Fashion Fridays?

I myself haven't been riding much, so I feel no pressure to find an inspiring clip to urge all you out there to ride this weekend - you are already WAY ahead of me.

Instead, look what I got in the mail yesterday!

Yup, a sweet ass Southern Wheelworks t-shirt. It's casual Friday, so I'm wearing it to work today!  Honestly, I haven't put it on yet, but it feels super comfortable so I'm excited about it. 

In somewhat related news, designs on the Team Glow Worm kit are coming along nicely!  D-Wayne is killing it!  I won't share the proofs yet, but trust me - once you see the finished product you may just want to join me and sport the worm! 

How is that at all related to Southern Wheelworks?  Well, I'm putting 3 sponsors on the jersey. And by "sponsors" I mean: people I believe in. 

Dustin is not only a great wheel builder (solid wheels, easy process that he'll guide you through to make sure you get exactly what you want out of the build) but he's also just a great guy. 

D-Wayne is of course getting his company on the jersey. Another great and talented guy!  Not only is he good at what he does, but he has jumped into this project with genuine excitement (sometimes I think he's even more excited about it than I am!). 

And finally, Dild's Grill. Got to pay homage to where this thing all started. Originally I was going to do two kits, one being the Glow Worm and one was going to be a clean, classic designed Dild's Grill jersey - but I've shifted to full investment in Team Glow Worm with "sponsorship" from Dild's Grill since the other half of Dild's Grill is out of commission until his bionic hip replacement is complete. 

So yeah, go ahead and ride this weekend if you must. I hope to be out there if I can shake whatever has been keeping me ill this week. 

* I've since put on the t-shirt since I had to finish the post at work... feels great and looks even better.  I even did a little dance in it - you can ask Annie about it.

Media Fridays

We'll posts videos or photos that will hopefully inspire trail shredding weekends.

Ok folks, the LAST installment of the Kingdom Trails adventure.  

Not sure when Team Dild's Grill will be together to make another video, so enjoy!

Two For One Deal, except

Media Fridays

We'll posts videos or photos that will hopefully inspire trail shredding weekends.

EDIT** Apparently the Beastie Boys don't like to share so my Sidewinder video was blocked.  Don't have time to edit now, so I'll post to new version sometime next week... until then, enjoy the one

 TEAM DILD'S GRILL BRAND SPANKING NEW WORLD PREMIERE video

First up - Sidewinder

Sorry!!

And we'll end today on Kitchel (with some other trails thrown in there as well).

RIDE ON!

So yeah, I came out with the Kingdom Trails news early, and now there is nothing left.  All focus is on this weekend.

This week has been long... already.  I've been under the weather, and the weather itself has been crappy.  I haven't ridden this week, and haven't tried out camera angles or ensured snug camera attachment yet... Wednesday the weather turned and things look amazing again.  I'm feeling progressively better, and the forecast for this weekend in East Burke, Vermont is looking more favorable for riding.

• Friday

  Jun 17

  A couple of showers77° Lo 54°RealFeel®83° / Lo 55°more
• Saturday

  Jun 18

  Chance of a shower78° Lo 45°RealFeel®76° / Lo 41°more

• Sunday

  Jun 19

  Partly sunny and breezy76° Lo 47°RealFeel®73° / Lo 46°more

The pterodactyl is going in for some drive train action!!  When it rains it pours... again this is covered under warranty so it is "free" in the sense of cash monies, but takes up my damn time and causes me to worry that it wouldn't get done in time for the trip.... Feeling shit vibrate on the highway with thoughts of a universal coupling flying off is not comforting on a 3 hour trip...  So this afternoon I'll skip out of work early to get that bad boy remedied.

Yeah... this was boring.  Hopefully the prospect of a World Premier Team Dild's Grill video coming at you next week will hold you over.  If not, feel free to yell at me in the comments section.  It will probably make me sad for a second, but then I'll remember that I had nothing to write about because I'm going to kill some trails this weekend and I'll be ok.

Side note:  Got our NEMBA memberships in the mail yesterday.  Also got a copy of Singletracks with our welcome packet which included a nice list of weekly group rides.  I'll be checking some of those out in the weeks to come for sure!!

Team Dild's Grill heatin' things up at Kingdom Trails - The Preview

It all goes down Saturday 6/18.  Hide your wife, hide your kids, cause we are riding EVERYTHING up in here!!

Jealous?

So we aren't riding everything... but there you have the "planned" route.  Obviously spur of the moment overrides are perfectly acceptable as are add-ons or repeats of super fun times!!

Here is a run down of the trails hit (the map is pretty straight forward, there is only one section where you might get lost in highlighter)

Start with a climb up East Darling Hill.

Jump on the Loop to Poundcake

Fence Line

Pastore Point Loop

Pastore Point

Hop on Coronary to Loop to Bemis

Tap and Die

River Run 

Webs

River Run

Dry Feet

River Run

West Branch

Hog Back

Sidewinder

West Branch

Border

Old Web's (loop back on itself)

Border

Knob

Sugar Hill

Ridge

Rim

East Branch

Vast

Pines

Widow Maker

East Branch

Riverwood

Vast

Beat Bog

Sugarhouse Run

Kitchel

Herb's

Finish.

This will be similar to the route I rode last year (my first time) except I did it in reverse, I'm thinking the flow this way will be better.  Sean (the other half of Team Dild's Grill) aka Big Red has never been to Kingdom Trails and is coming off an annoying (2 flats and a broken chain) race at Big Bear this past weekend... so he is in for some good times on the bicycle.  He is renting an XL HiFi so we will be bike twins for the day!!

