Pisgah/Dupont adventure continued

Beautiful Dupont senery

ED kicking it on the top of Big Rock Candy Mountain!

Crazy enough to see an airstrip in the middle of the woods, but the basketball
goal put it over the top. If there was a ball I would have worked on my free throws.

The camera did a nice job of capturing the beginnings of our

beer induced haze that started at the Asheville Brew n' View.

We are going to use this for when we promo our Beastie Boys

cover band- WIKI, WIKI, WIKI, WIKI!

Sunrise from the back porch of team headquarters on

Tuesday morning before heading back to K-town. ED

got to stay and ride one more day and did the super tour

of Bent Creek. Maybe he took some photos...........

Day 2 of Secret Training

Day two started with my famous blueberry pancakes and bacon for the crowd. Lots o' coffee, lots o' looking at the maps and thinking of what to do. It sure is nice to go ride and not have to have any concept or concern for time. We decided that a super tour of Dupont was in order, so off we went, down to four but optimistic about the day. The weather turned out awesome- at least 10, maybe 15 degrees warmer than the day before and the trails were fantastic. My sidekick and WNC super-stud, Larry took us on the perfect loop of what Dupont has to offer.

"The beer is over there!"

Starting to get behind...

because of all the riding!!! Last weekend Team Ed Racing c/o the Zoo went staight to the heart of all that is good in Western NC for some super-secret training. Sunday morning we woke up to snow on the ground after 60 degree temps on Saturday. Loaded up, ate at the Barrel, and rolled down 40. Once into the mountains the snow started and got hard enough that driving was getting interesting. We pushed on and by the time we got to the Waynesville exit not only was the snow over, it looked as if it didn't even make it over the mountains the night before. Cold temps but lots and lots of sunshine. Parked at North Mills and did the super tour of the Trace Ridge area. Some familiar faces on the trail along with some not seen or seldom seen (in the woods on a mountain bike) made for lots of laughs and a most excellent ride.

After riding we checked into the Team Ed secret training facilities (Bent Creek Lodge) then went and killed the hell out of some Papas and Beer. Back to the cabin more beer, movies, hot tub and sleep to prepare for day two.......

Busy at work

We were very busy at work testing a new TT helmet, trying to eek out any advantages that not riding enough might overcome. I'm figuring that this thing has got to be good for a few minutes at Cohutta.

Larry, my work sidekick and uber-teammate at Team Ed Racing is displaying a different use for the helmet, possibly as an extra in the next Star Wars movie.

We will be busy with "real" work again soon enough but for now the testing continues......

Real riding VS. The Trainer

I am ashamed to admit to having ridden the trainer twice already in 2009. That's two more times than the last five years put together. Not yesterday though-lots o' coffee meets the right cycling apparel meets a true hatred for trainers. BTW, Ed has already logged 1000 miles on Rich Mtn. road this year cause he is doing these crazy long SS rides all the time. He tells me his camera will soon have an SD card, so you all better be ready!

More on Friday Night....

Friday the 13th was the Townsend, Cades Cove, Rich Mtn. Road night ride which seemed like a good idea given the warmish February weather and no obligations for the evening. For the pre-game preparations I thought I would replace the two year old tube in the indy fab's seatbag while at work. Well, when I got up there to start the ride you know where the tubes were.

The counter at work is not a good place for tubes if you are going for a ride. I thought what is worst that could happen- I end up night hiking instead of riding. I took the patch kits that were in the gear bag and went on my merry way. Townsend greenway is well lit and the perfect warm-up-flat and cruising. The road up to Cades Cove is awesome at night- no cars. The loop is beautiful at night even without any moon and lots of critters out and about. I was thinking the chances of flatting were low until maybe Rich Mtn. when the gravel and dirt starts and so far so good. Climbing out of the cove with a 2:1 ratio is good cause it gets the climbing over quicker, and down the other side it was all good, then down the nasty broken pavement descent and I'm home free. Except that right at the bottom of the hill the front went flat!! I thought I'm close enough to ride the pavement out with it flat and not worrying about fixing this as it is getting colder and it's nice smooth pavement out to the highway. Luckily, I kept the steering to a minimum and the Michelin cross tire fits tight enough to not peel off the rim. The only problem was is that I was riding so slow and carefully I was freezing by the time I got to the car. Somehow no damage to the rim and even better no damage to the tire! Good times.

Friday Night Lights

Did some Townsend to Cades Cove out Rich Mtn. last night after work. Super bitchin'.

Coolest bike? ever

Was looking at a bicycling magazine this morning at work and was reading about Austin, TX bike rides or something and noticed that one of the shops was Austin Bike Zoo, so of course I had to check it out. What I found appears to be some beautifully crazy cyclists that made this contraption. It says that it seats five, but I figured the four strongest members of Team Ed may have to ride this at the Hill of Truth this year so that the team can be together on every lap. I just need to contact these folks to see if we can rent it. Maybe we'll pick it up on the way back from Durango in September.....

Sick of Pisgah photos? TOO BAD!

More Pisgah!!

More photos. You all know has nice it was Sunday and we were in one of the most beautiful places to mountain bike on earth. Not too much typing cause my hands are still tired from RIPPING singletrack.

Pisgah!

Greenwayurbancross fun

Doing a 4 to 5 hour ride today wasn't in the cards for many reasons the best of which was to be around to pick up the young one at school and take him to guitar lessons (rock and roll style of course). So, the window opened for a two hour jaunt from the house and around town indy fab style. Somehow I overdressed and rode hard enough to never be cold- even my hands and they are ALWAYS cold. Went up some nice steep climbs that I didn't need to and through some seriously crunchy snow that I didn't need to but it made for more fun for sure. Left picture is of a tree down on the greenway near Ijams, so slow down or launch it like I did. Looks like this weekend is going to be unseasonably warm again and this time I am going somewhere. There seems to be talk of a Team Ed Racing mini "training" camp somewhere in the Pisgah National Forest on Sunday. Those that need to know know where to find us.

Since I'm Up Anyway.....

Stupid Knox County schools. My morning ritual is to get up, coffee up, computer-weather, cycling related stuff, and make sure that I'm fully awake before I wake up the small boy for school type preparations. Today I changed the order and coffee came first THEN computer and I quickly realized school had been called off. Yesterday maybe, ice and small amounts of snow left over, but today the roads are clear ( I rode home last night and did not die on BLACK ICE ). It is stupidly cold with the windchill- maybe go ride frozen single-track before work? The trainer is looking pretty good.....

Tomorrow looks like a cold day for Big Dumb Thursdays weekly ride. Team Ed is looking strong for some Rich Mtn.-Heinous Loop something or another. We'll see how much snow the park gets today. Speaking of the park, here are some cool photos from a hike a couple weeks back and proof that cross-training is good as long as you don't do it too much.

Weights and Measures

Anyone who has been in the shop knows that every day is very much like a Seinfeld episode. We can talk at great length about nothing. We can come up with absurd ideas but believe in them to the fullest. It is great fun. For example, without knowing it we realized that if we are going to talk about lightweight bicycle parts we need a real world item to compare "it" to. Bananas were on hand and became the logical choice. Our findings were that the average banana weighs 166 grams on our new fancy table-mounted gram calculating device. So, now when you are weighing that new tire or new pedals the latest Team ED standard should be used so we know what the heck you are talking about.
for example: go-fast 29er MTB tire=3 bananas
super fancy plastic road frame=6 bananas

what has been super cool is to see how many bananas you save on your recent upgrades.
for example: I just saved 6 bananas by changing the tires and putting the rigid fork back on
single-speed. WOW!!!

Have fun and START WEIGHING YOU PEOPLE!