First off, I'll start by congratulating the Donators on their first win. We played a team that also had a bunch of newbies and people out to just have fun. So we actually beat them. I'll admit it was fun getting a W. I hit a couple homeruns, and struck out... twice. Ugh, it pains me still; it's slow pitch softball for goodness sakes! I watched the first beautiful pitch go by, and then foul tipped the second uglier pitch. Since we only get 2 strikes and foul tips count as strikes, that was enough to send me back to the dugout.
We had a slew of muscle pulling injuries from the ladies. Two of them running from first to second, and the other running to first. Who needs to learn how to warm up?! Weeee dooo! Even the umpire said the next time he saw us, he'd make us do a couple laps before playing. Ouch. The second game was cut a little short due to lightning, but we played enough to make it count as a full game, and we were winning, so it counts. We went out afterwards to celebrate at Northside Grill which was right down the street from the field and had a big bar and surprisingly good food.
Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat. Not sure if it was from the stresses of softball, the tuna at Northside Grill, or the random cold. But it quickly progressed and I left a couple hours early from work. Thinking it was the 29th, even though it was only the 28th, I made gnocchi's and chicken soup. Both were good, but I felt like a fool on Friday (the 29th) and realized I made them a day too early. I blame it on the brain haze of the cold.
Friday was a gorgeous weather day, and even though I had a cold, I'd decided to play disc golf and go for a bike ride. Cold be damned. I got plenty of sleep and Maddog and I still got to the disc golf course before most people. Came home and thought I'd adjust the brakes on my commuter as I just got new slick tires for the old rims and changed the rotors from another set of rims. Anyway, as I was adjusting the brakes, the tip of my left pointer finger got in the way of the spinning rotor. What came next was very unpleasant.
I knew it was bad as soon as I heard it. I grabbed my finger and ran to the bathroom to wash it off and see the damage. It stung a little when I put it in the cold water, and I felt a little light headed. I bent over and had my elbows on the edge of the sink while my hands were under the water. When I saw the chunk of my fingernail wash down the drain I got REALLY light headed..... then I remember thinking, "why am I boxed in here.... why can't I move my leg" and then I realized I was laying on my bathroom floor and I was up against the tub and the wall and was pushing on the base of the cabinet with my foot. I had completely blacked out and taken most of the things on the counter with me. My head was covered in sweat, but thankfully, I hadn't bled everywhere. That's probably one of the scarier moments in my life. I immediately checked my head to see if I'd hit it on anything when I fell, and thankfully my coconut seemed fine. If you're so inclined, you can click here a see a picture of my finger. It's really not as bad as it could've been.
I stayed low to the ground for the next half hour or so while I stopped sweating and tried to comprehend what just happened. Unfortunately, I was unable to go riding because of the new finger injury and you know, that slight fear of, what if I pass out again? Thankfully, everything seems fine now. I chalk it up to having a cold, being on some cold pills, and the idea that I could've lost a lot more than a good chunk of fingernail. Nails grow back, fingers don't. A word to the wise, careful with those rotors.
4/30/11
4/26/11
Easter weekend
My mom flew in from CO late Friday night. My dad had come up earlier in the evening for dinner and then we went to the airport at midnight to pick her up. So Saturday, we hung out for a bit and went downtown Richmond to see where my new place is and get some lunch. There was a convenient parking spot right in front of Bonvenu so we ate there. It was actually pretty good. My dad had the Monte Cristo which smelled delicious with the french toast.
We then headed down to Hampton to my dad's place. Went clothes shopping for Easter holiday deals and I got a bunch of new shirts and a couple shorts for the warming weather. That was sweet. Had dinner at an oyster place that claimed they had a "full bar" but weren't sure how to make a wet martini or have the ingredients for a Mojito. Whatever. The oysters were really good though.
Church Sunday morning was followed by breakfast provided by the church and members who brought in a huge variety of great food. This was soon topped off with lunch at my Uncle's house. Local bar-b-que and other southern goodness. My parents ran off to VA beach for the rest of Sunday and Monday, and sent me pictures from their beach front balcony.
