Now For Sunday..................

Now for Sunday! I tried something I have never done before and had a blast doing it. I loaded up my mtn bike and hit the road. I pumped up the tires with about 55 pounds of pressure and off I went. I drove down to Rock Rest School parked and headed toward SC.

see how far away the road is....back of field

First thing I noticed, the speeds are way down from the road bike, second thing I noticed was how easy it was to pedal the mtn bike on the road. Third thing I noticed was how much fun it was! No kidding, I had a blast. If you want to ride a dirt road, no problem. If you want to check out the back side of a field, no problem. Just take off across the ditch and head on.

I pass this church all the time! Finally stopped for a picture.

I even found myself more willing to stop and take photos, it was like I was a kid again and in no hurry. Most of the time I am trying to keep my average speed up and looking ahead to see how the road is flowing. If I need to be getting up to top speed for the next hill or if it is a rolling terrain. All I seem to do is look at the computer and think I have to work on "training". I must be an idiot!

nowhere south union county

Why do I train, I am 43 and sure as hell ain't gonna make it as a professional cyclist so why do I care? The whole reason I ride is because I never forgot how much fun a bicycle can be. Plus they call it exercise, heck I would ride even if I still had to do something else to qaulify as exercise.

notice the computer dosn't even work on mtn bike

My only complaint was my seat. I have a racing seat on my bike and it ain't made for sitting. Tonight I am going to put my road seat on my mtn bike and do it again. I know where there are some trails I go by down on Richardson Creek, tonight I will find out where they go...............

Big Little Race...............

It was a big race with a little turnout. That about sums up the whole "last minute" change to the Riverfront Classic Mtn. Bike Marathon. In the eleventh hour the venue was changed from the Whitewater Center here in Charlotte to Uhwarrie National Forest. The trails at Uhwarrie are a lot harder and then we had the hurricane, between the 2 I think it scared people away.

I hate it worked out that way, Neal worked hard to put on a good show and he succeeded as usual. He had food and drinks a keg of beer for after the race and the weather was perfect. Cody is all wrapped up in soccer and ain't up to racing a 50 mile race right now and I didn't want to ride solo. So we sat out and just rode. I ended up riding 4 laps just to see how it would feel and how my legs would respond. Overall my body held up well, my legs got week but I still had enough in me for the long haul. I kinda used this as a good training ride for me. The 12 hour Tree Shaker is coming up in October so I am aiming for it.

Dave from the shop

sponsor area

My shop, Bikes East was the primary sponsor for this race and they came out with a few demo bikes for people to ride and had a lot of traffic around the tents. Overall the race had a total of 55 riders, that is about half (or Less) than last years turnout. Maybe next year they will have a good turnout, let people get used to the ideal of the new facility and will see what happens.

Lazy Evening........................

Last night was a lazy night. I got home from work and did nothing. Absolutely nothing, got home and sat on the couch took a nap and then got up and watched Cody do some work around the yard but that was it. Some days just turnout like that. No plan and no direction.

About the only report I can give ya for that evening would be the couch is very comfy.. That's a pretty sorry report for ya......

Ok the first 2 paragraphs where all I had yesterday and that was sad... So I didn't even post it. Lame I know but some times you just get tired and don't feel like doing anything. So today is Friday and I got to get something up here. I keep an eye on my stats section and if I don't put up a post I loose readers. I don't have enough to loose any so I better get back on the ball.

Cody had a game last night that ended up in a tie. Why the hell they let soccer finish with a tie just baffles me. What's the point in that, why play the game if your not going to have a winner. It just don't add up to me? They looked pretty good for the first half and then looked like they hadn't even played before when the second half started. Oh well we have a game again on Tuesday.

Yesterday was the first day of school also. Cody is now in the 10th and Chase has started his middle school career. My baby's are growing up way to fast. Next big hurdle will be Cody and his drivers license in about 4 more months........

Yep we are heading to the race this weekend and gonna have fun. I am looking forward to it and got my camera ready. stay tuned for the report on Monday. Until then have a good weekend and we'll see ya next week........ 

Country Riding...............

I love it.... What can I say, i am lucky enough to live in the county and have access to really good riding. Last night I took off and hit the road for a 2 hour ride and enjoyed it. I went south toward Pageland and cut back toward Monroe, came right thru downtown and back to the house 35 miles and 2-bottles of water later and I was done.

I only took this one picture last night but it pretty much sums up my ride. Corn fields left and right, nice rolling hills with little traffic. Nice friendly people who like to wave and say hi when you go by. I had a good time as you can tell. Total time 1:42min 17 avg. speed.

The only other thing that made me smile yesterday just happened to be when I got home. The mohawk is gone and school starts tomorrow. Both kids got a clean up around the ears......

Ok, I am late again.......................

