I'm BACK

Well, I have been out of touch for a while but am getting back into it. Caught some kind of vicious cold/cough after Thanksgiving and have been fighting that since. Did get in 2515 miles for 2008 so am pleased with that. Went out on December 30th after not riding for a month and did 30.6 miles. That seemed to reactivate the cold/cough and am still hacking a little.

The weather has been terrible for most of January so far and since I am more of a fair weather rider (50 degrees and above), I have not been on my road bike although I have set up the hybrid on the fluid trainer inside in front of the TV.

Christmas was interesting. We traveled to Cleveland, TN on Wednesday evening and spent Christmas day with Kyle, Kathy, and the girls. Brooklynn got a new doll among a zillion other things and is pictured below.

Kayla, pictured below, got a new bicycle and, just like Brooklynn, a zillion other things.

The big surprise was the new swing set. Kyle's house had a blackout on the rear windows for several weeks and the girls were not allowed in the backyard. It was not very nice weather so it was not too difficult to keep them in. Each window was covered with gift wrap and the girls thought it was a fun game.

On the Friday after Christmas, we departed and drove to Canton, NC to visit Debbie's sister and her family. Both Ben and Katy. Katy and Matt have two little boys and between Brooklynn, Kayla, and the boys, the afternoon was lively. Left to right below - Brooklynn, Will, J. D., and Kayla.

Here is the whole Loveless family. Front row from the left - Kathy, Kayla, Debbie, Laura. Back row - Kyle, Brooklynn, Phil, Wes, Andra

More to come in 2009 while Phil and his bike travel on many adventures in the quest to hit at least 2009 miles in 2009.

Shaklee's Get Clean Products at the Hemlock Festival

Debbie and Dodi spent a windy weekend at the Hemlock Festival near Dahlonega. Shaklee's Get Clean products were featured and this was the only booth that was not arts and crafts. Shaklee's commitment to the environment is one of the reasons we were allowed to be there.
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/11035/


There were lots of musical groups performing on Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday. Good music for all tastes except heavy classical unless you mean classical rock. The picture below is a fire barrel of which there were many. Temps were in the 50's with nights getting into the high 40's before closing.

A week or two later, Debbie, Donna, and Dodi (Dodi had the 2nd shfit so missed the picture) participated in America Recycles Day at the Farmers Market in Gainesville. Again, Shaklee's Get Clean products were featured. Interesting that a $150 dollar investment in these products will replace about $3,400 of products you would buy in stores. Not to mention the amount of landfill waste that is reduced by not throwing away (where is away) the store bought products.

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/archive/11142/

Six Mile Challenge Ride or Kayla's 6th Birthday

Debbie and I made it to Tennessee on Sunday afternoon for the celebration of Kayla's 6th Birthday. Part of it involved the Six Mile Challenge which we did in slightly under 36 minutes. Even met and passed, met and passed, and met a horse drawn wagon. We rode back and forth on the road from 64 to Bates Pike about 3 times to get in the 6 miles. Kayla did great and if all goes well, she will be heading out with me several times to get ready for the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia next summer.

No birthday is complete with a cake.

No birthday cake is complete without blowing out the candles with sister Brooklynn looking on. Brooklynn gets to do this routine next month so we will be back to Tennessee for that event also.

And, of course, we had to have a princess show up for the party.

And finally, the grand mothers had to help with decorating and setting up the furniture in the new doll house.

Murrayville to Bolding Mill and Back

Twas a beautifuly Saturday afternoon for Bernie and me to ride about 20 miles. Wandered down to Lake Lanier aka Pond Lanier. Lake is down about 18 feet as I write and the mussels have not yet recovered although they are evidently thriving downstream in Florida. Thanks to another young man I know named Kyle (not my Kyle) we spotted fish holding up signs saying they would work for water.

As we continued our journey, we came upon this nice fixer upper which I may purchase after the presidential election if all my income is going to be redistributed.

Pedaled past the entrance to Big Oak Estates where we used to live. Trees are still there and as beautiful as ever.

Eventually after a couple of steep hills, we made it back to Murrayville and went home. I loaded up the Trail-a-bike and prepared for the Sunday trip to Tennessee for Kayla's 6th Birthday.

Against The Wind Weekend Rides

Palmer is on the right and this was his first ride of any distance since having hip replacement surgery. Notice the WW II German Tank Commander helmet - actually this is an 80's bicycle helmet. Bernie, on the left, and I took him from Lula to Gillsville and returned via Hwy 52. He did great and I can tell you that I don't think I would have been out on a bicycle if I had had the same work done on me. Also, Palmer was riding a comfort bike with fat tires which made it even harder plus the wind was blowing 10 to 20 mph during much of the ride back up the hill to Lula.

