Thanksgiving 08

What a different Thanksgiving than normal this year, I found myself at home alone since JJ was visiting her grandfather and TJ was tagging along with my sister. I had no time limits, no plans, nothing to do but get out on my bike and ride, which was great because I have been off my bike so much lately.

I waited until it was warm enough to comfortably ride in shorts, loaded up the Prophet and headed to Blue Clay. Plus, I wanted to check out the trail extension that I had read about on the SBA website.

I arrived at the trails, and there were a few people hitting the pump track, and a few others coming off the trails, so I headed out for my first of what was hopefully to be two laps. The ride was going well, I was trying some of the stuff that Derrick had shown us in the class a few weeks prior. I hit the first skinny - no problem, hit the second little skinny and lined up for the log hop - no problem, then the next log hop- hell yeah, this is going to be a good day. Then I came to the log ride, that I have done many times..... .....Damn! That's going to leave a mark!

I got about ten feet down the log, my back wheel slid off and I tried to get my leg out of my peddles and caught my lower calf on my big chainring.... Well you win some and you loose some... Here's a few more pictures of the log I was attempting.

I sat down for a minute and cleaned my leg up a little, and thought to myself, there is no way I'm going to let this beautiful day go to waste. I finished my lap of Blue Clay, which the trails were in great shape. After my first lap, I decided to do a quick lap of the beginners trail, when I finished up there, I ran into my good friend Peter, and took a break and enjoyed some great Thanksgiving conversation.

I have to say, even with taking a nasty spill, it was a great day!

Picture of the day...

I was surfing the net checking out mountain biking pictures and ran across this picture, it's just to cool not to post....

Greenfield Lake

What a busy weekend, I even took Friday off and still never rode my bike. I guess that's to be expected though, it was my sister's wedding and it seemed JJ and I had as much running around to do as the bride and groom. The wedding came and went and was a pretty ceremony, and I can honestly say that I never thought I would see my sister get married again. I sure am glad she's happy!

Sunday, JJ and I headed up to IHOP to meet her sister before she headed back to Seattle. We don't get to see her much, so this was a bad weekend for her to show up. I only got to have breakfast with her this trip, but it was well worth it.

After breakfast, hitting the grocery store and returning all of the tux's, JJ and I decided to ride over to Greenfield Lake and feed the ducks. It was nice and peaceful and we were both thankful that all of the running around was over for the long weekend....

Rain - Day 3

Another day of rain and thunder storms. We just opened the new pump track this past weekend, now it looks like it will be closed at least for a week to come, after the rain stops. Bummer!

Kicking it Old School

My earlier post about the mountain bike clinic and Derrick got me thinking about the old days. I knew I had some pictures of me riding the New River Trails back in 1997, so I dug them out and scanned them... Here's just a few. I was riding a 1997 Cannondale Killer V 500, man I wish I still had that bike today. Here's the pics...

Mountain Bike Clinic 11-9-08

It's not everyday that you get to ride with a professional rider, especially not here in the Wilmington area. Today would be my exception. About a week ago, Shawn at Bike Cycles posted that there would be a free mountain bike clinic put on by a professional rider today. To my suprise, the pro was none other than Derrick Meready, which I grew up down the street from.

The last time I saw Derrick, he was ripping up the streets with aspirations of becoming a professional skateboarder with good friend Michael Good, in the small town where we grew up. Both Derrick and Michael both were phenomenal skaters, so it would not have surprised me if they both went pro.

I got to catch up a little with Derrick today after the clinic, and he is doing well for himself, and in his second year as a pro rider for Mad March Racing based out of Snowshoe West Virginia. I have to say he put on an awesome clinic, he was very informative, and I picked up several tips that will help me become a better rider (other than loosing about 50lbs). It was cool not only riding with a pro, but catching up briefly with an old friend....

Cooper's first day on the trails.....

