breaking more stuff

First there was a plan, said plan included loading up the bikes, driving over to Dupont and riding the sh*t out of the awesome trails Dupont has to offer. The night before there was some debate about the weather forecast. Depending on which site you chose to look at you could get anywhere from a 30% chance of T-storms to a 60% chance. I always choose weather.com and for the most part it's pretty accurate. The plans remained in tact and we went to bed with early morning ride plans.

When my alarm went off the next morning I checked the forecast again, things had changed a bit, from 30 to 50% but not until later than afternoon. In my mind we were still good but not everyone was in the same mind frame as me. The more it was discussed the more people started to doubt. Within an hour all plans were cancelled and a new plan was hatched to ride local at Bays Mountain.

The weather stayed dry all day, meh

I had been going back and forth prior to the Dupont cancellation on which bike to take, the JET or the frog. I knew the JET would be more fun but I'm super stoked on the frog right now. With a change of plans to Bays Mountain I knew the frog was a fine choice. My last ride on the frog I noticed my rear tire had gone a wee bit soft but not enough to fret over during the ride and I forgot about it until I went to load up the bikes and it only had about 3 psi in it. I had this same issue with the front about a month ago and once I re-Stans'd it everything was fine. I didn't have time for that so I pumped it up and hoped for the best. A half mile into the ride I knew it wasn't going to last. I threw a tube in, shot it with some CO2 and stomped on the pedals to play catch-up.

There really wasn't much of a ride plan so we pretty much made it up as we went along and somehow we ended up riding down all the fun downhills, turning around and riding back up them death march style in my case. Surprisingly I cleaned a majority only walking a few sections. The frog was wearing me out, it was the most climbing I'd done on it yet.

 Remember the broken white WTB Silverado from my last post? I replaced it with a brand spanking new black one. Well, it didn't make it through the first ride unscathed. I've never had an issue with WTB saddles then bam, I break 2 in less than a week, back to back rides.

Really I didn't break this one, I just managed to rip it off the seat rails. The problem is, it's such a tight fit I've yet to get it back on.

How it went down, I was riding up a hill and I was pretty beat so my line was getting sloppy. I clipped a tree with my handlebar and down I went. The only thing I can figure is that when I landed my leg must have clipped the nose of the saddle pulling it off. After multiple attempts to pop it back in place I ended up zip-tieing the nose on and rode standing up the rest of the way out yet again.

When I crashed I scraped up both of my legs pretty good, I had no idea until I saw the blood running down my shin.

Sneaky Pete returns! This little guy isn't porcelain, I think he's made of plaster or something so if a herd of rowdy dogs run through and knock him over he should survive.

breaking stuff

Well I think I've just about gotten the frog broken in properly, I'm not sure if I've got it dialed in where it fits like a glove just yet, that may take some more time in the saddle. Yesterday I planned to squeeze in 2 separate rides, the first one was plagued by a mechanical, the second one Mother Nature said I'd ridden enough.

Halfway through my first ride I came to the realization that I'd broke one of the rails on my saddle. It's been a while since I've done this, especially since I made the decision to ride WTB saddle only. They make great stuff and they're very comfy on my behind but I guess every once in a while things break. Thankfully I was riding the frog and it being a singlespeed, saddles are not something that get used much. The words sit and spin up the hill do not exist in a singlespeeders vocabulary.

After taking this picture it has dawned on me that I don't wash the underside of my saddles properly. I mean look how disgusting it is under there! Oh the horror!

Once home I promptly paid a visit to the receipt drawer to see if I still had the receipt for the broken saddle and I did! Thankfully I purchased it the same day I purchased the AIR9 and to my surprise it was still under warranty.

The black Silverado saddle that I had previously thought about attaching to the frog was bolted in place and the white one was removed. It just so happened that I needed to make a trip over to my LBS to pick up his and her JET9's from getting the brake lines trimmed so with broken saddle in hand I ran out the door.

I got to the shop a bit early and was able to see the entire process of cutting and bleeding the new Shimano XT's, a very simple process indeed, once I procure the proper tools I feel confident I can perform myself. Actually there was no real need to bleed the brakes as the trimming process went flawlessly.

