When Mother Nature Won't Cooperate or How I Still Get in Some Miles

Thanksgiving weekend was brutal when the desire to ride was there but Mother Nature was not willing to give me a break and maintain the global warming in this area.

Friday was nice but very windy and did not get above 50 if I remember correctly. Too much turkey will make the brain forgetful, not to mention sleepy. Saturday was cold, Sunday was cold and wet plus we helped set up the Nativity Scene at our church. Monday was rainy and had heavy fog in the PM. This all adds up to no progress on the needed 308 miles to hit my goal.

Well, when you need to be sure the feet hit the pdeals, you go indoors and ride one of these things pictured below for an hour or so at a fairly intense pace. There is no coasting so to get the miles in - I do about 10 miles per hour - you pedal constantly. I try to maintain an rpm of 70 or above with a fairly strong resistance. This is not the model my gym has but looks similar. We do have TV entertainment during the ride or I can listen to my version of an Ipod - my old little bitty FM radio with earphones. How antique!!!

Thanksgiving 2007 - Part II

Well, you are saying - Where is Part I. That was Tuesday evening but I failed to get pictures. Wes and Lauren were here for dinner and we did roasted chicken and all the fixings. Wes had to work yesterday and today at the Cracker Barrel in Villa Rica so could not be here for the main event. The picture below is the start of Thanksgiving preparation. Debbie raked the leaves on Sunday and left the big pile for the leaf eater to come by and pick up. The leaf eating crew did not make it so this was part of the Thanksgiving decorations. I told her to wait because the trees dropped more leaves and the yard is once again covered. I just think she likes raking leaves. My preference is to run the lawn mower over them and make mulch.

Rough life we have here having to look out our back windows and see such beauty in the fall. We had a storm and about 1/2 inch of rain early today but by the time I was ready to put the turkey on the grill, the storm had passed through. Warmed up nicely until about 4 pm and then, the temp dropped and is now 42 at 9:45 pm. Enough to make me want to go visit Cousin Paul

The meal is getting closer. If you don't recognize the scene below, you may have been eating at Waffle House or Cracker Barrel. Please make note that the Publix Pilgrims are visiting again. Debbie broke out the finest for the meal. One problem with the finest - you can not, I repeat, can not wash this stuff in the dishwasher. Maybe another reason to go to the Waffle House.

A partial family photo - clockwise - Phil, Debbie, Brooklyn, Kyle, Kathy, Kayla. At the bottom, you can see what everyone was waiting for.

No Thanksgiving should go without some emergency. About 3 hours into cooking this 15 pounder, the propane tank decided to become empty. The BP convenience store about a mile and a half from the house came to the rescue. A quick trip there to pick up a replacement tank got the grill going again and Tommy Turkey made the trip to the table on time. Sorry, I did not get pictures of the traditional afternoon nap taken by all.

Cool 40 Miler - 308 Miles to Go

Started out from home with the temperature in the low 50's. It warmed up a bit but the new cool weather clothing from REI made it much more comfortable. My riding buddy, the wind, decided to meet me about half way through although he had not been expected and got the wind chill down in the 40's. He was also able to get the clouds to come in and block out the sun so it got rather cool. Pictures are in the first half of the ride which is why there are blue skies.
The picture above is from Mossy Creek Golf Club near Clermont, Georgia. As you can tell from the flag, the wind is blowing a good clip. Only golfers and bicyclist brave the cool weather to do what we like.

The following scenes are just along the ride and before the clouds moved in. I cut the ride a bit short this weekend due to the cooler weather and the wind. Wanted to get 50 in so I would have less than 300 to go for 2007 in 2007. Oh well, there is Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday after Thanksgiving.

Unicoi State Park near Helen, Georgia - Fall 2007

Friends Jim and Lisa Hancock took these pictures while participating in a Friends of Unicoi workday last weekend. Lisa also works as the horticulturist at the park. Unicoi is nestled in the mountains of northeast Georgia and has lots of outdoor activities. There are hiking and biking trails, camping, cabins, lodge rooms, and lots of other outdoor activities. The colors were at their peak last weekend.

Pictured above is a view of the lake and one of the hiking trails.

Another view of the lake looking toward the mountains. Hard to tell which way is up.

Save the best to last with a view of the colors while looking out across the lake.

