Bear Creek

Day started out a little rough. Went to load my bike and noticed my fork was in two pieces. I got it over it quick, and Amy and I worked together to quickly put my old bike back together. After installing some new grips, fixing some stuck links, and re-indexing the rear dérailleur we were on our way.

Our destination was the Bear creek trail in Ellijay, Ga. We arrived without further incident and quickly geared up and hit the trail. The picture above shows one of the main attractions on this trail the Gennett Poplar. At 100 feet tall and 20 feet around, that tree is a giant among saplings. Check out how it dwarfs my little bike.



After admiring the big tree, we hung a right and headed up the Pinhoti trail to the Bear Creek Loop Trail. The normal route is straight up the singletrack to the overlook. We haven't yet mastered riding with the x2cycle on singletrack so we opted for the forest road instead.

If you can take your eyes off this good looking man, you can get an idea of what the road looks like.



Once we got to the overlook I changed the tube in my rear tire to get rid of an annoying slow leak. It was nice sitting in the sun letting it dry the sweat off my back. The view wasn't bad either.



We blasted down the road back to the car and went to the Mexican place in the square. The food wasn't good, but I was hungry enough to clean my plate.

Can't wait for our next adventure.

Asheville

Amy and I got back from Asheville yesterday. We spent the week riding our bikes, relaxing in our cabin, and exploring the city and surrounding areas. We had the best time.

I loved being able to look up and see mountains. Everywhere you turn there is another beautiful view. Knowing those mountains are full of bicycle trails made the views even better. You can ride anything from all day long gravel grinder routes to super steep and technical single track trails. We rode mostly forest roads, but I also rode some nice single track like Ingles Field Gap and Spencer Gap.

Another thing I loved was the people. I thought my own redneck, hippie, and outdoor geek combination was unique but there seemed to be thousands of people just like me living in Asheville. I felt like I fit in there, and it felt really good to fit in somewhere.

I need to figure out some way to move there. My one week vacation was way too short.

Photo Credit

My new header was shot by jl from mtbr. I cropped it from one his excellent panorama shots. Check out this thread to see more of his work. Thanks jeff!

Da Bonk

Saturday I went to Bubba's soccer game then we did a ride on the Silver Comet Trail since the SCT is right next to the field he played soccer on. We rode from Floyd Rd to Florence Rd and back. We also explored a little on some of the side trails.

Click to view gallery

Sunday Amy and I rode the Upper Chattahoochee Loop that we have been putting off for the last month. We made it, but it took us a full 5 hours. Most of that was due to my rookie mistakes.

1) First my rohloff shifter cable pulled out of my external gear selector, and I didn't have a Torx T20 wrench to fix it. I need to either get one of those wrenches or switch out the bolts to something more standard. I ended up going back to my car and switching the gears manually with 8 mm wrench to my easiest gear. I was pretty useless on the flats, but most of the trail was straight up or straight down so being able to pull the tandem uphill was the most important thing.

2) Next I totally forgot to stop and get picnic supplies. This led to both of us eating much less than we should.

3) Finally I think I picked one of the busiest weekends for Helen with Octoberfest and hunting season beginning. Cars were everywhere and we were continually having to slow down and move over to let cars pass on the narrow forest service roads.

I am glad we went though. The area is very beautiful and it was nice to spend all day with Amy.

Click to view gallery

Next Saturday we are going to Asheville for the week. Should be fun!

Grocery Rant

Amy and I drank and ate too much on Saturday at my nephew's failed baptism party (priest got sick). So the best we could on Sunday was to ride Gainesville college.

The Gainesville College trail is a pretty easy 5 mile singletrack loop. Awhile ago, I volunteered for Trips for Kids and had ridden maybe a mile of the trail. It was good to get back there and see the whole trail. None of the climbs are too long or too steep. There are couple of tricky places to practice your skills. Parham calls it a good place to introduce a beginner rider to singletrack. I took a couple of pics.

Click to view album

I found a link to Hodge's blog on psychobillycadillac's blog the other day. Hodge's funny rants inspired me to write about my grocery story experience yesterday.

Amy has been really getting into her cooking. She finds these excellent recipes that are healthy but still taste pretty good. I have tried helping her some, but I have not been consistent about it. Saturday we worked out a really good deal that should allow us both to ride more, eat earlier, and spend more time together. Part of the deal involves us working more as a team both in our riding and cooking. Usually Amy goes to the grocery store by herself, but Sunday I decided I wanted to go as well to show my team support.

Usually my grocery shopping is done with ninja like precision. I know everything I want and where everything is. I use only the small baskets and avoid the buggies. I keep my item count low to use the express or self checkout lane. I basically have very little interaction with the other people in the store.

