setting my goals too high

The first race of my season is coming up this weekend, The 6 Hours of Warriors Creek. This year so far my allergies have not been bothering me even with camping all last weekend. Fingers crossed I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come for the weekend. I totally plan to ride this race until I can take it no more. My plan is to complete 4 laps minimum, in fact unless I get injured or break both bikes I will finish 4 laps come hell or high water. If I have any gas left in the tank after 4 and there is still time left which I doubt both will happen I'll attempt a 5th. As of right now the weather man says it will be dry but I'm sure that will change. I've ridden Warrior Creek in the rain and it's actually not that bad, the trail sheds water pretty well but it will also shed you if you push it too hard in the turns, banked or not. I've seen that happen first hand with more than one rider. I know there are alot of IF's going on but I'll just be happy with a clear head and a decent race this year. Maybe I've set my goals a bit high this year but I'm feeling good and there is nothing wrong with a little trash talking. The Go Pro will be in full effect as will my Flip cam, which finally made it's filming debut in the IMBA TCC video.

I did get around to uploading our pics from last weekend so here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

The water was pretty high at all of the crossings and still too cold to be riding through, especially at the beginning of the ride.

I took the JET9 out on Saturday and had an absolute blast on it. Just when I think I've made up my mind on which bike I want something happens and I start second guessing my decision.

We forgot to pack our Park Tool bottle opener but thankfully Jackson and Moonshine are both sporting the Cycle Dog collars these days. I got to put them to use Friday night sitting around the campfire.

We had an unusually large amount of dogs running around the campground Friday, seven to be exact.

Saturday night we put the ECO to good use and stayed out of the rain. Some might say owning a camper is not real camping but it does allow you to stay no matter the weather while others are packing up soggy gear and heading home. The reason we originally bought the ECO was not because we're getting soft, I actually miss tent camping sometimes, but when we're out on a 3 or 4 hour ride in July we can't leave the dogs behind in the tent, and no campground will allow you to leave them tied to a tree unattended.

The stereo was really rocking between 3 different Ipod's, it was interesting to see all the different genres of music we had between Fat Tony, Andy and myself.

the back-up plan

How many more camping trips are going get rained out before we get a dry one? After this weekend we are well past due for a dry weekend. Melinda and I left home early on Thursday in route to Dupont/Pisgah hoping to get in some extra trail time in before the rest of the crew rolled into town on Friday. Our anniversary was Friday and there is nothing more romantic than a mountain bike themed camping trip.

The weather forecast when we left town was showing a 40% chance of rain for Saturday and nothing else. I knew I would be in SORBA meetings for a large portion of the day Saturday so I wasn't too disappointed but things changed rapidly. I checked the forecast again later that evening and the percentage shot up to 70%, not looking good.

We made the most of the dry weather and headed out for the trail head as soon as we got things situated. Moonshine and Jackson made they're first trip up Cedar Rock and I think they were impressed with the views.

Friday Melinda and I hit the trails again realizing there was a good chance it might be our last chance to ride for the weekend. The weather was almost perfect and the trails were in awesome shape.

Saturday as expected we woke up to the rain. Anthony, Andy, Rick and myself got up early before the ladies and drove into town to register for the days events. This whole trip was centered around the SORBA, Southern Mountain Bike Summit. Anthony and I have been in the process for a few months now to get our local club, NTMBA affiliated into the vast network of clubs that make up SORBA. This weekend at the board of directors meeting we were to be voted in making that the last step in the process.

We showed up late, checked in and grabbed a couple of danishes and bagels off the breakfast table and snuck out the back door before the morning classes started. A majority of the the morning's material was stuff that we had already experienced so we were just there for the important stuff like free breakfast.

By the look of the skies it appeared as if the rain was there to stay so rather than hang around a soggy campground we rounded up the ladies and headed to the local coffee shop for breakfast #2 and hung out until time for our meeting with SORBA.

As luck would have it we made it to the meeting just in time to score a free lunch and grab some seats in the back row in case the meeting was slow and I fell asleep. Since I'm the president of the club I was expected to stand up introduce the club and give a brief introduction. Of course Melinda suggested earlier in the week that I sit down and write out my speech on paper but I opted to wait until the last minute to throw something together. My rough version was drafted in my head on Friday in the truck as Melinda and I drove home from the trailhead and the final touches were applied as I sat on the throne Saturday morning after multiple cups of coffee. Yeah I guess you can say I was slacking a bit but when it comes to speaking in front of a big crowd I always get nervous and end up saying whatever comes off the top of my head anyway. A month or so ago when Anthony and I went on Channel 5 news, Anthony kept trying to get me to throw in the word jellybeans somewhere randomly which I did not. So when I was called upon during the board of directors meeting to speak for our club I did manage to throw in a NASCAR mention but nothing about jelly beans and it did get a few laughs and we did get voted in so no harm done.

After the meeting was over it was still raining but just barely, I was wanting to ride so I mentioned to Andy and Anthony that we should go anyway but unfortunately all of Anthony's riding gear was in his car, in Asheville with the girls who were shopping. I don't think he believed me either when I told him he would be fine riding in jeans.

Since we could not ride and the girls were gone shopping we decided to do the next best thing. Drink beer at the local bike shop.

Yes, The Hub in Brevard serves beer, not just any old beer but local craft beers. We rolled into the Hub joined the required private membership, which was free and spent the afternoon the best way we could think of considering our situation.

