Thursday, May 28, 2009

beach cruiser week

Friday night Melinda are planning on embarking on our first trip to the beach in 4 or 5 years. It will also be our first trip to the beach with the ECO. Yes we are going to camp out this time. Most of our trips to the beach we have stayed in some sort of hotel or condo and usually it involved my whole family. We've been unable to coordinate a family beach trip for some time mainly due to job schedule restraints and 2 big black dogs that for some reason are never welcome at the places we've stayed in the past.
We finally found a place that not only allows dogs but they welcome them. We're going camping at the beach, Cape Hatteras to be exact. Our original plan was to leave bright and early Saturday morning but Melinda just found out that she's off Friday so we may leave Friday night and knock half the drive out. I've always wanted to pull into a WalMart and set-up camp for free like I see so many do at our local WalMart. I don't know why this appeals to me but it does and this way it will allow us to arrive alot earlier in the day on Saturday instead of late in the afternoon wasting most of the day on the road.
My biggest issue so far in planning this trip is not whether I should bring my bike or not but rather which bike do I take. I would like to take two but I think that would be pushing it. My bike of choice for this week is my cruiser but the only problem is it has full fenders and bolt on hubs as does Melinda's Schwinn making it impossible to put on the various types of roof racks I have for the truck.
When we haul them around to the CRAWLs we always use the hitch rack which works flawlessly but with the ECO trailer hooked up it eliminates the hitch rack. I really didn't want to take my road bike or mtn bikes because I have a feeling the sand and salt will find it's way into places I don't want it to.
Melinda and I came up with the idea of putting the cruisers inside the ECO trailer. We have a floor rack at home that we use to store them currently and I think with the use of some bungees and towels to protect the insides of the camper from pedals and handlebars I think they will ride upright inside the ECO just fine. Tonight I plan to try this out to make sure it will work. The key to making this work will be securing the bikes so they do not fall over during travel and wreck the cabinets.


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The 12 Hours of Tsali pt. 3 (what $66.95 really got me)

The 12 Hours of Tsali is a pretty popular race put on by the nice folks at GoneRiding.com. I don't really have any bad complaints about them. I've done a few of their races all at Tsali but I think for the price of the entry fee an event T-shirt is the least they could do. They did have an event shirt but it cost you an extra $12 if you bought it online sight unseen which I actually thought about doing. I remember the past event shirts and they weren't that impressive. I've gotten a lot worse but they have all been free with registration. They did have the rumored spaghetti dinner but it was during the race which if you were really trying for the 12 hour win, stopping mid race for watered down spaghetti was out of the question. When I arrived at the event I checked out the shirts and yeah they sucked and the price had gone up to $15 so I knew I made the right move by not purchasing one. As I was registering I was told I needed to cough up $2 for the trail fee which is the norm for riding the Tsali trails. I would have thought surely my $64.95 would have covered a measly $2 trail fee. Not too happy about this I decided to write the lady a check for $2 instead of handing over the cash which she was not happy about but gave me a little satisfaction. About the $2 trail fee, I do not oppose paying to ride trails because I know first hand that building and maintaining trails cost money. The problem I have with the $2 I pay at Tsali is I haven't seen any improvements in the last 5 years other than removing fallen trees. There are some serious drainage problems, alot of pot holes that can take you down if your not paying attention and in some places the corridor is very narrow due to the brush creeping in on the trail. I've got the poison ivy to prove it. If your going to charge me $2 to ride the trail, use it to maintain it like you say you do. My mtn bike club doesn't charge to ride the local trails and I think we do a better job maintaining them. I hope it's more of a lack of volunteers rather than someone using it to fund their beer supply.


Back to my original topic, what I got for my now $66.94. This is really beginning to remind me of my cable company with all the little fees being tacked on. The entry fee started out as $60, then add on $4.95 for the online registration and another $2 to actually ride the trails.









