Sunday Ride

On Sunday, Robb and I went out for a short 2 hour ride. We just rode out the door and hit up some farmland around Asheville. There were some hills, but we avoided any sustained climbing, which is nice every once in a while. The ride had some good views and I was perfectly warm in a jersey, bib shorts and arm warmers. There's not much more to tell about the ride, so I'll just drop some photos.







A Caution Deaf Dog sign, not something you see every day.



Topping trees is so popular around here and so, so ugly. These trees are some of the worst I've seen. Look at these sad bastards. Just cut them down and get a shrub or something, for gosh sakes.



I looked it up and according to this site most people who think that topping is good idea don't want their trees to grow too high and fall on their houses, etc. The site states that it's not a regional phenomenon, but I haven't seen it up north (Midwest in general), or at least not in these numbers. For the record, arborists and people who aren't idiots agree that topping shocks the tree, makes it weak and susceptible to any number of bad things, and causes a lot more trouble later on.

I'll let John Davey tell you how it really is, though. He doesn't pull any punches:
John Davey, noted tree care expert, wrote in his book The Tree Doctor, published in 1907, that topping was “the work of ignorant tree men” and that “Nature does not form those beautiful and health-giving tops of shade trees to be cut to pieces to furnish ‘beer money’ for a lot of tree fools.” He referred to those people topping trees as “ignorant and nefarious frauds.”