When you are buying food for a weeks worth of fancy recipes, the experience is very different. First you notice the people around you more. Take for example this lady talking on her cellphone. She was talking so loud that the entire produce section could hear her. She was telling someone that she had accidentally put her dress on inside out. Yes I checked and it was on inside out. She noticed me looking and told her friend that now everyone was staring at her because of her dress. Actually I would have never noticed if she wasn't talking so loud. The dress was so ugly and the colors were so bright wearing it inside out was probably an improvement anyway.

After almost getting run over twice by the cellphone lady's shopping cart, I escaped over to the cereal aisle. I was gazing longingly at the sugar cereals of my youth, and I guess I left my cart a little too far over in the aisle. A man and his son walk by and shove my cart out of the way. No warning or eye contact just walked by and pushed it out of the way. I am not really up on grocery store etiquette, but it seemed pretty rude to me. Not knowing the etiquette I was really not sure how to respond. Should I have chunked my box of Captain Crunch at the dude's head? I settled for my best WTF look and got away from this dude as well.

Sunday did not seem like the best day to go shopping. There were carts everywhere. I got several nasty stares for my cart driving skills. Amy was walking very quickly, and I was just doing my best to try to keep up. This one woman in particular seemed to have it in for me. She kept parking her cart in places that left me almost no chance of following Amy. Several times I had to loop around other aisles to catch up.

Finally I beat the cart blocker to the breakfast sausage section. Amy and I were trying to find the plain Jimmy Dean sausage instead of maple or sage flavored sausage. I think we were in mid sentence when the cart blocker parted the 12 inches between us and started trying to pick out her own brand. I made a quick exit over to the milk section and started studying which chocolate milk brand I was not going to buy. Maybe I just have an overly large sense of personal space, but I think I would have waited a couple seconds to let another choose their sausage in peace. If we would have been discussing some other topic other than sausage and were being rude by occupying space we weren't really using I could understand the cart blocker's frustration, but we were both being active and participating in the sausage selection process.

We almost made it out of the store without any further incidents, but this lady tried to dart in front of me to enter the store through the exit. Luckily she saw the weight of my shopping cart and decided it wasn't worth getting knocked on her ass. The way she bobbed her head and shifted directions back and forth reminded me of the squirrels on my morning commute. I laughed at her as I walked by.

I am going to have to work on my cart driving and people avoidance skills next week. I am sure I will eventually figure out to make it through with less confrontations. Who would have known the grocery store could be so dangerous.

Google Reader Shared Items

I use Google Reader to keep track of all the blogs and websites I like to read. Most websites publish their content in a format (RSS,atom) that a computer program can read. The published content in a computer readable format is called a feed. Once a website has created a feed I can subscribe to the website using a feed reader like Google Reader.

Basically what this lets you do is get updates to websites similar to the way you get email. Imagine if you had to log on to each one of your friends websites each day to check to see if they had written you an email. That would be madness if you had any more than a handful of friends. Instead you just login into your email program like Gmail and look at all the emails sent to you.

Google Reader works the same way as Gmail except instead of emails you get website updates. When I log in to Google Reader, I see all the updates for all the websites I have subscribed to. I don't have to type the address for each website I like to visit. I just log into my reader and see all the updates in nice neat organized fashion. Yes I am a little OCD.

A cool feature of Google Reader is shared items. Shared items let you mark an item in your reader as interesting. Once you have shared an item it is available for other people to look at. Google reader automatically creates a website and a feed for people to read your shared items.

Google Reader also gives you a little widget to display your shared items on your blog. I added my shared items over to the right as well as links to subscribe to my shared items.

The Big Red Top Mountain

Bubba and I rode at Red Top Mountain State Park Saturday. What a great trail for children. The trail is almost 4 miles of gravel roads with a very gentle grade. Bubba rode the whole trail without even using the x2cycle. We also took a couple long detours exploring some of the side trails.

My favorite part of the day was when Bubba showed me his new moves he has been practicing in his front yard. He went tearing off down his driveway pedaling as hard as he could. Then he cuts it off the driveway into the grass and goes bombing down this big hill pedaling the whole time. He powerslides it around the corner of his house and goes flying into the backyard. He reappears a minute later and grinds almost all the way back up the hill he just descended. He then showed me his slow speeds maneuvering around the swing set and parked cars. I was really impressed. 3 months ago he could barely pedal down the driveway. He looks like a pro now.

Sunday Amy and I did a quick ride on the silver comet. I played around with the camera.



I like the way this picture shows the difference in wheel size, top tube height, fork rake, wheelbase, etc ...



Whoops. I have never tried taking a picture like this before. It is harder than it looks.





I tried taking a couple pictures to show how the x2cycle attaches.



Here is a picture of my Clark Custom Cycle.

