I got a lot of catching up to do

The official "trip" part of my trip is over....I have made it to Seattle, but I have done a very poor job of blogging the adventure.

The last time that I chimed in, I had just finished hiking around arches National park and I was trying get rid of the soreness from riding in Moab. Well the soreness continued. The next morning, I found out that 108 Sun Salutations hurts like hell. My hamstrings felt like they did the morning after tear Part 1 and Part 2. I was still in Moab, because I was waiting on my buddy, Andy, to get back from New Mexico, so he, my new buddy Rider, and I could head up to San Fran. Rider and I had planned for a huge adventure, but due to the nights whiskey we didn't fall out of our respective hammocks until about 11:30. Later that afternoon, we decided to hike up Mill Creek to swim/ cliff jump/ get some shade. The cliff jumping sounded exciting and adventurous, but it turned out to be quite different.
When we got to the "cliffs" that over looked an amazing plunge pool, there were a few people jumping of, including a 10 yr old kid, but it wasn't to crowded. At least it didn't seem crowded. When I crawled up the waterfall to the top, I looked to my right, and there sat about 20 Moab Locals. If you have never seen Moab locals or Utah locals in general, it goes a little something like this. Polygamy leaves an area with an interesting social dynamic. The top 50% of the males, take 100% of the females. This leaves the bottom 50% of males with no women and a lot of free time to lash out and tattoo themselves about their situation. These were the 20 people sitting on top. Rider, being the outside hitcher that he is, didn't get as many stares as I did, but they had me label as a fanny pack wearing, huge camera toting, tourist. I eventually got the courage to sit down with them and they were actually great guys. Hell if we would have just gone off of first impressions, I would have run and they probably would have chased.
After sitting on top of this rock for a few hours, we decided it was time to head back to town and get a greasy burger at the famous Milt's. On the way down, I said "well I might as well jump." To make a long story short, that wasn't the best idea. I jumped a little to far, like past the deep water-too far. I landed in not the deepest of all areas and I am very lucky that more soreness is all I got.

So off to San Francisco I headed with two new friends on board across Hwy 50-" the loneliest highway in America"-and legs that hurt worse than 4 years of college football combined. That is not the best state in which to be if you are head to hang out with Elmer Collett. Elmer is my dad's old football buddy. He is a 64 yr old, retired pro bowler, firefighter, who is in better shape that anyone I know. He is also 6'5" and he has a son just an inch shorter. Just a hint, don't try to keep up with them on a hike. Especially not 12 miles through their home turf. The first day, they took it easy on me and we rode bikes, but still then, Elmer pushed me and he never changed gears. However, on the second day, there were times when I was literally jogging behind Elmer and Casey as they walked. The third day in Cali, Casey and I took the bikes down to the ferry and rode it into San Francisco. We spent the day riding up and down the fisherman's wharf. It was a really cool city. I'm sure there was loads more to see, but we had a good time. When we got back to Stinson, that is when the story get really interesting. We had a great barbeque with OYSTERS and that has pretty much written the pages for the last three days.
The morning after the barbeque, I woke up early and started the trek to Washington. The drive was just like any ole drive through beautiful NorCal, Oregon, and Souther Washin....Oh wait, it all changed about Southern Washington. Just south of Olympia, I started to get terrible heartburn and by Olympia, that heartburn turned to stomach pain. By the Seattle city limits, that stomach pain turned into me throwing on the hazards in the middle of a street and puking my life up on some unknown road. All of which turned into a sleepless night in Seattle. How fitting.
I have finally recovered, but it was not pretty. Landing with food poisoning at the steps of a doctor and a nutritionist who both happen to be awesome sisters is quite the luck. Molly and Stephanie got me back into my form and here is sit in my home for the next month. I am pretty excited, just about everything, but in particular because I just scored a new bike. Molly was trying to get ride of her old road bike. It is a late 80's model Specialized Allez steel lugged frame bike. It is awesome. I am going to rig it out with some moustache handle bars and panniers, it is going to be great.
I am not sure if I am going to blog through the rest of the summer, but I assume since everyday is an adventure, I will have something to write about.

