I'm Back ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

We had inventory Friday and Saturday, things were busy! Closing early and counting makes for a long day. Then we have to come in Saturday for the final count and re-entering of everything so it's been a busy weekend.

Throw in the football game Friday night and the Miss Mint-Hill pageant Saturday night and we have had a busy weekend. I did get out on my mountain bike for a ride yesterday but that was it.

Of course I hit Cane Creek again for a 28 mile ride. As long as the trails are in such good shape I am gonna keep riding down there. It's just to sweet to pass on right now. I like the place. Plus I have been enough lately I have about figured out the schedule the horses are on. Most horse riders aren't gonna get up early enough to be there before 10 or 11 o'clock. So go early and you don't really have to worry about them.

Yesterday I did see a total of 8 horses, and when I came through the area they park there must have been 10 trucks and trailers! Now you want to talk about some money! The horse is probably the cheap part. The trucks and trailers they use are bad ass!!

Like I told one lady yesterday as she rode by on her horse. All I feed my bike is a little bit of chain lube. She said my bike looked expensive. So I pointed out that I ride it and leave it in the garage. She laughed!

So now this week we are back at it again. We have soccer Monday and Wednesday. Then the homecoming football game Friday night. No wonder I haven't had time to ride very much.........

No Excuse ,,,,,,,,,

That's my excuse for missing yesterdays post. None at all! I just simply forgot, and no we weren't busy. Actually we were really slow. With the rain we had it seemed to kill everything. Hopefully today will be better, so before it gets to busy I thought I would go ahead and write.

Although I don't have much to write about. We had another soccer game last night and I haven't been on a bike since Saturday. I did work on one the other night but no ride. I don't even feel guilty either! I will get in plenty of riding over the next 20 years.

I am resting my legs, that's the way I look at it.

Plus it being Thursday I am usually planning my weekend by now. Which I am but it looks like the bike might take a back seat to the rest of my plans. We had a good time riding the motorcycle Sunday and I want to go again. I have inventory Friday and Saturday this week so that kills Saturday morning for me. I can probably get a ride in the afternoon but that would be it.

We already have plans for Saturday evening. Sunday I want to ride the motorcycle. This time of year it's great for that. Plus the wife enjoys it, that right there is a good reason to go. I still have 2 weeks before my mountain trip so now is a good time to make the wife happy. I will be gone for 4 days drinking beer and riding my bike so the legs will get plenty of action.

Time...What Is That ????????

Sometimes I wonder! It seems I don't have much time for myself this year. Now that school has started we are going every direction possible. Last night we went to Sun Valley High School for a soccer game and when it came time to go my mom couldn't find the exit to the parking lot!

I happened to park on the outside of the lot and she had parked on the inside. As I was leaving I noticed she was riding around in circles looking for the exit. I just laughed! So far this year that kinda sums up how much we have been going.

Work is just an after thought. I just do it because it's part of the schedule.

Take this week for instance, we have 2 soccer games and then football Friday night. Saturday we have another beauty pageant to go to and I have inventory this week also. That leaves Tuesday and Thursday to ride and then Sunday.

As I have said before, with this being Cody's senior year I don't want to miss anything! Next year it's gonna be tough! Even Chase will miss him...

Two Wheels and My Right Wrist ,,,,,,,,,

So I rode Cane Creek over the weekend and of course enjoyed it. We actually had a traffic jamb at one point. We came around a corner and ran into  2 horses and then another bike pulled up! Can't remember the last time that happened.

We knew the other rider was there, we had bumped into him on the other side of the park. He's a local who rides there also. Nice guy, his name was Roger. So we did both sides, everything once and headed home. I didn't have time to ride anymore than that and figured I would head out and make up for it on Sunday.

Sunday came and we did early church. Then went out for lunch and then home. It was such a beautiful day we headed out on the motorcycle! "Two Wheels and My Right wrist". So no biking. No making up the miles.

Do I care? Not really I do it for fun...

Besides on the motorcycle I can cover hundreds of miles not just short miles. Both have there pluses. One being the wife likes to ride the motorcycle. We headed down south and did the small town SC thing. She likes old houses, the kind you find in the old towns. The Victorian type houses.

