July 19, 2019

It was a hot, dry and dusty ride. Temperature was 96 degrees when I started, and this is dried sweat and dust.

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July 14, 2019

Spanish moss and mountain bikes, I camped and raced at Poinsett State Park in the Spring but it was fun just riding the trails, completing the South Carolina trifecta, Harbison State Forest, FATS and Poinsett State Park a great weekend of riding.

While waiting to see where I was riding, I decided to figure out why I was flatting so much… looks like a hard hit to the rim at some point, I did bend it back.

After riding I decided to explore the dirt roads in the Manchester State Forest for a while.

July 13, 2019

So happy to wake up in my Flippac again after it broke a couple of weeks ago!

Ride #2 FATS (Fayetteville Area Triathlon Society) visit FATS (Forks Area Trail System) ride was cut short after I double flatted, used 3 CO2 cartridges, 2 tubes, 2 patches and a CX tube to get out. Great trails and I had a blast on Great Wall and Skinny Loops

An afternoon and evening at Bill and Shanda’s, low country boil, swimming in the rain and an evening boat ride for Purple Martins (if we had enough gas in the boat)

July 12, 2019

Weekend ride #1 Harbison State Forest

20+ miles, just over 11mph average, 94 degrees – I love riding here, so fast and flowy, parts feel more like a pump track than singletrack.

July 9, 2019

This was a “reach into the hurt locker” ride. I did my Reedy Fork & Blue Heron out and back with the goal of negative splitting the ride. I wanted to push the pace a little at the start, I normally average just over 9mph…. opps 11.2. That meant the negative split was going to hurt, it did, average 11.4 on the return.

June 26, 2019

A solo trip to DuPont to mountain bike, hike and swim. Day 1 of biking was awesome, I have a time lapse to add, but 3 hours of joy!

After 6pm, I started looking for a place to primitive camp in Pisgah National Forest, after driving for way too long, I found this spot and made dinner, then right before I started to make camp, I noticed the sign… 15 feet up a tree…. WTF. As I started to turn around I realized I forgot where a couple of tree stumps were but noticed a two tire track heading back towards the forest service road, I will just do that.

I didn’t get out to look down the hill, I just drove into it…. see that big rock? It used to be in the middle of the trail. As my nose started down, I hit it with my bumper and became stuck at a very steep angle (in fact so steep, I was worried about oil pick up/pressure) but also was afraid to turn off the truck in case it would not restart. I switch to 4 wheel drive low and turned on my locker and managed to back up a bit, but crabbed and high centered my slider

Now I am really stuck, alone off a minor FS road – I didn’t take any more pictures because I was trying to self rescue… in the end Maxtrax saved the day and I was get off the slider, drive back down the hill (could not go backwards) and just push the big ass rock out of my way with my front bumper! It took 20-30 minutes of work!

So now I still needed a place to camp, I drove further into the woods, passed the trail head for my planned morning hike and finally found another camp spot, I go to flip the camper and POP

at first I thought the torsion bar snapped, but the hinge was what broke! That was the final straw, I am heading home…. great day, but this night has been a shit show!

June 16, 2019

Father’s Day started with a long mountain bike ride, and a nap in the Flippac before heading home.

Since it’s “my” day, I choose a family hike to the top of Little Long Mountain for a supper time picnic.

That makes a good day!

 

June 15, 2019

Back to the track

I love riding the steep banks and this was a racing workshop for new track racers

There were several college riders in the group and so much strategy to think about

It is a blast going all out on a fixed gear bike, I just have to remember I have to keep pedaling as I crossed the line.

 

Then time to bar hop/eat. We passed a place called The Pump House on the way to the velodrome, so we started there, drinks and wings while sitting on the roof top bar watching tubers on the Catawba River.

Then following a recommendation, it was a seafood dinner at the Rock Salt in Charlotte (this is a wall on a bike shop)

a night at my favorite camp spot in Uwharrie National Forest

May 26, 2019

Road trip to mountains, it’s really hot at home!

I wanted a long ride and managed to find one. Blowing Rock past Grandfather Mountain and into Linville, then back up the Blue Ridge Parkway over the Linville Viaduct.

Kodak is happy

 

 

March 29, 2019

Great ride today, but I had to take this picture now because I was stopped with major cramps. I only had a Cherry Pop-Tart and diet Mt. Dew before the ride and bonked hard. I was very happy to average over 10mph for a 3+ hour ride and worried I wouldn’t finish after stretching. But I did!

It’s always funny to me what I think of when physically stressed, today it was Shawarma and Baby Guinness, I was able to quench both desires!