Swimmin' Hole

Robb and I were running to get ice cream one night and stopped by the local swimming hole to scope it out. It's a kind of man made deeper pool in the river. Word is that it's really crowded in the summer on hot days, and it gets a lot of traffic from the nearby soccer fields, but on this evening it was nice and quiet.

Here's a shot of it upstream...



and down.



I think it's got some potential.

Specialized Demo at Alexander Park

Last weekend I attended a Specialized Demo Day out at Alexander Park. It was a really nice drive (and I should have ridden out there, despite my full schedule of lazing about and also shopping) along the river out to the park. The trails were pretty interesting, as a small park goes, but I wish there would have been some rooty downhill sections, or some rock gardens to really test the rear suspension out on. On the other hand, I think the trails were pretty challenging for novice riders who came out to test bikes.

I wound up trying two bikes, the Specialized Epic Carbon 29er and the Specialized Camber Pro Carbon 29er. Let me just apologize to readers right now. As a test rider, I'm a bit of a flop. You may know this if you've read any of my Interbike Dirt Demo reports: "I rode these bikes and they were nice." I haven't improved much since then. So, parents and relatives will be bored by bike talk, and more knowledgeable riders won't get anything of value from the post. But perhaps everyone can enjoy scanning a few photos?

So let's start on the elementary reviews! All I can really say about the Epic is that it felt almost exactly like my current bike, a steel frame Zion hardtail 29er, except for that it felt like just the right amount of rear suspension when I wanted it, and none when I didn't. Now, I don't mean to insult the Epic by comparing it to the, ahem, economical Zion. I've just noticed that a lot of bikes feel foreign when you hop on them, and the Epic didn't. The geometry must be similar. OR, it might be a sign from the heavens that the bike and I are meant to be.



I seriously liked this bike. It felt natural, with none of the extra/unnecessary squish I've associated with rear suspension. It was set up really well by a Motion Makers mechanic at the demo, so I'm sure that was a huge part of it, and it felt like my kind of bike. I'm guessing it was close in weight to my old clunker, too. It felt pretty good on the climbs. I think I might borrow a demo/rent one from Motion Makers and trade off the Epic and my bike for a lap or two to really compare.

On to a bike that felt a little foreign! The Camber was a lot of bike. Like, a LOT of bike. It felt like I was riding a tool that I could never put to full use. It wasn't too heavy or unwieldy like some more downhill oriented bikes I've demoed, but I felt too dainty for it. On the plus side, now I know exactly what a Trail bike feels like (as opposed to the XC/XC Race Epic). The Camber felt like you could confidently tackle almost anything in Pisgah on it; at least anything I've ridden. Pilot Rock, in particular, came to mind, but basically anything with a lot of downhill roots and rocks to be motored over. Ok, so it's not the bike for me, but it's clearly captured my imagination. If I were a faster, more aggressive rider, I'd definitely be interested.



Did I mention carbon rims? I didn't... because I'm terrible at 'feeling' wheels while riding. I guess the most I can say is that I didn't notice them. Sorry, Roval Control Trail SL 29 rims.

As a side note, the trails were oh so pretty. Lots of new green grass, and flowering trees.



It looks like somebody tried to make this part of the trail a little more passable at one point but couldn't quite manage it.



It's hard to say whether or not I support that kind of modification. The rock was hard to maneuver around, especially on the test bike's wide, uncut bars. It would have been scary for the type of rider that likely frequents the trails... I think the first thing to try would be to build the trail out around it, and if that isn't feasible, to then try blasting the rock. One thing's for sure- it looks pretty sad all drilled with holes.

And now that I've made you read all about my opinions on bikes and trails, I release you! Have a good one.

Checking In

It's been too long! Things are still trucking right along, I've just been busy with work (yay!) and other life-things. To sum it up, A) I haven't had the time to blog and B) These activities lack pretty pictures (working and interviewing doesn't often produce interesting photos) so I figured I'd spare everyone.

But!

I went on a Pugsley waterfall tour of DuPont this past weekend. I'm going to write up an article for fat-bike.com pretty soon, so I'll just leave a little photo teaser.



I did some other blog-worthy things this past weekend, too, so I'll have a few more posts in the coming days.

Oldie but Goodie

A few times this past month or so I've described these photos to a person or two. I was painting the bathroom and the cat, being the mamma's boy he is (particularly when he was an indoor-only cat) sat on the chair with me and watched me paint.

They're nearly two years old, but gosh if I don't love these two photos.



Ack! Just look at the little bugger! So very cute.

F-A-R-T

Robb was away for the weekend, so I made him a present.



Patterns were on sale at the fabric store for 99 cents, so I picked up a bunch, including a 'letters of the alphabet' pattern set.

Money well spent.

Thursday Night Bent Creek

Such lovely weather! It rained off and on the whole ride but it totally didn't matter. Because guess what? I have a JOB! After a frightening month and a half without one (that's enough, trust me), I got an unexpected call to do some freelance for Cane Creek. It feels great to be back in the business and it's amazing how much not having a job was affecting me. I feel more confident now, and it's showing up in my riding. Plus, not having to worry about buying gas and laundry detergent and pens (my kingdom for a pen around here!) is a big relief. And so life is better, the air is sweeter, and the pens shall flow like water.

The ride felt great, and for once I was less cautious (we were talking overly cautious and plodding around) and for the first time in too long I challenged myself and went fast just because I could and got mud splattered all over me and my poor ol' bike. (I got the Davidson River ravaged derailleur mostly-repaired and let's say 8/9ths of its gears still work.) Ah, Spring!





At the top of Greenslick, a descent that felt awesome on this most awesome day.

Wine and Design Birthday Party

I'm in a book club, and one of the women in it, Ece, runs a Wine and Design place. For my friend Laura's birthday, she decided to hold a get-together at Ece's Wine and Design. It's basically a place you can go to drink wine, eat snacks and paint with acrylics, resulting in a buzz and a painting at the end of two hours. At the risk of sounding like an ad for it, it was pretty cool. We all brought our own wine and there was a table set out for our little feast. It's like party aid for the hopeless cases like me. All you have to do is bring wine and food, and they have corkscrews, cups and little plates for snack sharing (something I would be sure to forget). We mingled for a bit and then eventually got around to painting.

We put on aprons that were provided for us. The canvases, paint, brushes and water were all set out for us. To aid the process, there was a penciled in outline of the elephant on each canvas. It was almost.... too easy.

Since I had a Groupon for two for W&D, I had dragged Robb along for this, even though he tried his best to weasel out of it. I think we both had more fun than we thought we would. In my case, I have a paint snobbery towards acrylics. I don't have the skills necessary to mix them successfully, and I like being able to push paint around the canvas and work back into it. Oils are the thing for this girl. But, as all snobberies go, they're best when set aside. Robb doesn't paint at all, but he got into it and had a good time, too.

Advertisement over! Here's what we wound up with at the end of the night. (Mine's upside down because I had just painted the bottom edge of the canvas):



Robb's has tube socks on.



Here, it's like it's right-side up!



Group photo time. The instructor is in the middle on the bottom. I'm the obnoxious dissenter in the middle in the top row.