You just don't see them in the big cities as much. They might be there but they are hard to find. So we got to see plenty. We even stopped at a few historical spots on the way home. That was different, we usually skip stuff like that. I guess we just wanted to take our time and that was a good reason to stop.

Need to do that more often...........

Gettin" The Kid Ready...............

Last night I came home got on the road bike and went for a ride. It sucked!

When I came home I had no motivation! I swear I had to make myself get ready and ride. So that's what I did. Then I proceeded to go straight out away from the house. I figured if I tried to do a loop I would end up cutting it short so I just kept going.

After :35 minutes I turned around and flipped over the computer to see how many miles I had came. I had 9 down, so I turned around and headed home. I went a little different way, hoping I would add a few miles on and I did.

Total for the ride was 22 miles..

I just wasn't feeling it... So I returned to the garage and worked on the Specialized that I am giving Chase. I put a new set off tires on it for him and I put tubes in it. I did the tubes because I want him to ride it.

If I set it up tubeless every time he would go to ride it it would need the tires pumped up. A 13 year old kid needs a bike he can just jump on and go. Not one that requires work every time he wants to go to a friends house.

Tomorrow we are gonna go and get shoes for him. He needs new riding shoes. Then I am gonna hit the woods for a ride.

Guess where? Cane Creek of course! The place needs me!

One Problem Solved.......

Problem number 1. What to do with my full suspension bike? I gave it to my youngest son! I got home yesterday and Chase walked through the living room and it dawned on me right then. What to do with the 26in.

Chase is almost as tall as I am now and all I would need to do is lower the seat. He doesn't ride that much anymore but maybe that will help him start riding more. He seemed to like the ideal and he has never ridden or owned a full suspension bike so now is the perfect time.

Plus his Cannondale hard tail is to small for him now.

Want to buy a bike?

As far as my other problem, weather or not to buy me another bike yet. Well that can wait awhile. I might upgrade my wheels and a few other things on my current bike. The frame is brand new, and it's really light anyway, so why not keep it. It's a Cannondale also and has the lefty front fork.

For a medium 29er hard tail with middle of the road wheels and components it only weighs 24 pounds now! Put a nice set of wheels on it and drop another pound or 2 it will be spot on.

I just hope the kid wants to ride more !!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving On ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As I said yesterday I hadn't ridden the 26in mountain bike since July. Honestly I hadn't even thought about the bike since the last time I had ridden it. Then I moved it and decided to ride it.

I had ridden the 29er for the last few months, and I kinda quite fussing about it. I felt like every time I rode the 26 I was faster. Last night I rode it and I was slow. I couldn't carry my momentum and it just seemed like I was riding in quick sand!

It was terrible!  I think I am now a 29er convert. It happened over night and without me even realizing it. One day I am happy and feel fast on the 26, the next day I am happy and fast on the 29. How that happened I am not sure. I bought the bike right at 2 years ago and I swear I never really liked it.

Until last night! 

Again, I have been on it and nothing else for the last 2 months. Before I would always ride it one day and then the 26 the next. I guess I never gave it a good chance. For the last few months I have been riding Cane Creek so much and it being so wide open. I take the 29er every time.

Well last night I found I was missing it. The 26 sucked!

Now for the big problem!

Yes this has created a problem...

If I am now converted, 1st what do I do with my 26.. 2nd do I now want a nicer 29er hard tail, and of course am I gonna buy a full suspension 29er?

This sucks...............

Might As Well ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I guess you could call it a good problem to have. My problem, I have 2 mountain bikes. Of course you probably knew that from the amount of whining I have done over the course of the last year. One day I like my 29er the next I can't stand it.

Which brings us to a quandrum. Do I like my 29er better than the 26in? I have noticed lately I am riding the 29er all the time and I have pretty much quite bitching about it. The last time I rode the 26 was back in July. It's been sitting in the corner of the shop every since.

It even had cob webs all over it!

So I had to move it last night to get something I needed so I decided to ride it. I pumped up the tires and loaded it up. I wonder how I will like it. Believe it or not I have pretty much forgot how it rides. Tomorrow I will let ya know.