Really Fun Weekend

Amy and I spent some quality time this weekend. Saturday was Amy's day. First we slept late. Then we ate monkey bread and read our books on the couch. Next we went to Seasons 52 for lunch.

We got a Vine Ripe Tomato Flatbread with roasted garlic, sweet basil and melted Parmesan cheese for an appetizer(think healthy thin and cripy pizza). I got the Grilled Gulf Grouper Sandwich, and Amy got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Boursin herb cheese, sliced tomatoes & arugula. I liked my sandwich except for the soggy bottom piece of bread. I have gotten it before so I knew what to expect. Amy's sandwich was okay. The cheese had this smoky rich flavor which was cool.

The best part about Seasons 52 is the little miniature desserts. Everything in the restaurant is supposed to be low calorie. So instead of just giving you a massive portion of flavorless desserts, Seasons 52 decided to give you a little shot glass of full flavor dessert. I chose the Rocky Road dessert which is chocolate cake and chocolate icing and some other chocolate stuff. Amy got the pecan pie and vanilla bean mousse. Both were excellent.

After lunch we went to the mall and looked for some new lotion for Amy. I have a sensitive nose so it was hard for me to find something I like. I could only stay in those stores for so long before I got a headache. We swung by the apple store which was cool for me. I looked at all the cool new toys there. Then we played Wii tennis on the way out. We have got to get one of those things. I am so amazed how Nintendo reinvented the video game. They are now once again the number one console seller.

To cap off Amy's day of fun we went and saw the new Bourne movie. To me it was exactly the same as the first movie (I can't remember if I saw the second one). I enjoyed it, but in a year I will probably forget if I have seen it or not. :)

Since Amy had so much fun on Saturday she decided to let me have a fun day on Sunday. First we got up real early. We loaded up the bikes and headed towards Ellijay. We made a quick stop on the way to get some picnic supplies. Amy was nice enough to play DJ with my ipod on the way, and I had fun trying to see how fast I can take the turns on the mountain roads.

We parked at what used to be a gravel lot at the end of FS90B at the base of the Pinhoti 2 trail. The parking lot is now overrun with weeds and is unrecognizable. Amy picked our route at Seasons 52 the day before after I drew a map of the area on a napkin. The route we chose was to head down FS90B, take a right FS90, take a right on shakerag rd, take a right on Conasauga/Mulberry Rd, take a right on FS68, head all the way up the overlook by the Bear creek parking lot, have a picnic, then head back down FS68, take a left on FS90, then right on FS90B back to the car. Here is better map than my napkin drawing made by David Muse.



Our ride went really well. We are still getting used to our x2cycle. We had a couple of tense conversations, but I think we sorted most of it out. My rohloff that I installed worked flawlessly. I was very proud of that.

On our ride, we rode by the Mulberry Gap Inn and Campground. You can camp or stay in one of their bunkhouses. They have a hot tub and showers. They will also cook for you. Amy sounded excited to give it a try.

When we got to the top of the overlook, we had a great picnic. Amy made some cheese sandwiches with Laughing Cow swiss cheese and Hawaiian rolls. For dessert we had two bite brownies. It felt good to sit up there and relax for awhile. The food tasted better after all the hard work getting up there.

After our ride we went to the Corks and Crumbs bakery in the Ellijay square. I laughed at all the motorcycle riders at the wine tasting restaurant. Sign of the times I guess. I got a huge egg salad sandwich and Amy got half a chicken salad sandwich. Mine was okay, but Amy really liked hers. We grabbed a couple baked goods to go and headed home.

Amy said she felt guilty because she enjoyed my day as much as her day. She started talking about going for long weekend bike camping trips. I was in heaven.

x2cycle at Blankets

Bubba and I gave the x2cycle our best shot yesterday at Blankets yesterday. We didn't do so well.

First we had some trouble getting the bolts tight enough so that the ball hitch didn't swivel around too much. The problem was we could never decide on a common speed. When one of us would accelerate the other would brake. The minor "kick in the back of the chair" feeling Amy and I experienced was more like a drop kick to the butt with Bubba and I. The drop kicks eventually took a toll on our mounts and caused the rack or ball mount to swivel around.

Once we got everything tightened up we tried to negotiate Mosquito flats. It wasn't pretty. We had to stop a bunch. There were several crashes. We kept at it though and eventually we were able to make it through without stopping.

Our goal for the day was Dwelling Loop. After our experience on Mosquito flats, I was pretty apprehensive about trying it, but Bubba really wanted to give it a go. So we went for it. The first part went really well. On the Sun direction the first section is mostly rolling with no hills that are too steep or too long.