This week is NASCAR week in my town, the circus has officially rolled in. Normally I pay a visit to my local Wal-Mart to ogle at the cars, normally they consist of mostly cars of the less famous drivers but yesterday it was different. There were several big name rides in attendance including Dale Jr's car. Of course I snapped a few pics but oddly Dale Jr. was no where to be found.



throwing caution to the wind

With two rides in on the temporarily named singlespeed, "the frog" I'm definitely feeling the effects. I don't know if it's the usual lack of fitness left over from the winter season or just the fact that I've not been on a singlespeed in over a year but I'm definitely enjoying myself. I hit Warriors full bore yesterday, throwing caution to the wind and rode a full lap minus Rock City. Why did I skip Rock City? I'm not sure, part of me wasn't fully in tune with the singlespeed skills I think. There is more than just being able to stand up and mash a big gear over and over. Cleaning obstacles smoothly is different especially when you're used to doing so in a higher gear. With a singlespeed you have to mash your way through and sometimes do a bit of the half pedal dance. My norm is to stop at the intersections but yesterday I found myself stopping a little more, usually after a climb or somewhere halfway through the trail and then again at the end.

For the most part I cleaned everything except the sketchy rock section that dumps you into more rocks just at the base of the Boneyard climb. This one can be difficult on any bike and yesterday I just couldn't pull it off. I know I had the power to make the climb but I didn't pull off the funky transition to even start the climb so I walked it. The JET9 has definitely made me soft with all the squish. I've had so much fun on the FS that the last couple of months saw the AIR9 staying home even when I headed towards Bays Mtn. I think the last time I even rode it at Warriors was a couple of months ago when the JET was having some kind of issue. My usual, just plow through the rock garden mentality was caught off guard yesterday when I quickly realized I was riding a hardtail and needed to pick cleaner lines. I was bouncing all over the trail like drunkard.

Even with the tough start I'm feeling good and excited about the new ride. Something about a singlespeed and a steel frame puts an evil smile on my face. I hope I can refrain myself from calling other riders with gears, a bunch of sissies, especially when I have a bunch of gears and squishiness sitting at the house begging to be unleashed.

Earlier in the year I said I was going to put more focus in overall fitness and running but I'm afraid today will be another bike day. In fact if everything goes as planned I might squeeze in 2 rides.

Maybe I'll find the time to run next week.

One thing I did notice was my brakes, I moved the trusty Avid Juicy 7's to the frog and put the new Shimano XT's on the JET. Now my Juicy's are 6 years old so I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison but the Shimanos definitely have more stopping power and of course are quieter. The only downside I can find on the Shimanos is the length of hydraulic hoses, I had a rat's nest of extra hose winding around my handlebars, just to look at it made me cringe. I'm not sure why the extra length, I've never had to cut the lines down before and I lack the necessary bleed kit so I had to let the professionals at my LBS handle this one.

One other thing, the pad adjustment screw, while easy to adjust, I can't seem to tell any difference in the adjustment, the Avid's you could tell a small difference but the Shimanos, nada.

I must not be holding my mouth right when I turn the knob.

the frog

Ahh the feel of steel, it's like none other, well I guess I shouldn't say that since I've never owned a titanium or carbon bike. Hopefully one of these days I've have something in carbon but it's not really that high on my list of must have bikes. I've always liked riding a steel frame and I knew I would regret selling the Karate Monkey and I did. I do like the geometry of the SIR9 much better, I don't feel as stretched out and they're both large frames.

When I first started piecing this bike together in my head I wasn't too keen on the white fork and seat but not really wanting to blow the already blown budget even more I decided to keep the fork until my bank account said otherwise. I have a brand new WTB Silverado saddle that came with Mel's JET in black that I planned to put on it but once the white Reba was in place I realized the white saddle pulled it all together. I left the white stem off figuring that would be over kill. For now it resides on the JET until I come up with another plan.

 

Most of the parts on this build come from the AIR9, the wheelset dates back to the Karate Monkey. I did splurge and bought a new Niner Seatpost and seatcollar, they were just too cool. I would love to have one of those new RDO carbon bars in the matching green but it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

 

Yesterday I had an important run to make to the LBS and I also wanted to get in a shake down ride before the sun went down so I killed 2 birds and hit a couple laps on the Hampton Watershed trails. The singlespeed felt great, I opted for a 20 tooth cog in the Surly flavor to get my feet wet with, it's been a year since I last ran without the derailleur and I didn't want to feel beat down after the first ride.

