Brother Greg conquers Mitchell

After a spirited mtb ride at Land Between the Lakes on Monday and a Death march ride to Illinois on Tuesday. Brother G Went back for more. He drove all day yesterday across the state of Kentucky and Tennessee to Asheville. He got up this morning and assaulted Mt. Mitchell. True to legend, Mitchell's weather made a turn for the very worse. He found himself shivering in a horrific storm on the summit which read 61 Degrees. Good job Bro G. Now that we have both ridden the tallest mountnains in NC, TN,GA and AL, G and I are considering starting to pick away every states tallest peak. Just one state at a time. I guess next will be Woodall Mtn in Ms. It is only 2 hrs from Cullman and about 850'.

Big River Brew Company

Who was it that said Chattanooga doesn't have a local brew?

Riding the Noog

I guess hard habits are hard to break. Although I had the hotel curtains closed tight and made a point of turning off all of the alerts on my phone, I still awoke about 6 a.m. I managed to sneak out without disturbing the fam .

After a quick gulp of hotel coffee (ick), I hit the streets of Chattanooga on the road bike, headed down River road , along the river front and crossed over on one of the bridges to the Red Bank area. Downtown was quiet and bike routes were well marked. I rode around Red Bank a while and crossed over another bridge back into Chattanooga. This city seems to be very bike friendly.

One highlight on the ride was finding Firefighter Memorial Fountain. This is the site of a criterium that Wig, Ccup, and I raced back during our Pedros farm team days in 92'. The course had a 6% climb and remember it being quite difficult after a several laps. Curtis became a legend in my mind here for his famous attack on a prime lap for a case of Powerade. He tore the pack to pieces and then dropped out to leave the rest of us to suffer. So... one toast to nostalgia.

Looks like my kind of place in Red Bank

Off to play in the Noog the rest the day with the Fam. This evening we will hit the road to Ky and the Farm.

Chattanooga Sidetrack

On the way to the "The Farm" ,this weekend, we made a sidetrack to Chattanooga. Although I have been through here and ridden many routes around here, such as Racoon Mtn ect. I haven't made it downtown in about 18 years. A lot has changed since the Riverfront Criterium days. Downtown seems to have succeeded where so many other Southern city's have failed (i.e. Birmingham). There is a thriving loft, entertainment, restaurant and family culture. There are statues on the corners, beautiful buildings and bridges, cafes with alfresco dinning, Italian ice stands and live music everywhere. The most notable thing ,to me ,is the amount of families out playing in the open fountains, riding in the free pedal taxi's (tips only) and listening to live music after dark. It made for a good night and E had a blast.

The cat is out of the bag

The Dirt:

I was just going through some old pictures taken on one of my rides with GK and OC along the sunflower coated fields of Southern KY a year or two ago. In one of the pics, I noticed something funky in GK's rear pocket. This explains a lot. I have often wondered how a 55 year old man rides like a pro and his only training is moving plants in J's flower garden. Now I know. I see it only fitting that he be in the infamous USP kit.

Rules:

I see at least two CCC rule violations in this photo.

1. Seat pack (for which I am famous)with light to add insult to injury.

2.The A__ window.Come on GK .....you ain't broke!

3.At least a warning for a matching pro team kit.

New Bottle Holder

If we could get one of these to hold a bottle of Miller lite, we might be able to get The Master back on the bike!

Cool Paint Job

Do you think I could get Rodney to paint my 29r like this?

Still at the 30 A. Don't tell the big blue A. I went riding on the sea side MTB trail yesterday. It was pretty cool, but I will save that for another blog.