Jan 31
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Watched this and thought about my plan to not do so many (if any) DH races this year. If I don’t I will surely miss riding in the mud. At home you just don’t do it. You always wait for better conditions. However at a race you have got to deal with what you have and better conditions might not come. So you just get on with it.
Example: Snowshoe #2 from 2009.
Jan 28
This winter has been unprecedented in how much I have been riding my XC bike. I guess that’s a good thing. It has a lot to do with Brian Poston switching his work schedule to days, so we have been riding a lot together. Additionally, Carl Hill has been a regular. We did Norris last night and it was a great time. I convinced them to try and climb Reservoir Hill in their middle rings since that how I do it. As expected, they did it. I have all the parts to add a front derailleur to by Mbuzi but just can’t do it. I’m afraid I’ll get lazy and ride in it too much. Most of our trails aren’t so steep for long enough to warrant a granny ring. I find I can usually muscle up them or just walk. Which I have no problems doing.
Jan 26
I can either head down to the TTC and ride DH or stick close to home and moto…. Sometimes it sucks to have options. Both would be fun but I think I’m going to moto. I haven’t ridden a lot of moto this winter and it doesn’t include 4 hrs in the truck.
The report makes is sound way more dramatic than it was. “Dominating fashion”? Sure he did, I was on the course. I remember him passing me. I was surprised it didn’t happen quicker.
Did a group ride last night at Norris. It was myself, Ben, Thomas, Eric, Carl, Poston, and Todd. The conditions were bad for Norris. It was soft and the crushed up leaves in the main tracks were holding a lot of water. I was yet again surprised with my level of effort. I usually don’t feel this good on the trails in the winter. Since I had had a couple of good rides recently, I was expecting to feel bad. But I didn’t and we had a really good ride.
Here are a few pics from our 4wheeling trip last Saturday.
Jan 17
Won my first dirt bike race this Sunday. Of course there were only 3 in my class, but it was still cool to win. I lead all 7 laps and lost my rear brake on the 5th lap. I did some 4wheeling on Saturday from 9am to 1am. Hardly ate and hydrated with the wrong beverages, but still showed up and didn’t feel too bad. Just a little cramping in my clutch hand and of course my brake hand feel asleep as it always does. If I find pics or get the overall results I post back up.
Jan 7
Brian Poston, Carl Hill, and myself tackled this trail last night. Even with the previous day’s snow and cold temperatures, the ride was pretty good with little to no mud. The ridgetop portion of the trail stays high and dry due to topography and high sand content in the soil. The trail is still very new and is soft and slow in locations. But its a real ride now. We still have a bunch of stuff to do. There is some benching left to do and we have plans for lots of berms and jumps. Plus we planned out a XC bike pump track as a turn around area to redo the loop backwards.
EveryTrail – Find the best Hiking near Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 5
Last night was Meghann’s game night and she was hosting it at our house. So I needed/wanted to be gone for a couple of hours. I haven’t ridden my trail bike in awhile due to weather and the holidays, so I had plans to ride Norris. As usual this time of year, I was having a hard time finding the motivation to head off into the dark and ride solo. But the thought of game night pushed me to get it done. I parked, changed and started up the hill. As usual, within minutes I was glad I was there. I headed up Highpoint, down White Pine, back to Highpoint, down the Lake Loop, then out Lake View, back up Highpoint and down Ridgecrest. There is some kind of magic that I can preform on pedals that I just can’t reproduce on a dirt bike or in a 4 wheel drive truck. I found it while coming down Ridgecrest. In a right hand turn with a decreasing radius I applied the slightest English to the pedals with a shift of my feet. It enabled the bike to make the last of the turn without additional braking. That’s just something that can’t be done with clips and I’m not that good to have found that same magic with a throttle. I’m sure its there, but I’ve been perfecting this magic since my first mtb in 1989.
Jan 3
Just before Christmas we got a bunch of snow and we took the cruiser up to Lake City. We all had fun and it was the second of three snow events in a couple week stretch.
On Christmas Eve we stopped by my cousin Darby’s house and did some wheeling. He has a pretty good network of trails leading out of his house. It had rained and with melting snow it was pretty sloppy and we went through a couple deep mud holes.
Christmas is the usual driving madness. To Oneida, to my parent’s, back to our house and then to Meghann’s parents. At some point we need to prioritize our Christmas a little higher. Maybe next year.
It seems like all we have been doing lately has been wheeling in the cruiser, but the weather has been cold and snowy. But I have snuck in a few rides and trail maintenance.
Jan 3
Last year, as a family, we traveled to Florida for a little time away. However this year things at work were too crazy to afford that much time away. So Meghann and I dropped of Wyatt and the dogs and we took off for Nashville on Thursday the 30th. The Vols were playing in the Music City Bowl and had plans to stay with friends. The bowl game had a crazy finish but the weather was better than expected and it was nice to just be with Meghann for a change.
On Friday my buddy Roger helped me install 30mm spring spacers on the Cruiser for a cheap and quick lift. After we were done we took our time and drove down to Lynchburg with hopes to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery. Unfortunately they were closed, so we headed on to Haletown for a night on the lake. In the end the night in the floating cabin was nice but getting to it was a ordeal.
Then in Saturday we were to meet up the Roger again and do some wheeling in the Cove just outside Sequatchie, TN. In typical fashion there was record breaking rain fall through the night and our wheeling was very limited.
All in all it was great to get away with just Meghann and drive some very scenic, quiet roads in Tennessee.
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