the most horrible training season ever

I've been really busy. Too busy to even think much less keep up with this blog. We moved earlier in the month which only exacerbated the busyness. Moving is always fun because it brings new places to explore. After we had unloaded the moving truck for the final time the night we moved I laced up the road shoes to take the dog out for a quick 20 minute run. The quick first jaunt around the new neighborhood ended up turning into an unexpected epic the likes of which I have not experienced for quite a while. We headed up the road behind the house and when we got to the top we saw a little bit of single track and decided to check it out. Up the trail we went and then made a few turns through the network of trails and continued up to the top. When we finally could go no further the woods gave way to a mountain bald and we were treated to an amazing sunset view of the Pisgah Range. This was very much a "Wow!" sort of moment that completely took my breath away.

After a few minutes spent appreciating the splendid spectacle the sun was playing on my favorite mountains we turned around and started to head for home. We had made several turns on the way up but I hadn't paid much attention to them and with the sun quickly fading I struggled to find the right combination to get me back down to the road and back to my new house. Every road and trail I took eventually led me to the wrong side of the hill. It was now after 6 and my 20 minute run had turned into an hour and I was lost in the dark wearing nothing but road shoes, shorts and t shirt. To make matters worse, I was lost in my own neighborhood! Right when I started to get a little worried and tempted just to go down to highway 25 on the wrong side of the hill and then run the long way home on the road Duma decided he had enough and led me to the hidden turn that I had been frantically running past in my attempt to find the way out. Good boy!

So, just out my back door I have a nice little trail system with a world class view of Pisgah. I've been going up there everyday, of course, but still haven't managed to get a decent shot of a good sunset. Here is a teaser shot:



What else have I been up to? Well, there has been some mountain biking. I did Laurel > Pilot > Big Creek with Jon B. two weeks ago. Here we both are at the top of Little Bald Mtn.:





And that pesky gnome is back around:



This past Saturday I took the dog running. We went to Thompson Creek where I hadn't been since we ran into that serial killer on it several years ago. I figured we wouldn't see anyone else on the trail but ran into Chris S. and Greg L. who were out for a hike. Greg asked if I was really running up the trail to which my response was "Of course." Thompson Creek is a wonderful little trail that gains 1700' over 2.5 miles and combined with Pilot Rock to the top of Little Bald made for a great six mile out and back. It was slow on the way up and fast on the way down and we were done in less than an hour and a half.







Yesterday I met up with Broussard for some Pisgah Gnome Games. We rode all the way to Copperas Rock to get the gnome but once we found him we decided to just leave him where he was.









We didn't get started riding until after noon and the Hub closes at 5 so we bailed on our planned 'big' route and went over the top of Black to finish instead. It was 4:11 when we stopped for the obligatory photo shoot and congratulatory hive fives for reaching the "downhill from here" point in the ride. Zach remarked that we wouldn't be able to get back the Hub before they closed in 49 minutes but I told him he was wrong and we would be sipping cold PBRs soon enough. But we would have to hurry. And hurry we did.

We flew across the false climb and then started down the downhill very fast. I've been riding Black a lot recently and know the descent well. Somewhere in the middle of the quickly eroding stretch from hell I went down at full speed. Zach remarked that it looked like I was going faster than I was but I reassured him I really was going fast and jumped back on the bike. With the minutes until the Hub closed steadily ticking away there was no time to worry about some silly crash.

On the short hike up Hickory Knob my bonk with the ground started to catch up to me and I felt like I ground to a halt but we flew over the knob and resumed our dash down the mountain. Once the trail ended we still had a mile or so of flat pavement back to the hub. It was close but in the end I was right, of course, and we were sitting on barstools with tasty beverages in our hands at 4:52!