This is my first ride with an EBB, this one, Niner's brand is a bit different than the others. With no set screws in the bottom of the BB shell there is less chance for the elements to work their way into the BB area and less chance of noise, that and no set screws pushing on the bottom of the EBB to dig in and squeak.

Originally I wanted a Moondust grey frame but I know of 2 peeps with that color scheme already, one of whom, B-Rad, I ride and race with regularly. The kermit green is bold, beautiful and funky all at the same time. The only downside is the lack of color coordinating accents available. There is not much that goes with the kermit green other than black and a wee bit of white.

I'm thinking this bike is deserving of a cool name, my list currently is : "Kermit", "SIR Kermit" and "the frog". I'm leaning heavily on "the frog". It doesn't hurt that there are little green frogs on my wheels, it's almost as if it was supposed to be.

Speaking of the Watershed trails, they were in awesome shape yesterday, the surrounding scenery is awesome and there are plenty of sweet rock gardens to keep you on your toes. I need to get out there more often, I just wish it were a closer drive and a longer trail.



back to the SS

This weekend I sent the AIR9 to be with another, I found it a good home, one that hopefully will see plenty of good singletrack time. We shared a good couple of years together and this frame made me the Ninerd that I am today. It was my first Niner frame, one that caused me to fall in love with the brand and want no other but it was also the gateway drug that has caused my bank account to suffer many losses. I will miss that frame.

It's replacement is in and currently residing at my LBS. The replacement is none other than the long awaited SIR9 in kermit green. I've always had a soft place in my heart for steel frames and singlespeeding and with this frame I can have my cake and smash it in someone else's face if I want. I can also run gears if I think it's necessary but for now it will be a singlespeed. I just hope my body can handle the abuse. I'm not sure when I'll get by the shop to pick it up, I'm stll waiting on a couple of key parts before I can begin the build. A new matchy matchy Niner carbon seatpost and a Niner seat collar were supposed to be ordered but got lost somewhere in the lines of communications so I'll have to wait a little longer.

No I didn't go for the RDO post it's waaay out of my price range. I was hesitant on going carbon all together, I've ran Thompson seatposts exclusively for years but I figure I'm due for a change.

Pretty aren't they.

Saturday I was cooking some pancakes in the kitchen when I noticed movement out my back door. Three large dogs were standing on our back deck having their own little private party. Melinda and I immediately went outside to say hello to our guests. Moonshine and Jackson just stayed inside and barked. They were very friendly and seemed to be enjoying themselves but didn't look familiar. Only two had collars but no identification so we had no one to contact.

In the commotion Sneaky Pete lost his head and had to be buried, poor guy we're gonna miss him. Good thing for us Gnomes are on the shelves everywhere so Sneaky Pete will return re-incarnated!

Have you ever heard of March Madness? Probably, I'm not talking basketball. March trail madness, it's all the local rage. I'm putting up a growler of beer to the person who puts in the most local trailwork hours for the month of March. Not to mention anyone who puts in 15 local trailwork hours gets a free trail gnome t-shirt. With all these great incentives why wouldn't you want to build some trail? Check here for more details and workdates.

I heart trails

I used to dread going to trail workdays, they're not easy, I always go home sore and head straight for the ibuprofen bottle. Yet I still went because there was always a certain satisfaction when the job was completed. Now I go to trail workdays and I actually look forward to them. I still walk away sore and looks for the pain meds as soon as I walk in the door at home but I always have a smile on my face and look forward to the next workday.

Now that Chestnut is pretty much finished I'll admit I was dreading starting the task of fixing Big Oak. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I'll admit I'm still a little on the fence about how well our plan will work but I do know that if it doesn't anything will be better than the swamp that was there and I know we'll keep plugging away at it until we find a solution that does work.

Our trails coordinator identified 2 or 3 natural springs that were feeding directly into the trough that we called the trail and instead of draining off it was staying put right smack dab in the middle of the trail causing a huge mess. Instead of moving the trail to higher ground we are exploring other options by request of several local riders who for some reason have grown fond of this area. I'm not really sure what attracts them but we're going to give it a go and see what happens.

Several spots we were able to knock the edge off the trough and drain the water and then going back in a filling in the lower sections.

As for the natural springs we dug a channel and routed the water across the trail and down the hill like it should. Then we added rock to keep this flow going in the right direction.