Slowly as time went by more and more folks from the summit trickled in, I guess we weren't the only one's with the same idea. A bike shop that serves beer is an awesome thing and a bad thing all at the same time. It's cool for obvious reasons but also bad in the sense that too many Pisgah Stouts almost caused me to walk out with a sweet set of Industry 9 wheels priced at a little over $1000. Yeah that would not have been good.

We did take a bunch of pics but I haven't had time to sort though them much less upload any but hopefully tomorrow.

tire delimma

I finally went out and bought a new set of tires for the AIR9 yesterday. When I built it up last summer I just moved the Bontragers off the Mamasita and over to the AIR9. They have been great tires and I got a good deal on them when I bought them but Bontrager has discontinued them so I've been on the hunt for a replacement for a while. In my search I've learned one thing, 29" tubeless tires are not only hard to find but they are also freaking expensive, almost as expensive as tires for my truck. I've been shopping around, getting quotes here and there but not really finding much, that I could afford anyway. The tread on my rear tire was really starting to get low and lose traction so this week I decided I needed to make a move especially with two big, back to back weekend trips, one being the 6 Hours of Warriors Creek.

Yesterday I decided on a set of Continental Mountain Kings. They were reasonably priced and had a good looking tread in my opinion. Really my opinion on tread is really not something I would base a purchase on because I'm clueless when it comes to tires and tread. I listen here and there to conversations about tire tread for as long as my attention span will alow (5 min max) then I go out shop around throw all my good info out the window and buy on what I think looks good for the best price. Sounds like a good way to pick a tire huh.

I bought the Mountain Kings, took them home and began the ridiculously long, painful, irritating and messy process of mounting up a set of tubeless tires. Normally I make a mess of epic proportions, cuss and fight the tire for 2 hrs before giving up and running down to the local bike shop for help. You see I have no air compressor which makes this process alot easier but I'm always putting off the purchase of one because the only time I need one is when mounting up tubeless tires.

Last night as usual I spent alot of time trying to mount them with my floor pump and as usual I made a mess and got no where. I finally gave up and waited until this morning when I could get access to an air compressor.

Once I did I got them seated only to find out one of the tires had a slice in the side wall. I was forced to return home and swap it back out for the better of the two Bontragers and make the drive to the air compressor again. Finally after wasting too much time with my tires I was ready to go but something wrong. The Bontrager was alot bigger than the Conti. They were both supposed to be 2.2's but I guess it's that whole European skinny tires are better crap that screws everything up and running it on the back made it look even weirder. I was already late for a ride so I said screw it and decided to swap them around later.









After the ride I finally broke down and bought an air compressor so I could swap the tires around before heading out for the weekend. Now that I have two totally different tires and two obviously different sizes I'm going to go crazy worrying about the whole vanity thing. I mean you have to look fast and good too right? Anyway the AIR9 is a hardtail and a skinny European girly tire just won't do when it comes to smashing my way through nasty rock gardens. Since I have already paid for and ridden the tire I guess I will keep it a give it a shot. Obviously the cut tire went back to the shop for a return but I'm pretty much stuck with the other one.

bikes more bikes and a flashlight

Our bike room at home is full, of bikes that is. The norm for our bike room is 7 bikes but we've added 2 extra in the past week. Moonshine loves bikes almost as much as I do but she was complaining the other day that she was running out of room for her bed on the floor. Really only one bike is permanent, for now, Brownie is back to stay and I'll be damned if I can't think of another name for it and for some reason keeping it "Brownie" when it's no longer brown kinda sounds fun to me. The other addition, while temporary for now is another 29er. No we're not flipping bikes these days, it's a demo Niner Air9 that Melinda is currently putting the screws to at Bays Mountain as I type this. She's been pondering the big hoops for a while but I never thought we could find a size to fit her much less a demo for her to ride before throwing down the cash on one.










Not the prettiest looking bike I've ever seen, Kermit green, gold and red kinda hurts the eyes but it's hard to come by demos, especially in a size small. Having this bike in the house does help me make up my mind whenever it comes to whether I would like the Kermit green color or not. It would be hard to find parts that flowed with this color and you would really be limited to all black.


On the subject of new bikes I'm still on the fence on what to do with my full squish frame, I like it but yet I feel like it's not me. It's fun on the downhills but in my hood you have to do alot of climbing to get there and I'm not 100% sure I'm really that much faster going downhill with the full suspension vs a hardtail. I had serious thoughts of selling the JET9 for a SIR9, Niner's steel hardtail that can be run geared or SS. I almost talked myself out of it but now it's creeping it's way back into my head again. This year they've got the SIR9 in the sweet Moondust grey color and to tell you the truth I think I might just enjoy riding a singlespeed more than the squish. It's simple, fun and challenging not to mention the feel of steel on the trail is like non other. The deraileur/gears on my JET9 has been nothing but a pain in the ass the whole time I've had it, some of that has to do with the fact it's a 1x9. The debate continues inside my head.




LED's are getting brighter and brighter and coupled with a Lithium Ion battery you can have one small, lightweight light that lasts longer and is super bright. Melinda says I have an addiction to flashlights, blinkies and other lighting systems and she's probably right. I ordered 2 high powered LED flashlights a couple of weeks ago from China and they finally came in the mail the other day. These things are super bright, brighter than any flashlight I own. They are almost if not as bright as my LED headlamp I run while night riding. They each came with 2 small Lithium Ion rechargable batteries and a charger. I only paid $10 for the light, 2 batteries and a charger. I've seen several similar flashlights you can order that are about half the lumens of these at 10x the price. With a little bit of engineering I could strap them to my helmet for riding and I might try it soon. Some of my older LED's won't even hit the back of my yard at night but I have to be careful where I point these things cause they'll light up my neighbor's house 2 houses down. I'm scared what I might see if I accidentally shine the light into the windows down the road.