I have been by myself the last few days at work and haven't had time to do my blog. So here I am, sitting down on Tuesday trying to catch up. Had a good weekend and got in a lot of riding. Saturday am I hit the road bright and early, went from my house out New Salem Rd to New Salem and back. That's only 25 miles total but have you ever rode down the road? Very hilly you are either going up or coming down. The kicker to my ride was the rain. It was hot and humid but I didn't think about the rain being a factor. I haven't been caught in the rain in a long time. It was fun, I got all wet and even got a little cool. Distance 25miles avg speed 17.9

So as you have already seen  my camera was on the dresser at home and I had no pictures from the ride. I really need to start doing better with the pictures. I seem to get more hits when I have pictures on here! I don't know what that says about my readers but I enjoy shooting the pictures anyway. I like getting some good shots while I am out riding.

Anyway Sunday rolled around and I was planning on a group ride over at Uhwarrie, early am. Mistake number one! Anyone who knows me very well will tell yea I don't like early am. It just doesn't work for me. When I was a truck driver I would drive till 3-4 am and then sleep till 9-10 every day. I thought that made the most sense anyway. I could drive in the early morning hours with little traffic and then get up after rush hour and wouldn't have to deal with as much traffic.

So we over slepted. Sonny and Austin skipped the ride and poor old Glen showed up by himself and had nobody to ride with. Usually I wouldn't feel to bad about this but this time we were going to meet at  Uhwarrie and he had never ridin there. He tried to figure out the trails but he missed the best trails. So now I owe him a trip over there and show him the way around.

Well anyhow I finally made it over there about 2pm, way behind the appointed time of 9am. Neither one of my kids wanted to go so it was me. Now when you go over there you are way down in the woods. I don't believe in Bigfoot so I am OK with riding by myself. It is very peaceful and quiet down in the woods all by your self. I met one rider the whole time I was riding. Next week I will take some more pictures................

Friday....

Ready for the weekend, I went riding the night before last and had a good ride. Although I hit the proverbial wall. Meaning I ran out of energy, I have been pushing myself pretty hard the last few rides and it showed I was getting on with the program at one moment and the next it was like I had nothing left. So last night I had plans to ride and that feel apart.

My carpenters showed up yesterday and are roofing my house at the moment, of course I didn't have all the stuff they needed so it kinda screwed up my evening ride. Hopefully tonight I will be able to get a ride in. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all will workout.

I did want to show you this, I love how vast the space is out west.Today is a short post but I should have plenty of pics from the weekend for next week. Have a nice weekend and I will see ya on Monday.........Later.........

It's Time..................

I was gonna write about my vacation all week and show you a bunch of pictures of all the neet stuff we did and got to see. Now I changed my mind!! It's my blog and I can do that.. The name of this blog is 2-wheels 2 kids. I love talking about my kids and sharing all the stories with you that's why I have the 2-kids.

When I started this blog last December I had every intention of getting back to racing again. I lost the whole previous year after my leg injury. I tried to come back to soon and ended up making things worse. So this year came around and I felt better but the kids have had other interest so there hasn't been any racing on my part. The kids have raced a few times but none of us have been killing it, I still ride a lot but no racing.

I think it's time. Every year they have the Rivers Edge Mtn Bike Marathon, I tried to do it the year before last and didn't finish. At the time Cody was having issues with a heart valve so I rode with him to keep an eye on him and he only did 2 laps before he felt bad and that was it. Besides that I don't really care for the Whitewater Center trails where they have been holding this race.

Things have changed, mainly the venue for the race. Neil our promoter of the race has not been able to reach an agreement with the Whitewater center so he is moving the race! Now it is being held at one of my favorite places Uwharrie National Forest. Yep the same place we have been going camping all summer.

Its Time.......

The last post I did before I went on vacation I was talking about doing the stage races and longer races, well I am going to start my year next Saturday the 27th. With the goal of trying to figure out what it is going to take to be competitive at this type of racing.

Last night I went out and hit the trails and that is where I am going again today. Right after I leave work. I had a good ride last night with a fairly good time, I only put in 12 miles so tonight I am going to put in twice as many miles.............Later.....

Workin Again....................

Monday and working again. No luck in the lotto so back to work. Yep vacation is over and back to the real world!!!!! What a let down...........Back to working for the man,,,,got to pay the people....Blah..blah..blah..

Now for the vacation, we had a blast!!!! The kids had friends at the beach and they played hard. Cody had a friend ride down with us and his friends parents have a place there, he has a brother the same age as Chase and they played together all week. Cody and Jerrod had a small boat so they became crab fishermen!!! Yep all week they traveled up and down through the marsh setting crab traps and checking them.

They are good at it too. They caught about 30 every night! Then they turned them loose. I ain't no chef!!!!! FYI those pincher's hurt and will draw blood if they get a hold of you. All you have to do is ask Jerrod he got the full forch of those claws at one point and bleed like crazy. Chase and Wesley are now professional kit fliers and Karen and I are now pro beach bums. I can lay around and watch the waves and kids with a beer in my hand as good as anybody! Yes, I am damn proud of that too.

Here is a shot of the place we stayed. Inlet Point Villas, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested. We rented through Elliott Reality and have used them several times. Great service and reasonable pricing. (for the beach)

from beach

from porch

We have never stayed right on the point before and are glad we did. We didn't have nearly as many people around us and that was really nice.

Vacation Starts Now........................