After I paid all the fees gave some blood and urine samples and signed a form saying I wouldn't sue anybody I received my swag bag. The bag itself was a pretty white bag that was sturdy enough to be reused on another camping trip but in all reality it will probably end up taking up space in a landfill for the next 50 yrs. In the bag was a couple of pamphlets full of useless info trying to get me to buy their products (more stuff to take space in the landfill). I got a small packet of sunscreen which could save me from skin cancer one day so that right there folks might just be worth the $66.95. I also received the following Hammer products: an energy bar, Endurolytes, and some Heed endurance drink in a funny melon flavor which I have a feeling is going to suck. I guess if I got lost in the woods for several days during the race these 3 items might keep me from starving to death. That's worth the $66.95 right? So if I manage to survive getting lost in the woods and skin cancer due to the swag bag contents then when I do make it home I'll be able to wash my NTMBA kit with my really small sample of Sport Wash, some kind of fancy new detergent that says it improves the performance of your clothing. WTF?? Sounds like a watered down detergent that just doesn't wear out the fabric as fast to me. I just go the cheap man's route by only washing my lycra when it's really dirty. Kinda gross I know but I have to pay for my cycling kits, I'm not a sponsored rider. I won't offend any sponsors if my kit doesn't smell like fresh lavender. Last but not least there is the small b&w Trek sticker, I can't think of a way for this thing to help me out so I'll probably just toss it into my useless sticker pile or stick on the back of Olga's SUV. (I stuck an I-9 sticker on her window about 5 yrs ago as a prank and she never realized it). Now she actually owns a set of I-9's so the sticker finally has a purpose.
$66.95, was it worth the race? I still haven't decided. I had fun and would probably do it again as long as the price doesn't continue to go up and I don't have to burn vacation to do so. The only negative experience other than the entry fee price I had were a few folks who thought way to highly of themselves. I got cussed on more than one occasion by someone who felt I didn't get out of their way fast enough. Nothing slows me down more than someone being very rude behind me. I'll get over alot faster if you just ask politely. I guess some folks feel like they own the trail. We even had some lady get pissed off because she had to wait all of 3 minutes for us to back our camper into our campsite. There was no where for me to go and no room to pull over. I don't know what she wanted me to do but after we finally got out of her Highness's way I told her patience was a virtue as she drove by. I think that pissed her off a little more and she stopped for a half second like she wanted to fight us. I have never experienced this much hostility and impatience at a mountain bike race before. Alan, "Mr I get along with everyone" almost got into a fist fight with the guys next to us who were very rude about sharing a spot in the pits.


photo credit - Scooby's Snacks
I guess the $66.95 entry fee with no T-shirt was getting to everyone.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

12 Hours of Tsali pt. 2 (photo essay)

The pics are in, I didn't get a whole lot because I was riding alot more than usual. While the race course was fun some of the people we encountered were not. After I got cleaned up and had some dinner everyone seemed to filter out of site too tired to stay up. I guess the 6 hr race really took it's toll on everyone.




We had to make a last minute stop to make an adjustment. The truck was really loaded down for this trip but it did well going over the mountains. Alan said we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies but there was no Granny or a rocking chair.




Friday night we got everything set-up, the ECO is alot quicker and easier than the Pancake Shack ever thought about being. Nicer too!





Jackson will hang out with you all night as long as you'll pet him or share your beer.


Alan in his Hillbilly hotel with the AC on, er I mean the rear hatch open.




Our pit area that we had to fight to keep.



My biggest fan and crew chief.




Melinda, her Mom, Olga and Joe all paddled around the lake until they found a good place to watch the racers fly by. It just so happened that I saw them and stopped for a second for a photo.




Alan and I getting ready for a lap, we got harassed by the Gone Riding folks who tried to say I was drafting behind him. That's the first time I ever heard of that especially when he rode behind me the whole time. At first I thought they were giving Alan a hard time trying to say he was riding a kids bike. I knew he shouldn't have gone back to the 26" wheel.



My last lap, I got harassed by the Gone Riding folks for not properly dismounting. Too many goofy rules, they even told us we couldn't ride with Ipods. I did anyway but got a disapproving remark from Mr. Boggs.



