Bike riding in Georgia and Tennessee

The first of this week, we traveled to Georgia and rode with Paul and Cheryl on the Silver Comet Trail. That was some really great riding. And toward the weekend we traveled to Tennessee and rode with Mike and Mitzi and rode in Jackson, Tennessee locally and on the Howard Keas Memorial ride. We would have ridden as much at home but we got to spend some time with some special folks in both places. In the middle of the week, I took David and Chris on an overnight campout at Cheaha State Park. So it was a busy week for me. I am looking forward to getting back to work and a routine so I can recharge and get ready for next week. We might be able to go ride in the Four Hills Feast. Chris found a job so we don't know if we might have to baby sit. Meanwhile, Bev and I will have to ride in order to be in shape for the Missouri ride.

Zeitgeist : Religion

After the Safari...

Mike called yesterday after they had returned from the Safari. It was cold this week. The forecast for next week is summer like weather. If they had gone ahead with the original week they planned, they would have had beautiful weather. He came back with a bad cold it seems. Nighttime temps got into the 30's with daytime highs only reaching the 50's. Although the cold dampened the event somewhat they still had good rides, good food, and a good time.

I've had two days of good rides. I got in 27 miles yesterday on the road tandem. Today Paul and I got in 40 miles out to McGowan's Ferry Road and back around home. I need one of those rides every day for a month. Then I could see getting back into my 34 pants. I may have to do something about that.

Bit by bit...

Slowly I am getting better. If I can do a bike ride tomorrow, I'll see how I have progressed. The coughing is getting better. In another week I expect to be fully recovered. I sure have missed riding. And what riding I have done, I sure have missed having my full breathing capacity.

Sunday I took Johnny around the projected route for the next section of single-track. I think he and little Tim were going to do some work on it over the past couple of mornings. I don't know if the cold might have slowed them down or not. If Bev works the last few days of the weekend, I'll get out there and do another couple of bridges and get the ramp up onto the new trail fixed. There needs to be a crossing early in the new section across that drainage ditch. Then another in the creek just past the four oaks.

Cold snap...

After a week of recuperating from inhaling that paint thinner, I find myself on a week of cold weather. I checked the temps for Live Oak and Madison, Florida. They are having the same weather as here. Lows in the 30's and 40's. That would be some brisk mornings. Next week, when we would have had the ride, it will probably be perfect weather. Maybe Bev and I can bundle up in the morning and get in some small ride.

Leo is gone. The combination of deafness and sleeping by the wheel of my truck spelled doom. How I hate it happened. The little guy had a tough life. I hope the last year of kindness and treats were a joy to him. How he managed to sleep through me banging the tailgate shut and starting the engine is a mystery to me.

All the work for the metric century produced small results. If it weren't for our members riding, we wouldn't have broken even. Maybe next year will bring better weather and better participation.

Repairs....

Bev wanted to ride the mountain bike tandem today. So I got out there early and used a big screwdriver to bend that timing crank back to straight. I read about doing that from the Sheldon Brown website. I wouldn't have known if it was possible or advisable, but the cost of a new one was going to be prohibitive. But the clunk is back when it is under load. I'll put the new front bb in and see if that fixes it. If not, it is time to grease the seatposts and tighten the pedals.

Our ride today wasn't that long but we did ride for almost 2 hours. I didn't realize how tired it made me till I got home and sat down on the couch. Right now I am practically keeling over. The combination of lower calories plus biking is kicking my butt.

Storms passed through...

This morning the remnant of the storms of Friday were lingering. We had misty showers all morning and further drenched the soaked ground. If it hadn't been raining, I might have gone out onto the new section of trail I want to open up. I am sure that the creeks were brimming full. This will be a good opportunity to see if the bridge is high enough above the creek bank. The trail itself will be too wet to ride for a couple of days. Too bad since it is my week off. It may be a road riding kind of week.

The long range forecast for next Saturday shows a sunny day on one page and rain on another. That is just about what I expect. A 50/50 chance of bad weather that will knock our century down to a minimum. All we need is a rain free morning. Maybe we can manage that. I recall that flood I rode through for the Cheaha Challenge. Next time, I'd just pass on it. That made a difficult experience even more challenging.

More work for the MB Tandem. When the crank fell off, it bent the chain-ring. Now I either have to order a new left crank or try to bend the old one back to round. I have found that Nashbar has a right crank that would have worked nicely. I could have saved some money fixing it up for off road. But with those cheap cranks, who knows if it would have held up to tandem pressure.