108 Sun Salutations and Arches

After two days in Moab, my legs were as sore as they had ever been, so I decided to relax for the day. The 20th was the Summer Solstice, and I found out through the grapevine that there was a yoga solstice celebration on the morning of the 21st. Yoga seemed like the perfect thing to do. The plan for the celebration was to do 108 consecutive sun salutations, in the middle of the city park. 108 is somehow an auspicious number in like Buddism and Yoga. The farmers market was going on at the same time, but we just plopped down in the middle of the park anyway. As I expected I was only guy who thought to do this, and shockingly enough I may have had the least amount of underarm hair. Anyway the practice was awesome. After about 20 salutations, you just kind of doze off into a trance and the rest of them flow. It was an awesome experience on top of the fact that it was a pretty good workout.
After Yoga, I did the unthinkable. I went out in the mid-day sun!!!!! It is really funny around here, because everyone acts like when you walk outside during the middle of the day, you will immediately die. Everyone is just overly cautious so some tourist doesn't just hop out of their huge mobile home and think that they can just go for a nature hike across the desert. Anyway, it actually worked out for me, because when I went to go hiking at Arches National Park, there was hardly anyone there. As I made it up to the first arch, Delicate Arch, I met a pretty cool guy about my age, so we decided to hike together for the rest of the day.
On the way up, I saw some amazing Petroglyphs, it was amazing, because I know I have seen those exact one reproduced in history books and definitely in merchandise around here.
My new buddy, Gabe, and I then drove across the park to hike in "Devil's Garden." This may have been some of the most impressive, odd, and downright beautiful landscape I have ever seen. We were just hiking through what they call "fins" which is the earlier form of an arch. Its confusing, but they are beautiful. The hike just let us through these slot canyons and up around and under some amazing sandstone formations. We really wanted to get on top of the largest and thinnest arch, "landscape arch," so we were constantly taking side treks trying to get on top of the right fin. We didn't make it, but we did get close enough for a great view of the arch.
After seeing several arches and getting ourselves into some pretty sticky situations climbing, we decided it was time to hike back. The hike back was awesome, it went for a time in a dry river bed and then it went about 4 miles through the most stereotypical desert. It was beautiful. By far my favorite national park so far. (out of three, HAHA) I could definitely see where much of Edward Abbey's motivation came from.
On the way back from the park, Gabe and I each treated ourselves to a nice bottle of whiskey. Back at the hostel, there were a few other guys looking to have a good time too, so we did. We laughed and drank whiskey dang near all night. I met some really cool guys, and we all had some outrageous stories to tell. It was an awesome night, you wouldn't believe the parties at a hostel in Moab, Utah.
My original plan for today was to leave first thing in the morning, stop by the Grand Canyon, and then head on to LA to hang out with Steven. It turns out that Steven got a good job with the BET Awards, so he is busy all week. I was bummed out about that and I needed to figure out plans fast. The boys at the hostel helped with that. A guys named Ryder, British Andy, and I are going to leave tomorrow and drive to San Fran. Ryder has been hitching for 6 weeks, and he was looking for a ride to Portland. Andy wanted to split gas with me to San Fran, but he couldn't leave until tomorrow. Well since I wasn't going to LA, I figured that I could just spend and extra day in Moab, cause there was no way that I was getting up early and driving, and we could head west. I think we are going to go do some cliff diving today, and that is about as active as my body will let me be. This desert riding/hiking/drinking has exhausted me.

