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.

Cold, cold and more cold.

"A little too much is just enough for me" - James Agee

I love the quote above. I'd also love to say I ran across it while reading great literary works, but I didn't. It's posted on the wall in a bar we stop at on our weekly Greenway ride.

I love "too much". Not too much drinking which is the context in the bar poster, but too much in general. Biting off more than I can chew is always my goal and it's lead to some great times and spectacular failures. Those spectacular failures always make you better.

Back to the title of the post. Cold.

So much for global warming, this is the coldest winter we have had in many years. The alarmists will have to find something else to scare us with....oh wait, they found it...the economy.

In past years, a winter this cold and wet would have left me without any bike riding, but the Greenway has given me the chance to log some serious miles despite the conditions. Logging the miles is secondary to the good times and new friends I've made with my new downtown rides. Haven't been on the mountain bike in two months and haven't even missed it (yet) as the Greenway offers a cool combination of a leg burning workout and a few ours of social time. Good stuff.

Hopefully all this riding will allow me to do some big events this year that will be "a little too much". Checking the calander now.

Still going

Lots and lots of rain this winter, so that means lots and lots of Greenway rides. Lots of Greenway rides means more socializing, beer stops and good times.

The greenway rides always include a trip by the local skatepark. The kids at the park are really impressed with us old guys, our tight fitting lycra clothing and dorky bikes.

Pub stop.

Henley street bridge as seen from the Greenway. Click for big.

Catch up number 3

January trip to the Zoo. This pic is not a fair representation of our kids normal behavior.

Spencer helping Molly see a rattlesnake. Again, this level of sibling cooperation is rare in the Stegall houshold.





The new Stegall kid exhibit.

Catch up time part 2

Spencer is growing up.

Turned 6!

Whitney keeping the party under control and really wanting me to
put the camera down.

First lost tooth!

Catch up time.

Spencer and her friend Lilly Kate.

 

Molly at Halloween

 

Bike riding.

 

Will found my old skool Syncros cycling cap.

 

Leaner nations bike, walk, use mass transit - MSNBC Wire Services

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28235890/

Matt

Busy

New tasks at work and home have really cut into my goof-off on the internet time which in turn has left my blog postless for a few weeks (ok, months). Lots of stuff to write about, but no time to do it.

Spencer is a full-on school kid now. I take her every morning and it's one of the best times of the day for me. It's kinda sad that sitting in traffic every morning for thirty minutes is one of the highlights of my day, but we just don't get a lot of time to talk one on one time throughout a normal day.

We have all heard this a million times, but I can't believe how fast time with your kids goes by. Seems like just a few months ago I was bringing her home from the hospital.






A great trip to the beach in the last of October. The weather was great. 75-78 every day and coming off the summer, the ocean was still fairly warm. The trip was chock full of catastrophes (two kids with stomach flu, a blow out on the way there and a trip to the ER for me) and we still had a great time.

Molly cornering a butterfly.

Jeff Murray action shot! My buddy Jeff and his family were staying a few miles down the road and came upto hang out a couple days.

Great views from our deck.

Overdo

Ok, long post here. I'm way past due and need to spend a few minutes getting this caught up. Below are all the reasons I haven't been posting...

Will has his first bike!

Spencer started Kindergarten! A picture from her orientation.

Trips to the Zoo.

Whitney went to the beach with the a friend and all the kids (five little ones).

With the house to myself it was a great time to catch up on home projects. I didn't. Instead I packed up

and did a few bike rides that I never get to do.

The first was a cool road ride on Hwy129. A world famous destination for motorcycles and

sports cars. 318 curves in 11 miles cutting through the mountains between TN and NC. A big thanks you to the guys who sit up there and take pictures all day. I'll stole a few.

The next ride was a HUGE ride the locals call the Heinous Loop. 63 miles and approx. 8,000 feet of climbing crossing in and out of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with three really big climbs. It's not just the hardest ride I've done in years, it is probably the longest ride I've ever done, 4 hours and 55 minutes total time with few stops. It was hard but a whole lot easier than I expected. I've gotten much better at managing my effort and keeping fueled during long rides. Glad to have it under my belt, but I doubt I'll be doing it on a regular basis.

Greenway rides. I used to spend every Wednesday with an underlying anxiety that it might rain and ruin my Wednesday night mountain bike ride and social gathering. Now I secretly hope it will pour so the muddy trails will force us to hit the weatherproof Greenway. It's less riding and more social with a beer stop or two mixed in. Always a good time.