Kingsport CRAWL

I took too long to get my CRAWL post out and somebody already beat me to it so I'll just hit the highlights and save the details to Alan. I have a few pics but nothing really that interesting. Friday we hit the town on our cruiser bikes in Kingsport for a little something different. Our normal route usually takes us in and around downtown Johnson City but I have had a few requests to try out Kingsport. Earlier this year a few of us hit the Kingsport Greenbelt in the dark and rain for a downtown cruise with refreshment stops. Still daylight out and much nicer weather this time allowed for a lot bigger crowd and a more pleasant ride. We did experience a little off-roading due to some construction but we made it through without a scratch.

Note Alan's drunk rapper poise and the PBR in the foreground. He tries to pretend to be a beer snob but I caught him on more than one occasion sipping the tallboy. Just go ahead and come out of the closet there buddy.

It's a good thing we had bikes with rack systems, as leftovers were plentiful.

On the ride home we headed down Eastman road which was not in the planned route but since the Greenbelt was under construction and it was pretty late, we decided to take to the streets which were already vacant. It was all downhill on Eastman Rd. to our cars which prompted a couple of us to see how fast we could coast down in a full tuck, ape hanger bars and all. I was pretty surprised to lead the pack for a while on my singlespeed cruiser but eventually I gave way to the bigger wheels of Mike's commuter. Once on the flats I tried to spin the cranks in an effort to catch him but the chain gave way and flew off leaving me with no power or brakes. I forgot a coaster brake doesn't work without the chain on. At my high rate of speed I got pretty lucky with a wide turn and a large empty parking lot to run it out. Had it be earlier in the day with alot of traffic I would have been in some serious trouble.

I hope to get a little video footage together later this week so stay tuned.