Spring is looking up, I'm seeing the trees starting to bud and green stuff sprouting up in my garden and so far my head and allergies are doing good. I'm really hoping the new allergy meds are going to make this spring clearer for me. I'm determined to silence the ridiculousness that goes on in my head and straighten out whatever distorts my thought process. I'm convinced it's congestion effecting my inner ear or something of that nature. I've talked myself till I'm blue in the face to several doctor's but they all look at me like I'm an idiot. I've researched this on the webMD sites for those people who think they're internet doctor's and some tried to tell me I'm paranoid but that's crap. Why can one minute I feel normal then the next have trouble processing thoughts or sentences. I've thought about telling my doctor I see dead people just to mess with him so maybe he would take me seriously but Melinda doesn't think it's funny when I say things like that.
I'm really hoping to redeam myself this year at the 6WC coming up in two weeks, the past two years really sucked last year being the worst. It's the first and only time I've bailed on a race like that. I busted out two rides at Warriors in the past two days and felt great, no allergy side effects or weird feelings in my head.
Last night I met up with Fat Tony at 6:30 to squeeze in a lap after work. I thought for sure we would need lights near the end of the ride but we were able to finish out the lap with enough light to still pin it in the corners coming down MCR.

If you haven't already seen the IMBA Trail Care Crew re-cap video check it out.








It took a little longer than expected to finish it. I had to wait a few days for the rain to quit before I could get out and shoot a ride on the new section of the Big Oak re-route and it rides great. It may not be as fast as the old section but it's 500 feet longer, no longer has a creek running down it and it's rideable going up hill when wet. Give it a couple more weeks to get properly ridden in and I think it will continue to get faster. If you're still pissy about the change you can still go bomb down the creek called Azalea trail that keeps getting wider and more rutted out everyday.

brownie makes a comeback

Friday after my ride on Buffalo with B-Rad and Ben the Applebeast I headed over to Norris Bicycles to check on the progress of Brownie. I was told over a week ago it would be ready on Friday but I was trying not to get my hopes up. Technically it wasn't ready, it still need brakes and a few other minor accessories but once the brakes were installed it was ready to go home with me. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it looked, better than I expected. I probably should have waited to post up any pics until every last detail was taken care of but my excitement over the project was too great to wait.

The old Brownie

The new Brownie

The majority of the bike was kept original, all the drivetrain and the hubs were overhauled. The brown paint was changed to a very clean white powder coat. The original handlebars and stem were missing when I got ahold of the bike but Dave replaced the heavy four bolt stem with an antique Schwinn stem that looked good and suited the style I was looking for much better. The bmx style handlebar went away and was replaced with a Soma Fabrications Noah's Arc bar.

The brake levers were also replaced as they just didn't fit the new style as well. There are new white Oury grips on order as well.

Of course Brownie got new cables, housing, chain, tires and brake pads. I have new pedals on order to replace the current bent ones.

I plan to put the chain guard back on but Dave hadn't got around to painting it or the fenders yet so it will probably be another week or so. The fenders will stay off but I'll be holding onto them in case I change my mind. The saddle and seatpost were replaced as well but the saddle on it right now is just temporary, I've yet to decide what will go on it permanently. Hopefully by next week the new pedals and grips will be in so she will be ready to roll. CRAWL season is just around the corner and I'm ready to roll in style.

Friday when I was out riding Buffalo we stopped for a bit of refueling and B-Rad pulled out a small pouch of peanut butter & chocolate by The Peanut Butter & Co.

The pouch was perfect for carrying in a jersey pocket and perfect for a trailside snack. I had tried their peanut butter several times before and was impressed but I had not seen the small pouches. Today while I was at the store I grabbed a few to give it a try, they pack quite a punch in the way of refueling and with dark choc. and peanut butter it has to be good.

IMBA TCC photo re-cap and Buffalo Mtn. monkey business

Last weekend Melinda and I hosted the IMBA Trail Care Crew at our house for the weekend. Who the heck are they you ask? Go here to learn a little bit about who they are and what they do. We had Steve and Morgan Lommele, a really cool couple that we had alot of fun hanging out with.






I've already written a re-cap of the entire weekend for the NTMBA site so if you want to know more of the details about what went down go here. I didn't see any reason to repeat everything I've already said and what alot of you have already probably read. Steve and Morgan have their perspective of the weekend reported here.
So anyway what I've got for you are some other little tidbits that maybe weren't as important or might have left the NTMBA report a bit lengthy and of course alot more pics.

It wasn't all lectures and workshops, there was alot of hanging out shooting the bull, drinking a few brews and of course a bit of riding.

The section of trail we worked on last weekend was basically built all wrong, during heavy rains it had a small creek running down the middle of it as you can see above.

Friday afternoon several of us accompanied Steve and Morgan into the woods to watch their flagging process.

I basically took a bunch of random shots and video, scouted the other new trail across the creek that is the Azalea Trail and goofed off.

