Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Kentucky Waterfall Rocks

I found a photo of Ken's dad that was from Kentucky. Ken...you're not from Napa. Come back to your roots. Everyone’s here with open arms. Just come home Ken!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I Know I'm Going To Get A Lot Of Crap For This Photo

This is a photo from 1986 when I thought I was a rock star and a bike master. Here I am doing one of my cool tricks. Yes....that's a mullet and I was proud to wear it. Also in the back ground was my Grandfathers Scout which I bought and drove across country a few times. I finally retired it when I moved to Asheville from Redding. There is a lot of history in this photo. The good old days!

Who needs front breaks when you have shoes. I went through several pairs of shoes doing this.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Tell Me It's Not True....The Kestrel Is Dead!



A few weeks ago I did the Icycle race in Fontana, NC. I converted my old Kestrel CSX mountain bike into a single speed awhile back. This frame rocks as a single speed. You don’t see that many carbon single speeds out on the trail. Anyways…the seat collar they use is an insert. At the race I broke the insert. Luckily one of my old contacts from the King days still works at Kestrel. I gave JD a call and no problem. Send it back and we can fix it. Sweet…I never want to lose this frame. Kestrel doesn’t make this frame anymore and I love. So I’m welling to do what it takes to fix it.

Last night I got a phone call from the warranty department. The top tube of the frame is cracked. I wanted to drop to my knees and scream….NOOOOOOOO! I cannot believe this day has come. I love that frame! So I asked him if he could make me a frame (just kidding…I didn’t ask that). I asked him what my options are. The only option is they can give me a new road frame. This is not the option I was looking for but I guess I’ll get a new road frame.

So I called my neighbor last night and talked about a few frame ideas. I’m going to get the geometry from Kestrel and build my own steel single speed. Hopefully next month I can start working on the project. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. I still cannot belive this happen. I know Ken will feel my pain.

Another Full Weekend

We had a lot of visitors this last week. David was in town last Thursday from Franklin, TN. He was here picking out a puppy for his family. One of the doctors Lyn works with is fostering something like 6 Terrier puppies and trying to find homes for them. David did a great job and picked out the happiest puppy in the litter. I believe the whole family will be back in 4 weeks to pick her up. His two girls are going to be so excited. Afterwards we went to one of my favorite Northern Italian restaurants Vincenzo’s. The food is sooooo good.

Friday night my mom and sister arrived from DC. So in standard form I stayed up until 2 / 2:30am talking. Of course Paige did not sleep in the next morning so I was up at about 6:15am playing and running around the house. It was a long day.

My sister has really gotten into running over the last few years and she wanted to run a race on Sunday in Fletched, NC. Considering the fact the last time I actually did any running of any kind outside of cross was over a year ago with her back in Nebraska. So of course I could not let her down. I figured if I would go for a good mountain bike ride first that should help loosen me up. So I went out and hit the trails for about 2 hours 30 minutes. We I got back to the house I changed clothes and drove to the race in Fletcher. It all worked out pretty well. Shelley ran hard and did great and I can still walk today without any pain. All and all it went great!

My family headed back to DC yesterday and Paige really missed Grandma. When they left Paige went into the room my mom was staying in and was looking for her. It was cute and sad at the same time.


Ready to run

Look... it's really me running again.

It's all over and I cannot wait to eat my cookie

Friday, February 16, 2007

Random Photos

Nothing new really going on right now. Here are a few photos of Paige and family.

Paige loves being a cowgirl

Whatsup partner

The little people under the big plants at the Biltmore

Nebraska style. Learning how to drive at an early age. Only if I had a tractor.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Did Someone Say It Was Cold Out

Last Sunday after the race I thought I would go out for a little spin. I knew it was cool when I left the house but I did not think it was that cooled. I guess the frozen sweat proved me wrong. I have no idea how I made such an ugly face.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Icycle Bike Race In Fontana, NC

This weekend was the annual Icycle race in Fontana. This is one of my all time favorite races. The course is always hard the weather 9 times out of 10 is horrible. The people who attend this race are true mountain bike riders. Fontana Village is this little area tucked in the mountain next to the Smoky Mountains. We once again rented a cabin and Lauren and Cashen joined us for the weekend. We drove over Saturday morning, checked in, and registered for the race. The race started at 12 noon and the temp was around 32 degrees, snow on the ground, and a stiff wind. The course was really fast because everything was frozen. After the race we were all greeted to PBR. From that point forward things got pretty interesting.

I think the photos below will help tell the story.
The father son single speed team of Dwight & Nathan. Nathan took top honors in our ss race.

Getting ready to eat a lot of chilli. Look at poor lost Cashen in the background.


PBR on tap! Gotta love it!


Heading to the night downhill race.


Somewhere on the course.


Make a fire


Bulid a ramp.


Watch Cashen jump.