We climbed up the first big hill with very little problems and took a long break on one of the benches. Then we tried to descend down one of the bigger hills. It started out sketchy and got much worse the further we got. I think all the braking just wore Bubba out. He complained his back and hands hurt. On many of the hard right hand turns he would just wash his front tire out and fall. Not sure if I was pulling him too fast or if we cut the turn too tight or what.

After 20 minutes of this he was done. We couldn't really ride more than 20 feet without Bubba falling or yelling at me to stop. We finally made it to the bottom of the hill and took a break at the second bench by the lake. We refilled Bubba's camelback and learned that he had chewed through his bite valve. The water leaked out everywhere. I gave him my bite valve and clipped my hose up in the air so that the water wouldn't leak on me.

We tried riding again but it just wasn't happening. Bubba was cooked. So we walked most of the way back to the trail head. Bubba let me pull him up some of the longer climbs but no mas for the downhills.

I think I picked the wrong trail for Bubba's first trip on the x2cycle. He made some comments about how he didn't want to use it anymore. I can't blaim him. He hit the dirt way too many times. Even in all the suffering he made a comment like "I feel like I am in a dream I am having so much fun." So he was a really good sport about it even if I did get him in over his head.

I have been thinking about where to go next time. I think I would like to try Red Top Mountain State Park or the big walking loop at Sope Creek down by the river. Both of these are wide gravel paths with very little elevation change, and I think Bubba would have a much easier time on these trails.

My favorite comment of the day came from Bubba when he was flipping through my Bike magazine in the back seat of my car. He was reading an add for the Specialized Stumpjumper. The ad claimed the Stumpjumper was the best XC trail bike in the world and bunch of other superlatives. Bubba said that it was all a bunch of talk and that it doesn't matter how nice your bike is. What really matters is the rider. I couldn't believe he said that. I told him that was really smart and insightful of him. I asked him where he learned that. He told me he learned it from reading the Harry Potter books. Something about the wand doesn't make the magician.

If you know me you know I can't stand Harry Potter. I will have to eat crow though because if those books teach him things like that then I am all for it.

Amy's Comments on the X2Cycle tandem rack

From the x2cycle website:

"The x2cycle Tandem Rack looks just like a slick cantilever style bike rack, but hidden inside the body is a telescoping tube that extends out and attaches to a trailing bike to let two people stay together for any part of a ride without having to buy a traditional tandem bike. The link bar connecting the bikes has a special patent pending design that allows one section to "float" about six inches, letting the link bar lengthen or shorten during a ride. This lets the two bikes move freely back and forth in relation to each other.

This permitted movement dissipates the permitted movement dissipates the forces that hitting a rock or rut would normally transmit between the bikes and makes the ride comfortable for both riders. If one bike makes a sudden movement the "floating tube" eliminates or cushions the impact to the other rider.

The linking bar will let the trailing bike swing out about 75 degrees to either side. What happens if you go past that? It simply releases. This ability to be able to go side-to-side also gives the back rider some independence of movement rather than always riding directly behind the front bike

So what will happen if the person on the rear bike comes too far forward and starts to go ahead of the front bike? The safety release will automatically disconnect the link bar from the bikes so the two bikes are now riding independently. A special connection to the trailing bike releases should the back bike fall."

Having had some experience riding a tandem with James on the Silver Comet and at the beach while on vacation, I was excited to try the new x2cycle Tandem Rack. I really enjoy riding a tandem, but I have to admit that one of the drawbacks is the limited line of sight for the person riding in the rear. Since the person riding in the rear is very close behind and lower down than the person in the front of the tandem, the rider in the rear usually has an excellent view of the front rider's back, as well as a view of any scenery on either side of the bike. It's the view of what's happening directly in front of the bike that is very limited.

This concern was really not a problem with the x2cycle. Since there was more room between James' bike and mine, and since I had the ability to move my bike slightly to either side, I was able to see much more of the area directly in front of James than I have ever been able to on a regular tandem. This was great for me in that if James chose to ride a line of terrain that was scary to me, (like a big rock) I could simply drift slightly to the side to avoid it, instead of having to ride directly over it whether I wanted to or not, as I would have to on a regular tandem.

When we first started our mountain bike test ride, we were on some rolling forest service roads in Dahlonega. We latched our bikes together, counted to three and took off. I was slightly nervous at first, but after a few minutes of adjusting, I was much more comfortable. Since the bikes are not permanently attached, the rider in the back has to adjust to the tempo/direction of the rider in the front. The better I could anticipate James movements, the less likely we were to have our bikes push/pull at the other. When James slowed down, I needed to be aware of what he was going to do, to avoid running up on his back wheel. Whenever this happened, which it did occasionally, the telescoping pole would "break away" and we would become unattached. It was not too difficult to get the hang of though, and soon we were riding together much more easily.