It crazy some of the stuff you can find in the woods when your just standing around in the same spot for a couple of hours. Steve and Morgan went back and forth in one section of trail flagging, reflagging and then reflagging some more. Finally they came to a mutual agreement and we headed back to the cars to go ride.

Since they had already ridden Bays the day before we took them over to Warriors Path to show off one of our crown jewels.

Both Friday and Saturday we started the day off with workshops fueled with coffee and donuts. Yes I ate more donuts that weekend than I have in a long time but I'm pretty sure I earned the calories.

We had a good sized crew show up for Saturday's workshop despite the threat of rain. We actually got pretty lucky the entire time we were in the woods because I really don't recall getting rained on at all.

The photo above is #1 in a series of 4 all taken in the same spot. The trail you see to the right is the old section of Big Oak just above where the problem area begins. Look closely on the left and you will see the orange pin flags marking where the new trail will begin.

#2 This photo is at the very beginning of the workday as the volunteers are just beginning to clear away the leaves on the new trail.

#3 The digging or benching of the new trail (left) has officially begun. On the right the old trail is being prepared to return it back to nature and make it disappear so it will look like the old trail never existed.

#4 Again this photo was taken in the exact same position as the previous three. The new trail is officially completed and the old section no longer exists. It was amazing to look back and try and figure out where the old trail used to be.

Later that evening Melinda and I host a social event at our house in celebration of the new section of trail we built. Unfortunately the weather did not hold out for the party but I took necessary precautions and set up the EZ-UP out on the deck for crowd gathered around the uh... um... adult beverage dispenser.
I shot quite a bit of video from the weekend, some riding, some trailwork and just some random stuff. As soon as the trails dry up, hopefully tomorrow, I plan to head up to Bays and ride the new section, completing the footage I need to make a video. It will probably be next week before I get a chance to put it all together so stay tuned.


Pretty much all week I've been stuck indoors except for Tues when Melinda and I spent the entire day digging ditches. Today B-Rad, the Applebeast and I went for a ride on Buffalo Mountian. I kinda figured we would get rained out when I went running yesterday but B-Rad said we were on and that we were riding the roads from his house to the trailhead getting in about 8 extra miles. We saw a little bit of everything as far as conditions go. Sun, strong winds, clouds, snow, and small streams where there are not usually small streams.








It seems that everytime I ride Buffalo Mountain the weather is either rain or snow, never sunny and nice. I'm not sure why that is but I aim to change that this summer. I always wonder how B-Rad got to be such a strong rider, the ride we did today is his normal route and it hurt. I think I need to joining him more often especially if we're going to be competing together in the TN Cup series together.






We ascended up to the firetower which is currently being restored, somewhere I haven't been in a while. We really only rode around 2 miles of the new Pinnacle Firetower trail which was nice from what I could tell but it was completely covered with snow.





A view form atop the firetower, the views weren't the best with all the clouds in the way but it was too freaking cold to be up there for very long anyway.
I was probably a bit under prepared, riding up I was sweating alot and once we started back down I got really cold. Cold enough that it took me a few hours to warm my core back up. At one point in the decent I lost feeling in my toes which made me nervous until B-Rad told me it would take a while before I did any damage. Every once in a while I would have to stop and warm up my hands, they would get so cold I was having trouble shifting gears and braking.

Once we rolled back into B-Rad's driveway I think we logged close to 24 miles, not bad considering the conditions we dealt with.

After I left B-Rad I headed over to Norris Schwinn to pick up the bike formally know as Brownie. Dave finally finished her and I have to see she looks awesome. I still have a few things to do to her before I'll call it done but it shouldn't be too much longer, at least I brought her home. I really didn't have time before work to snap any good pics but I will tomorrow and I'll give a full run down on the restoration job.

playing in the dirt but not for fun

It's Thursday, I've been off work all week and I haven't got to ride since last Saturday, I think you know why, it's raining sideways right now. When will it stop? Probably about the time I go back to work.

It's been a crazy busy past 2 weeks and I'm totally ready for some sunshine and for the momentum to slow down. Monday of last week the rain came down extremely hard and it wasn't a quick storm either, it lasted for a long time. I had a feeling when I got home from work that I would have some water puddles in my basement which sometimes is the norm but not really a big deal. As soon as I got home I went downstairs to check and see if the dehumidifier was full. Not only was it full but everything in one section of my basement was floating. We had close to 4" of standing water in what we call the bomb shelter, a small concrete bunker located under our house. We have never seen this before and I'll admit I freaked out a little bit. In the frantic period that followed this discovery as I was trying to figure out what to do I dropped my Andriod phone and cracked the screen, luckily it still works fine but still needs to be replaced. Last week I was working 12 hour days and we were scheduled to host the IMBA Trail crew at our house for the weekend. I made a few quick calls and scored a small pond pump from Melinda's uncle Joe. By midnight I had most of the water pumped out but I still had to burn a vacation day the next day in order to clean up the mess and haul away all of the debris that had been stored in the bomb shelter. What sucked was I had plans to dig some drainage lines around that side of the house the following week but I was a little too late.

Fast forward a couple of days to Tuesday, the only day that was good for riding and I spent the entire day in the dirt. I'm not talking dirt as in singletrack dirt, I mean digging in the dirt. I knew I didn't have time to dig the drainage ditches by hand as there was another storm approaching us the following day. I visited my local rental shop and plunked down the cash for a mini track hoe rental and trailer to speed things along. What would have taken me a week to dig by hand took me around 3 hours with this little monster.