Hope everyone had a good Easter holiday!
We then headed down to Hampton to my dad's place. Went clothes shopping for Easter holiday deals and I got a bunch of new shirts and a couple shorts for the warming weather. That was sweet. Had dinner at an oyster place that claimed they had a "full bar" but weren't sure how to make a wet martini or have the ingredients for a Mojito. Whatever. The oysters were really good though.
Church Sunday morning was followed by breakfast provided by the church and members who brought in a huge variety of great food. This was soon topped off with lunch at my Uncle's house. Local bar-b-que and other southern goodness. My parents ran off to VA beach for the rest of Sunday and Monday, and sent me pictures from their beach front balcony.
Hope everyone had a good Easter holiday!
4/21/11
Softball is dangerous
The "Donators" had their second game last night. I could try and say we were still warming up, or getting the kinks out, but if that were true, pigs would fly. We just aren't that good. A few of us played in high school or as kids, but most of us haven't played until joining the work league. So batting is literally hit or miss even in slow pitch softball. Catching, fielding, and basic play knowledge leaves much to be desired. But we're a spirited bunch and enjoy getting outside.
We have a good time and I know I love the crack of the bat. That zone your brain goes into when the pitcher winds up and releases the ball and you watch it come in, almost in slow motion (really slow motion with slow pitch), as you decide if it's going to be strike and should swing for the fences. I've always been a contact hitter. Never really had the power to knock it out of the park, but could always get a piece of it and run like hell. Good times.
We had a new guy playing shortstop (yes, I know....) who was actually doing pretty well, until I'm not sure what happened, but it looked like he messed up his ankle. He came hopping in from the field and couldn't move it. We got some ice and elevated it, and quickly came to realize it was more than a sprain, strain or tweak. After a visit to the ER, they learned he had ruptured his Achilles tendon. That's the "pop" he kept saying he heard. Yikes! As quick as that, his softball career is over. He's scheduled for surgery next week, which seemed odd to me, but I guess I'm no doctor. Best of luck on the recovery with that
Much less severe or dramatic, sprinting around the outfield and running the bases and then taking over at short stop, has caused my left leg to become angry. First the hamstring was tight and sore, then my quad had enough, which required other muscles to compensate, which led to hip and groin muscle straining. The plan was to go disc golfing and riding on Friday, but since it's going to be raining anyway, I think I'll take a much needed break. Rest up and stretch and recover. It's bad when you have to take R&R from softball. Softball is supposed to BE the R&R. Dangerous.
We have a good time and I know I love the crack of the bat. That zone your brain goes into when the pitcher winds up and releases the ball and you watch it come in, almost in slow motion (really slow motion with slow pitch), as you decide if it's going to be strike and should swing for the fences. I've always been a contact hitter. Never really had the power to knock it out of the park, but could always get a piece of it and run like hell. Good times.
We had a new guy playing shortstop (yes, I know....) who was actually doing pretty well, until I'm not sure what happened, but it looked like he messed up his ankle. He came hopping in from the field and couldn't move it. We got some ice and elevated it, and quickly came to realize it was more than a sprain, strain or tweak. After a visit to the ER, they learned he had ruptured his Achilles tendon. That's the "pop" he kept saying he heard. Yikes! As quick as that, his softball career is over. He's scheduled for surgery next week, which seemed odd to me, but I guess I'm no doctor. Best of luck on the recovery with that
Much less severe or dramatic, sprinting around the outfield and running the bases and then taking over at short stop, has caused my left leg to become angry. First the hamstring was tight and sore, then my quad had enough, which required other muscles to compensate, which led to hip and groin muscle straining. The plan was to go disc golfing and riding on Friday, but since it's going to be raining anyway, I think I'll take a much needed break. Rest up and stretch and recover. It's bad when you have to take R&R from softball. Softball is supposed to BE the R&R. Dangerous.
4/16/11
In 7 short weeks....
