Pisgah

Sunday morning I met a good sized group of folks to head over and enjoy the big climbs and big descents of Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina. It was my first trip to the area in years and I had never been to the Fish Hatchery area that our guide was taking us to.

Half of our group stopped for Starbucks leaving K-Town and paid dearly... twice. Once at Starbucks for five dollar flavored water and then again by getting stuck behind a wreck on the interstate for almost two hours. It was a real bummer as I as really looking forward to riding with some of those guys.

Heading over the Smokies.




Regrouping on the way up the first climb.

Unfortunately, I didn't really take many pictures. The length and fun factor of the big mountain descents wasn't really conducive to picture taking, but we had a great time. The gravel ride climbs weren't very exciting, but Pisgahs downhills are fabulous with lots of rocks, roots and fast singletrack. Good times.

Next trip will be more on my terms. By "my terms" I mean a ridiculously early start time to give me more time on the trails. Driving five+ hours to ride for three is bad math.

Even better than my Pisgah trip was celebrating my kids birthdays. We had a combo party for all three and everyone had a great time.

Spencer on the big slide



Molly doing it her own way.



Spencer playing air hockey.





Spencer and her BFF's.




Headed to hell in hand basket.

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan

Couldn't have found a more appropriate quote for the situation our Congress has us into right now. After scaring the living hell out of us for a year to get themselves in the White House (Bush didnt exactly help), the Dems are now leveraging the countries financial worries to pass the most ridiculous, wasteful legislation this country has ever seen.

Like President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel said "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste". No worries here, they are taking full advantage to bundle all of their wasteful projects into the stimulus bill and making the country believe we have no other choice, less we watch our country fall apart.

An excerpt from John Kerry's speech the other day.

"A tax cut is non-targeted. If you put a tax cut into the hands of either a business of an individual today, there is no guarantee they're gonna invest their money. There's no guarantee they're gonna invest their money in the United States. They're free to go to invest anywhere that they want, if they choose to invest... The fact is, none of those people are guaranteed to invest that money in any of the new projects that we are... So government, yes government, has the ability to make a decision that the private sector won't necessarily make today."

In other words, we simpletons wouldn't know what to do with our own money and luckily we have the government to spend it for us! What a blue blood jackass.

What's the answer? A painful, but quick cleaning of the weak banks and companies that sold their future. The strong will remain and we will all come out ahead. Subsidizing companies that acted like fools will only extend the problem and delay our road to a real recovery.

Oh yea, I've been playing with my kids and riding my bike some lately. More on that next post.

Climbing

Spent another Sunday morning on the Foothills Pkwy. This time I brought gears and did both sides for a total of 35ish miles. Two hours with 75% of it spent climbing.

Not the most fun, but this is where I need to be if I want to be strong in the spring. The fun will be next Sunday riding around the big mountains in Pisgah, NC.


A little too much.

I had a little "too much" Sunday. Climbed Foothills Pkwy to the observation tower at Look Rock. The too much part came when I chose to do it on my singlespeed road bike. Had to stand up nearly the whole way up. Good times, in a sadistic kinda way.

Hoped to get started before sunrise, but couldn't seem to get out of the house in time. Clear and crisp on the way up.


Once I finally reached the tower, the fog in the valley was lifting/burning off. Sun too high and too much haze for a nice photo, but you get the idea.