Bernie and I decided that if he did start having problems, we would inject WD 40 into the new joint and that should cure any problem. Actually, Bernie had a different brand in mind that he says works better but I can't remember the name.

Sunday after church, the urge to ride got the best of me. See this months Bicycling Magazine for a more thorough explanation of my addictive behavior. Anyway, left Quillians Corner and rode up to Clermont and beyond. With the wind blowing 20 and gusting upwards to 30, I thought that I might should stop at Goofy's and have a brain checkup but just kept on pedaling. 10 miles into the wind before getting to turn back south. Got in 28 plus miles for a total of 2301 for the year.

Color is starting to set in along Skitts Mountain Road. This is a favorite spot to watch the change in colors. Skitts Mountain is in the background and is still verdant but should start changing within a couple of weeks. I will post progress photos if I ride that way.

The picture below is from our October 5th hike at Chilhowee Campground. As we were hiking to Benton Falls trail, we came to a sandy spot and spotted a footprint that could only have come from a Big Foot. There were only a couple of prints like something had crossed the trail in front of us. Later, we saw other signs that may well have come from this beast. While we never saw it, one just has to believe that it was there watching us.

Chilhowee Campground Adventures

Well, I am finally back and updating. It has been a hectic month or more with not enough riding but still had a lot of fun. Last weekend, Oct 4-6 was spent at Chilhowee Campground in Tennessee with our son Kyle and grand daughters Kayla and Brooklynn.

I have seen lots of NFS campgrounds and they don't get any better than this one. Paved roads throughout, camping spots that are spreadout if you go to campgrounds C-F, and excellent pads for tents or campers. Fire ring, table, and lantern post are all provided. Cost is $12 per day unless you need electricity. Also had warm showers, toilet paper provided, and the facility was very clean.

The real reason we went was to see Kayla on the left and Brooklynn on the right. Kayla just lost her first tooth.

Brooklynn and her baby doll that goes everywhere with her, usually dragging along.

No camping trip is complete without a hike somewhere. In this case, we hiked to Benton Falls with Kayla and Brooklynn leading the way.

There was more of an adventure on the return hike. We took a shortcut trail and thought we had run into a hornets nest only to discover that it was a swarm of honey bees. The swarm is in the top center of the picture. We retreated at first and then, after discovering it was honey bees, we slowly made our way past since the swarm does not normally attack. Yellowjackets and hornets would have been another story but then, we would not have been "inching" past.

A view of the lake from the trail around it. There is also a swimming beach, picnic tables, etc. along the sides. We saw several mountain bikes riding around the lake and elsewhere in the campground. There are several good trails for mountain bikes (not motorized) and I may take mine up there if we go again.

Bee on flower - end of story.

Kayla is getting into taking pictures and she took this one of Grandpa and Grandee.

A view to the west from one of the overlooks on the road up to the campground. This was after sunset so it is not really clear.

After we packed up Sunday afternoon, Debbie an I made another excursion to the Cherohala Skyway. We started in Tellico Plains, TN and ended in Robbinsville, NC before following US 129 back home. Check out this link. My one picture does not do it justice - lets just say that you can see a long way when you are over a mile high.

http://www.cherohala.com/

Dang! If I had been composing the picture, I would have had that cloud in the background more visible.

More to come later on the continuing adventures of a man and his bicycle.

The Battle of Apple Pie Ridge

Today, I finally did it after several years of thinking about it and being somewhat unsure that I could do it. I climbed Apple Pie Ridge and Battle is correct and I must confess that the ridge won. I had to stop 2 times to huff and puff so I guess I will have to try again in a couple of weeks to see if I can go all the way up without stopping.

The picture below is at the end of Apple Pie Ridge where it connects to Old Cornelia Highway.



This is looking up the hill and one must admit, that don't look steep. Optical illusion at its best. In addition, what you see is just the steep part. There is about 2 to 3 miles of climbing over the entire length of the road.


This is looking back over my shoulder from the top of the steep climb - 17% grade for about 1/4 mile or a bit more. Athens, GA is in the distant background but would not be visible even on a very clear day since there are no high rise type buildings.


The link will take you to a map of the ride and you can bring up the elevation chart which shows how steep some of this was. Ride time was 2:06:54 and I averaged abit over 13 miles per hour even with the climb. Overall climbing today was 2,572 feet. The good side of that is there was also almost 2,572 of downhill runs.