Perfect Weather !!!!!!!!!!

That pretty much describes the weekend we had. If you live in my area and you didn't enjoy the last two days you missed out! I spent the better part of Saturday in the woods at my new favorite trail. Cane Creek!

I ended up riding everything twice and by the time I left I had 32 miles in! All in the woods. There aren't many places you can ride that many miles in the woods. Just another reason why I like the place.

Again I saw 8 horses and zero cyclist! Seems like 6 or 8 is the magic number for horses. Every time I go that is about what I see.

Then yesterday I hit Sherman Branch for a good ride. I knocked out a couple of laps and rode a few sections twice. For an easy ride you really can't beat Sherman. The flow is just about perfect!

Now I need to slip in a ride this week...........

A Star Is Born !!!!

News 14 on Time Warner Cable here in Charlotte always does a segment called "Friday Night Finals". It's all about the local high school football games.

Well Piedmont has been playing well so they sent the film crew to the game Friday night. They only stay for a little while and then head to another Union county game. They just want to get a little footage they can use on the 11 0'clock show.

So guess what they open the segment with none other than the world famous Piedmont mascot! Also known as my son Cody! Yep, he made the news!

It was on Friday night and aired several times yesterday! We laughed every time it came on!

All In One..........

"All In One" That would describe my night. I left work about 15 minutes early and went straight to the trail. Scott met me there and we knocked out a quick lap!

55 minutes later I was changing clothes and headed for the soccer game. I got there about 5 minutes after the start. That my friends is called a perfect day! I got my ride in and made the soccer game.

Although my legs where covered in dirt and I was still sweating like a pig. Plus I had forgot my shoes so it was either wear my dress shoes or my bike shoes. I didn't want to get my dress shoes all dirty so I had to wear my bike shoes to the game.

That didn't work very well. I seemed like I had to walk about a mile from the car to get to the stands. So I ended up walking out of there barefoot. Then to top it off, the game got called early because of lightning! So home we went.

Now we have the football game tonight. Yes the kid is gonna be the mascot! We have both grandma's coming tonight so it's gonna be fun.

A family affair!

Then, as I have already said I think I am gonna do Cane creek again tomorrow. I like the place and it's in the best shape it's been in all summer. I hate to pass on it now. Plus I have come to enjoy my Saturday morning quite rides.

Me and my horse buddies have the place all to ourselves!!

I clear all the spiderwebs from the 5 ft down mark and they clear all the ones above 5ft.......

Fall Already !!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite time of the year!        Fall!!

The temps get just right and the leaves change colors. It's the one season that was made with mountain biking in mind.

Next Saturday the 22nd it will be official. I just thought I would let ya know.....

So now that it's Thursday I am gonna hit the trails on my way to the soccer game. I have time for a quick lap and that's about it. But I do have a weekend coming. Every week about this time I start making my plans.

So far this week the weather has been fantastic! Sooner or later with fall coming we are gonna have some rain. But until we do I am gonna keep wearing Cane Creek out. Then after it rains I will probably stay down there anyway. I am kinda attached to the place again.

What goes around comes around... What's old is new again........

Soccer..............

Today we are gonna talk about soccer. This makes my 4th year of going to soccer games and watching my kid play.

Guess what, I still don't understand what's going on! I can tell when someone scores and I can tell when they are playing rough. Besides that, I have no ideal.

Why? Because I have come to realize I just don't care. I am there because my kid plays and he enjoys it. He grew up with soccer. When I was in school we never had a soccer team. The rec. league never had soccer, I was never around soccer.

I know my old high school has soccer now but I have no ideal when they got it. It wasn't there in the late 80's when I graduated.

So for that reason I just go and support him.

The reason I am bringing this up, Cody's knee is bothering him right now so he didn't hardly play last night. I sat there for the better part of 2 hours and was bored out of my mind! During that time I had time to think about what I was watching and that's when I finally realized I was never gonna be a soccer fan.

I am a Cody and Chase fan but soccer just ain't gonna cut it..............

