Legend Park, Clayton NC

After a long weekend on the road with work, I decided to take a much needed mental health day yesterday. I called Tommy up, and we decided instead of hitting the local trails, we'd take a road trip.... where to? There are lots of great riding spots around the Raleigh area, so we narrowed it to a couple, then finally decided on Legend Park, in Clayton NC.

Many kudos to the guys that built and maintain these trails. They are very well thought out, flow like a dream, and well marked with trail names as well as difficulty levels. And as an added bonus, there's a skill area with skinnies and jumps...

The lower trails were pretty wet, so we headed for the upper trails, and although they were in better shape, the slick red clay was still sketchy at best. I'm not exactly sure how many miles we rode, we spent the entire day riding the trails and the skills area, and enjoying the great trail.... Here's some pictures.

(Sign at Skills area)

(one of the jumps)

(Tommy on the jumps in the skills area)

(Me on the 12" Skinny)

(Me sitting on top of "Hucksville", a freerider's dream)

If you are in the Wilmington area, and want to ride a really good trail, I highly recommend making the 100 mile trip up to Clayton NC, and checking out this trail. If you want to read more about it, go to www.trianglemtb.com and read about all the Raleigh area trails.

See ya in the trails!

Old friends, old trails, and good times....

I've posted a few times about one of my oldest and best friends getting back into mountain biking. This past week, I was fortunate enough to be in town all week, while he was on a seven day break. It gave us a chance to hit Blue Clay one night, and then the next two nights we took advantage of riding out at UNCW while we still have those trails. We set a steady pace for us (not race-worthy by any stretch of the imagination), and just pedaled into the cold darkness and laughed about old times as we rode. The trails may not have offered epic conditions, but it was definitely some of the best fun I've had riding in quite some time.... So, as I posted in the title, here's to Old friends, Old trails, and good times.....Cheers!

a little break from the norm...

It never fails to amaze me what people will come up with. Here's a few pictures and links that are just a tad different than your average bike of choice...

Conference bike

and how about a wooden bike.

like I said, amazing stuff....

see you in the trails.

Official Member.....

as of last night, I am an official member of the "Over the bars club"....yep, flipped right over, and at UNCW of all places. Well, just goes to prove no matter how long you've been riding, it happens to all of us one day or night... Sorry, there was no photographic evidence of this alleged incident.

Brig Trail Race 01.20.08

It was cold, damn cold... but we had a lot of fun.... Even though the wind chill never rose beyond 30, Tommy, Whitney, T.J. and myself headed out to the Brig Trail Race..

(Tommy getting the bikes down, for what will be one cold ass ride)
(Whitney being a good sport, in spite of it being cold as hell)

(another great turn out)
(T.J. coming off the starting line)
(T.J. with his very first podium in mountain biking... 3rd in his class, Way to go!!!)

It was a great day hanging out with my son and some great friends. It was especially great seeing my son make his first podium in mountain biking, really makes you proud. I have more pictures, but will have to post a follow up post with them due to having to head off to work soon... have a great day and if you get a chance.... GET OUT and RIDE!!!!

Share the Road

Just ordered mine....

just a few cool pics

found these while reading some forums this morning... just liked them.

follow up post....

It's called a PUGSLEY by Surly bikes... I did a google search or two, and found a great write up about it at Sheldon Brown's site. Here's some more pictures.

The world's best beer!

I just saw this

As usual, I have been off my bike for a few weeks due to traveling with work, which basically means that I've been reading the forums enjoying other's pictures and stories of their epic rides. While reading a post about winter riding on MTBR, I came across two different pictures of this awesome Surly bike... This to me looks like the ultimate winter fun! I have to have one... (don't tell my wife :)