One of the biggest pluses of the x2cycle involved traveling uphill. Before I even realized it, James and I had covered two miles of road, including several hills. Usually big hills and I have a hate-hate relationship: on most rides, after killing myself trying to get up one really steep, long hill, I usually end up doing a hike-a-bike up the rest of them. The approximately 10 minutes it took us to cover those first two miles would have taken me at least 45 minutes to complete on my own. I would have had to stop at least three times to gasp for air and guzzle water. Thanks to James' legs, we were able to complete the first two miles of our trip quickly and easily, without having to stop at all.

Unlike a regular tandem, where I would have had to pedal at the same tempo as James was pedaling, with the x2cycle, I could pedal as fast or as slow as I wanted, using as much or as little power as I wanted, or I could choose to not pedal at all if I was feeling particularly lazy. In fairness to James, I tried to pedal the whole time, even if I couldn't do it with as much force as it would have normally taken me to get myself up the hill. There were several really challenging hills where toward the top of them I must admit it was 100% James' sherpa-like effort pulling me to the top.

I asked James later if he could tell the difference between me pedaling hard, lightly, or not at all. He said sometimes when I pedaled hard, he could feel my bike pushing his slightly up the hill, but that usually he couldn't tell if I was pedaling or not. (note to self: he can't tell, so I can slack as much as I want!)

The downhill sections were slightly challenging at first. James and I like to go downhill at different speeds. I think of my downhill speed as fun and fast. For James, my downhill speed translates into the equivalent of grandma driver on an icy road. I was worried initially that since we were attached, I would be dragged along at breakneck speed, careening wildly down the hill until I finally lost control, skidded and fell, pulling James down with me. As we began our first descent, my stomach tightened in apprehension and visions of a spectacular wreck danced in my head. Thankfully, descending did not turn out to be too much of a problem. I was able to brake easily and control my speed that way. I did notice that my hands hurt slightly, from having to apply increased pressure to the brakes to compensate for the added force of James' bike pulling mine downhill. This was very minor though.

Probably the best part of the x2cycle tandem for me was the way that it enabled James and me to ride together, even with our very different skill levels. Since my fitness is not equal to his I cannot ride as far, as fast or for as long as he can. Usually when we have ridden 3-4 miles, I am tired and ready to call it a day, while James has barely warmed up. Since it takes me at least three times longer to ride the same distance, this usually means that he has to stop often and wait for me to catch up. On our first trip with the x2cycle, we rode around 8 miles, which is further than I have ever ridden before, in the same amount of time it would normally take me to ride 3 miles. By the end of our ride, I still felt like I could ride some more, which I would never have believed could be the case.

In addition to riding on the forest service roads, we also went for about a mile on some double track, and for a shorter distance on some not too technical single track. While these terrains were different, we were able to adjust to riding them while attached with the tandem link. I had some difficulty when we went up a steep rocky stretch of single track, but hopefully with practice I'll get better at that.

Our test ride with the x2cycle was really a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again!

Here is a link to James' opinion.

amy

Labor Day

Weekend started off very slow. I hurt my hand/wrist sometime last week. Not sure how I did that, but it seemed like I was destined to ride the couch for my 3 day weekend. All my plans for bike riding/installing new toys would have to be put on hold till next weekend.

I started icing my hand wrist and taking NSAIDs on Friday, and by Sunday I started feeling a little better. I decided to try and install some tires on my new Rohloff wheel and see how I felt afterwards. My ARCH rims are very tight, and I got some serious wrist pump trying to stretch my new rampage tires over my rims. After I finished, I took a little break and watched some TV. In about 15 minutes, my wrist actually felt better than before I started installing my tires.

With this good news, I went into full on install mode. I made good progress until I got to the shifter cables. I had hard time threading my cables through my grip shifters. Then I screwed up and cut my cable too short. Oh well I will have to wait till next weekend to try my Rohloff.

I did manage to install my x2cycle on my old bike. I wasn't very impressed when I took my x2cycle out of the packaging. My first impression was that it was not very sturdy. Amy and I went for a ride with it yesterday though, and it held up very well. We had some problems with it disconnecting unintentionally in our cul-de-sac but once we got on the trail we didn't have any problems. Granted we stuck to the fire roads mostly and only did one short section of singletrack.

Amy seemed to really like it. She said it was much easier for her not to have pedal so hard up all the hills. I didn't think it was that much harder than pedaling by myself. My legs are really sore today and we only rode for an hour and a half so it must have been a little harder than usual. :)

I really enjoyed Amy's company. It was nice riding at the same pace. Usually I ride ahead and then stop and wait for her. I get nervous when she takes longer than I would expect to catch up. I worry that she has fallen and hurt herself. With the tandem link, she is always right there and I don't worry as much.