I wonder if Melinda ever would have thought before she married me that half her wardrobe would be cycling related clothing.



Screw the watered down spaghetti, we made tortilla soup, much tastier.


On Sunday Melinda and I hit the N.O.C. and saw this really cool VW van. There was some crazy lady directing traffic when we rolled in. She told me my truck would not fit into the parking lot but I argued otherwise. She allowed me to pull in and told me to think good thoughts.

Monday, May 25, 2009

12 Hours of Tsali recap pt.1




I wasn't too sure how to start this post, I had alot of fun this weekend. I didn't have a plan, I didn't train, I really only had a pit because of Alan. I just wanted to see how far I could push myself but still have fun. I wasn't really interested in seeing how much suffering I could endure because what fun is in that? I came here to enjoy myself and if I ended up suffering there might be a chance I would lay off the bike for a while and I don't want that to happen. After it was all said and done I'd have to say I succeeded. I had fun, I did hurt but I didn't really suffer. My goal was at least 6 laps and I could have gone longer but the sun went down and cold beers were a flowing.



I rode my mountain bike farther than I ever have in one day, 60+ miles. Technically I don't have an exact mileage number to give because I accidentally reset my bike computer on my last lap. I didn't just reset the ride but I reset the whole damn thing which is hard for me to do when I'm trying. I was riding lap 6 in the dark, closing in on 60 miles and my head light kept bouncing a glare off the screen so I reached down to try a adjust the position of it on my handlebar and reset the whole thing. I was trying to keep track of my mileage for the year and how many miles were on the bike but now all that is lost. There are 3 buttons you have to push at the same time in order to reset the computer and how I manged to push all three I'll never understand. I was on my 6th lap (my goal) and was feeling good but a malfunctioning cleat set me back a little in the pits causing me to get a later start than I wanted. I was feeling a lot better than I had expected so had decided to keep pushing making my last lap a night lap. I'm not really a fan of riding at night. If I had a better light set up I might but as little night riding as I do it's hard to spend the $$ on a new set up when the old really heavy one works good. Anyway I got a late start and did the last half of my lap in the dark. The combination of the computer resetting and the darkness setting in on me kinda took the wind out of my sails on going for a 7th. All my friends were done and drinking beer having a big ole time and I just couldn't bring myself to go out for another lap. I felt satisfied with myself but I was ready to have some fun off the bike. As far as my body goes I felt fine with the exception of some saddle sores, the course was actually pretty easy.

Those were just a couple of small instances that were part of a very fun weekend. I did manage to film alot of the race but unfortunately I will be working all the week and then heading to the beach for a week so it's going to be a while before any footage will be seen. Alan rode a couple of laps with me and as we were entering the woods I had an idea. I never get to be in my own videos and most of the pics are taken by me so they are always of other people. I pulled over unhooked the camera and gave it to Alan to film so I can actually watch myself ride. I'm not really that vain I just think it would be interesting to watch myself ride for a change. I'll try and get my pics uploaded tonight and post them up tomorrow.

All photos courtesy of Scooby's Snacks


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Forgetful Jones

This just in, Tsali campground is almost full, luckily my good buddy and campsite sharing partner went down today and secured us one of the last spots. It looks as if it's going to be crowded down there with tents and bikes everywhere. I'm ready to go down now but I'm working till 6am & Melinda's gotta work till 1pm tomorrow. I've got lists of stuff all over the house, grocery lists, packing lists, all types of batteries to charge. The lists are many and long, why? because I'm forgetful.
If you watched Sesame Street as a kid keep reading if not skip to the next blog. There is one character I'll always remember and no it wasn't Big Bird, I'll liked his friend Mr. Snuffelufagus better. I'm talking about the old cowboy Forgetful Jones and his horse, who's name I can't recall. I feel like Forgetful Jones and I are related somehow, no I'm not a cowboy but I did grow up in TX. The thing is that I'm always forgetting stuff, Melinda fusses at me all the time for it. I'm constantly having to make lists of things I need to do or they won't get done. Take this blog for example, throughout the day I'll be daydreaming away as usual and I'll think of something really good to write about but by the time I get to sit down and type it's gone like keg at a frat party. I refer to myself as Forgetful Jones sometimes when Melinda is upset because I forgot to pick up toothpaste at the store especially when my list only has 5 things on it. If I wasn't so forgetful I could probably remember F.J.'s horse but oh well. See you at the race

