Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we headed to kids church at 5:00pm. Paige dressed up as a little angel (so cute) and listen to stories and sang. After church we did our Christmas Eve tradition and headed to the Groove Park for a cocktail. Actually only I had a cocktail because Lyn is about ready to pop and…well Paige is only 2. The Groove Park is so much fun on Christmas Eve. Everyone is having a great time and the huge fire place is a blazing.

After the Groove Park we headed over to the William’s for a fabulous fondue dinner. Good food and a few glass of good wine and off to the house we went.

Paige went to bed and Santa came to town.

On our way to church looking cool.

Great fondue dinner

Paige and Sara watching a little tv

Our annual Christmas picture

Mothers and daughters

Soon to be more kids in the neighborhood

Another Off Road Adventure

I got the same type of e-mail and phone calls again last week. “Let’s do a long ride on Saturday. I have a route planned out.” It was again on for a Saturday morning departure of 7:15am (just enough light to start riding) and making sure I had at least 4 hours. The same crew as usually was ready to ride. At least this time the ride was in my back yard so I didn’t have to get up at 5:30am. The ride route was through Bent Creek into Mills River and back. Pretty straight forward….unless you ride with this group. Through Bent Creek and into Mills River with no problems. Once in Mills River Jason and DW got an idea to take a trial back to the Parkway. Keep in mind no one has done this route and we have just climb to the Parkway and have decent to the river on the other side. This could be a lot of climbing. We all decided what the heck lets go for it. I’m not going to bore you with the details but let’s just say this. At the end near the Parkway the trail got steep enough that we all had to do about a 40 minute hike a bike. Once we got to the top we realized we where by Mt. Pisgah which is a lot higher up on the Parkway then we thought we were going. The decent down was really cold and no one was dressed for this type of adventure. Needless to say….five hours and forty five minutes later I rolled up to the house freezing. Once again another great adventure with guys. I wonder where next week will take us.

Climbing up to the Parkway from Bent Creek to enter into Mills River area

Good winter single track

Calling the wives and letting them know they are running about 2 hours late.

A Few Photos From Today

On our drive back from JC the weather turned on us and it started to snow. About time! The Highway Patrol was stopping everyone on I26 and making us all go one at a time over a bridge that had iced over. Pretty crazy.

Waiting our turn to go over the bridge

Paige has about had it. She is over her car seat.

When we got home Paige wanted Lyn to take photos of her Disney characters. Paige would set them up and Lyn would take the photos.







Getting ready to go outside and play





Paige forgot her sunglasses so she wanted to wear Lyn's

4 Hour Cross Ride To Somewhere

There was a lot of talk about several of us from NC heading over to Cross Nationals this weekend. Instead, several of us decided not to go for many different reasons (family, work, etc.). All of us that ride and race together are real working class, family guys. Not everything goes as planned. So we decided to do a 3 or 4 hour cross ride to places we have never been before. The only restraint was myself. I had to leave DuPont by 10:45am or 11:00am to make it home in time to head to JC for Caroline’s college graduation. DW was the group leader and away we went. We got moving right at sun up (7:30am).

We where in and out of trails, dirt roads, paved roads, and finally hit an area where everyone was looking a little lost. That’s right….LOST! There where some areas on the route that no one has tried linking up before. We knew going into this it could get a little dicey. I could make this store long but I’m going to sum it up.

Dirt roads to nowhere, riding across peoples property and ending up behind their gate, getting stopped by a security guard, back tracking, flat tire, awesome overlook, really cool youth camp, did I mention cold, bush whacking, and Jason setting a freaking fast pace line to get me to my truck about 40 minutes late. Big thanks to Jason for putting in a huge monster effort to help me get back to the truck as fast as possible. This type of adventure is what makes riding so much fun.

Needless to say I made it home in time for Lyn to jump in the truck and I had to take a shower in JC. But I made it! I got a little crazy with the video clips.

Heading in SC

We found this really beautiful chappel overlooking the mountains

We ended up on the wrong side of the gate.

Paige Riding Santa's Train

Christmas Is Almost Here

Christmas is just around the corner. With Paige being at the fun age of 2 Christmas this year is going to be so much fun. Over the last few days we have seen Santa Clause, rode on Santa’s train, went to the Biltmore, wrapped presents, and made cookies. Her are a few photos.

Paige found these birds at the gift shop.

Paige and Santa

Paige ridding Santa's train

Decorating cookies

Paige is crazy about Walt Disney.

The finished product

Redneck Madness

I can't tell but I think the plate on the back of the car is Jersey. This looks like something I would see in NC. Caution....bad language!!!!!!!!

Slip n' Slide

I want to build one of these. Maybe next summer.

A Weekend Full Of Fun

This last weekend my mom flew into town for a short 5 day visit. Paige only gets to see her about every 4 months so we packed a lot of fun things in those short 5 days. Friday Paige and Grandma hung out at the house all day and played and watched movie like Polar Express and of course Cinderella. Friday evening we went to the Grove Park and looked at all the gingerbread houses and watched the sunset. It was really nice. Lyn meet us downtown after work for dinner.
Saturday morning we headed of to Johnson City for my cross race. I felt pretty weak and no real snap. I’m sure it has to due with the fact I have not been riding like I should be. It's always difficult for me to have a good late season run. Between family, work, and riding something has to give. Family is first, and we need to eat, so that leaves riding. I have one more race this weekend and I’m done for a while. I might try and hit a few races in January but we’ll see. Lyn and I are expecting our new addition to the family in January so I might be doing no racing whatsoever in January. Anyways…I did my race and bolted over to Newland, NC to cut our Christmas tree and stay at the family cabin.

Saturday afternoon we went to our favorite Christmas tree farm on Hickory Nut Gap in Newland. After Lyn and I went around and around about how big of a tree we need, I ended up winning the battle on size. We loaded up the tree and headed back to the cabin to relax and watch some college football. Later that evening we had a great dinner at a place called The Best Cellar. Very good food!!!!!

Got up Sunday morning and I was supposed to race but bailed. I decided it was more important to spend the time with family so we went to Grandfather Mountain and hiked around. The weather was cool but really good views. After Grandfather Mountain we headed back to Asheville to put up our new tree.

The tree fit perfect with very little trimming. Lyn, you need to listen to your husband when it comes to Christmas trees. So we got the tree up and Grandma decided we need to do a little Christmas shopping for Paige. Lyn and I are not big shoppers but my mother doesn’t get that many opportunities to shop for Paige so of course we headed out to shop. Where else to go but Toy”R”Us. We loaded up with some really good things we all think Paige is going to enjoy. Not a bunch of plastic things that make horrible sounds, but more mind stimulating things. We also got a few more lights for the tree and headed to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants down the street from the house. When we got home from dinner we put some lights on the tree and called it a night.

Monday came around and Grandma and Paige did a lot of the same things. Read books, played with a few new toys she got on Sunday, and of course watched a few Walt Disney movies.

Here are a few photos from the weekend. Thanks for coming mom. It is always great to see you.

Grandma and Paige showing off Paige's new Disney figures

Paige having a good time at dinner.

Paige is tired of her stright hair


At little cross actions Saturday morning

Trying to gap the group I was with and bridge up to the top three guys

Paige thought this tree would work in her room

On the hunt

Yes....I'm always working.

Paige helping me put up the tree

Paige telling me what she thinks we should do

Mom and Paige enjoying the tree

Doing some decorating

Paige talking to Santa Clause about wanting a bike for Christmas. Yes!!!!

Putting the final touch on the tree.