Day Off ,,,,,,,

I normally get to ride both days on the weekend and then slip in a night or two during the week. So when I get out three days in a row I feel like I got over on someone!

I have soccer games today and Thursday so last night I hit the trails on the way home. Then I get home and the wife had a busy day so she hadn't even got home from work yet.

Score!!!

That ride didn't even count! As far as she knows I had been home and busy around the house. When she got home I was in the pool enjoying the water. When I heard her pull up I grabbed the skimmer and acted like I had been working on cleaning the pool! Perfect...

That's the best part about my job if you ask me. The hours. I come in at 7am and I get out of here at 4pm. Kinda like being in high school. Chase only beats me home by about 30 minutes. So if I leave work 10 minutes early and go straight to the trail I can get in a full hour lap at Sherman Branch and be home before 6pm.

So if I am home before the wife, bingo ride doesn't count!!!!!

Back Track ,,,,,,

So last night as I tried to show interest in the start of the new NFL season I sat there and entered a blog instead. I guess I just need a week or 2 before I can really get into it yet. It just doesn't seem like it should be here yet. It was 90 plus degrees yesterday.

So yea I spent my weekend in the woods riding my bike and basically enjoying myself. But that's not all I or we did. We had a great weekend! Friday night I came home from work and the wife and my youngest kid and I headed to the Friday night local high school football game.

My oldest son is the mascot this year! Yea, my kid is wearing the panther suit and running around like a goofball all night. The little kids love him and he makes the adults laugh. I couldn't believe how many people stopped him to have there picture taken. Adults included!

There was probably 1500 people there at least, and he never missed a beat. I don't know if I could have done that with a mask or not! He was even down front dancing with the cheer leaders..

My kid!!!

Karen and I laughed like crazy....

Anyway, I don't know what you do on Friday night but that was well worth the price of admission. We paid 6 bucks per person and you can go to the concession stand with taking out a loan, and the football was really good too. The team managed to win on a late scoring drive. That was the topper to the whole evening.

Besides that it's like a freakin' high school reunion for my wife. She knows everybody there! Plus with all the kids playing sports together since t-ball you know everybody there. It's really pretty fun! We are definitely going to be there this coming Friday night.

With sports becoming such a money deal it's hard to beat a good Friday night high school football game. We spent 18 to get in and maybe 10 on concessions. Saw a ton of friends and family, my wife is related to half of the county! Didn't have to pay to park and were home by 10:30..

Nuff' said........

The Creek !!!!!!

After spending 2 days riding Cane Creek I now have a new favorite place to ride. It seems kind of funny how that is the very place I did my first ride.

Now here I am 20 plus years later and I am right back where I started. The only difference is now you see nobody there. Even back in the day you didn't see a lot of people there. But now you sure don't see anyone.

Although I did see Scott Russ and his kid from Mojo Bike shop there this morning. That was kind of neat, we came around the corner and there they where. That's right "we", my buddy Robert who lives down that way met me there this morning.

Yesterday I was on my own. So my total for the weekend is 3 solid hours riding. I am not sure the mileage yet, I don't have a computer on my 29er and I haven't ridden the 26 since I did the race up in Pisgah 3 months ago.

It's a shame nobody makes use of the place.

Why Not ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I might as well continue with my current "training" plan. I call it, enjoy the ride training. Best therapy I have found yet!

Cane Creek is going to get my attention again tomorrow. Solitude and beautiful weather. Perfect way to spend a day.

Last night was another soccer game and getting home late. Next week will be more of the same. I ain't gonna fuss about it though, this time next year the kid will be off at college some where and I will be wishing I had a game to go to.

We signed him up for the SAT last night and that was kind of a slap in the face that it's gonna happen! My oldest kid is gonna be gone before I know it! It seems like he just started middle school and now we are almost done with grade school altogether...

It makes me realize how fast it's gonna be over with Chase. He is in his last year of middle school now. Next year he's gonna be at the high school! I like having the kids around. We are gonna blink our eyes and he's gonna be going off!!!!

The Draw Back !!!!!!!!!!!