I returned the machine by 1:30 and began the process of installing the pipe in the ground and covering it back up. Melinda and I worked for the remainder of the day and well into the dark with the help of Joe and Olga desperately trying to finish the job before more rain set in. We were able to get the system functioning but we still have a big mess outside that is now nothing but mud. I still have alot of smoothing and tamping to do to get the yard back to normal and sow some grass seed but the rain has to let up before I can finish the job.

I'm hoping that after today things will dry up and I will be able to get back outside and finish the job and maybe squeeze in a little bike action. Sometime after lunch there is supposed to be a break in the rain/snow so I may take advantage of this window and go for a run.

I've not been on a run since the War party 10k, after that race we saw spring time temps and mountain biking took all of my attention. A couple of weeks ago we were enjoying a few beverages with some friends when the subject of my time at the 10k was brought up my Mrs. Dillow, an avid runner. She boasted that even though she did not participate in that race she would have killed it and me. I tried not to return the smack talk as she is definetly more of a runner than I am but I do recall waiting at the finish line at this year's Turkey Trot 5k for a few minutes before she crossed the line. When asked what my next race plan was I replied probably the Crazy 8's 8k in July. She smirked and said something along the lines of beating me on my home turf. I took this as a challenge but no actual bet was made other than gloating.

I guess if I don't want to get my ass handed to me by a trash talking runner in pink I had better step up my game.

pancakes and dirt for breakfast

Earlier in the week I was afraid that this weekend was going to be a washout. With standing water in the yard earlier in the week I thought even if the rains subside by Friday the trails would be a mess. Fortunately the skies did clear by Friday morning and Melinda and I rounded up the dogs to scout out the mud factor. We were not surprised to find everything saturated. I hoped for a semi dry day by Saturday at Bays so I could at least get some riding in.

Saturday morning I got fueled up with pancakes at the ETSU cycling's fundraiser breakfast. Actually I gorged myself on a ridiculous amount of pancakes and enjoyed the company of some the crew.
Determined to ride, we made a plan to meet at Bays Mountain and I wasn't surprised when only two other hardy souls showed up. Eric, Sean and myself did our best to pedal up Azeala which at the time looked more like a river rather than a trail. If you ever want to know how not to build a trail, look no further. The only thing that kept Azeala from being any worse was it's sand based soil.
Once we trudged up through the flowing creek we finally came out onto dry land. The rest was a great ride, the single track was almost perfectly tacky. There was of course the usual mud holes that are located at the bottom of the fireroads but we're used to that. This is mountain biking and to me if you're a true mountain biker you ride all the time, not just when the trails are dry, the skies are blue and the birds are chirping. If you can't handle getting your bike dirty every once in a while maybe you should stick to the pavement or find another sport.



Thursday was Melinda's birthday and when I asked her what she wanted to do for the weekend her answer was, take me mountain biking. Although the weather was crap in the Tri-Cities a few of us snuck over the mountain to Asheville and were awarded near perfect weather and riding conditions. I'm a firm believer that you should get out and ride when you can, you never know what the conditions will be. We drove through an absolute downpour coming over the mountain only to find beautiful weather on the other side. Mother nature was smiling down on us Sunday.








Although I'll probably never own a downhill rig, I love seeing things like this pop up. Trek is obviously testing prototype 29" downhill bikes. I've always heard there will never be a 29er downhill bike. I say that's crap, I love it when the old school none believers are proved wrong.

Don't forget this weekend the IMBA Trail Care Crew will be rolling in town to put on a trail building workshop at Bays Mountain. I'm stoked about the opportunity although it has been alot of work on the officers at NTMBA. I think it's well worth the effort, there will never be enough trails.

Go Pro product review

About once a month or so I get a question about what camera do I use when filming outdoors, mostly on the bike. This week alone I was asked about it by 3 separate people two of whom are thinking seriously about making the purchase. Not everyone I talk to realized which camera I use. I decided maybe it's time for me to do a product review on the Go Pro, my camera of choice. I've only done one or two product reviews before and I tend to steer clear of them mainly because I don't enjoy getting all technical about things especially when I don't feel 100% confident that I know what I'm talking about. I don't know much about the mechanics of bikes, I can't describe why I like the way a bike rides, I can't talk about the different types of tire treads and I sure as heck can't tell you the pros and cons of suspension designs. So that's why I tend to steer clear of this subject.

I do know a little about the Go Pro cameras, mainly from trial and error in the 2+ years I've owned one. Actually I'm on my 3rd camera, I guess you could say I'm rough on them. Don't get me wrong they are tough little cameras but I really use them, in all conditions. I tear up our normal point and shoot cameras on almost a yearly basis.

So with that said here's what I know, like and dislike about the Go Pro.

First off I will start off with what I own. I don't have the HD version, mine is the standard wide lens version that uses 2 AAA batteries. I love the wide angle lens as it allows me to mount the camera in various positions where determining if the view will work or not isn't always an option. With the wide lens you almost always have a good shot because the lens can capture so much more area. I wish mine had the rechargeable Lithium Ion battery pack but having extra AAA's in my pocket on longer rides has been a plus on several occasions. I bought the energizer NiMH batteries with a charger from Wal-Mart and they work pretty good but tend to fade faster in the cold temps. I'm satisfied with the non HD version as I think about it this way. The HD version costs almost double the price for a little bit crisper image. I will probably buy an HD version sooner or later but I'll wait till the price drops a bit. I have 3 flat screen 1080 dpi TV's in my house but I refuse to pay the extra $10 per TV just so I can watch in HD. Call me crazy but I just don't feel it's worth the extra dough.

