Playing a Little Catch-Up

Over the past two weekends, we got in killer rides at DuPont State Forest. On June 28^th, we had a group of 12 riders - Doug and Terry joining Edward and Robin, Doug and Jodee, Diana and Gordon, Frank, Andy, Ashley and Rich joining Cathy and I. We rode the usual out loop to the base of Bridal Veil Falls, then turned and retraced our path up Airstrip, before caught Corn Mill Shoals back toward the trail head, 17 miles or so. Several of us continued up Burnt Mountain adding several climbing miles to our ride. I made the mistake of riding the Heckler, which wasn’t an issue at first, but I paid a severe weight penalty on the Burnt Mountain climb. Still haven’t cleaned the armored decent, 5-in of Santa Cruz travel or not. Note to self – don’t make the same mistake in the desert this fall.

I got in several rides during the week at N. Meck, LNSP and a couple of road rides with Bob at work. I'm attempting to up the ante on my mileage in preparation for my fall trip to the southwest (see Three Amigos). Gotta get stronger to hold up my end of the bargain.

We were invited to spend July 4^th at Tom and Amira’s house in Arden. They have a beautiful home in a natural setting on the mountain. Jerry and Carol joined us. I hadn’t seen them since the late winter and we celebrated Jerry’ 59^th birthday with a sparkler laden chocolate cheese cake from Earthfare. Later in the evening, we took a newly opened road over the mountain to the Cliff’s to a vacant lot to view fireworks. Tom and Amira had recently sold the Cliff’s a parcel of land and they now have driveway access through the gated community. We could see the pyrotechniques over Lake Jullian and downtown Asheville, with some tremendous private displays throw in for good measure.

We returned to DuPont on July 5^th and were joined by Robin and Larry, and locals Lois and Ken. Even though the weather was threatening (and I took a swim at the Corn Mills Shols river crossing) we had a tremendous ride, even adding the Turkey Knob trail off of Reasonover, just for good measure. Lois and Ken are strong riders and I enjoyed trying to maintain their pace. As always, cool Galec’s were waiting for us at the car, then on to Dugan’s for lunch in Brevard.

Finally, I am enjoying a much needed break from the office. Off since July 4^th, we are now in Haddonfield, NJ, follow yesterday’s 9 hour odyssey along I-95 through Washington and Baltimore. We arrived at Barb and Les’s home a little before 6:00 and just before the start of a nice thunderstorm. We cooked out some brats, drank a few beers, took Max for a walk, then turned in for the evening. I needed it bad.