26 March 2013

Raced the Love Valley Roubaix on Sunday. Billed as 50 miles of sexy. I love how Blue Mountain Revival Productions comes up with these tag lines.


Drove up Saturday, though, so I could spend some time at the Museum of Mountain Bike Art and Technology (MOMBAT), which rocked the house.







Love this Scorcher. Made it easy to pick my favorite from amongst all the bling.






After the museum I drove out to the venue just to get a look. Very unique, to say the least.


Then after dinner and a quick walk around downtown, it was back to the motel for some quality time with the bike.




The next morning the promised weather came through. Mid 30s and raining. Perfect day for a bike race. Needless to say I didn't take many pics. Too bundled up to reach the camera, which would have gotten as sodden as the rest of me anyhow. A highlight was coming down from the first big climb in freezing rain. That shit HURTS!. And less than 100ft of visibility up there in the clouds as well.




The only pic I've found so far....


The gravel was very soft. Tough conditions. About 45% of the field DNFed on the day. I finished 14th, 50 minutes off the front. The biggest gap in front of me was 8 minutes, while the next guy was 45 minutes behind me. I'll take it.




Post-ride laundry. Washed it all twice.

22 March 2013

Yesterday I finally passed 500 miles on the fix and can put it away for a while. Damn I love that bike. I don't really want to put it away, but its time to break out the gears and start pushing something bigger. Hopefully.



In other news, Holle and I went for a picnic ride last weekend. Good fun! As always!



What a babe....

8 March 2013

Been a little bit lax this week. I finished putting together the CRAP200 permanent I've been planning that I can ride from the house. Last weekend I made sure it was all rideable. I did about 100 miles on Saturday and went out and finished it off with another 25 on Sunday to find a lunch stop. The outer part, pictured here, includes dirt road, no road, the RR trestle, several neat historic sites, a burned out church, a nuclear plant(!), and most of the climbing.

This is when I first started questioning my bike choice. I had picked the one with the 23mm tires on it.



I'll need to give a heads up on this bridge.

Worth it though.



This will be an interesting section.





Here I'm looking back.





The grand canyon of South Carolina. A totally cool cut they've made for the RR. Deeper than it looks.



The Old Brick Church (1788). As you might imagine I went a little nuts here.













Control #3 near the Nuke. A nasty little spot. But there's nothing else around.



The trestle across the Broad River. This is the half way point. About 62 miles.



Another church (St. John's Lutheran, 1809. Lots of Lutheran churches in this area. There's a reason its called the Dutch Fork.



Donkeys looking picturesque. They need hats for the full effect.



Another Lutheran church. Burned out. Wow. Like Europe after WW2. It was built ca. 1940, but still a shame to see.





And last but not least, an abandoned cemetery that I've have missed completely in the growing season



After that I followed the already planned route back into Columbia. I've been tweaking things, and hopefully next time I do it I'll do the whole thing.

15 February

Spent last week in NH, which was nice, but the circumstances sucked. Mom had fallen a few times lately and wound up needing surgery, which was a week ago last Wednesday. Bill went up for support, but had to leave on Saturday, which was the same day they put mom in a nursing home. I arrived Monday. Mom was so weak she couldn't walk, couldn't stand, couldn't get around in a wheel chair, couldn't do anything. Over the rest of the week there was no improvement. I'm worried, but I got to spend some real quality time with her.

But, making the best of things, I stayed at Tim's place on Goose Pond and worked when I wasn't with mom. It was rough. And then the biggest blizzard since 78 blew in, closing Massachusetts and Connecticut just as I was heading home. Wound up spending an unplanned night in Keene before cutting across Vermont on Rte 9 to NY and points south. Got home Sunday.

The home away from home office









The view





It was pretty rough.









Also got a chance to visit Mug, and found a whirligig store: Steve's pet store in Leb sold me a cat on a bike. Awesome.



And a lake check. Nice ice fishermen.











And ye olde house check. Damn.



Started snowing my last day there







The next morning in Keene-- 18" -- then across VT. Breezy, but the roads were fine





View from Hogback Mtn



And smooth sailing from there. Sunset in PA



Coming off Fancy Gap VA/NC



And the car post-road trip.