Other than the extra physical work on my part, climbing is actually easier with the tandem. If I screw up and lose a little momentum over an obstacle, Amy's bike will give me a little shove to get me going again.

Going downhill is another story though. Amy and I descend at different speeds which makes the tandem challenging. Sometimes I pull her too fast which is uncomfortable for her. Sometimes she swings left or right and pulls my rear tire to the left or right which is uncomfortable for me. Sometimes I see a rut or rock that she can't see so I brake and she doesn't. When this happens, I get a shove from her bike. It isn't terrible though. Kind of feels like someone kicking your chair at the movies.

All in all I am pretty happy with the x2cycle. At the end of the ride Amy said she still felt great and could do another lap. I was sweating pretty good and had a hard time climbing stairs later in the day. So I think it did a good job of equalizing our fitness levels.

Hopefully I will get to try the x2cycle this weekend with my nephew. Maybe I will get a better idea of how will it works on singletrack.

Monday morning had a good weekend glow

I had a pretty eventful weekend by my standards.

Friday was code complete date for a big project I have been working on. I worked diligently all day. Just as I think I am about to finish, I find a big problem I have to fix. Of course it is 5 pm and I am little bummed I will have to work late. I look up though and notice it is pouring outside. Since I ride my bike to work, I instantly get a lot less worried about staying late. An hour later I have my problem fixed. I look up again and yay it has stopped raining.

I hop on my bike, and I hear thunder. I think about it for a second and decide I would rather get hit by lightning than stay at work any longer. I get about 5 minutes into my ride and the lightning starts. Big suckers booming on all sides. Then the rain starts. I decide I am now in the Tour de France, and I must crush Jan Ullrich in this final rain soaked time trial.



I bury myself. Cutting cars off. Sliding through turns. Bunny hopping fallen branches on my road bike. I get home and the lightning is still crashing down on all sides. I am completely positive I said a new record for my fastest commute ever. My lips were numb I was pushing so hard. :)

Saturday I wake up early. I bought a rohloff for my singlespeed, and I am eager to install it. I start reading the manual. I know this is against the man law, but I am really bad mechanic. I need all the help I can get.

I pretty quickly figure out I got the wrong hub. So I feel kinda bad. I keep reading the manual. Wow this thing is so modular. I can order a new axle plate and solve my problem. I feel much better. I look online for the part, and it is only $30 bucks. Compared to some of my previous screw ups that is a pretty cheap fix. I feel even better.

I click on the link to order the part, and I am told the part is sold out and won't get restocked for over a month. I feel bad again. I scour the internet (one of my better skills) and find out it is sold out everywhere. I start sending random emails to different people who I think might be able to help me. Luckily Neil at cyclemonkey (inventor of the really cool monkey bone) replies back and says he has a used axle plate he can ship to me for cheap. Score!

I am super happy again. I finish reading the manual and learn about all the cool things engineered into my hub. Break a shifter cable. No problem just remove the external gear box and shift into whatever gear you want with 8 mm wrench. This thing rocks.

Sunday I wake up early again. I head over to blankets and ride a couple loops (Dwelling + South) on my still single but soon to be 14 speed. I haven't ridden south loop in a while. It is much more eroded than I remember. All the new rocks are challenging and makes the trail more fun. After I finish, I pack my bike up and head over to my nephew's house. I grab a quart of chocolate milk on the way for recovery purposes.

Bubba and I head back over to Blankets Creek. We rode a bunch of loops around Mosquito Flats. We also explored a little on a couple of side trails. Rode some in the skills area too. Then we played around taking pictures.



It was great ride.

Then I hurried home. Jumped in the shower and drove ITP. Amy and I met my little sister and her husband at Alfredo's. We had a great time talking and catching up. I didn't like my lasagna too much. The tomato sauce was very bland. It tasted like Chef Boyardee's pizza sauce. Nothing was cooked together. It was almost like the ingredients were cooked separately then layered together after the fact. Mary Glenn picked up the check as a belated birthday present so I guess it wasn't bad for free. :)

This morning I woke up thirty minutes before my alarm went off. I hopped on my bike and took the long way to work. I must be in my manic phase, but it feels good for now.

Missed encounter

I was supposed to go ride with a friend and his two year old at Yellow River Sunday. I had feeling he might not show so I headed out there by myself around lunch. I took my phone with me while I did some laps in case he called. Around 4 pm or so I decided he wasn't going to call and headed home.

I am glad I went though. It would have been depressing sitting around the house all day and not doing anything.

My last post on Yellow River was pretty negative. I was a little PO-ed that the trails were changed. The original trails were the first trail I had ever ridden and maybe I am a little too sentimental.

