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....