As you might be aware I am going to the beach tomorrow am (Saturday). I am taking a well deserved vacation with the wife and the boys. No we are not camping this time, we rented a condo back in January and had this trip already planned before we rented the condo. So I guess we are going to slum it and stay in a condo with showers and a kitchen this time. Hey life is rough sometimes, but I am willing to sacrifice. It's for the family..............

OK, since I got that out of the way we can move on now. We did trucks yesterday after I had a dream about them so today we are going to do bikes (my favorite) subject. Or bike racing its all the same. Lately I have kinda been interested in stage races. Those are races like The Tour De France. Everyday is a timed individual race. That would be a stage, most mtn bike stage races are around 5-7 days. At the end of the 5-7 days the times are added up and the person with the lowest time wins the overall.

The best part about a stage race is if you have a bad day it may not effect the out come of the overall race. At least you hope it doesn't. Most of them are so close in time that in reality it probably will affect the out come, but at least you still have hope. I have found out at these races they supply everything you need for the whole week, food, shelter, water and all the supplies at the aid stations. I like that ideal you become a community during this time period and have a great time with a lot of people who like the same things you do.

Here is the only draw back of all this I have found so far. THE ENTRY FEE...All the stuff they provide doesn't come free and all the people that take care of you need to eat also. Food ain't free!!!!! So here are the main stage races on the mtn bike schedule held here in the states.

Transylvania Epic Stage Race---- 7-days 235-miles 30,000ft of climbing cash purse of 10,000 entry-1,000
Held in Altoona Pennsylvania

Breck Epic Stage Race---- 6-days 240-miles 37,000ft of climbing cash purse of N/A entry-1,000
Held in Breckenridge Colorado

Pisgah Stage Race---- 5-days 195-miles 28,000ft of climbing cash purse of 15,000 entry-700
Asheville NC

They ain't cheap.....I know a few guys who have done the one in PA and the Pisgah race is right around the corner from me. I need a sponsor, one of those people who want to help in the form of money and support. Next year I am going to hit some of these...........................

At least I want to, my main sponsor (the wife) says we can probably work something out......

 

Gettin Closer.....................

Yep today is Thursday and 1 day away from my 9 day break! Yepeeeee!!!!!!!! I am ready and waiting for the time to come. I have been working on all my paperwork and have things lined up for the week. Don't e-mail me don't call me don't bug me. Unless your are my mom, I will take that call, the rest of you, leave a message.

OK, I got that out of my system now on to trucks! I had a dream about trucks last night, that's right I was a truck driver again! So this morning I came in and have been looking up truck pictures, it's been awhile since I  put any trucks up here. So I found a few I liked and here they are........

My first truck looked like this

I had a flatbed

classic BJ and The Bear

plain bad ass

I swear I would buy another truck tomorrow if I could. I would drive it to work everyday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Houses.............

I am back on my small house kick again! I swear I like these things, I found these pictures from a realty website in Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes, I have been there, it really has that many lakes. Everybody has a lake within a couple of miles from the house. They like to buy these houses and put them on the lake, then you have your own lake house. If I bought one I would find a small lot up in the mountains and leave it there.

the view

the cabin

Just the right size, not to big not to small just right. This one is permanent, they build it on site. For the ultra low price of 30,000. Seems like a good deal to me. That's land and all, I could do just fine in this house. All I need would be the addition of a garage.

Then we have this one on wheels. The purpose of putting them on wheels, you can finance it as a camper. That is easier than buying a 2nd home. Although it ain't very large at all, and I don't know how far you would be able to pull this one, it looks like a hay wagon!

But the topper to all the small homes at the lake would have to be the private island with your own house on the lake! This is a house on Lake Champlain in upstate New York, I forget what they call the area but there are a lot of these on the lake. Only access is by boat, that's pretty damn neat................

Finally we have the modern small lake house. It was built from shipping containers and converted into a home. I like the crow's nest up top. I never figured out how much they had in this but it had to be pretty inexpensive......................... 

Ok Tuesday..............

I started a post yesterday and never got around to finishing it. So today I am going to get it done. It was HOT!!!!!! Really hot, so nobody slepted that well Friday night, the kids wanted a camp fire but that was out of the question. We used a lantern for light and hung out till about eleven before we went to bed. So after a night of halfway sleeping we got up Saturday am and nobody was really feeling a ride. So instead we packed up and headed to the house. I will be so glad when this heat wave breaks up and fall gets here.

Don't get me wrong, I love summer time and the heat. It beats the winter and cold anytime but it seems like we've had a hot summer. I can't wait for the fall and the need for the heater in the camper, that will make it pretty cool! Then we can justify the camp fire, that's what camping is all about. Yes, we will be going to Asheville on a regular basis!

Next we started soccer practice yesterday, Cody is going to play again this year! It looks like we are going to be soccer and track parents for the rest of high school. So far we haven't found the perfect sport for Chase yet. Although he likes the bikes, if I can just get him to go ride and train a little more.

The highlight of today's post would be that we are heading on vacation all next week and I am starting to get excited! North Myrtle Beach for a week~!!!!!!