Moab-Day 2

I woke up this morning at 6:30 after an amazing night of sleep in the hammock. I always said when I was a kid that I wanted a hammock in my room and now I want one in my room even more. I wonder how the new landlord will like hooks in his wall?
I got up so early, because Andy and I were going to do a huge ride this morning starting at 7. The only problem was that Andy didn't wake up until I walked into his room at 7:10. So off I went, all by my little lonesome. The trail is about 9 miles from town, and most people get a truck to shuttle them up, but I was feeling saucy so I rode the extra 9 miles which climbed 2,000 feet. The dirt road climb seemed like it took 20 years and I got passed by 2 groups of happy little bikers in their cars, but I finally made it to the trailhead. From the trail head, it was a brutal 4 mile climb going up to 6800 feet. A four mile climb isn't that bad, but in Moab it is not about the distance. The climbs are so technical, you are just worrying about getting over the next boulder. See if you can find the trail. I couldn't
There was a beautiful view of Castle Valley on the top. (1st picture) And then there was an awesome descent, with several big drops. The trail ended at the Colorado River which is flowing huge because of the snow melt. I was happy to be done with the trail only to remember that Moab was 6 miles away.
On the trail, I realized once again how small of a world it it. I ran two guys from NC. Crazy right? Well I got to talking with them and realized that they were camped next to me at the Burn 24 Hour race. I thought it was crazy, but they were awkward so I just blazed past them. Oh and by the way, they were the lazy bums that burned past me on the road earlier that morning. The covered me in dust, but needless to say, they were shocked when I caught them 4 miles into the trail and they had a 3 mile head starts. The other farts that pasted me in a car, got taken over about 2 miles before the NC boys, but at least they were on hard tails.
Note to self, leave earlier. I thought I had left in time to miss the worst sun of the day, but I ended up getting back into Moab at high noon. Thank god my I brought enough water and a banana or I would have been Buzzard Porridge. I am exhausted now, 60 miles in the desert in two days, so I am being a slug at the coffee shop. I want to ride again tonight, but walking hurts, so I am probably going to just relax, do some laundry, and go to bed early.

Moab-The Mecca of Mtn Biking- Day 1 addendum

So after chilling in the shade in the town of Moab. I decided to go do a trail. The trail was called Amasa Back. It was a 20 mile out and back that started in town. I was a really interesting ride. It was a killer climb up to a lookout over the Colorado River and then a killer decent down that same trail. It was very complicated to find the trail, not to mention actually dealing with the technicality. I had a fun time searching for the trail through the most beautiful desert canyons. I didn't take any pictures though, because I was pretty tired and was running out of water. It was hard to focus on the beauty.

To cap off the day, I actually rode by this huge wall of ancient native petroglyphs. Once again, I was too tired to get my camera out. Tomorrow morning, my British friend, Andy, and I are going to do a huge 30 mile loop called Porcupine Rim. It is going to be intense. I'm not sitting in the famous restaurant Eddie McStiff's eating a brownie sundae. Shut it, I deserve it.

Moab-The Mecca of Mtn Biking- Day 1

11:30 last night, I pulled into Moab finally. I found a little campsite, put up my hammock and fought the mosquitoes all night. Due to the fact that Moab is in a desert, it is near impossible to ride during the middle of the day, so I woke up first thing and found a trail. Slickrock Trail, is the most famous trail in Moab, and that was my destination. After a little searching, I made it to the trailhead at about 8AM. The landscape is amazing, everything is read and Moab lies in a big valley surrounded by red canyons and outcroppings, with the Rockies in the distant background. The SlickRock trail is about 10 miles long, but it takes about 2 hours. I swear it is like riding on Mars. The trail ( and by trail, I mean painted dots on a rock) is unlike any other place that I have been. It is very jerky and nothing really flows. There are times when you are shooting down a boulder, you go through a sand pit, and then straight up another boulder that looks to steep to hike up much less bike. Somehow, your tires hold onto the rock, and if you stay in Granny Gear and stand up, you can make it up the rock. The trail is not a great "trail" perse, but it is one of a kind and it is a must ride in Moab.

Right now I am camping next to a hostel. It cost $6.53 and there are two great cottonwood trees for a hammock. They also have a bathhouse that I can use for free. I was going to just go find some Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in a canyon somewhere and camp for free, but half of Moab's appeal is that everyone here rides, so there is an awesome culture. I decided to sacrifice a little camping beauty to meet some cool people. In fact a guy from England that I rode with this morning is the one that told me about the hostel.