I'll be moving to the city. Last year after selling the house, I looked at a bunch of places in the city, but couldn't find anything I liked. As I said before, I have been looking for a place for a little bit since my lease is ending in June. I was starting to get discouraged as I'd seen a few and all were similar to last year. Lacking a washer/dryer, or just being plain dumpy.
So I didn't have high hopes when I went to see a place on Thursday. I made an appointment to see the place at 5:30, so I left work a little early and when I got there I realized, 7 other people had appointments to see the place. I wasn't sure if that was due to efficiency or laziness on the landlords part. I quickly realized it was efficiency luckily.
It's a two bed, one bath place with washer/dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal, cabinet space and the bathroom had a vanity. Unheard of for that price until now. And the kicker, it actually had 2 big closets. The only downside is that it's on the second floor. But since there was a rear entrance to a deck with wide stairs, I thought, I'll take it!
It all went so fast from there. Three people including me gave him applications for the place, and he said he had a few from earlier in the day he needed to look through and he'd call everyone that night. About 3 minutes after I leave on my way home, I get a call, and it's the landlord saying he likes my application best and was wondering if I could get him the security deposit. In the end, I'll be moving there the first week in June.
I'll be 3 miles from work. A very ridable distance, and on a quite street, not the party district, but still walking distance to a bunch of restaurants.
A note on walking... Softball season started for our work league on Wednesday. The got clobbered, no thanks to my flubs in the outfield and them just being a whole lot better than our team. But it was a lot of fun and a really nice night weather wise too. My legs were tired after running around in the outfield, like I knew they would be.
I thought I'd be okay as I'd been mountain biking pretty hard the last couple weeks. I knew I'd be sore, but this was ridiculous. I could hardly walk by Friday. Saturday is still a pain, but getting better. There's another lesson for you. If you don't run for 8 months, and then go out and sprint for 2 hrs like you're in high school, you will pay the price.
So I didn't have high hopes when I went to see a place on Thursday. I made an appointment to see the place at 5:30, so I left work a little early and when I got there I realized, 7 other people had appointments to see the place. I wasn't sure if that was due to efficiency or laziness on the landlords part. I quickly realized it was efficiency luckily.
It's a two bed, one bath place with washer/dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal, cabinet space and the bathroom had a vanity. Unheard of for that price until now. And the kicker, it actually had 2 big closets. The only downside is that it's on the second floor. But since there was a rear entrance to a deck with wide stairs, I thought, I'll take it!
It all went so fast from there. Three people including me gave him applications for the place, and he said he had a few from earlier in the day he needed to look through and he'd call everyone that night. About 3 minutes after I leave on my way home, I get a call, and it's the landlord saying he likes my application best and was wondering if I could get him the security deposit. In the end, I'll be moving there the first week in June.
I'll be 3 miles from work. A very ridable distance, and on a quite street, not the party district, but still walking distance to a bunch of restaurants.
A note on walking... Softball season started for our work league on Wednesday. The got clobbered, no thanks to my flubs in the outfield and them just being a whole lot better than our team. But it was a lot of fun and a really nice night weather wise too. My legs were tired after running around in the outfield, like I knew they would be.
I thought I'd be okay as I'd been mountain biking pretty hard the last couple weeks. I knew I'd be sore, but this was ridiculous. I could hardly walk by Friday. Saturday is still a pain, but getting better. There's another lesson for you. If you don't run for 8 months, and then go out and sprint for 2 hrs like you're in high school, you will pay the price.
4/14/11
Camp chairs
Car camping. One of America's greatest past times. We end up bringing all the comforts of home out into the wild, just off the beaten path. I have a camp chair; one of those folding, cloth seats but decided not to bring it because I told myself I was going to use the hammock instead. The hammock happened to be my boss's which he very kindly lent me to try out as I have been thinking about getting one of my own.
I knew we'd be bringing a lot of stuff, which helped me make the decision to just bring the hammock, as I was going to try and sleep in it and knew we could use it to sit while hanging out. With no tent, and no camping chair I was already saving space, which when looking at the truck after it was loaded was a good thing. Not that my couple pounds was going to make much difference.
