Been awhile since I have updated and you might think I didn’t have much going on but I have been super busy. Two Sundays ago I went with Devin, Danny, and Jeff to a Mideast hare scramble near Morganton, NC. It was by far the most fun race I have done. Generally I get so wore out I start to hate riding during a race but this one was different. The dirt was great, the track was wide, and there were almost no rocks. There was however a lot of whoops. This was my first time riding lots of whoops and I found out I love them. Its were I did most of my passing. Most folks would pucker up and slow down. I just rolled the throttle further back, go back on the pegs and just let it hammer through. NC has a huge race scene, so I bumped down to 30+ C and finished 3rd out of 17 or 68 out of 198 overall. I have the speed to be in the Bs, just not enough speed for a 2hr race. I did stay on the lead lap and did 6 laps. The top pros did 7 I think. Still got to work on hydrating. I didn’t cramp during the race but did on the way home. BTW traveling to races with Devin is the best. Watching movies and stretching out in the Sprinter beats a regular truck any day.

Then this Saturday I took Wyatt up to my cousin’s house in Winfield, TN for his son’s birthday party. I’m not one to tote my kid from birthday party to party but this one had something in it for me. Since Darby lives almost on the border of the Big South Fork Rec. area I took my trail bike and did a nice 8 mile loop right out of his door. I just beat the rain and felt really good on the bike. Wyatt is so in to Star Wars right now. Its all he talks about or wants to play and this birthday party had a Star Wars theme. So he was in hog heaven. Here is a map of my route. I forgot to turn the tracker off so the last 10 miles of so was in the truck.

Track (3-26-11 3-19-22PM)

EveryTrail – Find the best Hiking in Tennessee

And finally on Sunday I met up with Josh, Mark, Joey, Todd, and Buddy to finish up the bottom of the OG Windmill. The trail goes through some really cool, naturally rocky terrain and one part was going to be on a narrow spine right against the creek. To make it ridable, we needed to widen it with wood. Todd hooked us up with some pressure treated 2×6s and Josh and I picked up and few pickets for decking. The really bad part was that all that wood, really heavy wood, had to get up in the woods. So for the first hour all we did was hike wood in. Then we split up and while Todd and Josh worked on the bridge while the rest of us worked on the trail. As usual Mark Webb created works of rock bridge art. This trail is going to be something special as if it was not all ready. But the OG Windmill now goes through Railyard, the Coal Berms, Railyard Part 2, and then into this rock city area. Not rest for the weary. We have thought about creating some kind of OG Windmill challenge. Completed under a certain time, number of back to back runs, or something. This trail isn’t death defying, but once it starts it doesn’t stop.