I have not decided my afternoon/night plans yet. Right now I am just staying out of the 100 degree heat and waiting for the sun to go a little further away. There is an epic 30 mile loop called Porcupine Rim that I am thinking about doing tonight, but I have to think about the heat.

The town of Moab is as cool as the trails. On every corner there is some kind of biking, outdoor, and coffee shop. I could definitely live here.

Drive through Colorado.

After I left, Guymon OK, I headed through the Northwest corner of New Mexico, past Capulin Volcano, and across the south edge of Colorodo to Utah.

Soon after arriving in Colorado on I-25, I turned west on Hwy 160 and that is precisely when the adventure began. I stopped at a small coffee shop just to get a cup and to sit down and write out a postcard before heading towards Durango Colorado. As I walked into the coffee shop, I noticed an older man with a backpack and hiking pole, but neither of us really paid much attention to the other. Inside the coffee shop, a nice woman offered to take my postcard to the mailbox, because it was out of my way, and I had the "itch" to get to Moab. ( I was about 5-6 hours away). When I walked back out, curiously, I asked the guy where he had been hiking. He pointed up to the mountains (Sangra de Cristos) and said "up there". I became even more curious, because I would never even consider going up those alone. Especially if I looked like this guy. He was slightly overweight and could have been a grandfather. Anyway, I sat down next to him to finish my coffee and asked where he was headed. He said he came into town to wash some clothes, eat, and catch a bus to Salida, CO to continue his walk. THe only problem was that there is no bus running from Walsenburg, CO to Salida, CO. So of course, I said, "well I'm going west, hop on board." He quickly agree, we introduced our selves and left. His name was John and I asked him where he was from, he said" I was born in the U.S., grew up in Canada, and now live on the road." I was fascinated by this guy, he wasn't headed anywhere and was not the typical wanderer. He wasn't technically homeless, but he didn't really have an address. To make a long story short, he had an amazing story. We rode together for 4 hours all the way to Durango, CO. I found out that he was a retired Delta Force officer. He had 6 kids, 18 grandkids, and lost his wife. 2 months prior to their retirement, his wife since he was 18 was killed in a car crash. It was then that John shed all of his stuff and just went walking. That was ten years ago. He lives off of his Army retirement and his family is a very wealthy Morman bunch in Utah. So he didn't have to live on the road, but he did. He had severe survivor's remorse and just couldn't deal with what his life used to be. So, he moved himself, "to the bottom of the food chain." We talked the whole time. He told me about Vietnam, how to hitchhike, how to hop freight trains, and about his experiences around the world. A couple of times a year, he teaches a survival course for the Army and it is urban survival. He takes 8 men out with a mission and no identification and they have to make it around on basically nothing. He was adamant in saying that survival was not "killing and eating everything in site somewhere in alaska" he said survival is when your plane crashes and you have 1,000 people looking for you and you have to survive. He was a really cool guy and we had a lot to talk about...wars, civil rights, homlessness, survival, hiking, and worlds of other things. He had some awesome and unbelievable stories. He may have been completely lying and I may end up in his freezer a few years down the road, but if it was all fiction, it was a damn good fiction book.

