So tired!

Oh boy. The guys kept me out way past my bedtime last night. But it was worth it.

Got in my first night ride (half of the social was in the dark) of the season, and first ever at the USNWC. 

I also really dug, at least in the dark, the new end to weigh station and the new bypass to toilet bowl. 

Afterwards we hit up the String Bean, which is always good. I got a little crazy and had desert. It was so good I was a little slow in the picture taking. 

It was fried Oreos with vanilla ice cream and caramel. YUM. TheMutt was trying to get the waitress to send me a second order - something about fattening me up/slowing me down - I guess he is nervous about our head to head 6 hour coming up at the Brunswick Brawl. 

After beers and food we had a good debate about our local mountain bike club. I guess I kinda have to make it to the meeting on Thursday now. I try to go, but never seem to make it. Now is the time to start making it a must instead of a want/should. 

I'll throw this out there for internerds to sit with... I accidentally/randomly/cleverly dubbed Good Guy Greg with a new nickname last night, Old Man Sweeper. 

Curious?  Come on out to our Tuesday night socials and see what it's all about. Hey, if you ride with us long enough, or just have yourself a good time with us, you'll likely come out with a nickname. Between TheMutt and myself I'm sure we can come up with something that will either fit, or just stick!

bottles and cogs

Last Thursday I had a plan.

That plan included boogying out of work on the early side and hitting up everything USNWC had to offer.  To brighten up my day, I threw in a lunch stop at my new favorite place, The String Bean.  My day was looking pretty awesome.  The trails were great, I was flying around and feeling strong.  The worms weren't horrible - except on waystation... That, my friends, is their breeding grounds apparently.  The army of worms attacked mercilessly on BOTH laps.

Michael, why would you terrorize yourself by riding through curtains of worms twice?

They were F'n everywhere.  This guy held on after a thorough swiping of my entire body.

Very valid question, reputable internet reader.  Let me try to answer that for you with this:

Ok, that didn't work - you can't see the full name of my ride.  So, I named my ride "Courtesy flush, 2-ply, and STILL a floater."  Funny right?  No, it's not.  Let me break it down for you.

I lost a bottle.  A worn out, grimy looking bottle.  But it was my bottle.  And I'm cheap, and oddly sentimental (it was the bottle I got when I got the HiFi).  I noticed it was missing halfway through the toilet bowl when I stopped to take a beautiful picture.

It was like riding through a fairy tale

 Ok, so I threw on my Sherlock Holmes hat and went to de-deucing where my bottle could have jumped - see what I did there??  I was on the toilet bowl trail and I switched the correct deducing for de-deucing... like dropping a deuce... oh potty humor.  I figured it may have left me earlier on toilet bowl when things get rough and steep.  So back around I re-rode toilet bowl looking for my bottle: hence, Courtesy flush.

I didn't find it.  I thought I had seen it at some point in my ride... so let's backtrack a little.  Way station was a bit of a shit show, what with the worms attacking, so maybe in my haste I was picking dirty lines and with the extra bumps maybe it got waylaid there??  So, there is your answer as to why I would subject myself to those rotten little bastards twice.  Unfortunately that didn't pay off either.  

I headed back to the lot to get water - since I had none left in my jersey bottle and we all know what happened to my other bottle...  In the lot I saw Tom Tom who was headed out for a ride and promised to keep his eyes peeled for my crusty old bottle.  After rehydrating and replacing bottles I decided to continue my recon for my fallen soldier... and re-rode EVERYTHING I rode.  At first I was just heading back to goat hill to check the descents, but with nothing going there I decided to just ride everything over again.  Now you are catching on... that's where the 2-ply comes in!!

So, what about the floater??  Yes?  You in the back with your hand raised nicely... Correct, the "floater" represents my still missing bottle.  Excellent.  I'm glad you were all able to follow along.

So, if you read this and happen to ride USNWC and you see a shitty looking clear bottle with it's blue/black graphics smeared all to hell with a black top - that's MINE!!  GIVE IT HERE!!

Ok, the bell is about to ring, but I want to end class with this note.  I rode the One9 yesterday for the social (if by social you mean a quick pace with a select few stops) ride over at North Meck and I love love love love love it!!  The 20 on the back had me spinning around a lot, but I felt fantastic over roots and when the trail went in the upward trajectory.  I'm already itching to get an 18 on there, but I will hold off and explore other local trails first before I make any hasty changes.  After the first lap we chatted and then broke off into a "fast" group and a REAL "social" paced group.  

I decided to see what I could do and took off in the fast group.  With the spinniness I couldn't hold on, so I was stuck alone in the middle just enjoy the heck out of my ride.  When we finished I mentioned to Good Guy Greg that I was excited to check out my data as I had a feeling I would earn a PR just by riding SS out there.  

I did.

Ok, I've held you long enough.  I think I have a name for the One9... but I'm just about out of time for today.  I thank you for your patience, but we'll have to get into the naming of the bike tomorrow.  Have a great day and get out on the trails!!

riding or socializing

I've said it before, and I will say it again:

A good ride can wipe away a day of work.

A social ride, although not possessing the wiping power of a good ride, can offset a day of work nicely.

An excellent gathering after a social ride can more than make up for anything else in the day.  And that, my friends, was the case last evening.  After hitting the trails at the USNWC some of us headed over to The String Bean in Belmont NC.  This place is AWESOME!

If you're a local and haven't been there, you need to get over there.  It's like the Common Market, except with more food, and bit more family oriented (read: less hipsters).  Don't get me wrong, I love me some CM as I can walk over and enjoy their fine beer selection.  I've enjoyed a sandwich from their deli as well and it's top notch, they have a creative menu for sure.  But, with The String Bean you get a full menu with sandwiches, burger, flat bread pizzas and a very large beer selection.  I can't say who has more/better beer selection as I've never seen CM's offerings listed like I did SB.  But the beer menu at SB was a bit overwhelming.

Like CM, you can grab your favorite bottles to go - or enjoy them on the patio.  I didn't take any pictures - so I've google hacked some for you to enjoy.