Ok back to the Go Pro cameras, what I will spend my $$$ on is accessories, I have almost all of them and I've even started browsing Go Pro user forums looking for ideas on how to make homemade mounts. The unlimited mounting positions of the Go Pro is what I really like about the camera. Why limit just mounting it to your helmet?

My camera came with several mounts when I bought it.

The headstrap which basically just goes on your head but for non-helmet activities. This one probably sees the least use. I'm trying to think of other activities to use it for but I'm having a hard time staying off the bike.

These mounts are basically adhesive mounts, some are curved, some are flat. I've really only used a couple. I've got one on my kayak and one on my truck. I should really use them more but I tend to forget about them.

This little guy is the helmet strap, it works really well and gives a cool perspective on the trail but like tools in my jersey pocket the extra weight on my head bugs me. I do have a new idea for this guy but I've yet to test it out but I will soon I promise.

This mount was the first one I bought that didn't come with my camera. It will mount to all kinds of stuff, handlebars, seatposts, chainstays with a little help, rigid forks, the roof racks on my truck etc. I've used this one a ton and I'm actually kinda burned out on it but it does work well. One note I did have to add a washer as a spacer to the mounting screw that attaches it to the camera to get it a little extra tight. The camera would not always stay in place when the trail turned rough.

This mount, the chest harness is probably one of my favorites. The point of view is awesome as long as you wear it tight and keep it positioned high on your chest. From this point of view you can see the trail, bike and rider movements. I've even mounted it backwards to film the rider behind me. The only bad part about this was I had to have someone else turn it off and on.

This mount will probably be my next purchase. It's very similar in design to the handlebar mount but in a much larger scale. The handle bar mount is limited in how big of diameter of object you can mount it too. This mount would allow me to put it on the downtube of my frame and who knows where else.

There are a ton of different things I could tell you about this camera that I like. It's tough, it's small, it's waterproof and it's simple to turn off and on when mounted to your helmet. I could go on and on but I did say I would tell you my dislikes as well. Other than the spacer I had to add to the attachment screw there is really only one other thing I can think of. The one bad fault I've found with the Go Pro is that they tend to lock up on occasion. The only way to remedy this is to remove the batteries and reboot the camera. My first one did this from time to time and finally quit working all together. It was over a year old and out of warranty but I talked to Go Pro and they hooked me up with a 20% off coupon on another. My second cam started doing the same thing within a couple of months and I sent it back, Go Pro sent me another free of charge within a week. I've had this camera for a few months now and it just started locking up on me again. I've yet to contact Go Pro about the issue and I may do so but I think I've figured out what is causing the problem. I think as the batteries start to fade or get old this is what causes the problem. My trip to Iron Mountain I began experiencing this problem after about 2 hours, I swapped out the batteries and the problem went away. I'm not 100% sure that was the cause but I'm hopeful. Even though this has been an issue Go Pro has excellent customer service. A year ago I snapped a mounting bracket off the waterproof housing during a race and Go Pro sent me a new one, no questions asked.

As far as software to edit my videos, I've been using the free version of MS movie maker that came with my computer. No fancy editing software is necessary but then again I'm no pro when it comes to making movies.

Oh wait I do have one other complaint, probably my biggest gripe of all but it's not with Go Pro, it's with my fellow Go Pro users who I know several. I can count at least 10 people I know personally that own Go Pro cameras some even have the HD version and other than Alan I have not ever seen one single video. This I don't understand, why buy a camera especially an HD camera if you never put it into video form and share. I've been told that I have set the bar too high but I call BS on that. I've seen a ton of videos online that make mine look like a chump. Looking back over my first videos they lacked sound (music), creativity and editing. Over time I learned what looked cool and what doesn't, it takes practice. I'm currently trying to learn that the longer the video is not always the better. Short and sweet Greg, short and sweet.

I hope that this was not too boring and maybe halfway informative for those who are thinking about taking the plunge. For those who could care less you've probably already stopped reading and moved on to something more entertaining, sorry.

If you've not seen them all my videos are posted to the right of my blog enjoy!

taking the week off

I'm taking the week off this week, actually I'm just taking Tues through Friday off. I got out and rode Bays Mountain on Monday and later that afternoon when Melinda came home we hit Warrior's. She's really been on a roll lately wanting to ride Warrior's, something she wasn't really feeling last year so of course I went out and did a second ride just to see her get out and run a lap. I can tell she's already getting stronger and it's still early in the year. It should be impressive to see how far she takes it once she's off for the summer. Maybe I'll talk her into racing once this summer.

Anyway after Monday's 20+ miles on the dirt I was feeling a little toasty so I decided to take a couple days off and save my legs for this weekend. Saturday after we gorge ourselves at the ETSU Pancake breakfast we're heading over to the ETSU trails for a ride. If you've got nothing going on Saturday morning head over to Texas Roadhouse in Johnson City and from 8 - 10 you can eat all the pancakes you can stuff down your pie hole for a measly $5. The proceeds go to helping out the ETSU cycling team.

Sunday I'm taking Melinda riding for her birthday, probably back to Bent Creek in Asheville, it's one of her favorite places. I think she really wanting to hit the Tupelo Honey Cafe afterwards for some grub.