Oklahoma Drive

First off, this was written prior to being posted, because apparently Internet has not yet arrived in Guymon Oklahoma.
Today I just drove across the state of Oklahoma, sounds boring right? Well it was actually a great time. Forget what the people say, the plains are beautiful. Rather than putt along on the Interstate, I chose the high road (as in more north, not morally higher) I took Highway 412 all the way across the panhandle of Oklahoma. The town of Guymon sits about an hour from the New Mexico border and I stopped here, because for the next 3 hours west the closest thing to civilization is a prairie dog colony. I am still not sure what my plans are for Guymon, but I arrived a few hours ago only to find the power was out in the whole city. The only place with power was Pizza Hut, so Pizza Hut is where I sit. I think I may sleep in the back of my car at the 7 Pines RV park, don’t worry, it is a classy place. After that, I am not sure. I am trying to move as fast as I can to Moab, but it is about 5 hundred miles away, if I go the boring way. If I go the way I want to, it will probably be a two day adventure. It is only two states away it should be closer. Whatever happened to my New England days, when I could go through 4 states in an hour? Those damn rocky mountains are quite the hindrance to a straight shot drive. I am obviously being sarcastic. I am in no hurry. I would like to get to Moab tomorrow, but I know that tomorrow will be an adventure no matter what. There are beaucoup things to hold me up, like Vermejo Park, the Aztec Ruins, Santa Fea, Capulin Volcano, Mesa Verde, Four Corners…and the list goes on. I am almost half way to seattle, that is crazy considering I am so far west, but mileage wise I am only half way there.

Nashville and Bonnaroo

"God is Love
Love is Blind
Ray Charles is Blind
Ray Charles is God"

This was a wonderful piece of graffitti that was on a fence at Bonnaroo. I quoted that to just show the absurdness of the weekend. Bonnaroo was the largest collection of crazy people that I had ever seen. I was proud to be a part of it.

So I have been absent for a bit. After my adventures in the Cherokee National Forest, I headed to Nashville. For the first part of the trip, I spent a lot of time the Fido's Coffee shop. I stayed with Seth and Betsey for two days and just mingled around Nashville. From Bookshop, to Bikeshop, to coffee shop. On Wednesday, Britti came in town to start her internship. It was the first time that we had seen each other since my graduation so it was great just to see her, I had no idea that we would have such and amazing weekend. Britti had to work on Thursday and Friday, so during the day I did the regular coffee shop/ bookshop/bike shop circle, except for those days I even brought a mall into the picture! Oh yeah, Thursday night we went the famous Blue Bird Cafe to hear Seth sing. It was awesome to see him sing, now that he is a big time songwriter. Who would have ever thought that I would be the one going to grad school and Seth would be the freespirit working out of his house?

Anyway on Friday night after Britti got off work, we (Britti, Brittany Rollek, and I) drove 60 miles SW of Nashville to the famous Bonnaroo Music Festival. As I said earlier, it was a crazy weekend. There are 60,000 burnt out hippies and music lovers, plus another 1,000 "carnies" in this huge field. There were probably 7 stages and the music ran from noon until 4 am. The stages were named things like "What Stage" "Which Stage" "This Tent" "That Tent" and "The other tent", so besides the fact that you were probably talking to someone on drugs about which you have never heard, but the names made it confusing as hell to ask for directions. It would be hard to do a whole summary of the whole weekend, It was long, rainy, hot, but it was an awesome time. We saw: Metallica, My Morning Jacket, Donovan Frankenreiter, Against Me!, Two Gallants, Mason Jennings, Ozomatli, BB KING, Ben Folds, Jack Johnson, Sigur Ros, Lupe Fiasco, Rogue Wave, Orchestra Baobab, O.A.R., Death Cab for Cutie and Widespread Panic.
That is 17 bands and two days! People watching was also have of the fun. I would stake my life that 75% of people there had tattoos and 90% of them had several. I saw more drugs than the Medellin Cartel, but touched not a single one. The highlights for me were BB King, Sigur Ros, O.A.R., Donovan Frankenreiter, Widespread Panic, and getting to spend time with Britti in such a fun atmosphere,

Currently, I am in the town square in Fayetteville, AR at the Jammin' Java Coffee Shop. The farmer's market is today and the square is very lively. I stopped last night and stayed with Barbara Dillion (Ammen's Mother). We had a great dinner and I got to hang with my favorite dog in the world, DINKER! My plan was to ride today, but it has been raining a bunch and the trails are super muddy, so I think I am just going to hightail it to MOAB.