Here's some pictures from Cooper's first big day at the trails.... Here he is fresh from his nap in the truck on the way to the park, completely unaware of what's in store. Now that J.J. has arrived to take some pictures, it's time to show Mom what we've been practicing. Let's start with a nice easy pace down to the other end of the trail. Ok, time to stretch our legs.... Whew.... now that Mom's seen what we've been working on, it's time to find a comfortable place to chill... And here's one more just for Mom, she likes it when I act silly for the camera... What a big day, Cooper got to meet most of the regular gang, checked out the pump track and the mud...LOL, and begin working on being a trail dog. I think this was just the beginning of something great, I look forward to years and years of great rides with Coooper!

We'll see you in the trails....

Beer of the week....

Another good beer choice....

Welcome to the Family

We lost Milo, our male black lab several months back to a epileptic seizure that he never came out of. We knew that the day would come, but we never expected it to be as soon as it was. Milo was the best, I miss him every day.

A few weeks ago, JJ surprised me with our newest member of our family, Cooper. Cooper's a 15 week old Chocolate lab. Although he can never replace Milo, he has brought back mischief to the house. Here's a picture with him laying on the bed with our adorable Jezzie (who rules the house!) I plan on Cooper hitting the trails with me this fall and winter, we've already bought him his very own camelbak. I hear he's going to make an appearance at CANbike....

Duh!

I will never understand why people insist on riding a trail the day after we have 4" of rain... Come on people use your freakin' head, it's not just a hat rack you know. If riding the trail is going to cause more work for the others that spend countless hours keeping the maintenance on these trails up, building new things for people to enjoy, etc, then wait until the trails are open...

It just really pisses me off when I see people out there that don't want to follow a few simple guidelines that would make life better for everyone.

I guess this is going to earn me the douche bag award for the week, but who cares...

Trail Day - part 2

Man, things are really beginning to come together. With all of the changes that are happening out at BC, I think our CANbike event is going to be HUGE! The two trail days this weekend were incredible, the amount of volunteers we had was probably the most I've seen on any single trail day yet.

BC is going to become even more popular in the days to come, I can just feel it. Here's my favorite picture from today. If you are curious, you need to come down to Blue Clay and see for yourself.....

Trail Day

Have you ever noticed that it's the same people showing up for trail day, every time? I am curious if it's this way for all clubs and trails. Personally, I always feel better riding the trails knowing that I've put in my time working on them. It just annoys me when I hear people complaining about the trails or wanting to change thing, but for some reason, they hardly ever show up to help out. AND the part that really gets me, is they can make time to ride on days that there's no work, but if it's a trail day... they can't be found. If you are reading this, and you think I'm talking about you, you are probably right....

Here's a few pictures from yesterday... I also want to give a huge thanks to all of the BMX guys that came out and helped with the trails yesterday, without those guys we would not have gotten half as much done!

I want to leave you with one last picture, this is what it's all about.....The Kids!

See ya in the trails!

Time to ride....finally

Work has been insane lately, working for a generator company plus a major hurricane hitting Galveston, well, you do the math - INSANITY! However, the days go by quick and all of us in the office have a good time and make the best of it.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to sneak out of the office around 5:30, and head over to Blue Clay, it hand been a week or so since I had been on my bike. The trails were in great condition. The weather is finally beginning to break, and the days are getting shorter so I'm looking forward to some great night rides very soon. Hopefully I can sneak out again this afternoon, and put in a few more laps...

TS Hanna

I actually managed to get away from work before 7pm, which has seemed an impossibility this past week. I headed home, stopping off to get gas for the generator and chainsaw in case the storm causes us to loose power and/or knocks down some trees.

Once I finally got home, JJ helped me make room to get both vehicles, the lawn mower and all of the bikes in the garage; talking about packing 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag. We're all hunkered in, just waiting to see what Hanna has in store for us. I'll post pictures tomorrow, if I can get online.

Stay safe and I'll see you in the trails....

Picture of the Day!

Could not pass this up, I don't know what he did but when my wife and I came through the parking lot, this is what we saw.... Way to go Leland PD!