The trails are in better shape than the last time I rode. There are still a million rogue trails on the creek side. Someone has taken the time though to spray white X's or white NOT signs on all the illegal trails. In addition the legal trails are marked with a blue blaze. Using this system I was finally able to figure out where you are supposed to ride. I rode every trail in every configuration until I got it in my head how the trails are laid out.

The river side is also looking better. The 10 foot wide logging roads are getting taken over by nature. You can still see where they were bulldozed but the actual riding surface is getting reduced back to a thin ribbon. The river side has very little rogue trails and the legal trails got the same blue blaze treatment as the creek side. There are still a ton of intersections with confusing signs but the blazes make things pretty simple to figure out which way to go. After an hour or so I rode everything twice on the river side and I think I know which trails go where.

All in all it was good day. A little lonely without my friend's company but better than sitting on the couch. My legs had a nice hurt this morning when I tried to climb up my driveway on my morning commute. That put a nice smile on my face.

Camping Trip

We went camping at Ft Yargo this weekend. We got a walk in site at campground #2. Our campsite was on a tiny peninsula with the lake on both sides. There was plenty of trees for shade but no so many that you couldn't see the lake. The site had a tent pad, fire ring/grill, and picnic table. There was a drinking water spigot about 20 feet away. The shower/bathroom area was only about 50 yards away, and they were nice and clean.

We weren't exactly roughing it, but it was my niece's and nephews' first camping trip. We figured we would go somewhere kid friendly and fun so they could enjoy themselves. I voted for Yargo since I could ride my bike there.

Camground #2 is right on the beginner loop hiking/biking trail. I ended up riding on some of the beginner trail on my way over to the outer loop. It seemed pretty flat and smooth. I think it would be good place to ride with my nephew. My nephew came on the trip, but unfortunately he wasn't able to bring his bike. There was a limited amount of space in the car he rode in.

Friday night Amy and I went to Smoking PO Boys BBQ on W Athens St. We both got the pork plate. The pork had a good flavor, but it seemed a little dry. I liked my Brunswick stew. It had a weird vinegar flavor that was different but good. Amy liked her potato salad. I am a bad judge. We have our own family recipe that is different from anything I have ever tasted at a restaurant. If it isn't made like my family makes it, I really don't like it. Amy didn't like her baked beans. It had a weird cinnamon and garlic flavor. I kinda liked it myself.

Saturday night I grilled hamburger and hot dogs. I think I did okay. I probably could have left the burgers on a little longer and got some better grill marks. I hate over cooked meat so I was a little too careful. The hot dogs were excellent though.

Bubba had a little accident after we ate. He tripped and fell and burned his hands on the grill. I went to the CVS and got him some burn medication, but he was really hurting. I felt bad for the little guy. I hope it didn't sour him on the idea of camping forever.

Other than the accident, I had a great time. I am very lucky that my sister and brother in law invited me on their trip. It was nice spending time with my family. I really enjoyed waking up in the morning in my tent.

Still no pics

Every monday, I come in and consider posting here. I usually decide not to because I always forget to bring my camera on my rides. This weekend I once again did not bring my camera, but I am going to post anyway.

Friday I went and saw the movie Wired to Win. I really like seeing the IMAX shots of the Tour de France. I thought the science bits they tried to put in the movie were kind of cheesy. They tried to do some character development by focusing in on two main riders, but they didn't do that so well either. I am glad I went though. Just seeing the scenery was amazing.

Saturday I took my nephew for a bike ride at Blankets Creek. This was his first time riding there. He did an amazing job. He rode all of Mosquito Flats like 5-6 times.

We did have one scary moment where he flew down a hill and accidentally jumped a log. He got about a foot of air and landed it. Scared me to death. Some other riders watched him do it and couldn't believe what they saw. I don't know how he didn't crash. It was very impressive.

After riding for a while we took a break and hiked part of the Dwelling Loop. I tried to show him some of the trail to see if he would be interested in riding it some day. We finished up by doing three loops around Schultz Shute. We climbed up Shultz's and rode down the fast road at the end of Dwelling.

When we got home I found out Bubba had ridden the whole day with no rear brake. I will make sure to check that for him from now on.

Sunday I rode at Big Creek for the first time in a long time. It wasn't very fun. I have ridden there so much. I am just tired of it. I also think I don't enjoy riding by myself as much anymore. I did play around on a new skinny they built. I couldn't ride it for the life of me, but I had fun trying.

Saturday is my birthday. Not sure if I will get to go riding or not. I think Bubba is going camping with my sister so I will miss my new favorite riding partner.

Snakes on a Trail

Amy and I went on a fun ride yesterday at Chicopee. Amy was brave enough to attempt the Outer Loop. This was probably the longest and hardest ride she has been on. She did awesome.

This is the trailhead.