"Everyday, An Adventure"

After finishing my book, "Brother to a Dragonfly," I drove to the Ocoee trails at the Ocoee Whitewater Center (the home of the 1996 Olympics for paddling) reminiscing on the philosophies of life that Will Campbell discusses in his book. My favorite part, was his elementary description of the Christian faith..."We are all bastards, but God loves us anyway." He also talks about when dealing with matters like Civil Rights and Race Relations, that we are all victims and enemies. We are all just wrapped in a web of tragedy and love is the way out.
So, I suited up to ride pondering over the questions of life, but my focus quickly shifted to riding...and bears. The trails were awesome. Two straight great days of riding. I put about 14 miles on the bike, with plenty of climbing to boot. The trails were just like I like them. They followed the contour of the the land perfectly. The trails in and of themselves would have been an adventure, but it was what happened in the last 3 miles that was the most exciting.
I was quite aware that I was in bear country and the trails were surrounded by some high vegetation, so I was visualizing all day, coming around a curve just to see a big bear smiling in my face. When I would come around tight curves, I would whistle just to not surprise a bear, but after meeting a ranger at the top who told me that most of the bears had been seen several miles away, I stopped. I started ripping down a downhill section called the Thunder Rock Express and didn't make it 3 minutes passed the ranger when I came around the curve and sure enough, not 20ft in front of me was a big ole mama bear, with 4 cubs. Mama+ cubs+ me = Danger Will Robinson! The mama loped just off the trail about 20 yards with one cub behind. The other 3 cubs ran up the tree next to me. I slammed on the brakes and froze. The mama and I had a nice little stare down. She didn't seem to worried about me, but she wasn't going anywhere with those cubs in the tree. I turned my bike the opposite way just incase. Then I started talking to her. I know you are supposed to sound intimidating or something. I am not sure that I was saying much of anything, and whatever I was saying/yelling, she didn't budge. After several minutes, the last of the 3 cubs came out of the tree, ran to mama, and they moseyed on into the brush. I was still stuck. Behind me was a huge hill, and in front of me were 5 bears that I couldn't see. I moved a little closer to see where the were because forward was 2 miles to the car, and backwards was 12! I finally decided to ride on because I thought I saw her about 30 yards into the woods. As I went by I looked to the right, and she was only about a dozen feet away! I panicked and cranked as hard as I could, running myself off of the trails, freaking even more finally arriving back on the trail. I stopped after about 10 yards of panic and laughed at my skittishness. As I rode away all I could think and say was "So beautiful, so beautiful." What an awesome experience!