I've still yet to solve my tool carrying dilemma for this year. With all the races and trips coming up I need to do something soon. I think I'm done with trying seatbags. I've torn up countless bags and had all of them fail me in one form or another. I don't know why none of them have worked for me, I guess I'm just too hard on them.

I've been looking really hard at the Awesome Straps by Backcountry Research. I'm all about carrying as little as possible which is why I think this might work for me. I really hate carrying a bunch of stuff in my jersey pockets and unless it's a really long all day ride I'm not gonna carry a Camelbak. One thing I like about the Awesome Strap is that it will work anywhere on your frame not just the seatpost. That could come in handy with light batteries and maybe GoPro cameras and who knows what else.

The really cool thing about these straps is all the colors and designs they come in.

Who doesn't like cool colors and designs?

I might wait until these baby's come out before I order anything. I kinda like this idea of mounting everything under my seat. The only thing that worries me about the strap idea is how well do they work without a tube in there? I don't normally carry a tube anymore, maybe I should but like I said I hate to carry much. Normally on a short ride under 10 miles I'll only take water, no tools, maybe a small pump but that's it.

If your not busy on Friday afternoon tune into WCYB's noon news show. Fat Tony and I will be on promoting the IMBA Trail Care Crew workshop that NTMBA is putting on at Bay's Mountain March the 5th. Get all the details and register here. You don't have to be a mountain biker to benefit from this workshop. We all use trails at one point in our life so why not give a little back. There are never enough trails whether your a hiker, biker or trail runner. Trails rock and they don't build themselves.

3rd time is a charm

I tried twice before to put a road trip together to Wilkesboro, NC to hit the Warrior Creek trails and the first two times the plans fell through for various reasons but yesterday all the stars finally aligned. I guess good things come to those who wait. The crew, 8 large descended on Wilkesboro yesterday morning and the weather couldn't have been better. It wasn't hot or cold, the trails were dry and hardpacked. The pace was a bit fast all day but it just couldn't be helped as good as it felt. At Warrior Creek the faster you ride the more fun the course is so it's hard to hold back and save gas for later in the day.
Fat Tony and his older bro Keith rolled over to my house early yesterday morning and we blew outta town as fast as we could to meet up with the rest of the crew. Our plan was to ride the Warrior Creek trails and in the back of my head I was hoping we would have time to squeeze in a run on the OVT to get in some extra miles.
Over the past few weeks I've been riding the JET9 but my last run at Warrior's Path it had me worried. My chain line is a bit off causing derailleur issues that have been plaguing me for a while. I decided too give it a rest until I had time to remedy the situation. I called upon the trusty AIR9 which would be better suited for the fast and flowing Warrior Creek trails. Riding the AIR9 yesterday reminded me how fast that bike is, it felt like an absolute rocket ship. If only I would have had a little more gas in the tank to keep up my end of the bargain. After mile 20 or so my legs were starting to feel the effects of the pace we had been keeping. It also let me know how much riding I need to do in order to be prepared for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek.
After we finished the Warrior Creek trails a couple of the guys decided they were done for the day and volunteered to drop us off at one end of the O.V.T. and meet us at the other end for pick up. We knocked out another 7+ miles before calling it a day.
Once everyone rolled in and loaded up we headed back towards Boone for some Black Cat Burrito action. Definitely a good way to end the ride.

If you've never ventured over to the Warrior Creek trails I suggest you do so. If you conquer that, hit the O.V.T. or the Dark Mountain Trails, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

I sensed a bit of nervousness the other day in my readings, it appears as if more and more folks are riding and building 29ers. I wonder what the ratio of carbon 26ers vs. 29ers coming out of China is? Actually the 26" numbers might be starting to fall as more and more people make the switch. Pretty soon a 26" wheeled bike will be in the same category as cantilever brakes or a purple anodized handlebar with matching bar ends, "the older guys who can't let go club".

all week long son

Quick post today, I felt like I've been slacking but the weather is perfect, well for Febuary anyway and there is just too much riding to be done for me to be wasting my time sitting at my computer.
So Alan has been talking up this whole Bikeapalooza thing for a couple of days and it caught my attention. I kept waiting for an annoucement of a big road trip with multiple trailhead stops and rides of epic preportions. I checked his blog once I saw the post and went in search of a big trip post but all I saw was a few miles at our local trail system and a road ride. I was kinda let down when I saw this but I guess two rides in one weekend in Feburary, one being on the road is pretty nice considering it is still technically winter. Then I re-read the title and it was Bike Palooza not Bikeapalooza so I guess there is a difference.

Anyway in the spirit of Bike Palooza I am going to head out to the trails and ride today. My own little Bike Palooza has been in full effect all weekend despite being on graveyard. Saturady I was able to catch up with the crew at Warriors and get in some dirt miles and Sunday, Melinda and I had the first part of our Valentine's Day date with brunch followed by a ride at Bay's mtn.

Wednesday, Melinda and I are heading to Asheville NC for the 2nd half of our Valentine's Day date/ride and hit some singletrack followed by a nice dinner.

Thurday, the daytrips continue with Fat Tony, Andy "I'll punch you in your freakin' face" Mullins and a few other fellow crazies as we head off to Wilkesboro NC for a little Warrior Creek action.

Bike Palooza or Bikeapoolza, whatever you want to call it, there will be some riding going down that's for sure. So much riding that I almost feel bad for the other cats in this mileage contest as no skinny tires will be involved.

do I take the red pill or the blue one?