This job will definitely call for more rock armoring that we've seen at any other trail at Bays Mountain. Last Saturday several of us did nothing but hunt for rocks worthy of trail armoring. Armed with a wheel barrow and a keen eye for all things stoney we paved several feet of the trail with large rocks.



I'm sure you've probably already heard about the fundraiser tonight at Texas Roadhouse in Johnson City hosted by our local mountain bike club, NTMBA, or now known officially as SORBA Tri-Cities. Come out and enjoy dinner with like minded folks and present the flyer above to your waiter. 10% of your bill goes to the club and our quest to purchase a trail machine. Trail machine = more trails, and more trails built quickly. Who doesn't like trails? People who don't like trails should be drug out into the streets and whipped with a dead rabbit. You don't want to be beaten with a dead rabbit do you?



riding with friends

Evidentally Blogger has updated their dashboard which I tried my best to ignore for as long as I could but they've forced it on me and now I'm having to relearn how to type up a blog post. Things are not working so swift for me just yet, I'm not sure if it's me or blogger. Inserting photos was never an easy task and while sometimes it seems to work good, today it was a nightmare. 

Last weekend was the huge Southeast Bike Expo down in Georgia which benefited SORBA/IMBA. I would have liked to go but it was Melinda's birthday weekend so we hung close to home and rode what she wanted to ride. There really wasn't a huge selection of bikes I was wanting to ride and the ones I did want to ride were waaaay out of my price range. Getting to try them out would only have been torture and I'm sure they were among the more popular anyway so I would have spent most of my time waiting in line.

 

Melinda's trail of choice for her b-day was Bent Creek in Asheville. We invited all the lady's out for a ride and luckily for me she allowed some of their significant others to join us so I wouldn't be the odd ball only guy.

 

It was a beautiful day for riding with friends, the pace was nice and casual with plenty of stops for scenery admiration, stunt riding and some refreshments. I've been eyeing this log ride for quite some time but usually skip it, Sunday I decided it was time for me to buck up and ride it. I swear it's me, Andy's photo skills were lacking, he blamed cutting off my head on a rabid bee.

   

  

 The birthday lady.

  

  

I downloaded a cool little camera app that adds some interesting effects to my photos. This one is by far my favorite, the first day I actually tried it out. I had a little time to kill while waiting on some friends to ride a couple of weeks back and decided to play around with the new app and got this. 

I've been talking of buying another singlespeed frame for some time now, one that's made of steel and has the capability of running gears. Melinda gave me the green light and I threw my AIR9 up for sale. 30 minutes later I had a buyer so I made a quick call to my LBS and ordered a new frame. Last night I stripped the AIR9 down to just the headset and seatpost. I tried to remove the BB but instead of loosening it I only managed to booger up the contact points, a problem I've experienced quite a bit recently. I think my BB removal tool is no longer up to par so rather than do any further damage I'll hold off from trying to remove it any further and let the professionals help me with it.



what to do now?

Yes I realize my recent blog posts have lacked any interesting subject matter but it seems as that's the case for most I've been reading as well. Maybe it's the crappy weather, maybe it's the rising gas prices, maybe it's all the hard core training going on that some feel is interesting to read or maybe it's just that there is nothing interesting going on worth talking about. I got up early today thinking I was going to sneak in a ride, but as I was sipping my morning coffee I heard something funny on the roof. Unfortunately it wasn't Santa, but our frequent friend the rain storm who has definitely overstayed his welcome. If you're paying attention yes the rain didn't start until 10:30 and I said I got up early but 10:30 is early when you didn't go to bed until 6am. So I'm sitting here watching the rain and I figured I might as well try to coax a blog post out of my head that might be worth reading. There's definitely nothing interesting to read as I have my morning breakfast of PB&J so I might as well write.

I squeezed in a ride yesterday at Bays Mountain checking out the new trail additions that so far have gotten rave reviews from my peers. I think we did good, but it's funny when you standing out in the woods trying to decide how to get the most fun out of every line and turn and then as you start to ride it you realize the line in your head was way off the actual line you ride. Everytime I ride it I find new spots I think that can be improved to squeeze a little more fun out of the flow. Add a berm here, place this rock there. "Is that tree too close to the landing zone if I build a jump there?" I'm almost to the point where I want to carry and handfull of pin flags and a black magic marker to mark these spots so I won't forget what I discovered when I come back with the weapons of mass trail construction. I'm not a parent but this almost feels like raising a kid. You groom it and work with it hoping one day it will become a trail of epic proportions. What did I just say? I've got to get out of the house.

