Making Friends ,,,,,,,,,,,,

"Making Friends" by bike. It's easy, if you ever read any body's blog about a bike tour. They always talk about how people approach them constantly and ask questions about what they are doing. Friday I got a good dose of this. It seems to happen more often when you are in areas that don't see a lot of bike's.


Friday afternoon I was there and it turned out great! As I said in Thursday's post I got up and was on the road at 3:10am. I was in Blairsville at 10:30 and got to eat lunch with the kid. From there I went to the motel, checked in and took a nap. About 2 I got up and headed out the door. I had one ride in mind and it was the sole reason for taking my bike to PA.


From town it's about 4 miles to the base of the mountain. From Blairsville over to Bolivar is one big mountain. You go out the back side of town behind the golf course and as soon as you turn left the climb starts! 2 miles straight up! Some sections are close to 30 percent grade! I rode up and over and never stopped!


That was my goal! To see if I could do it without putting my foot down! I made it too!! I was proud and tired. I made it over the top and down the other side to Bolivar and was on my way back when the tire went soft! No big deal right. I had my spare tube and the C02 cartridge. I stopped in the shade in some ones front yard and went to change the tire. As I was doing this the owner come out.


I thought no one was home but it turns out he was retired and was there. He came out and brought me a drink and talked while I was changing the tire. real nice guy and it was fun to talk to him. I changed everything and hit the road. Went 10 yards and boom flat again! What the hell!


Turns out the tire it's self has developed a broken wire. I found that out after I used my one and only tube! Now I am standing in this guys yard about 5 miles from town and no tube. Even if I had a tube it wouldn't have helped. the tire was no good. My new friend didn't have a vehicle that would carry a bike and it was a beautiful day so I said my goodbye's and headed down the hill.


I figured maybe someone would come by with a pickup or if I wasn't back when Cody got out of school I could call him and he could come get me. Either way I didn't really care, I was on a remote mountain road, one that didn't even have lines painted on it and the weather was perfect. I was happy to be there flat or no flat!


My new friend was like really hating he couldn't help more but I didn't really care. We shook hands and I took off walking. About a half mile away I passed this one huge house on the mountain side with this really big stone gated entrance that was shut. It had the microphone on a pole beside the drive and I thought about just pushing the button and asking for a ride just to see what kind of reaction I would get. The thought made me laugh anyway!


So I am walking along and so far I have been moving maybe 20 minutes and not one car had come by. All of a sudden this big ass jacked up brand new Ford truck comes zooming around a corner. One of those 50g plus rides! He immediately slows down and stops before I even had a chance to wave him down! He jumps out and says Tom had called him and told him I was walking and needed a ride and wanted him to come get me, no shit I was kinda stunned!


Before I knew it he had put my bike in the back and had his hand out introducing himself! Turns out he owns a big construction paving company and he lived in the big ass house I had thought about stopping at! He said Tom was a good friend of his and he kinda tried to look out for him. Tom kept an eye on things up and down the road and when Tom calls people jump!


He was laughing of course, but he did make it clear he thought a lot of Tom. He must have because, he dropped everything he was doing at the office and drove out to pick me up with clear instructions to let Tom know I was taken care of! Made me laugh! Ten minutes later I was back at the motel!


Still smiling too! I had gotten in a good ride and made two new friends. All because I was on a bicycle, a bicycle with a flat but none the less, I was on a bike!!

Next Week,, This Weekend ,,,,,,,,,

"Next Week" I will take the bike to the shop and deal with that. Right now I am still in the whining stages, anybody wants to listen I tell them how my Cannondale let me down. Next week we find out if they are gonna make it right. If they do I'll be glad to tell ya. So far the fork has done nothing but cost me money!


"This Weekend", that's what's on my mind right now! Tonight I go to bed and I am gonna get up at 3am and hit the road. I will be in Blairsville PA by 12 noon tomorrow. Then I am gonna get in a good road ride and be back at the motel by the time Cody gets out of school. He graduates on the 18th of Sept. and we move him home.