There's a whole lot of planning going on, mainly in my head. Alot of it will probably never actually happen mostly because all the things I want to do greatly out weigh the time in which I have to do them. If only I didn't have to work for a living. Then again if I was handed everything I would probably be a lazy turd, isn't that how it usually works?


I was just looking over my schedule this afternoon and I realized that we do not have a free weekend between now and sometime late in April. I'm surprise at how fast our calendar filled up but I'm also glad that other than work it's all fun stuff and camping trips. I can remember when Melinda and I first got married, before we became heavily involved in the local mountain bike scene and how there were weekends where we would sit around trying to think of something fun to do because we were bored. To think back on those days seems odd, I guess that's why the days of watching entire NASCAR races on a Sunday afternoon are long gone. Now I can't imagine sitting on the couch all day watching TV when the sun is shining and there is so much fun to be had outdoors.


The other day Alan and Anthony made the trip up to Hungry Mother State Park to aid in the return of the Night Owl race. It almost slipped through the cracks this year and didn't happen at but but luckily the park agreed to give it another shot. Last year was it's first year and while the park is not new to putting on races they don't really seem to grasp what it takes to really draw a crowd. To me a good race doesn't have to have great prizes as long as the entry fee is low and the Night Owl definitely has got that going for them. Probably the most important thing for me personally is the people who are going. I race to have fun and that's all, if our friends aren't there with us then there is no sense in racing. Last year we had a huge crew show up for the Night Owl, in fact I was friends with 3/4 or more of the field in all categories. The only thing that hurt the Night Owl in my opinion was the race course, it was short and consisted of mostly doubletrack.
I had plans to return this year just because I enjoyed the time we had there last year and I like supporting the "little guy" events.


This year there is a dilemma, GRT Racing has somewhat of a plan in attempting to race in the TN Cup series. Those dates have been on my calendar in the "I hope to do these section" for a while. Last night the powers that be decided on a date for the Night Owl and as my luck would have it these two conflict each other.










Last year I ran into this same dilemma with the Night Owl and the 12 Hours of Tsali. Although I wanted to race Tsali it really was a no brainer, do the Night Owl. This year it's different, the plans to race the TN Cup were already being put in place, it's also a small local promoter and while the entry fee is bigger, the swag and after party benefits are better than most races I've been to. The big thing that's drawing me toward the TN Cup is the race courses, all singletrack.


Tomorrow I plan to ride the trails with some of the GRT crew so hopefully we can discuss the details and maybe come to some sort of a conclusion or at least bounce a few pros and cons off each other. If nothing else we'll at least get to ride trails, well everyone except Chris who for some reason is planning on doing laps around the parking lot. For some reason he thinks he can win the mileage contest that way. Mileage contest? I'll tell that story another time, it's generating some really good smack talk and I think Alan is close to tears already.

Just kidding Alan, see you tomorrow.

lucky you

Today I had to cancel my day trip ride plans, sucks for me but good for you, that is if you enjoy reading this blog. Semi sketchy weather, sick kids and tire issues forced all of my compadres to bail on me over the course of the last 12 hours so I instead of riding I will take this time to blog a bit. Fear not the ride will happened, not today but Thursday.

Slowly but surely my riding has started to pick back up. Not all of the trails are ready to roll on but the temps have risen a bit and the snow has stopped for the time being. It is still winter but I'll take it.
Saturday, Fat Tony put a ride on Iron Mtn together and luckily I was able to make this one. It's been a couple of years since my last ride on Iron so I was really pumped. I called on the JET9 for this trip as Iron is not a well groomed trail. It's a back country trail that doesn't see regular maintenance. Baby head rocks, downed trees, steep ups and downs, creek crossings and unpredictable weather are all part of a ride on Iron.
We shuttled up to Skulls Gap with the intention of riding somewhere around 20+ miles. Our first couple of miles were a very icy fireroad. After realizing we were going to be walking very slowly up the 2 miles of fireroad rather than riding we opted to cut a 5 mile section out and skip straight over to the Iron Mtn trail.
I was really surprised at the large crew that we had in tow, several newbies to Iron Mtn, were in attendance and I think once the trail pointed downhill they were hooked. Surprisingly the ride went mechanical free until the last mile when Fat Tony sliced the sidewall of a brand new tire. No matter what he tried the Stan's juice was just not up to the task of sealing this one forcing him to walk it out. I'd hate to think what he would have had to do had it been early on in the ride. For some odd reason I'm not sure we packed any tubes.

Since the War Party 10k run, the back of my knee has been bothering me a bit. It's been tight and the first couple of days it was swollen so I've not been running since. Thankfully it doesn't effect my riding or I might have gone off the deep end. Not really worrying much about personal records on runs I felt like the War Party 10k was a good run for me. I finished around the 55 minute mark and I felt surprisingly good. I'll probably give my knee a rest for another week or so before I try hitting the pavement again. Until then I guess I will have to suffer through riding my bike. Whoa is me.

Iron Mountain - the video

Yeah I know is been a while since I posted something but you know what, I ain't gonna apologize for that. You see it's not that I haven't had anything cool to write about or that I've been taking kids to soccer practice, nope. I've been out doing stuff that makes for good videos. So crank up the volume and check this out.







I would love to tell you some funny stories about that ride on Iron Mountain but I've got a date with my AIR9 on Bays Mountain so maybe another time.

See ya