Really...it's been 6 weeks since I put stuff on here?

Micah, Russ and I went to DoPont yesterday. We rode about 25 miles and left feeling satisfied. Ridgeline may be the funnest trail around.

Drum Roll Please....

This past weekend I raced at Bike Butler in Carrolton, KY. It was the 16 th(?) annual International Clydesdale Championship. I managed to get a win on a hilly, curvy, tight and technical course. It was fitting that I rode at Concord last week. The Bike Butler course reminded me a lot of Concord. The hills are a little bigger and the course is not quite as tight as Concord but Concord was definately good race prep.


This is me with Troy Hearn. Troy won last year and finished 2nd this year. Troy has a nice shop in Frankfort, Ky, Capitol City Cycles.

The win was worth $.50 per pound. That netted me $110.00 for the win. If you look at the bottom of the top picture you can spot the scales and no I didn't ride that bike next to me.

Last night Ginger and I rode up to upper Campbell Co. to Hatfield Knob. It was our first trip to the elk viewing tower. There are 2 or 3 large information boards telling about the elk release program and about other local fauna.









There were two very large bulls but they never got close enough to get a really good shot of.







It's a pretty cool place. I think it ended up being about 40 miles from the house. The last 7 or 8 miles are gravel and a little rough although the Element did just fine.
clipper

Does TBRA care about MTB?

This picture is from 2 1/2 weeks ago. The Raccoon Mtn. race results are still not up. SERC who promoted the race posted their results the day after the race. Just for kicks, I checked the road race held Sunday. The results are up already. That just tells me TBRA really doesn't care about MTB racing.

Another example is that all state champions are listed on the club sites. However, only road race champions are listed, no MTB state champions are mentioned. Maybe it's time to consider something other than TBRA for MTB races...

On another subject, still no work. I have several resumes out there but everyone seems to be waiting to do any hiring. If you have had the opportunity to deal with unemployment you know what a fiasco that is. You can't get a person on the phone. When you get a recording it might tell you to call another recording. I understand there are a lot of people out of work but hell...I made the mistake of mis-entering my pin # to report in for benefits. Now I can't get it reset. Run around city.

I have done a lot of riding since I have not been working. I calculated that I rode 160 miles all off froad in a 2 week span. Rides include Big South Fork (twice), Raccoon Mtn. (twice) Dupont, Dirty South, Haw Ridge...

Lu Lu the wonder dog

We just got thru burying Lu Lu this afternoon. She was 13 years old and I think her body just gave out on her. She had been laying around for the last week or two and not much interested in going outside or food.

She lived a good life. When she first became a member of the family she was a tiny, mangy ugly puppy. We nursed to back to health and cured her mange. I really think she led a charmed life. She turned into the least aggressive dog I've ever seen. All the kids came over and we had a good cry but I know she doesn't hurt anymore.

R I F

R I F...Reading is fundamental? No, R I F in this case means "reduction in force". Last Thursday I got notice that I was being laid off. I can't say that was completely unexpected but I wasn't looking for it now.

For those that don't know, I am a salesman. I sold building supplies to the manufactured housing industry, primarily to Clayton Homes. Since Clayton is the 800 lb. gorilla of the MH industry I thought I might be safe. The big problem is that when I started in the MH industry 10 years ago, there were 430,000 houses built. This year predictions are for around 50,000 houses. No matter how much you increase what you are selling it's hard to make up that volumn.

Maybe I have learned my lesson as far as MH is concerned. This is the 4th layoff in 10 years. Fortunately my customers have been very active in finding me work in the MH industry every time I've been looking.

After getting word Thursday, I set up an interview Friday morning. I think it went well. They don't intend to fill the position until after the 4th of July. When I got home I got another lead on a job out of Tazewell, TN.

At this point I intend to work on fitness and get lots of riding in. There are many big rides I want to do. A big loop at Big South Fork, road ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, explore Pisgah, Tanasi and Chilhowee and Cherokee national Forest are some places I want to know more about and explore.

On a different note, I raced at Defeated Creek Sunday. If you have never been, it is a great track. A loop is about 9.25 miles. You gradually climb a big ridge and then have a big time fun 2 mile downhill to the finish. I won but by only 6 seconds. A close race makes it much more fun. The guy who finished 2nd is the same guy I've been beating by 5 or 10 minutes on other races. He said he had lost some weight and has been training pretty hard. Nobody drug checked him though. Anyway, I was happy for him and happy to have someone else to push me.

061009 misc

Sunday Ginger and I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Cherokee to Pisgah Mtn. It was the first time I have driven that section in a long time. I really want to do a bike ride on it now!

More Dirty South...Last night we did our regular Dirty South. There were around 20 or so people riding. About 1/2 way around Hastie we split into two groups. I didn't realize it but both groups had the same idea. We did a GA Marble tour including the hole in the wall.

Here we are behind the wall.


Here is Jon checking out the 80 vertical drop from the top of the wall.


I've been to Big South Fork twice in the last couple of weeks. Saturday 4 of us went up and helped the park service and Joe Cross haul lumber into the trail to build a new bridge with. Rob, Kyle, Carelton and I worked about 5 hours until we were too sore to do it any more. So then we went riding.



Friday night we rode grand Gap and Sat evening we rode Collier Ridge and W Bandy.
This is a sign from Collier Ridge Advanced Trail. It will be part of the XC race course July 12.