Only a few more days until Snakebite and Big Red are tearing it up again!

Wet your whistle

So I didn't have time for a real deal post because last night I was in the process of going tubeless...so here are a things to look forward to:

Update on the tubeless situation... Oh yes, it's a situation


I expect a sweet camera will be arriving here soon, so expect some action on here

After some more use I've got a solid review of the of the Dild's Grill team edition jacket in the works

With the long weekend at the doorstep, and Annie leaving for Texas to visit a friend, I'm sure I'll have a new trail (or two) under my belt.

Today, with the weather actually looking like Spring/Summer, Annie and I will hit up Cutler Park - she'll probably have that ride report for you next week

So there you have it, just a little "heads up" to hopefully tide you over (and keep you coming back) until I get a solid post up here.

Have a great, fun-filled, safe, Memorial Day weekend!!

miserable

I'm tired.  It's the weather.

Miserable all week long.  Just a long, damp, cold, drizzly mash of days.  And now my ass and legs hurt cause I hit the gym Sunday and did squats.  Thought about riding on Tuesday (since the precipitation maintained at an annoying drizzle) to get the legs moving and check in on that seat height but my tiredness won out.

I figure today I will HAVE to get some sort of ride in as I don't want to really go into this weekend cold.  Plus, might give me the opportunity to figure out what I'll be wearing for the race (in the case that it is still raining for the actual event on Sunday).

Speaking of what to wear...

On my ride up in the 'dale (Willow's neck of the woods) this past Saturday I got to sport the Dild's Grill edition Vaude.  It did the job and took out 50 degree chill like a champ.  Yet, as I was flying through the forest things got a bit steamy.  50s for me is usually fine, so I wasn't going to sport the jacket, but in the parking lot the wind was nipping and I thought why the hell not.  In the end I was happy to drop it back off at the car before I spun out for the second half of my ride.  Don't get me wrong, I have no complaints.  It did it's job, felt great, fit like a glove, did not restrict movement in any way, held gear in the rear pocket without issue, and even had a nice "media" pocket on the right breast for the phone.

I plan on being up at Willowdale some point on Saturday for another attempt at a pre-ride... may hold off until the afternoon in hopes that it will be marked off by then...  but it will give me a good sense of what is in store (conditions wise) for the race.  Parents are likely coming up for this one, which may enable Annie to bring the dogs.

Scout
(Scooterpunch)

Maggie

SWAG!

Check in time: How have I been doing thus far in preparing for racing?

Well, the winter was what it was, so I didn't get nearly the amount of bike time as I had hoped prior to my first foray into racing.  I did however manage to get back into the gym on a pretty regular basis... so that was good.

Since my first race I have not been to the gym.  Boo that.

Since my first race I have been riding weather permitting on the regular.  Yay to that!

This week, with the weather looking dreary, it's been tough... but I vowed at the beginning of the week to get my butt in the gym if the trails were not an option.  Well, work got in the way of that.  Not in the sense that I've had to put in mad overtime and thus not have time to get to the gym...  But in the I'm emotionally destroyed and the idea of lifting anything heavy makes my heart cave in sense.  So yeah.  I love my job.  I love working with kids.  But sometimes it's too much to take emotionally.

(I'm a high school counselor by the way)

The other day I was thinking I would LOVE it if my biggest concern was that the wrong derailleur came in, or the part a customer wanted by today wasn't going to get here in time...  Not that that would be ok in anyway because I'd go nuts not being able to get the customer what they wanted... but still.  The bling on your bike isn't life or death...

Ah, well that eludes to the dream that Annie and I have of moving to Charlotte and opening up a bike-type store.  I say "bike-type" because we were thinking of throwing a twist in there to find our own niche in The Web... plus I would absolutely love to jet out to Oregon or Colorado to learn to be a bike mechanic.  Of course I'd find a way to work with kids, but bikes are cool - and they generally don't have an attitude or indulge in high school drama...

Back to the check in!

It's Monday damnit!

Living in Boston I totally forgot today was Monday (and thus necessitating an entry here).  How does living in Boston in an way = forgetting that today is Monday???  Because it's Patriot's day.  Because the Boston Marathon is today.  And that, my friends, means that no one works in Boston today.  So there you have it.  No one is going to work makes it feel like it's a second Sunday here in Southie.

To add to that feeling Annie's best friend from Morgantown came in yesterday as her sister is running the marathon.  So we all went out last night to Barlow's to eat and generally be merry.  Oh yeah, and yesterday I completed my first race!!  We are heading down to Charlotte Tuesday (via Morgantown WV - so arriving in Charlotte Wednesday) so entries probably will be non-existant until next week, and then there will be a flood of updates (perhaps).

To the main attraction - Winding Trails Fat Tire Classic.
I took two pieces of advice with me going into this race.
1st - (from CB2)just wear the camelbak, don't worry about trying to switch things up and just carry a bottle.
2nd - warm-up.  Saturday I talked to my buddy Sean (from WV) regarding pre-race warmup.  Not sure why it's important that he's from WV - but he is.  So yeah, he gave me the low down on the warmup routine... which I followed and felt good going into the race.

My parents and my wife came to watch, which was really nice.  I entered in the First Timers category and as we lined up I was surprisingly not nervous, which made me... (a little) nervous.  Chatted with a couple guys as we stood waiting.  This, I determined, was one of the best parts of racing.  The people.  Seriously, everyone was just laid back and friendly.  Conversations were easy, people were helpful.  Even out on the course people were looking out for each other, we were all racing but still friendly/courteous.  LOVED IT!