With 4 bikes, 4 people, 1 dog and camping gear for 8, we grabbed some breakfast at the local bagel hut (more on that later) and headed out to meet the other 4 in our group. They also had a fair amount of stuff, most of it being food and beverages of the car camping variety: wine, and spirits.
As we got to the site we were planning on using, we realized someone was already there, but luckily the next one was open and it was actually bigger and more suited for 8 anyway. I promptly set up the hammock as the others unloaded and prepared lunch. Lunch was a variety of cheeses and lunch meats with olives and a tomato relish on a baguette (more on that later too). Delicious! Half of us came to ride Braily's Pond trail so we changed and got the bikes ready to roll and were dropped off at the head of the trail. The others got their jackets and hung out around Braily's Pond at the end of the ride.
The ride was great with a variety of ups and downs, rock gardens and even a shoes-and-socks-off-carry-your-bike-through-stream crossing and awesome blazing fast tree weaving descent to the bottom. We then made our way back to the camp site to change and get more food. With the fire going and jackets on, the mid 50's cloudy weather wasn't so bad.
Until it started to rain. Thinking I could save the hammock enjoyment, I brought my tent's rain fly and attempted to rig it up over the hammock. But a tent fly is meant to fit over a tent and let the rain run down the sides and not be a tarp, so as it sagged in places and collected rain water, it did not shed, but dripped through, making utterly useless. Luckily Kirk and brought a big 12x12 real tarp which we set up over a common area we could all huddle under and eat snacks.
At one point a couple people thought they'd brave the hammock and insufficient cover, but unfortunately, the hammock decided it didn't like the conditions it was being subjected to and committed harry carry. Split wide open. There went their sitting, and even more unfortunate, my sleeping, but as it was raining, I wasn't sure about where I was going to sleep anymore anyway.
The fire we had was big and established enough to endure the rain and we eventually were able to cook dinner which consisted of rib-eye steak tacos, veggies, guacamole and chips. During this process, dessert was also being made in the Dutch oven. Fresh baked dessert, you say? Yes, we do car camping right! Super simple and oh so tasty. 1 can chopped pineapple, 1 can cherries, 1 box of yellow cake mix, and a stick of butter. The fruits go on the bottom, then the dry cake mix and then butter on top. Put the lid on and let it sit over some coals for about an hour. Dessert doesn't get any better than that. Well, maybe if the icecream had survived the trip in the cooler, but no such luck. We just had the cobbler and hot cocoa with Rumple Mintz, which Lisa will tell you is "SOOOOOOO good"!
The rain finally tapered off as we were getting ready to turn in for the night. Since someone else brought a hammock for hanging out, they let me use their hammock for sleeping since they were sleeping in a tent. As I tried to fall asleep in the hammock by the fire, my stomach began protesting, but being in a sleeping bag, in a hammock, I put it off know it'd be hard to get out of my set up. I feel asleep, but a couple hours later my stomach couldn't wait any longer and forced me to get up. This is where the bagel and baguette came back to haunt me.
Gluten is no longer my friend. I'd been off the stuff for about 3 weeks and feeling great. Caving to social pressure and pure convenience, I ate the bagel, the sandwich and the cake. This sent me into the woods at 2am, and I'll let you use your imagination from here on out. After that, I was okay and slept through the night minus, the random times water drops from the trees I was under would smack me in the face.
Breakfast went much more smoothly for me. Someone had forgotten the frying pan, but we made do with the dutch oven again. Two packages of bacon, some chicken apple sausagues, and a dozen eggs make for some good eatn'. As we packed up and left around 10am, the sun finally decided to make an appearance, which was nice after the all clouds and rain from the night before.
Another good weekend. Full of food, riding and a couple lessons learned. 1. Hammocks can break. 2. When it's your boss's hammock, replacement should be swift, and very swift it was and much appreciated. 3. No more gluten. 4. Keep toilet paper handy. :-)
I knew we'd be bringing a lot of stuff, which helped me make the decision to just bring the hammock, as I was going to try and sleep in it and knew we could use it to sit while hanging out. With no tent, and no camping chair I was already saving space, which when looking at the truck after it was loaded was a good thing. Not that my couple pounds was going to make much difference.
