More Of The Same

Work is picking up with the change in weather and people are finally getting off their wallets and having some landscaping done around their houses. Of course now we barely have time for any extra work. 

The boys have their last baseball game today which is a relief. I've noticed a steady decline in enthusiasm from the kids at practice. Amy has been looking for other activities to get them into. I told her to involve them in anything that "She" can coach and take them to. 

Riding has been limited but will start to return to normal frequency after this weekend.

Home Again

Made it home safe and sound. I think we did it in record time for us, 8 hours. Spent the day napping and building a skateboard ramp. I'm already missing our friends and the prospect of just getting up and going for a ride like we did there. The trails in Georgia are amazing and I plan to try and sneak up there to ride every chance I get. I emailed one of my riding friends and I may try to maneuver another long weekend and snag a race up there, but it's all speculation at this point. Thanks again to our friends in Georgia for putting up with us and taking time out of their lives to show us a good time. We had a Blast!

Georgia Riding Part 5

Unfortunately our last day of riding. Rain cancels our part 6 and ends our vacation. Part 5 took place at Blankets Creek. This is a local trail that is highly maintained and has a little of everything. Many climbs and descents and a fair amount of technical sections and rock gardens. We rode the South Loop first and then took the entire family on Dwelling. Dwelling is a little easier and allowed the boys to ride with a minimal amount of walking. We all had a great time!

The riding alone was well worth the trip to Georgia, but we also got to spend time with our friends who we never see enough of. We are sad to have to go home and go back to work. I am happy though that I have a good start in my training for this season.

Georgia Riding Part 4

We braved the cold yesterday and rode Pinhoti. Man, it was beautiful. The trail was great and the scenery was dramatic. The portion we rode was an out and back that was basically a continual bench cut along the edge of a mountain. They were plenty of steep climbs as well as some fast and exciting downhills. Word of caution: Ravens are NOT the optimal tire for this trail when it is wet and snowy. I did enjoy the ride but had to be a lot more cautious due to lack of traction. Had I switched to the Crossmarks that I brought for back-up, it would have been a different story. For best results in those conditions, something even more aggressive would be preferred. Overall, excellent ride, excellent experience, and definitely a do-over!

On a side note, this flat land Florida boy continues to school the native Georgians on how to climb! All that training with my Cycle Haus team is paying off!

Georgia Riding Part 3

No riding today. Too cold to get my butt out on a bike. These are photos of actually snow flurries outside of my friends house.

Instead of riding we went to the movies and did some shopping at stores like REI which we don't have at home. We also took the kids bowling. Still enjoying the time here and we will be riding tomorrow regardless of the temperature. We are going to ride Pinhoti in the morning, then maybe a local trail in the afternoon.

Georgia Riding Part 2

Completed a ride at Fort Yargo State Park on Monday. The weather was cold and blustery but we layered up and hit the trail anyway. What an awesome trail system. It was a 13 mile loop on my computer with a good mix of climbs and downhills. Nothing too technical, but fun and fast. They have added a new section called Monster Mile. It is an uphill mile that takes the place of the straight gas line climb. This alternate mile twists and turns through single track and has several large g-outs. After that was a section called horseshoe drop which was a massive 20 ft. g-out that was steep and slick. After you completed on side of the "shoe", you turned 180 degrees and completed the other side, same type of drop. I examined the drops for several minutes then chickened out. Had I seen someone do it first I may have ridden it, but I couldn't be the first rider and no one else wanted to try. Good stuff anyway!

Georgia Riding Part 1

Yesterday we rode Big Creek. They have a large freeride area where we spent all of our time. We went for the boys and they did not disappoint the local riders. Several mini airs and the adult riders were cheering them on. That quickly fueled the boys to try bigger and bigger jumps. About ten runs is all it took to exhaust them due to the long push back up the mountain between runs. It was just too steep for them to ride up.

Today we hit Bull Mountain. We rode about 12 miles but it took us an hour and a half. It was basically 6 miles of uphill. The pay-off was well worth it with 6 miles of screaming downhill. Some of the downhill was single track but the really fast areas were jeep road. This allowed us to let gravity take over with a greater margin of error.

More riding and updates as the week goes on.

Another Riding Vacation

Off we go to Georgia this afternoon. I'm very excited and hope to ride about 4 to 5 different trails this weekend. Places on the potential ride list include but are not limited to Pinhoti, Yargo, Blankets, Bull Mountain. I'm hoping to get in as many as time and weather allows. 

This will be the start of a new training regime. My Friend Kevin has offered to start helping with my training. I think posting the picture of him is what pushed him over the edge. That and the sad look I put on my face every time I see him. I think it should be a good inspiration for me because Kevin usually mixes the right amount of harassment with riding tips. I look forward to making some progress.