It could just be bruised. Hell, I could be imagining things. I didn’t seek medical attention because well, I’m just too damn stubborn. I can move around just fine, and the pain is actually getting a little more tolerable. In fact, I skated for another hour or so after I got hurt. I don’t know what this means for my bicycling time, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’ll give up the skateboarding. I’ve been hurt before, and that shit never stopped me. I refuse to sit around on my ass and do nothing. That aging gracefully shit is for suckers. I’m going out in a blaze of glory. A crippled blaze, but a blaze nonetheless.

Solo Mission

When I woke up Saturday morning, I had no idea where I would end up. I knew I wanted to ride, and ride a lot. The plan was to ride until my legs couldn’t take it anymore, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted that to take place. The road bike didn’t sound very appealing, and staying local with my mountain bike wasn’t getting me very excited either. After a little bit of thought, I decided to head over to Asheville and ride the fun trails at Bent Creek. I tried to get Lunchbox to tag along, but he had some kind of epic skateboarding adventure planned. I loaded up and headed out all by my lonesome.



On my way to the mountains, things were already heating up. I was excited about my day in the woods, and planned to make the most of it. I had my bike, a map, plenty of food and water, and no plan whatsoever except to ride. It would be torture, but in a fun sort of way.


When I arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot was packed as usual. I set out on my solo mission, stopping occasionally to check the map. I’ve been to Bent Creek before, but I wanted to hit up some trails I missed on previous trips. Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things. I was reckless.


There were some neat features out there, including this log skinny over a small gully. There was a go-around, luckily.



The previously unknown to me trails out there were chock full of fun. I stopped every so often to check my map, to make sure I didn’t end up way off course.



I rode around with my helmet camera, but it’s gonna take a while to process all the footage. I took a few photos, but I was usually too busy riding to get any good ones. At one point in my adventure though, I decided to take a long, steep, fire road climb up to the Blue Ridge parkway. After climbing what seemed like forever, I made it to the top. There was a sign marking the entrance to the forest for those that came in from the Parkway side.



When I got the actual Parkway, I was a little disappointed with the view.



It was just a road, with no good vies of the surrounding mountains.



The road went under the Parkway was pretty neat, but a bunch of assholes had covered it in graffiti.




The climb sucked, and my legs were tired. The good thing about climbing so much was the fact that I got to haul ass downhill. I ended up with speeds in excess of twenty-five miles per hour on the fire road, and it was scary and fun all at the same time. After that it was more singletrack, and eventually I made my way back to the parking lot. I was toast when I got there. My legs were dead, but my mind felt good. That’s what it was all about.


After grabbing a bite to eat, I headed out of the mountains and back towards Charlotte.



Mission accomplished.

Who Needs A Plan?

I do. Especially if it can keep me from eating a shitload of donuts. For the first time in a long time, I have a free weekend. I’m not even sure what to do with it. It’s been so long since I’ve had a weekend without a race or some other kind of event to attend that I wasn’t ready for it. I’ve been thinking of a few things I can do though.


I could try that new Hillbilly Handfishing fad:




Or take a trip to the beach with my Star Wars pals:




Speaking of Star Wars, I could take my ATAT for a walk:




Perhaps my old ass can do a little skateboarding:




Or the most fun of all, drinking and driving:





While all of these things may sound very appealing, I’ll probably just get in a little bike time. Or a lot of bike time. I’m thinking of a super-long, epic death road ride on Saturday. I could stay local and do my own little Tour de Charlotte, or perhaps I can take a trip to the mountains for a little riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Or, I can grab my mountain bike and take a little bit of a road trip. Maybe hit up Kitsuma, Warrior Creek, or even head back to Uwharrie. I haven’t made any plans, so the sky’s the limit right now.


I am really undecided at this point. I know one thing: I want some two-wheeled torture. With all this free time, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t. Speaking of torture, I made another video. This time, I ran my helmet cam when I rode in the Uwharrie National Forest last weekend. I made two videos, so here’s the first one.






Watching that kinda made me feel like I was there. Oh wait, I was. I’ll save the other one for sometime next week. Oh yeah, Monday is a holiday, so I’ll be back here Tuesday. See y’all then.

Drank The Kool-Aid

It was quite delicious, and not as scary as I once thought.


What the hell am I talking about? No gears. Run what you brung. Singlespeeding. I’ve had a singlespeed 29er for a while now, but I’ve been a little nervous about taking it out on a real trail. It’s been all over the neighborhood and away on vacation with me, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle the loss of gears on a trail. Turns out I was wrong.


My singlespeed has been setup as a 32X18. I had a 20-tooth cog on the rear when I first built it, but it felt a little “spinny” on my neighborhood test rides. Since I didn’t have a 19 in my possession, I used an 18 I had in my tool box. It seemed like too much for a newbie singlespeeder to ride in the woods, so it just hung out in the shop doing nothing. After staring at my gearless 29er like it was some kind of alien spacecraft, I finally got the balls to take it out for a spin in the woods.



I took it out to North Meck, which is my “test track.” When I put on new parts or build a new bike, it’s the first place I go. It’s rough and rooty, and since it’s only 3.5 miles I won’t be stranded if something bad happens. It’s the first place I tested the Awesome Strap, and it is my go to trail for testing.


I took off at a leisurely pace, but that didn’t last long. To keep from falling over, I had to stand up and mash the pedals on climbs. The 18 tooth cog in the back seemed to be perfect for the flat stuff, and I loved my new found speed. In fact, I rode the whole trail much, much faster that I normally do (with a full assortment of gears.) Contrary to what I previously thought, it didn’t wear me out on the climbs. I actually had more energy when I finished the lap. What the hell is going on here?


Now I get it. I understand why people lose their gears. It’s simple, yet efficient. I think I could very well become a better rider if I spend a little more time on the SS too. I couldn’t wait to share my joy of singlespeeding either. When I finished the ride, I sent a text to my singlespeeding pal the MadSS. I told him how much I enjoyed my first singlespeed trail ride, and seemed happy to have another convert to the Dark Side. He also told me he liked the idea of a fast Clyde on an SS. Watch out big boys, here I come. Just as soon as I get out of the shitter.