I'll try to remember to turn on the Hero cam for this race and bring extra batteries to get plenty of footage.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

flying tents and spaghetti

Gonna be a busy week for me, I've got to get everything ready for a trip to NC for the 12 Hours of Tsali. Today I gave the bike hauler and Eco trailer a bath, got the Mamasita tuned up and ready to roll with a little help from Alan. I still managed to screw up the crank and he finally set me straight. I still need to install a new set of brake pads but I think I can manage that one myself.
I've done a few of these 12 and 24 hour races over the past few years and the thing that always gets me is the price. Probably the best race for the money I've done yet was the 6 hours of Warriors Creek this year. For $40 (early bird reg. fee) I got a cool shirt, a BBQ dinner, and free beer plus I managed to win a door prize. The 12 Hours of Tsali, one of the more popular races in the area I paid $60 plus a $4.95 charge for something I can't remember to race at a trail I've ridden a hundred times. No T-shirt, there is a rumor of a spaghetti dinner (the cheapest dinner possible besides Ramen noodles) but I doubt we'll see it and no beer. For an extra $12 you can purchase a shirt but the past few years they have sucked so I always passed on it. Why am I doing the race, well good question, it's probably the best course for me to try out as my first 12 hour solo experience. In reality it does usually turn out to be a good race and is usually run pretty well and they actually do have a podium.
Enough complaining, how about some pics from last weekends Racks by the Tracks. Racks on the Tracks was a BBQ Rib cook off and beer tasting gig. Pretty cool event even though Pisgah Brewing Co. was a no show. I was really looking forward to tasting their brew. I think there ended up being around 15 breweries on hand and we got a cool little souvenir glass to take home. A few of us decided to take a wrong turn in the woods out on Bays Mtn earlier and were having to much fun so we were a little late and missed out on a few beers. I think I'd had enough anyway.










Anthony had a few too many and thought he was the Dog Whisperer for about 10 minutes. Caesar would have definitely said it was Anthony who needed rehabilitating.




This cat had it going on, that was one long ride. I bet he had hard time pedaling that thing up hill.

As soon as we got ready to leave a storm rolled in and the wind picked up several EZ-Up's and started hurling them in all directions. Everyone was running for cover and chasing flying tents down the street. I thought about helping but decided it was much more fun to laugh and snap pictures.













Monday, May 18, 2009

http://vimeo.com/4709556 from Greg Carr on Vimeo.



The annual NTMBA club picnic was this past Saturday and it was probably the best one I've seen yet. Check out the video for a short recap for those of you who missed it. Lot's of folks showed up, alot of them I'd never seen before. Towards the end of the day a few of us snuck off to ride the backside of Bays mtn which has been all the craze as of late. The singletrack at the end of the video is some of what's out there but I just couldn't do it justice with such a short clip. Alot of good footage was lost due to dead batteries in the Hero cam, my fault. I'll get it next time. The 12 Hours of Tsali is on the horizon for this weekend and will be my 1st 12 hour solo attempt. As luck would have it I've been sick right before the race but this time it hasn't kept me off the bike. Lotsa packing to do this weekend and I've got to try and squeeze in some riding as well. I did make it out to the trails today with the dogs and the Karate Monkey. The trail were in near perfect condition so if you haven't been out in a while get out now before Mother Nature decides to throw some rain our way.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Moonshine & Jackson's epic ride