With 4 bikes, 4 people, 1 dog and camping gear for 8, we grabbed some breakfast at the local bagel hut (more on that later) and headed out to meet the other 4 in our group. They also had a fair amount of stuff, most of it being food and beverages of the car camping variety: wine, and spirits.
As we got to the site we were planning on using, we realized someone was already there, but luckily the next one was open and it was actually bigger and more suited for 8 anyway. I promptly set up the hammock as the others unloaded and prepared lunch. Lunch was a variety of cheeses and lunch meats with olives and a tomato relish on a baguette (more on that later too). Delicious! Half of us came to ride Braily's Pond trail so we changed and got the bikes ready to roll and were dropped off at the head of the trail. The others got their jackets and hung out around Braily's Pond at the end of the ride.
The ride was great with a variety of ups and downs, rock gardens and even a shoes-and-socks-off-carry-your-bike-through-stream crossing and awesome blazing fast tree weaving descent to the bottom. We then made our way back to the camp site to change and get more food. With the fire going and jackets on, the mid 50's cloudy weather wasn't so bad.
Until it started to rain. Thinking I could save the hammock enjoyment, I brought my tent's rain fly and attempted to rig it up over the hammock. But a tent fly is meant to fit over a tent and let the rain run down the sides and not be a tarp, so as it sagged in places and collected rain water, it did not shed, but dripped through, making utterly useless. Luckily Kirk and brought a big 12x12 real tarp which we set up over a common area we could all huddle under and eat snacks.
At one point a couple people thought they'd brave the hammock and insufficient cover, but unfortunately, the hammock decided it didn't like the conditions it was being subjected to and committed harry carry. Split wide open. There went their sitting, and even more unfortunate, my sleeping, but as it was raining, I wasn't sure about where I was going to sleep anymore anyway.
The fire we had was big and established enough to endure the rain and we eventually were able to cook dinner which consisted of rib-eye steak tacos, veggies, guacamole and chips. During this process, dessert was also being made in the Dutch oven. Fresh baked dessert, you say? Yes, we do car camping right! Super simple and oh so tasty. 1 can chopped pineapple, 1 can cherries, 1 box of yellow cake mix, and a stick of butter. The fruits go on the bottom, then the dry cake mix and then butter on top. Put the lid on and let it sit over some coals for about an hour. Dessert doesn't get any better than that. Well, maybe if the icecream had survived the trip in the cooler, but no such luck. We just had the cobbler and hot cocoa with Rumple Mintz, which Lisa will tell you is "SOOOOOOO good"!
The rain finally tapered off as we were getting ready to turn in for the night. Since someone else brought a hammock for hanging out, they let me use their hammock for sleeping since they were sleeping in a tent. As I tried to fall asleep in the hammock by the fire, my stomach began protesting, but being in a sleeping bag, in a hammock, I put it off know it'd be hard to get out of my set up. I feel asleep, but a couple hours later my stomach couldn't wait any longer and forced me to get up. This is where the bagel and baguette came back to haunt me.
Gluten is no longer my friend. I'd been off the stuff for about 3 weeks and feeling great. Caving to social pressure and pure convenience, I ate the bagel, the sandwich and the cake. This sent me into the woods at 2am, and I'll let you use your imagination from here on out. After that, I was okay and slept through the night minus, the random times water drops from the trees I was under would smack me in the face.
Breakfast went much more smoothly for me. Someone had forgotten the frying pan, but we made do with the dutch oven again. Two packages of bacon, some chicken apple sausagues, and a dozen eggs make for some good eatn'. As we packed up and left around 10am, the sun finally decided to make an appearance, which was nice after the all clouds and rain from the night before.
