Unfortuntately, last night was more active than usual at the Stevenson household. Arwen was up most of the night sick, having to go outside. I had planned to go ride with Erich today on the road, but knowing his intentions for the ride, and realizing my relative lack of sleep, I opted out. Instead, I was lazy for the day. One good thing though, was that I was home to receive a package from the friendly neighborhood FedEx man... In said package was piece of the puzzle number 2.
I just received word about two weeks ago with my sponsorship with Kenda. I received the sign up kit and all the information about purchasing. All the info was for the '09 season, which did not include any tubular tires. Yesterday, Lisa and I were at Borders hanging out reading some magazines, when lo and behold, I see an ad for Kenda. They were showing off their brand new line up of tubular tires...crap, I knew these Continentals were already on the way...meh. When I put in my first order next month for the 2010 tires, I'll be sure to pick up a set of theirs!
Five of us decided to man up tonight and brave the cold. I rolled into the parking lot unfashionably late and saw a Subaru with a crowd stationed at the back. Interesting. What could be amiss? It was none other than CLM member Mitch and wife Amy and new honorary four-legged CLM member, Fletcher! Poor Fletcher reminded me of Lorien...shivering in the cold.
After the excitement of the canine variety, Erich, Chancey, Sirena, Kristin, and myself took off in the reverse direction. When we got to the West End, we decided to head up Summit. Mmm, Summit. Around the block, and Erich and I decided to hit up Brookstown. On the cruise back around West End Boulevard, Erich drop kicked a raccoon that was trying to throw sticks in our spokes. Erich's move was Matrix-esque...amazing! We regrouped at Mock Orange where I snapped these photos:
Kristin having immense amounts of fun!
No, I'm not checking the pits for stench, covering the lamphead. Erich....who knows?
We finished up the ride through Reynolda Village, Polo, and Peace Haven. With temps in the mid to upper twenties, the requisite warming of the toes in front of the fire:
Much fun was had by all on todays ride. Scott, Chancey, Sirena, Rob and myself were all up for a little fast paced fun. This ride did not let us down. About 35 miles with an 18mph average with about 2k feet of climbing.
Sirena lounging out front, Chancey missing the good ol' days of hanging out at the shop, and Scott always working at something
Much fun today in the chill. We ran the city loop and took the long hill in the West End. The pace felt pretty quick, especially since Scott told me I would have to keep things under control if anyone else showed up. There was more than one time I was struggling to maintain my composure on a climb behind Scott. And, no, it wasn't because of the view...
Oh, and I've been working on the blue steel, what say you?
I tried my hand in the kitchen for Christmas Eve, and the results were actually pretty decent. I had bought a nice big Turkey breast along with the normal Thanksgiving-y types of sides.
Snowing like a banshee here. I've already got about 6 inches, and it shows no signs of letting up. I desperately wish that I had the camera! I envision a day of fun for tomorrow!
I'm not entirely sure what I will be up to this weekend, but I can guarantee it will be something outdoors (hopefully) in the snow! Looks like it's supposed to start as a mix tomorrow afternoon, and taper to all snow tomorrow evening...Fun! Now the decision stands..ride or hike?
Was able to salvage photos from my camera. Halfway through the ride, the camera just stopped working, so it'll be sent back via the geek squad. So, do not expect photos for a couple of weeks :(
Excellent day in the saddle, 29 miles, 7800ft of climbing (sounds high). Curtis and I met up at the now defunct shop and headed towards the mountains. We had been planning/wanting to do this ride now for a while. This would be two firsts for Curtis, first ride of Heartbreak and first ride on the new bike. The whole ride out to Old Fort was rainy, cold, and foggy. I think both of us were kind of dreading starting in the rain, especially since it was probably in the mid thirties. Once we got to Curtis Creek, we got changed, and after shivering frantically started up Curtis Creek Road. Once we gained about 1000 feet of elevation we were above the fog and were greeted with some spectacular views. After the nine mile sufferfest that is Curtis Creek we were greeted with an unexpected misery. Wind. Crazy wind. The Blue Ridge Parkway was apparently closed off to cars. The winds up there were unbeleiveable. There were a handful of times where we had to get off the bike to keep ourselves upright. I was actually pushed off the road at one point by a crosswind. Normally the ride on the parkway between CC and Heartbreak is a quick and (relatively) painless five miles. That five miles, though, probably took us nearly 45 minutes. We stopped off at a couple of the overlooks for the obligatory pose off and snack break.
After the hike-a-bike up to the top of Heartbreak Ridge, it was time for the pay off for all of the climbing. DESCENT. Down Heartbreak all the way to Star Gap, down Star Gap to Jarrets Creek Road. This ride has the ability to lull you into thinking that all the work is done once at the top of Heartbreak. There is still quite a bit of climbing to be had on JCR after star gap. This is one of those rides though that has you jonesing for more instantly afterwards. Post ride poses
Myself along with some of the other Mafia members made our way to Tanglewood this afternoon to watch CLM members Chancey and Sirena race. Both did very well, Sirena was doing extremely well until a crash and dropped chain had her fall back a couple of spots.
Chancey looked like he was having a ton of fun while he was out there, at the end though, I snapped this photo
The pro race was excellent, Travis Livermon was able to pull off a victory by about 30 seconds...he was tearing it up. Alex did well too, especially considering he had two flats. A few of Travis and the field:
In the CX4 Race, CLM friend Kristin was racing and having a blast. He was rocking some beer in his jersey. He tried to do a hand off to Sirena, but ended up paying for it...
Dude is awesome, he handed off a beer to one of the other racers, but the dude handed it back. I wonder what the other guy thought?
So I knew that snow was coming, maybe. When I woke up here in the foothills it was raining, and didn't look like it was going to let up. Hmm, pack up the truck with Arwen and head to Mount Rogers for a hike in the cold? Um, yes!
12 degrees...ouch. Plus with the wind, that you can hear in the video below, made for a frigid hike.
We started off up the AT towards Mount Rogers, but the wind was howling. If you've never been to this area, for the most part, above 4500 feet near Mt. Rogers, there are very little unexposed places. Most of the area is kept in check by the grazing ponies. It gets crazy windy up here because of the exposure. I felt bad for Arwen because she kept leaning into the wind and shaking her head. I think it may have been burning her eyes. So we turned around and headed down into the woods (respite from the wind) and decided on the Elk Garden trail. Down the Elk Garden trail for a while, double back and onto the AT again, just in the opposite direction. After hiking here for a little while, we turned back towards the truck. I dropped her off at the truck because I wanted to go up in elevation some more. The wind was crazy, some parts of the trail were nearly bare of snow, but some were knee deep from the drifts. I only saw one other out today, he was much like myself...well bundled. I figured that I wouldn't see a soul, so that was pretty cool! I snapped this picture of the only other hiker I saw today.
Self-Portrait, enjoying the snow.
I'll have some more photos to upload, I may even make a slideshow, but for now, I'm gonna go get a shower and some coffee, hooray!
Well, sorry for the slow blogging as of late. I was in Ohio for the holiday weekend relaxing with the in-laws. We had a bit of the white stuff while I was there. It was kind of nice as a change of pace to get to see some snow. I wasn't able to take the bike along, so I made do with a run around the neighborhood with Lisa one morning. Tonight, while shaving, I made a rookie mistake...too fast around the ankles, gotta watch the bony parts!