"Epic ride", I don't use that word very often. When I think of an epic ride I think of 40-50 miles in a back country environment. A ride where you don't just bring water but a whole pack full of snacks and maybe some tools or first aid equipment. Usually there would be some wrong turns maybe even getting lost and not getting back to the trailhead before sunset.
I wouldn't call my ride yesterday a ride of epic proportions, not for me at least but I would call it that for my dogs. All week I had plans to explore some of the trails not normally ridden at Steele Creek Park in Bristol. Alan and I are working on a project for NETTA where we provide trail descriptions and video footage for all the local "legal trails" in the tri-cities in an effort to help promote tourism and earn a little $$$ for our local club. The plan was for Alan and I to ride Steele Creek @ 1pm yesterday but in true Scooby fashion he manged to back out on me in favor of riding the Erwin Greenbelt, a paved path for old folks and kids on training wheels. In his defense we did have to document this one as well but it was not in our plans for Thursday riding. I had a feeling it was coming when he started complaining about riding Steele Creek, I've seen it before and I'm sure I'll see it again. No offense Alan, I'm just telling a story here and you're part of it.
Not really wanting to ride alone and since they were needing the exercise I decided to take the dogs with me not really knowing if they were allowed. I knew the trails we would be riding were not used much so I didn't figure it would be much of a problem. While we were gearing up I grabbed the leashes something I don't normally do and shoved them in my jersey pocket. The dogs and I started out on the usual familiar trails out of the Rooster Front side and began filming. I did take a map not really having a route in mind, I just wanted to hit a few trails I've yet to ride. After crossing over the ridge that surrounds the lake we took a left and headed to the backside of the park. Not all of the trails,... wait I mean most of the trails are not marked by signs. Most are marked by a colored blaze on a tree. The park really needs to use more than 3 colors since there are alot more than just 3 trails out there. I quickly realized that not all the trails in the park are on the map and that I was wasting my time even looking at the map. After riding/pushing up and down some hills I was surprised were even called trails I decided to give Fat Tony a call in hopes that he could tell me if I was going the right way. He told me it had been a while since he had ridden out there and the details were a little fuzzy. It didn't help things that I couldn't tell him exactly where I was. There were alot of dead ends and everything was either straight up or straight down so the thought of having to do alot of back tracking was haunting me. Normally I wouldn't have been too stressed about the situation because I've been in worse predicaments but I had the dogs with me and they weren't used to the mileage not to mention we were running low on water. Back in the day it was nothing for Moonshine to knock out 20 miles at Tsali but that was in her younger days and Jackson, well he never was much of a long distance runner. I knew I could find my way back the way I came but I was hoping that would be my last resort. After taking a few chances on some trails that ended up being wrong turns or dead ends I finally turned around and started back tracking to a more familiar place. I found one last turn off that I thought had to be my turn so I took it and it was all downhill. If this was not it and I had to turn around I would have had to carry Jackson out of there.
When I reached the bottom the trail took a sharp right and at the end I could see a gravel road. I thought this has to be the way. When I reached the road I didn't recognize anything. To my left went down further than I could see and to my right went straight up. I could hear something that resembled traffic going down so I took that choice hoping I wasn't too far from the trailhead. As it turned out I was on private property that belonged to a cell phone company. The gravel road dropped me out into a neighborhood but nothing looked familiar. I could tell I wasn't far from the main highway that cuts through Bristol. This was good because I could figure my way out via the highway but bad because I had 2 dogs in tow which meant I would be walking with bike in one hand and 2 dogs in the other vs. riding out in a matter of minutes. One last call to Fat Tony for some directions. He found my location, gave me the directions home which included a dead end street than ran into a creek. All I had to do was cross the creek and I would be home free. I can do that, the dogs needed to cool off anyway so I thanked him again, hung up and headed down the road. Well the map didn't say anything about the dead end stopping in front of a residence before the creek and with no way around I had to back track once again. As you can guess I was attracting alot of attention, here's a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the day and you've got some strange guy with mud and lycra on walking a muddy bike in one hand and two weary, muddy dogs in the other. We got alot of funny looks not to mention the attention of every dog in that neighborhood. I decided my best course of action was to head for the parkway which I knew with out a doubt which way to get home.
When we reached the parkway we came out at one of the local car dealerships which luckily had some water spigots out front so we were able to refill the bottles and cool down a bit. It probably took us a good 45 minutes to walk down the parkway then to our turn off that lead to the trailhead. A couple of times I thought Jackson was going to quit on me, he had about enough and I was having to give him words of encouragement the whole way.
When we finally arrived at the trailhead I let the dogs get in the creek to wash off and cool down. After a few minutes I told them let's go home. Moonshine came right out but Jackson didn't budge. He wasn't going anywhere with me. I went ahead and loaded up Moonshine in the truck and went back to the creek to retrieve Jackson and I found him hiding behind a tree still in the water. I don't think he realized where we were but he did know one thing he wasn't going anywhere. After some more words of encouragement he finally came out and I was able to load him up.
Four hours later we were headed home to a shower and dinner. Melinda met us at the door and wouldn't let us in the house until both the dogs had a bath in the yard. After their bath both dogs got treated to some dog food and green beans, their favorite. I don't think Jackson will be asking to go with me for a while, Moonshine on the other hand is ready to go now.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Yard Working Man



