Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Louisiana Hot Sauce






Here are some random pictures. The bike ones are from the Fontana SERC race this past sunday. The one of Andy is showing the five stitches he received after a friendly game of bike polo.

Friday, May 26, 2006

1995-2005

i'm listening to phish and les claypool singing gin and juice. its a different version than the one popularly known as "dave matthews and john popper." which i heard is actually phish and the o.a.r. guys. but who knows.

i've been re-arranging my place since matt sand is moving in. i moved my stuff into what was my living room. so i have a couch a bed a dresser a two bike stand a workbench a coffee table and clothes in piles in this room.

well i think you're crazy, or at least gnarls barkley does...

i rode up on sugar mountain the other evening. daniel sapp and i did two shuttle runs on it. we drove up to "3/4" a spot about 3/4 up the mountain, then pushed up to the tip top: 5300 feet elevation. the entire run is about a 1200 foot drop. pretty sweet. from there we rode the newly made DH course that runs parallel to the left side of the ski slope, then at the end, cuts across and lines up for a monster table top jump. i did two runs on it. the second one i just started at the 3/4 height. it was too dark and i was too tired to push up the last bit. i feel like i can maybe podium at the race in a few weeks. i want to get a few more practice runs in, and borrow a set of 26" wheels, and well, see how it goes.

so since i've last written anything on here, i've ridden a bunch. i am mostly riding road, but did a great 4 hour ride in the pisgah forest this past sunday. i took a tough fall right at the start, none of the damn log crossings have anything piled on the far side, and i keep digging chainrings into the logs and eating dirt. oh well.

i'm still loving work. its really easy going with my boss. he rode on the four hour ride in the forest the other day. and last week he took me on a semi- mountain bike ride in town. showed me some neat-o singletrack. and he still makes us leave early on days that we ride. oh, and our shop is really into bike polo: www.boonebike.com/gallery check out the carnage!! the world champion bicycle polo player is coming to town on monday, they want me to play but i have retired. my wrists hurt all week after playing. okay, i admit, i'm a softie. oh well.

so its a friday night at 10:00pm. i'm sitting on my couch. well, at least i have a couch. i would like to be out somewhere, but going alone seems to suck more than sitting at home. so at home i sit. i am talking to my dad on AIM. that's sort of cool. i'm glad they got online so we can keep in touch. yep. i have a friend coming up next week. i guess she'll be coming to town saturday sometime. then leaving late sunday or early monday. it will be good to see someone from home. yep.

going to fontana village tomorrow after work. the SERC #6 event. it should be fun. i raced there back in february at the icycle race. it was raining and snowing on us though. i thought i had frostbite after we finished. i got 18th of like 35 people or so, maybe i can get top ten. that is sort of a goal of mine i guess. my real goal for every serc is to finish in the top half of the field. i pulled it off at dauset. and hopefully can this weekend. i should be able to partake in all the following serc races, and maybe finish top 20 or so for the series. i'd like to do better next year, but for my first year racing, i'm okay with it. plus i'm getting faster and fitter is that a word every day up here in the high country. i'm hoping to kick some columbus ass in august at the flat rock race. it would be cool to do well at a course i helped build. i can't wait for the race to come to town and people see that mountain biking and cycling in general is such a good thing. at least hopefully a few people will see that.

so i've been back and forth on asking this girl out, like to dinner. i've hinted at maybe hanging out after a bike ride sometime or something, and we did the other day with a group of five or so. it was fun. i just don't want to get completely turned down or laughed at or anything. i feel like i did in high school. hahaha. what a loser!!! i was thinking about going to her work, a coffee shop/bakery that i go to every day anyways, and getting my usual coffee and bread, and leaving a rose or something for her. i dont know if i should be so direct though. oh well. any suggestions??

give up?? yeah thats what i was thinking.

alright, i'll stop typing in case anyone is reading this and is tired of reading it but continued because you thought at some point it might get interesting or good or both but well no nope youre wrong it was boring the whole time so thats it for now email me if you want to know more or less even if you want to know less then just tell me i'm up for suggestions. later!!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

packing list enclosed

so whats it going to be then eh?

i've detemined the road to becoming a great cyclist is moving to a town where you have no friends. and once you get there, managing to not make friends is also key. this way you can continue to ride your bike after work. when you don't have anything to look forward to except sitting in your apartment or the occassional rented dvd from grapevine, you can really push yourself on the bike, staying out longer and doing tougher routes. its pretty easy to go do a two hour ride, go home shower, eat something, and then think about how much better of a cyclist you are since you don't have anything to do.

i also believe the key involves not meeting girls. and as good as i am at not meeting girls, i should become a great cyclist very soon.

i'm loving boone.

in case you didnt notice, that rhymed.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

tabletop charcoal grill

so i've been a slacker and not posted anything. oh well.

i have gotten much more used to boone and the people here. i'm definitely glad i moved, i'm just wishing i would have gotten here earlier in the year, when people were still around. all the students (pretty much) have gone home so i'm left to sit at a random bar on my own, or the coffee shop, which is currently closing early since everyone is gone, or sit at home and well, stare at the wall. or ceiling. or tabletop charcoal grill. but its all good. i'm riding a lot now. i've been putting in 8-12 hours weeks each week on the bike. i'm feeling fit, i'm climbing a little bit better, and i did better at my most recent race.

i went down to georgia to visit friday night, raced sunday and came home sunday night. i really enjoyed seeing my parents. and i got in a short ride at flat rock park. and hung out with frank and jimbo. it was a good time. sunday i raced at the dauset trails near macon, ga. i am currently racing sport category, and got 14th of 34 sunday. i was happy with that. my goal for this season is to finish in the top half of the field. i've had a couple events that i liked. a few more though i was unhappy with. but its not too bad.

so since my last post... the following sunday i rode 86 miles around boone. we went down the parkway (blue ridge), then up a really flat road (at about 25mph, dual pace line...), then the group split. about 20 people went the 11 miles back to boone. 6 of us went for another 40 miles. it was a long day, much colder than the week before, but a very good long ride. it was probably another 7000 feet of climbing type of day.

the following sunday i rode my mountain bike for 4 hours in wilkesboro. its just off the mountain. i got close to 30 miles in. i was going for a long ride with that one, and it fit the bill. i was sort of slow, but my heart rate was good. so thats all that matters to me. although it did sound good the following week when people asked "what'd you do sunday?" they'd say "oh we rode 30 or 40 miles. how bout you?" i'd say "oh, well i only rode 30 miles... on my mountain bike." that felt good to say.

then the following weekend was the georgia race. other than the weekends, i've been riding tuesday nights, some wednesdays, and most thursdays. i've ridden a little bit on fridays (my day off) but not every week. monday night is bike polo night. that is a blast. we're ordering custom bike polo mallets soon, from the world champion bike polo guys at brookwood bicycle polo company. check them out!!

aside from the riding... i've been meeting more people, they're all cyclists though, i'm still trying to get out of the bubble. there are a few cute ones though, but they're super fast. we have a few national champions living in boone. the college team is at nationals right now!! but i think i'm going to try bouldering, like rock climbing but lower, for a crossover sport. i think it looks fun, and i am certain i can meet some different people through it. plus i can get some stronger arms. should be nice.

well, i don't have much else to say, well, actually one more thing... NORBA NATIONALS. my boss told me today i can have that saturday off work... so i'll be racing sport DH and sport XC at the NORBA NATIONALS. did i mention NORBA NATIONALS??? sorry, i'm just actually excited about something and well, there it is. NORBA NATIONALS!! okay, thats all.