The weekend does look promising, no rain in the forecast and plenty of riding on tap. Sweet Melinda has a birthday this Friday so we'll be riding where she wants and having beers where she wants. The cool thing is, we usually agree on what's fun and tasty. Well except for shopping, I'm not much of a fan unless it's in a bike shop and there's a wad of cash in my pocket.

new artwork

There has been some new artwork coming down the pipe for our local club, I would love to tell you I had a hand in designing all of it but I didn't. Our newest t-shirt, the "Trail Gnome" shirt, I was working on and before I was even halfway through my computer bit the dust. Luckily I had saved what I did do to my external hard drive. The bad part is I lost all of my graphics software and had to had it off to a friend of mine to finish. He is also a local screen printer, Torbett Designs, and he also printed the shirts for us.

If you're wondering what the cost for a sweet Trail Gnome t-shirt is, it's 15 hours of local trailwork and you must log your hours at ntmba.org. With all the work we have on tap there is plenty to do, a few of the shirts are already spoken for so if you're interested get one while the gettin's good.

Also on tap is our new NTMBA jersey that Anthony has laid down his superb graphics skill into. The topo map is of local origin, the Cherokee National forest. There will be matching short/bibs and Sock Guy socks. These are for sale so if you're interested visit http://www.ntmba.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5777. The dealine for orders will be March 5th.

brakes, who needs em?

I've always used Avid brakes and not for really anymore reason than it's just whats came on most of my bikes. With several mountain bikes in the bike room, to start adding a different brand would just make things a hassle. I've ran pretty much Juicy's for years with no issues, just change the pads and go, never had to bleed them. Then along came the Elixers, I bought a set for Melinda and they worked pretty well for the first couple of years so when I ran across a used set for what I thought was a good deal from a local I went ahead and scooped them up. Right off the bat I had to bleed them just to get them to work. Since I've had them less than 6 months and I'm looking at a 3rd bleed I think it's time to send them to an early grave. Change the pads, bleed the brakes, that pretty much sums up what I do with these brakes.

Since I bought the used ones, Melinda's Elixers have joined in on the bleeding party. It's been ridiculous and I'm seriously considering buying stock in DOT 5.1 brake fluid. The newest Elixers are supposed to have fixed this problem but since they are still new I'm not ready to take that chance.

Not wanting to dump more money into brakes that don't work properly I went ahead and pulled the trigger on not one but two sets of Shimano XT's. I've heard nothing but good reviews about them and I'm not talking about what the local yay-hoos have to say either.

If you're looking for a set of used hydros don't ask me if I'm selling the Elixers, I'm not going to sell them to anyone I know, knowing they're not worth a crap. I found out after I bought them that there was SRAM memo sent out about the bleeding issue but that was a little too late.

work is good

I've been working overtime, at least that's what it feels like. Not just the job I get paid for but everything in between and even though most of the work I've been doing doesn't pay me in cash it pays me in other ways like that sweet feeling of riding your bike trough the woods on singletrack you've worked hard on. It's totally different than riding a trail that someone else built, trust me.

This has probably been the wettest winter we've ever seen, I'm not sure which is worse a cold winter or a wet one. I think we've been able to ride more but only if you've been lucky to be off when the skies are dry. Those days I've been torn between, "Should I ride or should I spend time trying to get this trail finished?" I've tried my damnest to do both but one eventually ends up falling short, in my case it's been the riding.  I did try to sneak in a ride a couple of hours before the club meeting this week but half way through the ride we pulled the plug and went home due to muddy conditions. Honestly I thought it would have been dryer but I guess the whole "freeze thaw" was in full effect and I hate the thought of damaging the trail. I was off three days this week and it rained 2 out of 3 of them. The one dry day was right between the two rainy ones so I opted to do trail work. Me and another guy put in a solid 4 hrs of work finally getting the trail open. It felt really good to get it rideable but I later found out some yay-hoo rode it in the rain the next day no doubtly screwing up the work we had done. Who rides a brand new trail in the rain knowing full well it's not ready for that kind of abuse?

These pics are a couple weeks old and alot of work has been done since.

A sweet natural berm.