I like seeing the hills bare of any trees. If you can block out the powerlines, you can almost imagine yourself in a cool place like Lost.

Here is one of Amy cruising through a fun s-turn.



I love how the leaves on the trees look like they are floating in mid air.

Here is another one of Amy splashing through a small creek.



Here are some more of those weird purple flowers I saw from last week. Not sure what they are but I like talking pictures of them.









This place is full of bridges.









Here is one of Amy laughing at the "pain" of "Champain Hill".



Amy took this one of me.



Here is one of a waterfall.



And finally this little guy scared the crap out of me.



I threw a rock at him and he ran off the trail back into the water.

Central Park Ride

Amy and I went on ride at Central Park today. Finally I brought my camera. I was actually going to forget again, but Amy reminded me. I am glad she did.

I really enjoyed taking photographs. Normally I race through the ride. I don't take the time to look around and enjoy the scenery. Today was different. Since I had my camera, I kept my eyes open looking for something interesting to put in a picture.

I was at a trail that I wouldn't rank very high as far as scenery. However every time I turned my head I saw something that I thought would make a great photograph.

I wish I had something in my life that would give me the same perspective I got from my camera on today's ride. Something that would help me open my eyes and see all the beautiful things in my day to day routine. I know it is there. I just need an excuse to seek it out.

Here are my pictures. Hopefully there is one in there that will let you see what I saw.

Race Reports

This year's edition of the 12 hours at Ft Yargo race was this weekend. This race kicked off my brief fling with endurance racing. Reading all the reports about the race gave me that sinking feeling in my stomach like I missed out on something great. Ironically it was reading all the race reports that made we want to race in the first place. Even though I tried racing and decided I didn't like it, I still feel weird that I didn't race Yargo again. There is definitely something there that I can't put my finger on.

I love reading the race reports. I love sharing in the suffering that is racing. I love feeling fit. I love the feeling after a long training workout. I love being able to do things I have never done before.

I hate that my stomach is sick before a race. I hate that I worry and obsess about the race. I hate having to ride the same trail over and over again. I hate having to drive for hours every weekend. I hate being scared to ride on the road. I hate that people treat me like a freak for riding my bike so much.

I don't know. Maybe I could commute more often. Maybe I will take my bike up to Ellijay and find out where my limits are. Maybe I could volunteer for a race.

I will figure something out. I am in no hurry.

Tribble Mill

Amy and I rode yesterday at Tribble Mill. She did a beginner's clinic their last year and has been asking to go back for a while now. We had a good time, and I am glad we went.

The trails there are all rogue trails. Since there is not really any one defined loop, you can mix and match different trails and find your own path. Some of the trails are wide and flat lined with pine needles. Riding those trails were like relaxing on an easy country road. Some of the other trails are crazy narrow with steep runs straight up the fall line with massive roots and rocks to navigate. I found one particularly fun section that I played around on while waiting for Amy to catch up. She even asked me to hit that section one more time so she could watch.

About a year ago I some pictures on the web of a guy taking his kid's on a ride at Tribble Mill. The pictures showed them riding a loop around a lake. The scenery was gorgeous and the trail didn't look too technical. Basically it sounded like something Amy would really like. I emailed the guy that took the pictures and asked him about the trail. He emailed me this map.



Before we left yesterday, I forgot to look at this map to see how to get to the lake loop. I am glad I didn't though. I really enjoyed trying to guess how to get there. I think the route we found was pretty interesting. I wish I had brought my camera. We found this cool intersection of three trails with lush greenery and flowers. There was three small benches made out of slabs of granite. We also found this cool slickrock section that reminded me of Conyers.

After our ride we went to the Jazzy thing charity celebration put on by a company that a friend of Amy's works for. It was interesting to here her talking about how hard the ride was for her and how I didn't even break a sweat. I was thinking the same thing about how easy it was for talk to all these people and how I was feeling very awkward trying to make conversation. I guess we each have our strong points.

New Bike

Haven't ridden much lately. I did buy a new bike to ride to work. Scored it from craigslist. Cost about the same as my handlebars on my mountain bike. So for me it was a pretty good deal.

Commuter Bike

It is a steel 57 cm frame. It has 700cc wheels with 35 mm cross tires on it. The guy I bought it from says 45s fit. It has a flip flop hub so I can run it as either a singlespeed or fixie. Right now it has a 39 x 16 gear on it. Not huge but bigger than the 30 x 20 I have been riding to work on. Now I won't have an excuse when a grandma passes me on the Greenway. :)

Not sure how I feel about the pink fork. I am too lazy to do anything about it right now, but I guess I can of spray paint is pretty cheap so I am not worrying about it too much.

Weather and life responsibilities look clear for a Thursday commute. I will report back how it went.