Another good weekend. Full of food, riding and a couple lessons learned. 1. Hammocks can break. 2. When it's your boss's hammock, replacement should be swift, and very swift it was and much appreciated. 3. No more gluten. 4. Keep toilet paper handy. :-)
4/13/11
April showers and flowers
April started off with a bang. Thursday night Kirk, Ted and I drove down to Blacksburg, VA and stayed the night at my friend Chris's place. We got there a little late, and the plan was to get up pretty early in the morning, so we hung out for just a little while before trying to go to sleep. I say trying because the neighbors downstairs were making it quite a challenge with all their loud drinking games and music.
It seemed like the alarm went off just after I had finally gone to sleep. The alarm had been set for 6:30, which would have been fine, if it had been set to the proper time zone instead of Argentinian time, which is an hour ahead of EDT. So it was actually 5:30 and that little fact didn't come to light until well after showers and packing had commenced. Such a shame to waste an hour of precious sleep like that. But we did get to go have some good breakfast with Chris at Gillie's, where Kirk and Chris almost came to blows about when the check came.
My dog Madison had come with us, and was having some GI issues, so I decided against leaving him at Chris's place for the weekend, as I didn't want him messing up Chris's carpet. So Maddog came with us on the rest of our way down to Asheville, NC. To our pleasant surprise, the weather was much nicer than forecasted, which meant there was no rain and very comfortable.
We grabbed lunch and headed to the area we had planned out, only to find the road completely closed. We scrambled around and found another trail so our first ride ended up being a short "warm up" ride with a decent climb and a quick fun downhill return for a total a little more than 3 miles. Maddog stayed by the truck in the shade and almost seemed disappointed at our return and re-entry to the truck. But we drove a little down the road to another area to get a second ride in the for the afternoon.
Ted recently got a new bike, which happens to be a Santa Cruz Heckler, which fit right in with my Santa Cruz Blur LT and Kirk's Santa Cruz Nomad. Naturally we started calling our selves, Team Santa Cruz. When we arrived at the second rides parking lot, we saw another guy pull in with a Santa Cruz Tall Boy and started chatting. He was a local and was more than happy to show us around some fun trails. He was probably in his mid-40's, but it was very obvious he'd been riding a lot and knew what he was doing as he "rode our legs off" as Kirk described it. We would see him quickly disappear into the distance and then catch up when he waited at a fork in the trail. He was kind enough to show us some other fun trails on the map and gave us ideas on where to ride the rest of the weekend.
Sufficiently tired and hungry we went to "Hog Wild" for some NC barbeque and live music. We stuff ourselves silly and then found a campsite to crash. It rained a little early the next morning before we woke up, but luckily not enough to hinder any riding. We did another shorter ride, but it was really fun. Again with a bit of a steep climb at the beginning, but then a long fairly smooth decent with some nice rollers and rocks to get some air off of.
Kirk's friend Becky lives in Asheville, and we made plans to meet up with her for lunch and to hang out for the rest of the day. We went to a unique, but well known place called "The Laughing Seed Cafe" which offers only vegetarian dishes, but they all sounded great, and everything we had was. The coconut torte was also awesome. Kirk, Becky, Maddog and I went on a hike and Ted went for another ride after lunch and we all met up again for dinner. (Noticing a trend here? Food, ride, food, ride, sleep, food, ride. That pretty much encompasses the whole long weekend.)
We then crashed on Becky's floor, and actually slept in! (7am is sleeping in with Kirk in charge). It was amazing. Clean and refreshed we made our way downtown around 8:15am, only to find everything close. Even "The Early Girl" restaurant was still closed. Thankfully, a couple hippie's in Asheville do drag themselves out of bed and open one place, where they actually had a great menu and a very nice selection of different coffees and teas, and a large variety of gluten free options. Asheville was very progressive in their food selections which was nice to see.
Maddog had been feeling better, so we left him at Becky's for the day and again went riding. This was our longest ride and also the best. It was a brutal uphill where I walked most of it and pushed my bike along. It took a little over an hour to get to the top, but once there, it was pure delight. We had a snack, rested up, and then proceeded to flow down the other side of the mountain through rhododendron tunnels, sweet single track turns and burms all the way back to the truck. Well over an hour later we made it back and Ted said it best when he declared he felt like he had gotten a bargain. Meaning for the work we did, the return was so much better. It was fantastic.