Yep, school is over! Believe it or not, we are about 2 trips away from the Pennsylvania trips being over! Then we are heading to Georgia! I go this weekend then we go next month to bring him home and then we move him to the big A..


Yep my nineteen year old kid took a job in Atlanta! I am happy, AND I don't know what to think. I planned on him coming home from school and getting a job here in Charlotte. Moving to Atlanta never crossed my mind! We are heading down to find a house in the next few weeks. He wants to rent a house so he has a garage instead of living in an apartment.


Believe me Karen is still adjusting to. As I told her the other night, Chase just started the 10 grade and Cody is moving to Atlanta. Chase will be going off to college in 3 years and we could be living by ourselves. I can't even begin to imagine a house without the kids..


Hopefully Cody will have 3 years experience and move back to Charlotte by then. Ya' never know..

Not To Happy ,,,,,,,,,,,

Saturday I did a bunch of stuff to make the wife happy and then headed to Uhwarrie. I earned a good ride and I was rather excited to be going. I got there and decided I was only going to do one lap so I decided to do it counter clock wise, that seems to be the hardest direction and I wanted as much out of one lap as I could get.


Of course I was not disappointed and was really enjoying the ride when everything went south! South in a big way! I am on one of the fastest sections and hauling butt when I stick it in a corner and the whole front end twists and the front tire binds up against the fork leg and I go flying through the air!


As I am flying I have two thoughts pass through my mind. Thought number 1: Gee I think Glen had told me about his fork doing the same thing! Thought number 2: I am high enough in the air that it's really gonna hurt when I hit the ground! A split second later and I have my confirmation about thought 2! As I am rolling around on the ground with the air knocked out of me and trying to breath again! I can already tell my shoulder is gonna hurt.


After I catch my breath I do the mental check and realize nothing is broken but now I am confused. How in the hell could that have even happened. I could have really been hurt. Uhwarrie is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the country and it's not the biggest but it still has plenty of drops and at mid flight I was every bit of 10 feet in the air.


Tomorrow I am taking the bike to the shop and they will send the fork back to Cannondale to fix it. If they decide I should pay for this we are gonna have a really big problem! As I said that should never in no way have ever happened! That's an engineering mistake that could result in someone getting killed or seriously injured. You see I have the Cannondale Lefty fork, the one that only has one fork leg.


As I said that should never happen and I am not to happy at the moment......


Want to buy a used Cannondale! Right now I don't know if I could ever trust it again. Not at speed....

I Guess I needed a Break ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yep it's been awhile and a lot has happened in the last few weeks. I kept planning to get on here but it never happened. I needed a break! Not sure why, other than it's just been a busy summer here at work and that's always been when I took the time to update this.


We have a home computer, a laptop. I sit in front of a computer all day everyday, when I get home I don't want to even look at another screen! I don't do Facebook and I don't plan to start. I sit in a office at a stupid desk all day everyday and when I get home I am not going to waste a perfectly good evening doing the same thing again.


I go outside and play! Even in the rain, and if it's cold you wear the right stuff and you stay warm. Simple as that! Remember kids "life is short, play hard". That is probably one of my favorite sayings, words to live by friends!


So now back to the usual, school starts this coming week. We made it through a nice vacation. We all needed that! The summer is wrapping up and it won't be long before we bring Cody home, lees than a month. I am going back up next weekend for my last solo trip. Then we all go the middle of next month for his graduation.


The last year has flown by, I still have a hard time realizing Chase is starting the 10th grade and as we speak we are getting his learners permit! Like I said, time fly's,,,,,,

Still Here ,,,,,,,

I know it's been a while but yes I am still here. Just been real busy lately and we had a vacation last week. That had us at the beach for a solid week and some rest! I usually wait and talk about my vacations after we get back rather than before we leave.


I don't like to let the world of the inter webs in on the fact we are gone for a solid week with no one home. But now we are back and this house is still standing. Tomorrow I will make a point to post up but for now we are back....