On the home front all our spring projects were starting to wrap up until I made the comment about the lack of space in our driveway since the purchase of the Eco. I told Melinda I thought we should widen the driveway again to make it a little easier to get in and out. One day while I was at work she decided to go ahead and start on the project not wanting to wait on the others to finish. I think it was her way of getting me started and it worked.
With all the rain we've had lately it's been hard to get in much saddle time but actually it's probably been good for me. I've been running more frequently and all the shoveling of mud from the driveway project has really been a good upper body workout. Although I feel good and sore, shoveling dirt for some reason is just not as fun as riding a bike, at least not for me.
It doesn't look like much but that is 3 days of shovel work. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a wooded lot next door to store all the dirt I've dug up over the years. If I had the room I could easily build a pump track.
The wall is really starting to look good with a few plants and a layer of mulch in it.
We finally finished the 2 new gardens, filled them with dirt and veggies got planted this afternoon. Cucumbers, tomatoes, various peppers, and a bunch of herbs I've yet to check out. The garden we had for the last 3 years got torn out a couple of weeks back and we were surprised at how many Black Widows had made homes under the RR ties.
I was pleased to find this doormat the other day at Lowes, I felt it really fit in nicely at our house with all the dirt tracked in by bikes, work boots and big dogs. Although we said we were going to tackle all the project this spring so we could have the whole summer to play I have a feeling it won't last, we'll find something to improve or change.
It's looking as if the weather is going to play nice at least for now so I may see a different kind of dirt next week.

mechanic skills no good

Creak, creak, creak, that's noise I've been hearing off and on coming from my bottom bracket on the Mamasita. It wasn't too bad at first something that didn't really bother me because it would come and go some days worse than others. I knew it needed to be replaced but I just kept pushing it off knowing I had a spare and I wanted to see how much longer it would last before I couldn't take the noise anymore. I was kinda surprised that it didn't last longer, it was only a year old and I've got BB's that have lasted 3 or 4 years.




On Monday I took the Mamasita for a short ride in between breaks in the rain and the creaking had transformed into a loud popping noise, one that would scare a small child. I decided it was time to let it go to bottom bracket heaven or hell whichever it was doomed. After purchasing a much need tool that for sometime I didn't realize I needed I was able to remove the crankset much easier than before but that's a another story. I pulled the BB out and quickly realized the source of my problem. I had a nice hole in one side allowing water, dirt, and small animals to make they're home in and ruin the bearings.




I guess I must have hit a rock just right to achieve this one.