Back to Becky's we went to pick up the dog and get some more food. We then parted ways and headed west to see the sun set on Max Patch Bald. This had been predetermined by Kirk, as he'd been there before and felt it was worth doing again, and I'd have to agree. The sun set was awesome, and the stars were amazing. However, the wind was trying to outdo itself. With roughly 40 mph sustained winds, Ted's tent had to be taken down because of the noise, and only our giant duffel bags used as wind-blocks made it bearable.
The next morning, we saw the sun rise, and quickly proceeded down the hill to find quite solace from the wind inside the truck. Our next stop was on the way home, so we headed north, and after finding some more food, made our way back by Roanoke to some new trails.
This was another killer ascent which just about did me in. I was less and less excited about this ascent, as by day 4, my legs weren't responding anymore. I took a bit of a short cut while the more seasoned legs of Ted and Kirk did some more climbing. When we finished this ride, it meant the end of another epic weekend. Excited and exhausted we finished the drive back to Charlottesville were we parted ways and Maddog and I continued on our way back to Richmond.
Thanks to Kirk and Ted for driving and making another unbelievable weekend. Thanks to Chris and Becky for putting us up and showing us great places to eat. Good times all around. Here's a few pictures from the trip. Until the next one.
It seemed like the alarm went off just after I had finally gone to sleep. The alarm had been set for 6:30, which would have been fine, if it had been set to the proper time zone instead of Argentinian time, which is an hour ahead of EDT. So it was actually 5:30 and that little fact didn't come to light until well after showers and packing had commenced. Such a shame to waste an hour of precious sleep like that. But we did get to go have some good breakfast with Chris at Gillie's, where Kirk and Chris almost came to blows about when the check came.
My dog Madison had come with us, and was having some GI issues, so I decided against leaving him at Chris's place for the weekend, as I didn't want him messing up Chris's carpet. So Maddog came with us on the rest of our way down to Asheville, NC. To our pleasant surprise, the weather was much nicer than forecasted, which meant there was no rain and very comfortable.
We grabbed lunch and headed to the area we had planned out, only to find the road completely closed. We scrambled around and found another trail so our first ride ended up being a short "warm up" ride with a decent climb and a quick fun downhill return for a total a little more than 3 miles. Maddog stayed by the truck in the shade and almost seemed disappointed at our return and re-entry to the truck. But we drove a little down the road to another area to get a second ride in the for the afternoon.
Ted recently got a new bike, which happens to be a Santa Cruz Heckler, which fit right in with my Santa Cruz Blur LT and Kirk's Santa Cruz Nomad. Naturally we started calling our selves, Team Santa Cruz. When we arrived at the second rides parking lot, we saw another guy pull in with a Santa Cruz Tall Boy and started chatting. He was a local and was more than happy to show us around some fun trails. He was probably in his mid-40's, but it was very obvious he'd been riding a lot and knew what he was doing as he "rode our legs off" as Kirk described it. We would see him quickly disappear into the distance and then catch up when he waited at a fork in the trail. He was kind enough to show us some other fun trails on the map and gave us ideas on where to ride the rest of the weekend.
Sufficiently tired and hungry we went to "Hog Wild" for some NC barbeque and live music. We stuff ourselves silly and then found a campsite to crash. It rained a little early the next morning before we woke up, but luckily not enough to hinder any riding. We did another shorter ride, but it was really fun. Again with a bit of a steep climb at the beginning, but then a long fairly smooth decent with some nice rollers and rocks to get some air off of.
Kirk's friend Becky lives in Asheville, and we made plans to meet up with her for lunch and to hang out for the rest of the day. We went to a unique, but well known place called "The Laughing Seed Cafe" which offers only vegetarian dishes, but they all sounded great, and everything we had was. The coconut torte was also awesome. Kirk, Becky, Maddog and I went on a hike and Ted went for another ride after lunch and we all met up again for dinner. (Noticing a trend here? Food, ride, food, ride, sleep, food, ride. That pretty much encompasses the whole long weekend.)