It's kind of hard to see but there is a small drop here. We actually ended up putting in two. They were there almost naturally, I just merely sculpted them into something fun to ride.



A little more polishing work to do and maybe some rock armoring here and there and I hope we can call it good. I'm ready to move on to the next project which is more on the maintenance side of things and be done until next fall, my trail tools could use the rest.

After we finished Wednesday I could barely move but knowing it was going to rain the next day and I would be at work all weekend I had to ride. I went home ate lunch, popped a couple ibruprophens and grabbed my bike to see how my handy work rolled. It felt good, the trail that is, a bit soft and in need of packing in but good flow. Me on the other had, by that evening I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

trails and Madonna

It's been hella busy around these here parts, and the blog has suffered a bit. First things first, I finally figured out why the last 2 videos I posted would automatically start playing everytime I went to my blog. Two videos playing with two different songs at the same time can kinda be irritating I know and I apologize. The "auto play" button in the Vimeo settings got clicked on somehow, not sure why but it's been clicked off so no more annoying noise when you visit.

In trail related news, we've been hard at work trying to get all the necessary paperwork work filed for the many approvals we need to build new trails. Yeah sometimes you have to fill out applications and get letters of support just to build a trail. The trails in question are the additions we are trying to add on to Warriors Path. The land across the interstate is owned by TVA and was recently zoned by the TVA for recreational purposes. We have found a way to access this land via a small corridor under the I-81 bridge which is owned by TDOT. So basically we have to get permission by 3 different government organizations to build a couple of miles of trail. Imagine how slow moving and the amount of paperwork involved just to dig in the dirt, sheesh. It's worth it though, I just hope it happens in my lifetime.

There is more mountain bike club related going on lately but that's stuff I'll skip on discussing here in the blog. If you're interested in hearing, come to the club meeting next Monday. I'll fill you in on all the small details.

I'm trying to keep this post short as I've got a date with a bike shop mechanic. Melinda bought a Chris King headset for her BMC a few months ago but when she upgraded to the Niner it wouldn't transfer over because of the tapered headtube. Well I asked around and found I could order just the bottom portion of the headset to make everything work for her JET, yeah! I originally was supposed to have it installed last Friday but I managed to drive all the way over to JC with her bike leaving the necessary headset parts at home. I was too busy thinking about all the other crap I had going on and the other items I was taking with me that I walked out the door and forgot all about the headset. The good news is we finally sold most of the parts off her BMC, all we lack now is the frame. Know anyone looking for a high end women's specific frame?

I did watch the Super Bowl game last night, the first game I've watched since the last Super Bowl. It got exciting the last 10 minutes of the game. That's all I really have to say about it. Oh yeah and evidently MIA flipped off the camera during the halftime show upstaging an aging Madonna (if you caught it) who looked like she was going to fall down at any minute. It wasn't as bad as last year's Black Eye Peas performance but I did catch myself yawning during the show.

That's all for now........

my measly little Pisgah video

Here is the Pisgah footage I shot a few months ago, alot of it didn't turn out due to a CamelBak straw flopping right in front of the camera. Don't ask what trails we rode because I have no idea. The only one I'm sure of was the Black Mountain trail and most of it was ruined by that stupid CamelBak straw. I'll admit the Black Mountain trail was a bit disappointing, I'll admit some of it had to do with my lack of downhill skills. I do need to step up my game in that dept. I feel like we climbed for a really long time only to go straight freaking down the mountain. It was steep, rutted, rooty and rocky as hell. I have nothing against trails that are over my head technically, I need the challenge. I'm not one of those pansy riders who won't ride certain trails because they're too hard.

I'm totally ready to go back and explore some more, that place is just too much fun.

some long awaited video and a different TYPE of post

Today I writing my blog post from my "smarter than me" phone with my new handy dandy blogger app. I downloaded it but have yet to write with it until today. I have used it to add pics from my phone directly to my blog, something I've been struggling with on the iPhone but not anymore! The reason I'm writing with it today you ask? No I'm not globe trotting around the world. Our laptop here at the house bit the dust after 7+ years of service. I had just hit the save button on the video above when it went so the ending is a bit abrupt but what can you do. Luckily I've been backing up my stuff for a while so I don't think anything was lost, fingers crossed.
After alot of searching, review reading and penny counting I realized we couldn't afford a Mac so we opted for another PC but we did spring for an iPad, I'm calling it our early Valentines gift to each other.

