Sunday morning ride

Scott mentioned earlier in the week that he'd like to do a long ride on Sunday morning...so we did. It was a bit chilly, but once you got moving it was actually quite pleasant. Sunny, mid 40's, and still a few leaves left on the trees. I've attached a map below if you'd like to view the details. I'm going to try and get out this afternoon to practice dismounting my cross bike at speed and then hauling it up onto my shoulder for short little runups. I figure I might want to try it out a couple of times with no pressure before my first race this Sunday. It looks like it might just be Matt and I for the WNR this week. Scott will be trick or treating with Mitchell and inspecting apples for razor blades. The only other person I can think of with lights is Marcus. So if you want to go give me a call sometime Wednesday morning, and I'll let you know what time we're planning on setting out. Have a good week.

We've made it two weeks

Here is the long awaited one wedding picture for the blog. It was a wonderful day, and everything went perfectly. While I certainly can't speak for everyone, I'd like to think that a good time was had by all. If you'd like to see more pictures from the big day, give Sarah a call and I'm sure that she'd be more than happy to share.

This was our apartment in Asheville. It had everything we were looking for, and then some. The density of fine eating establishments in the neighborhood surrounding our place was astounding. We even found a place that may be better than Sweetwater in Marquette. If you know me, you know that's saying a lot. Sweetwater has long been at the top of my all-time favorite resturants. The new contender is Tupelo Honey Cafe. Words cannot describe the culinary delights to be found within those walls. They even serve Bell's Two Hearted.

Here I am getting ready for my assault on Mount Mitchell (the highest peak east of the Mississippi) just off the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville. The ride was a tad harder than I anticipated. 27 miles with 5,001 ft of climbing. My average heart rate was just below race pace for just over 2.5 hours. And here I thought I was on vacation. Once you exit the parkway at mile 22 it actually get's steeper for the last five miles, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't manage to misplace all of my fitness. A group of five guys showed up behind me right at the bottom of this last climb, and one of them rode up to me for a chat. They were from some college team in the area for Nationals. I didn't expect to stay with them for long, but I did. The guy chatting with me took off about half way up, and I wasn't able to stay with him. But when I turned around to see who was going to make the next move, they were all gone. I was able to keep the guy in front of me in sight, and we ended up beating the rest of the group by a couple of minutes. It was a good day. I've definately got the itch to start training and racing again. That's good timing because my first cyclocross race is one week from tomorrow. That should be a real hoot. WNR at Boyne this week, and you'll want to bring a light. Take care everybody, and thanks for reading.

How y'all doing?

That's how people talk down here, for real. You even hear that southern drawl out on the trail which just seems double weird. Well, we made it through the first week of married life, and all is well in Asheville. The riding has been great so far. The loft we've rented is wonderful. It's located right downtown, which means it's way too close to all sorts of fabulous resturants and tasty beer. I'm real interested to get on the scale when I get home to find out how much damage control will be necessary to get back down to fighting weight. We rode out at Tsali today, and it was just as I recalled....Awesome. It's a paradise for mountain biking, and I'm lobbying hard with the wife (that's still a little weird) to go back on Monday to ride the two loops we didn't ride today. Out on the road bike tomorrow for what is supposed to be a killer hard 25 mile ride to meet Sarah, Angie, and Dan at the top of Mount Mitchell for a few beers. They're going to drive up and go for a hike while I ride up. Should be fun. See y'all when we get home next week.

Back in the Day

WNR report: The weather was far from cooperative last night, and I think that had something to do with a low rider turnout. It was in the upper 40's and raining steadily when six of us set out on the Loop just after six last night. It was like a blast from the past in some respects with Sarge, Marcus, Scott, and Mike in the group. I can't remember the last time the five of us rode together, but I know it's been a number of years. Hugh was the sixth rider to join us in the rain. Going out for a ride in the rain is always tough mentally, but once you get started it almost always turns out to be a good ride. It's not like you're going to melt or anything. All things considered we had a good ride (even if it was getting a little to dark to see by the end). At least another dozen people showed up for the post-ride festivities and to catch up with Sarge. A special thanks goes out to Hugh for putting in my new headset and fork before the ride. It was nice to get back on the singlespeed with a fork that has more than 2mm of travel. I'm loving 80mm now, thanks. Got the wedding in two days, and so far the weather looks good. No rain and a high of 55 for Saturday. Then it's off to Asheville for a little vacation. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Thanks for reading.

Back in the Saddle

Got back on the bike yesterday after a seven day hiatus, and it felt pretty damn good. Taking the time off was so hard psychologically, but knowing that it was only a week made it tolerable. I know now that I will never be able to quit biking. It's like I was able to stay off smack for a whole week before finally surrendering to the craving. I felt like a junkie yesterday morning getting ready for my ride. Mixing my bottles and checking tire pressure was exciting. Getting dressed for the ride was much the same. Once I actually clipped into my pedals and started to roll down the driveway.....forget about it. I had every intention of making it a nice easy ride, but that intention vanished about five minutes in. I felt great, and so I decided a 25 mile ride with a buch of hills sounded like more fun than dodging leaf peepers on 119. It was. Also, new max. speed for Pete: 48.7mph. Anyway, I'm back on track and ready for some good riding this week. Sarge and Mike are both confirmed for the ride this week, and hopefully Marcus will be able to make it out as well. Remember: The road to success is always under construction. Take care.

Bring It On Home

I busted out the camera last night to capture a little WNR magic for posterity. This little video is of Scott, Hugh, and Matt finishing up the Loop. Sarah and I rounded out the small crew, but we should have a much larger group next week. We'll be riding at headquarters again, and we're hoping everyone can make it out to ride/hang out with Sarge. He'll be making a guest appearance along with Mike Bodt. I'm looking to get back on the bike for some easy road riding tomorrow or the next day. I think this little break was just what I needed. My legs feel better today than they have in a while, and the idea of a nice easy ride actually sounds like fun.

End of the Road

My mountain bike racing season is now over. I'll be skipping the race this weekend for a variety of reasons (excuses). The fact that my knuckle is still bleeding a little is top of the list by far. I'd really like for that to heal up so that I can ride with my boys coming into town for the wedding next week, and racing three laps at Boyne seems like a bad way to help the healing process. Aside from that I'm just downright tired. My legs have been so sore for the last few weeks, and now my hands and feet are beginning to join in the protest as well. A couple of days ago my teeth even started to hurt. I've been sleeping a ton and taking naps, but I'm still tired. So, today marks day three of no biking. I am sitting around waiting for my yoga class to start this morning, but I'm operating under the assumption that this will help get me back on track. I've never quite felt like this before, but I'm going to try figure out what happened in order to avoid a repeat. I'll do short little ride on the cyclocross bike tomorrow night (WNR at Team Headquarters this week and next), but then I'm planning on not riding until the weekend. That will be the longest break I've had in I don't know how long. Hopefully that'll do the trick, and I can start getting ready for the honeymoon riding and cross season. Take care and be good.