pisgah national forest/ DUPONT STATE FOREST

What a couple of days! After I left Asheville, I drove down towards Brevard,NC and set up camp on(literally) the Davidson River in the Pisgah National Forest. I had a great camping spot, just above a waterfall in the "backcountry" part of the river, away from the Bubbas. Friday night, I just set up camp and read/ wrote a good bit. I noticed one thing and that was, I enjoy people. I love the outdoors and all, but it can get pretty lonely in the woods alone. I was having a good time, but I love to talk and attempt to listen to people. However, I also love my alone time with a book. I have to find some type of balance. I got up early on Sat. morning, cooked breakfast, and went fishing. I was trying to flyfish on the Upper Davidson, which is a real narrow stream at that point, so it was pretty tough. I had a good time, but didn't catch a thing. Yet another humbling fishing experience. After I got back from fishing, I went back to my car to get lunch and my bike. I met two guys there (Nick and Dan) and they were planning on doing the same route as me. They were both from Charlotte and about my age, so we headed off. All three of us were novices in Pisgah. We had no idea what we were in for.
Our final goal was the Black Mountain trail, but damn was it a tough trip. I have no problem riding my bike up hills, but I enjoy riding...I do not like pushing my bike! The trail was so technical on the climbs at times, that there was nothing to do but hike a bike. Finally after hours of hiking and biking in 90+ degree weather we did Black Mountain. It was a sick downhill, but I think I had heard too much hype on it. I got back to the camp site 5 hours after I left and was a bit disappointed. The ride was about 21 miles, but it was the hardest 21 miles I have ever attempted. Nick, Dan, and I were so tired that we decided to turn a cold shoulder to roughing it and we went for Barbeque and Beer at HawgWild BarBQ in Brevard. The only problem, was that they didn't sell beer! THe owner's 90 yr old mother told him that she would whip him if he ever sold alcohol.
I ended up moving my campsite close to Nick and Dan's and we had a good time just chilling around the campsite. This morning, I got up and cooked a dang good camp breakfast, the bid farewell to Pisgah. I headed just down the road to Dupont State Forest, to get a quick ride in before making it to TN. 17 miles and 2.5 hours later, I had one of the best times I had ever had on a bike. The trails were awesome! The had everything to offer. Good climbs, sick downhills, great vistas, river crossings, and a sweet trail that road over a bald granite knob (eastern version on Moab?). It was a great day of riding. It was close to 100 degrees but some awesome people at the trailhead gave me a left over bag of ice, so I was set with water and rode until I ran out. I don't want to leave, actually I just want to move into the Dupont State Forest until I die. I have met a lot of awesome people on the trails. There is never a loss for cool people on the trails.
After each of my rides, I have had no problem finding a sweet river with waterfalls and such to cool off. It is the best feeling, after a long ride, to just plunge into a freezing cold mountain stream.
I just got done with the Dupont ride and I pulled into this cool coffee shop, called the Indie Coffee House. It is all focused around Indie Films and Indie Music. It is also a great cup of coffee. Check them out indiecoffeehouse.blogspot.com and stop in if you are in the area. Now I am headed off to Ducktown, TN to the Ocoee River. There is some good riding there and hopefully I can paddle a bit before I hit Nashville.

Asheville

It is amazing how many things can change from one night to the next. Two nights ago, I was sleeping in a hammock and was woken up by a rooster, last night I "fell asleep" fully clothed on top of a bed, with the lights still on. I woke up at 5 am not because of a rooster, but because I was about to pee beer all over the world. Last night, I met up with my buddy Bill Donaldson and we went out for some beer and barbeque. We started the night at Ed Boudreaux's Cajun Barbeque in downtown Asheville. The food was actually quite good, and they obviously had Abita Turbo Dog flowing like a river. After we had wore our welcome thin there, we hopped back on our bikes and headed down to the Asheville Brewing Co. This was a pretty cool joint, because they brew all of the beer there. All in all it was a good night, but it made for a hard ride this morning at Bent Creek.
We were supposed to leave at about 8 for the ride, but that soon turned into 10. We got there and it was about 90 degrees and the only cars in the parking lot were Asheville Police Patrol Cars. It was a pretty funny sight to see, especially because a bunch of them had bike racks. Apparently they are starting a bike cop brigade because of the rising fuel costs. We saw all of the officers on the way up the mountain, and judging by the speed at which Bill and I were passing them, they had spent too much time at Dunkin Donuts. Something was screwing up with my bottom bracket, so we had to cut the ride short. It was a blast though.
Now I am headed down to Brevard to camp, hike, bike, and fish for a few days. I am pretty pumped because I have heard so many good things about the area. I am ready to get the heck out of NC, but this Brevard trip is a must.