For more info: http://gastateparks.org/info/unicoi/

Kayla's Birthday and my 50 Mile Cool Ride

Well, the weekend of 11/3-4 did not see me getting in any miles toward the 2007 in 2007 goal. But that was OK since we traveled to Tennessee to see the two grand daughters. Kayla turned 5 and what is more appropriate for a birthday picture than one showing the cake with all the candles along side the pile of loot. This followed an outing to Chucky Cheese for pizza and games.


Of course, sister Brooklynn wants to be involved and she will be turning 2 in December. Oh boy, another party!

On Sunday, it was off to see Kayla's last soccer game of the season. She had just taken a goal kick and notice the eye on the ball as she follows it. Her father is an assistant coach. This is justice since I spent several years coaching his team and driving all over creation to games when he made a select team. Ah, the good old days!

End of game medals for all and Kayla with a couple of her teammates. A good time was had by all.

Now, for the serious stuff. Saturday, November 10th. I waited for the weather to warm up a bit before hitting the road for a 50 mile plus ride. Rode all over the place to get in 50. The link is a map of the ride in case you want to vicariously join me. http://www.allsportgps.com/Data/ActivityDisplay.aspx?tripId=117348

Picture below is another view of Mt. Yonah from the sotheast. I'll eventually ride on the north side and get a view of it from that side. It was a beautiful day but a little windy which brought down the wind chill factor. Must make a trip to REI to get leg and arm warmers if I am going to continue this insanity all winter.

Sign below says it all after I finished the ride. As I finished the ride, I got to meet Docskeet who frequently posts his rides on www.allsportgps.com. Had wanted to meet him since he does some interesting rides also.

Weekend With Limited Riding

Did not make much progress on the goal to hit 2007 miles in 2007 this last weekend but am over 1600 miles. Debbie was invited to participate in a Kid's 1st Health Fair. It was outdoors and was a bit cool when we set up the display at 7:30 AM. That also meant I was out of bed well before my normal time on Saturday. We had quite a few visitors to our booth and all our children's toys that we took in for the free lead test came up negative. So, I guess I can continue to chew on the wooden blocks, etc.

While she worked the booth, I took the Giant OCR to have new tires and tubes put on. Got the Maxxis Detonator touring tire and my design is on the bottom left. Hey, it matches the color of the bicycle really well and I am now a color coordinated rider. Red jersey, black shorts, red tire treads. What more is there.Went riding on Sunday and got to mile 14 when there was an awful sound - front tube blew out. One of the hazards of putting on new tires until they seat. Tube worked out under the bead and you know the drill. Wheel off the bike, tire off the rim, tube pulled out, check for glass or something else in the tire, tire back on, tube back in, pump like crazy with the little biddie pump to get enough pressure in the tire to keep going. I rode 4 miles back to the start and called it a day since I did not have another spare tube with me. Now have 3 spares.

This is a picture of a cactus plant in Georgia near the start of my ride on Sunday afternoon! This is a cactus! The picture below is a Texas Cactus out west of Austin, Texas and looks like it needed a little help from Georgia to get to be a big boy. Texas shot is from 2003 when I was visiting Liberty Mutual offices in central Texas. We were on our way to Fredericksburg for a tour of a local German restaurant and a bit of Shiner Bock. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Sunday Ride October 21, 2007

Easy Ride Day - Windy Though It May Have Been

The cows were not bothered by the wind and I did not see a single one tipped over as I looked across the field toward Mt. Yonah in White County, GA. The rock faces have been used by those folks who hook ropes around their bodies and throw themselves off cliffs. You will not catch me doing that.



The cliff at Shoal Creek along GA Hwy 52 near Clermont. Quite a drop off to the valley below. The creek is a bit low on water so the waterfalls were not as exciting as they might be after several inches of rain. This view is looking south. Just a few miles from here, a farmer killed a 13 foot rattlesnake a few years ago. The man's grand daughter usually went to the chicken house to feed the chickens but had a medical appointment that day. He went to feed them and found the rattlesnake coiled up by the bags of chicken feed. A picture was published in the local paper and the snake went from the ground, up around the guys neck, and back to the ground. I have yet to see a rattlesnake on any of my bicycle rides which is just fine with me. We did have a copperhead coiled up by the front door a few weeks ago. He got away - coward would not stay and fight.



This has nothing to do with bike riding but is a view of our recently remodeled house on the outside. Cultured stone on the lower front, simulated vinyl cedar shakes on the top front, and Hardee Plank on the rest of the house. Also, new high efficiency double pane windows. Power bill has gone down significantly and fully expect my usage of natural gas to decline also. Extra money means more goodies for the bicycle so there is a remote connection to remodeling and bicycling.