Anyway, the replacement BB I was using was actually a RaceFace but my crank was a Truvativ. After some inspection I deemed that they would be compatible since they both used the same style BB. Well there is obviously some small difference because after 2 days of trying I finally gave into the idea that a RaceFace BB will not work with a Truvativ crank even though they both use a GXP BB. I'm still not sure what the difference is but it was explained to me by a local mechanic and I just agreed with him and bought a new Truvativ BB not really understanding what he was trying to explain to me.





If it ever stops raining for more than a couple of hours I plan to take the Mamasita out for a test run to make sure everything is in full working order. Chances are with my poor skills I missed something or put something on backwards.

I did recently score a new seat bag which I have gotten to try out and get nice and muddy on it's first run.




The Topeak bag I bought earlier this year just didn't work like it should. After a good hard ride on rocky trails the straps would loosen up. I think it's destined to ride the roads on my commuter bike.





Yesterday I did manage to get a short ride in when the sun decided to come out for half the day. The roads dried out and I hopped on my Masi, something I haven't done in a month or so. I don't know why but I've just had too much fun riding in the woods and I've been neglecting my road bike so far this spring.




With the 12 Hours of Tsali on the horizon I better take what I can get as far as riding goes. I plan to do a little better at this race than the last one, that is if i don't get sick right before the race.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Virus, Disease, Flu.... OMG!!!!!!!!

Every year it happens, something new, a virus, a disease or some crazy unknown strand of flu. Yes it's real somewhere in the world and even here in the US we've seen a few cases but I think there's a little more to it than what we realize.
Somewhere in the world there is an outbreak and people do die but here in the good ole USA we have 24/7 media coverage that likes to blow everything out of proportion and why do you ask, it simple, money. If it's bad news and people are dying the news is going to cover it. They talk about it all day everyday. You wake up in the morning and right off the bat all you hear is how many people died last night from a gunshot or a freaky virus they got from kissing a pig. Somebody is getting rich of our insecurities.






Mad Cow Disease, all I can remember is that the media had alot of folks scared to eat ground beef. I can't remember hearing someone say "It will turn your brain to mush!" Alot of people swore off eating hamburgers and the local cattle farmers suffered because of it but not the media. Didn't Oprah tel everyone not to eat beef and get sued by some cattle farmers in Texas?






West Nile Virus, something about a mosquito and how it could transfer the virus by biting you. I can't remember all the details but I do remember my own mother telling Melinda that she thought I had the WNV just because I was sick during the big scare.




SARS, I can't really remember much about that one except it happened in China and I'd say that country didn't see many American tourists.
Bird Flu, the details on this one are fuzzy too but I think we gave up eating chicken for a couple of weeks and I'd say alot of pet birds were given up or turned loose. Can you tell how much I really pay attention to the news.




Salmonella, here's a good one the media has really blown outa proportion. I couldn't eat anything with peanut butter for the longest time with out someone lecturing me. This one has affected all kinds of vegetables and seems to keep popping back up every time the media runs out of something to talk about.





The newest, The Swine Flu or should we say the H1N1 vrius. It was all the rage last week but it looks as if it's already starting to fade out. I know one thing is for sure, there was no waiting for a table at the local Mexican restaurants this weekend. I wonder if it will affect Cinco De Mayo parties? Last night we had our local Mountain bike club meeting which is always held at a Mexican restaurant and it was odd that attendance seemed to be unusually low. I ate 2 baskets of chips and salsa and I feel fine other than a small fever.
Except for the simonella outbreaks that plagued us all year it seems that we get hit with something every spring. It's almost as if there is a man behind a curtain kinda of like the Wizard of Oz trying to scare everyone into thinking the world is coming to an end. I just hope there are no bicycle related pandemics in the future, oh the horror!
What does this all have to do with bicycles? Nothing, it's been raining here for what seems like months and I've got no good riding stories to tell. So until the rain let's up or I move to the desert this is what you'll have to deal with, sorry.


Friday, May 1, 2009

CRAWL video

As promised I present the CRAWL video. I hope you enjoy!

The CRAWL (Kingsport) from Greg Carr on Vimeo.

Don't go outside or use public transportation, Vice Prez Biden said so.