Boone Adventures Part 2- Moving On

So, I spend three days in Boone, and it was awesome. I didn't want to leave, but for the sake of being on a "journey" I figured it was time. Wednesday was a pretty cool day. I woke up (2 of 3 nights in a hammock) because of a rooster. How sweet is that? The damn rooster is anxious though and he loves to give a preliminary sound off at about 4 AM. "Gandoca", as he is called, then lets you sleep for a few hours and then succeeds in waking up everyone and everything. After the wake up call, I walked down to the Watauga River to do some fly fishing. I recalled that the river was only a quick hop, skip and jump away, but I was wrong. It ended up being a 25 minute walk down a mountain. Not bad, but the distance threw me off a bit and cause me to dread the way back up with wet wading boots on. I made it down to the river and realized how little I actually know about fly fishing. I know how to tie one knot and I picked out the fly I would use, because I liked the colors. I guess that is what happens when either a guide or your dad has spoon fed you outdoors. Don't get me wrong, that dad and those guides are the reasons why I love fishing, but I am completely helpless alone on the water. This helplessness was actually a good feeling. I had to sit there and work through the frustration on threading the line (several times), tying the fly on and then figuring out how in the hell it was supposed to look in the water. I walked up and down the creek, scared a few fish, and casted alot, but it was a blast. I enjoyed just watching the movement of the water and starting over with each cast. Every time I picked up the line, there was something new on which I could improve. I had to relax and just laugh at my mistakes. I put the fly in several trees, and probably looked like an ogor, slipping on all of the rocks. After about an hour and a half of scaring fish, I made the haul up the mountain and went to pick up Grant at his work for some biking. Grant, his friend Will and I went to the China Creek downhill trail, set a shuttle (because I wasn't about to ride up that mountain) and then we did some bouldering to warm up. The bouldering was pretty fun, and I got to try out my new climbing shoes. Then came China Creek. It was basically straight down a mountain, and through overgrown stinging nettles, but it was crazy fun. Close to the bottom, we found a sweet plunge pool and went for a swim. Let the picture above show how sweet the downhill was. That is a burn from my disk brakes. If you have been holding the brakes, be careful getting off the bike!
Now I am in Asheville, I am about get some beers with Bill Donaldson and then I will continue the trip with some biking, hiking, and fishing.

Boone Adventures Part 1

Well I have finally left of my "trip." I am in Boone right now staying with Grant and Laura Seldomridge. They would River and Earth Adventures, which is a sweet outfit that does rafting, caving, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking trips. After having an amazing night of sleep on an awesome hammock, I got up and joined the River and Earth crowd on a Spelunking trip to Worley's Cave in Bluff City, TN. The cave goes back for 7 miles and has some of the most impressive formations. The cave also has an underground river that we had to walk through to get out. We spent 3 hours underground and barely walked over our own tracks. I was impressed.
The Boone area is so sweet, there is just so much to do. Biking, hiking, caving, rivers. Everything. I definitely should have lived in a place like this. Or better yet, I should (at some point in the future) live in a place like this. Grant and Laura have a pretty cool house. It is out in Valle Crucis and they have dogs, a cat, chickens, ducks, and bees. The picture above is from when I was "tending to the hives." They live a really cool life. There home live is awesome and the are very self sustaining and they have an awesome job. Grant basically does what he loves everyday. He said something last night over a few beers that is really inspiring. He said that a while back he realized that he is "the only person responsible for his reality." It seems simples, but it is true. Happiness and comfort with your life is in your own hands. Sure, things in life can change and put a damper on your plans, but you are the only person in control of how you react. So far, Boone has been a great start to my summer. Adventure, knowledge, and relaxation.

Race #2

Well first off, this is my new race buddy Dolphy. He was just laying around the house all lonely, so I thought I would let him race on a Mtn Bike. I had hoped that he would put a smile on my face when I was about to die. It worked a little bit. Today I rode the Tarheel Trailblazers' Riverfront Classic and it was really my first XC mtn bike race. I have done short track racing and I did the Burn, but for real mountain bike racing, this was the first since I was a youngun. I got talked into racing Sport class which is quite the challenge, but I guess it is the right placement. The race today was 19 miles and that is about standard for Sport races. Today was freaking hot, like Louisiana hot. So I thought I had a bit of an advantage, but "oh shit" I haven't lived in LA in 5 years, so I was hot too. Something is going on in my shoulder with my nerves, so it made it quite hard to climb. That sucks pretty bad, because at the Whitewater center, there are several tough climbs. I made it through and finished 6th out of 10, but it was a pretty shaky race. I had no idea how to race that distance. It wasn't a sprint, but it wasn't a marathon, so I was kinda lost. Oh well, I am glad I did it. Hopefully I can learn how to race a little better.