We then crashed on Becky's floor, and actually slept in! (7am is sleeping in with Kirk in charge). It was amazing. Clean and refreshed we made our way downtown around 8:15am, only to find everything close. Even "The Early Girl" restaurant was still closed. Thankfully, a couple hippie's in Asheville do drag themselves out of bed and open one place, where they actually had a great menu and a very nice selection of different coffees and teas, and a large variety of gluten free options. Asheville was very progressive in their food selections which was nice to see.
Maddog had been feeling better, so we left him at Becky's for the day and again went riding. This was our longest ride and also the best. It was a brutal uphill where I walked most of it and pushed my bike along. It took a little over an hour to get to the top, but once there, it was pure delight. We had a snack, rested up, and then proceeded to flow down the other side of the mountain through rhododendron tunnels, sweet single track turns and burms all the way back to the truck. Well over an hour later we made it back and Ted said it best when he declared he felt like he had gotten a bargain. Meaning for the work we did, the return was so much better. It was fantastic.
Back to Becky's we went to pick up the dog and get some more food. We then parted ways and headed west to see the sun set on Max Patch Bald. This had been predetermined by Kirk, as he'd been there before and felt it was worth doing again, and I'd have to agree. The sun set was awesome, and the stars were amazing. However, the wind was trying to outdo itself. With roughly 40 mph sustained winds, Ted's tent had to be taken down because of the noise, and only our giant duffel bags used as wind-blocks made it bearable. 
This was another killer ascent which just about did me in. I was less and less excited about this ascent, as by day 4, my legs weren't responding anymore. I took a bit of a short cut while the more seasoned legs of Ted and Kirk did some more climbing. When we finished this ride, it meant the end of another epic weekend. Excited and exhausted we finished the drive back to Charlottesville were we parted ways and Maddog and I continued on our way back to Richmond.
Thanks to Kirk and Ted for driving and making another unbelievable weekend. Thanks to Chris and Becky for putting us up and showing us great places to eat. Good times all around. Here's a few pictures from the trip. Until the next one.
4/7/11
A new home
As my Mobile Me account has now expired, I will try and continue my infrequent "blogging" on this site. I need to move my pictures from my old site to Picasa and find a site to host my climbing and random videos. Youtube is an option but they don't like it if you have a song in the background of your video, so I'm still looking for a viable place to put those. Any suggestions are welcome.
As spring comes around, it's time to think about renewing my lease at my current place or find a new one. I had decided to move, but now as I look around at places in the city, I am having second thoughts. I'd like to find a place where I don't have to climb 3 flights to let the dog in and out like my current apt. And I think it'd be really nice to be able to bike to work, especially with gas prices going the way they are.
So I got on craigslist and every other apartment hunting site you can think of to find a 2 bd, 1 bath, ground floor place with a washer/dryer in my price range, which admittedly, is on the low side when you're talking about the city. It's quite hard to find a place with, what I would call basic amenities. I either have to move farther away than I'd like for biking, or do without something. Decisions, decisions.
I'll try and have a little write up of my past few weekends as they have been awesome. Maybe a little too awesome, as I need to cut down on some spending to make it through the rest of April. It was well worth it though. Good times with good friends and great memories.
As spring comes around, it's time to think about renewing my lease at my current place or find a new one. I had decided to move, but now as I look around at places in the city, I am having second thoughts. I'd like to find a place where I don't have to climb 3 flights to let the dog in and out like my current apt. And I think it'd be really nice to be able to bike to work, especially with gas prices going the way they are.
So I got on craigslist and every other apartment hunting site you can think of to find a 2 bd, 1 bath, ground floor place with a washer/dryer in my price range, which admittedly, is on the low side when you're talking about the city. It's quite hard to find a place with, what I would call basic amenities. I either have to move farther away than I'd like for biking, or do without something. Decisions, decisions.
I'll try and have a little write up of my past few weekends as they have been awesome. Maybe a little too awesome, as I need to cut down on some spending to make it through the rest of April. It was well worth it though. Good times with good friends and great memories.
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