The only "Draw Back" I have found to all this alone riding time is the fact you just don't push yourself. As in I had two and a half hours to kill between work and Cody's soccer game last night. So I went riding...

The game was at West Stanley high School, from work and going to ride at Sherman Branch Trails. It kinda made a straight line. If I had gone home to Monroe and then headed to the game I would have really taken the long way. Plus it was a good reason to ride my mtn.bike.

So I went and kinda kicked it, more like rolled with the flow. Meaning I spun the hills and hauled ass on the down hills and generally enjoyed the ride without working to hard. Now keep in mind even when I say I wasn't working to hard, I am still rolling faster than most average riders do. I can still pick it up when I need to.

So about halfway into the ride I decided to just stay at my pace and see where I am. End of the ride I had a time of :59 minutes. As I just recently talked about, I went through a spell where I was trying to kill it every time I rode. At that point I was like a minute or two at the most of my "race pace".

That time was :53 minutes. So if I push myself really hard and focus on nothing but going fast and smooth I am at :53. If I take my time and not even really breath hard my time will be around :59. Six minutes difference.

Over the course of 11.6 miles six minutes is a lot. But then again overall who really cares! That six minutes is pretty much irrelevant considering I have no intention of racing any time soon. Plus I had fun!!!

I need no other reason than that! I didn't even really break a good sweat.

Point is I guess I don't have the "blues", I am just enjoying riding my bike right now. It's just another phase I am going through. Sometimes I want to ride like I am possessed and other times I like to drag ass and enjoy it more..

The Blues ???????????

I am not sure if it's the end of summer "Blues" or what. But I have found myself in some kind of "I would just rather ride by myself than with anybody mood lately".

Why, I have no ideal. I have been riding a lot and I am enjoying it. I just don't like to nor want to; work around anyone elses schedule. When I want to go I go. I don't have to meet anyone or wait on anyone.

I just go! Plus I have been riding the road bike more than anything else and that really works out good for solo riding. I get on my bike and out the driveway I go. So if I am not driving anywhere to meet anyone I sure don't have to wait.

How long this will last I have no ideal, but I am gonna enjoy it while I can. It won't be long, Kelly has been out of town and I will get bored and want someone to keep me company before long. So it's just a matter of time. My buddies will want to hit the mountains at least once more and I am always ready for that trip.

So it won't be long before quite time is over. Besides after being out of the loop for an extended period I will need to catch up on the gossip!

Also for something unrelated to bicycles, Cody my oldest son likes to hunt so last night I helped him move his deer stand. I spent the better part of 2 hours wondering around in the deep woods. We had to take his stand down in one spot and move it to another spot.

Yes, I damn near caught malaria from the mosquito bites but hell I was with my kid and we had fun!

Big Plans ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Little motivation!

That pretty much sums up my whole 3 day weekend.

Do I have any regrets?

Nope! Not at all... I was a holiday weekend and that's what I used it as. A holiday. I did ride everyday and swam and cooked out. But no I did no hard rides. I planned to get a long one in yesterday but I just didn't feel like it.

Instead I headed down to Cheraw SC to ride one of favorite lightly used trails only to find it temporarily closed. They are logging the state forest and it might be awhile before it's open again. I did get to ride but it was more of an exploratory ride than a full on ride.

The funny thing is I usually don't see anybody down there and then yesterday when I pulled up I find 3 other people standing there wondering what to do. They must have just closed it last week. One of the guys called someone who works for the state who he said would know what's up. That person told him we could go ahead and ride or run that they weren't logging because of the holiday. If they had been we wouldn't have been able to ride or run.

He said it would probably be about 3 weeks before it was open again. It's gonna take a little work to smooth out some spots but I can't wait till it's open again. I miss it already!

I guess my weekend was mainly flying under the radar. I rode Cane Creek Sunday and Cheraw Monday. Didn't see anybody at Cane Creek and then just a few at Cheraw. I have been in this mood lately where I just want to ride and avoid the crowds.

Like being in the mountains. You just don't see as many people there. The only place around here besides my hide out like that would be Steve's trail.

On a busy day it might get 10 riders. Cane Creek on a busy day might get me and 6 horses......