So the video above, this was the triathlon I did last June, my first ever. Yes the turnout was low, mainly because of the nasty wet conditions, at least that's my story. Had the course been dry and free of rain I probably would have seen some stiffer competition and wouldn't have scored a 2nd place finish. I'll take it though, just showing up and running the race says something in my book, the guys who stayed at home while they might have been faster on dry ground are pansies in my mind. I'll be back this year for sure to tell them just that.

I apologize if my grammar is worse than normal, typing and editing is not that easy on my "smarter than me" phone.

non-riding post but yet still entertaining, I think

I'm sure most have you might have heard this already but I will give the short version for those who don't and who might actually be interested. Last summer we hired a roofer, who came recommended, to replace our roof. He came over with a younger guy, we agreed on a price, signed a contract and wrote him a check as a deposit. We had a couple of date changes due to this and that but the 3rd date we set that they were supposed to do the job came and passed without a word from the roofer. After 3-4 weeks of harassing phone calls and him promising us he would get someone out to our house we'd finally had enough. Once we threatened to call the police that finally got his attention and he stated he no longer worked for the company.

Fast forward a couple of months and some nasty phone calls.

The Kingsport police arrested him, and his mug shot in the newspaper was the first time I'd seen his face since the initial contract signing. Fast forward a couple more month's we were in court yesterday for the second time, the first time he said he had a witness, who wasn't there, that could prove he gave the $$ to his boss, the judge gave him a 30 day recess.

Yesterday the roofer showed up without his witness and the funny thing is, there was never any mention of it, I think his public defender was a little irritated. His P.D. proceeded to badger me on the witness stand trying to prove that I never allowed him to finish the job. I simply stated that I did finally request a refund after nearly two months for a couple of reasons. 1. He and the actual owner of the company both told me they no longer worked for the company nor did they know who owned the company. 2. They had never showed up to do any work nor had any materials been delivered. I think that was reasonable on my part and I guess the P.D. really didn't have anything left to say as he left me alone after that. Yesterday was basically just a preliminary hearing to decide whether or not to send him to a criminal trial which he is and I'm calling that a win for us. It won't be until March before he's back in court so it will probably be a long time before we ever see any of our money back. I've got my fingers crossed and a strong will to fight, fight, fight!

The only thing that kept us from going crazy sitting in the court room for 6 hours when we could have been out riding was the entertainment. Everyone in that court room had some sort of ridiculous story or excuse. Both times we were in attendance we witnessed people being arrested for showing up high or drunk, they always use the same excuse, "I'm on anything I'm just tired." We sat and listened to idiots all around us laugh about their DUI's, shoplifting arrests and what not. I clearly remember hearing one girl state she didn't understand why she got a DUI, she only had 4 shots? It was true redneck entertainment.

Ok enough of that, my hopes to get in a ride or two the last couple of days didn't happen due to rain and court hearings. Tuesday it was just too wet to ride so I mixed things up a bit and went for a trail run at Bays Mountain. I normally run at Warriors when hitting the trail but I felt the need to try Bays and I liked it alot. There are less roots and rocks to deal with which lowers the twisted or broken ankle chances by a mile.

Wednesday was the same, too wet for riding but just dry enough to work on the trails, talk about a full body workout, wow! We are getting closer and closer to finishing the upper section of the Chestnut trail. This section is a bit more challenging than the lower section. It's still a cakewalk compared to Warriors but it's going to have some really sweet swooping turns, berms and jumps.




This berm was pretty much there naturally, Jay just helped it along a bit with some shaping.




One of the first berms in a nice "S" turn.





A jump smack dab in the middle of the "S" turn. There wasn't a plan to build a jump it just kinda evolved. There was a nasty stump in the trail that could've been dangerous due to it's natural camouflage. It was going to be a huge chore to remove it so I decided to cover it making it rideable. As I covered it with dirt a small jump began to form so I said what the heck and kept building. It's the first jump I've ever built so I'll accept a little constructive criticism, I just hope it flows well.




The second berm in the "S" turn.

It's going to be an awesome trail and hopefully we'll be riding it soon. I was hoping to be done with it by the end of this month but I don't think it gonna happen unless we have a huge turnout this weekend. I think we might build another jump or two, who knows.