EDGE VISOR

From Pace Sportswear, check it out!  

That's right, Edge used to customize his cycling caps by cutting out the tops and hemming the edges with bright orange thread when he still lived in Columbia.  Not only were they crafty projects, but they also prevented his buzzed head from overheating in the summer months.  One of the Hawley folks caught a glimpse of his creation on a routine group ride, recognized the fabulousness of it, and turned Edge's prototype into a reality.

As the Ghost of JR always says, those of you following along in your catalog can find this dynamic visor under CLTH1221. Be sure to look up all the available ribbon colors:

 Black and white checkers,

and even better...

rainbows!

Why is Pisgah so steep?

 Yep, it's about that time again.

Time to get off the ol' ass and take a spin toward Spring.  Not to mention the upcoming race season, which, dare I say, is less than FOUR WEEKS away???  Sheisse!  Quick, grab your Gatorade and let's go!!

Who cares if it's 20 degrees and they're predicting freezing rain; find some good Cane Creek folk, the omnipresent Wild Bill and is son, and head for the fire roads.

Cold out?  Don't even think about it.  Being so profoundly immersed in the off season, it may be easy to let the dropping temperature and constant uphill climb get on your (sciatic) nerves, but keep your chin up.  See, CC Chris stopped at one point to consult the map, but thankfully it assured us we had to keep going up,

which CC Paul thought was the best thing he heard all day.

Snow, ice and hundreds of feet of trail blocked by downed trees just meant tons of extra fun with all the extra hike n' biking (more hiking). 

Nothing could dampen our euphoric moods; we were just glad to be outside!

It didn't matter that we had women and children on the ride, or that "stuff" kept freezing in WB's goatee...Edge prolonged our fun as long as possible, and we eventually got to slide down the mountain back to the cars.

Tho slightly hypothermic at times, it was a great ride and we made it back before the rains came, as evidenced by Bill's dance of mountain bike joy.  Yeah!

Looking forward to a great season in 2010...see ya at the six hour maiden voyage in February!!

Chicopee "Joy Ride"

Or, "29er Annihilation."

Why didn't you bring your niner, didn't you get the memo??

"Hey guys, I'm gonna be in town this weekend, so a group of us are riding out at Chicopee on Sunday if you wanna come.  Nothing hard core, just an easy going, social ride coz it's going to be a super nice day out."

Heh--yeah right!

Sure, the original plan was for a peaceful, Sunday stroll, but with mugs like Wild Bill and Niner Mike, suddenly half the Terrapin team plus a former single-speed champion and retired endurance racer all decided to come.  What the!  And as soon as we found out Shey Lindner was coming, all bets were off---the Chicopee fun ride instantly became a veritable crush fest.

Loehr gets it done, despite feeling "under the weather."

Niner Mike emerges with his new carbon fork!

Hey, did you guys see my niner?  Yeah, did you see mine?  Yes, but check mine out:

The parking lot was FILLED with niners, and most of them were on our ride...but alas, a few us didn't get the memo that day. What we did get were busted lungs trying to chase down the Terrapin boys (or maybe that was just me?).

But they're pretty awesome...I'm not saying we don't WANT niners, I mean look!

 Look at that handsome green stallion!!

Look at Loehr making it back to the parking lot!

Look at the orange and silver!!!

Even on 26 inch wheels, it was a very enjoyable ride, full of sun, leaves, speed and only one bike wreck hanging upside down from the trees...

...and despite the smack down, we had a really great time.  The parking lot comradery was awesome, and it was great to see folks we haven't seen in a long time.  After the post ride pow wow, we packed up and headed straight for the chips and salsa up the road, stuffed our faces, then drove home fat and happy.

Stay tuned to find out how Edge's cyclocross debut in Hendersonville goes next Saturday.  Wooo!!!

Swank 65

Thank God it has come and gone!

Once again not knowing what lay ahead of me, I should have know something was up when we got to Cove Creek Campground and saw that people had to submarine their cars through a "creek" just to get to the parking lot!

But after a brief introduction and a few half-assed cartwheels in the LeMans start, we were off.

Being at the front of this train wreck was the only way to ensure a safe passage into the single track, and from there on out, it was all UP.

Except for Farlow......and it went up even more than I had remembered...

After survivng the climb and downhill of Farlow (beatdown), I staggered my narrow ass down the last stretch of fire roads, praying the whole time for someone to make the monkey in my head stop pounding the symbols.

With the finish in sight, Todd greeted me with a Fat Tire Ale and a smile.

"Whaddya think?" he asked, and my only response was...

" I survived".

Thanks again to Todd Branham and Blueridge Adventures, and all the volunteers for all your support and time in this year's race series!

Farewell Old Friend...

We miss you already.

Ian Foyster

Frady Branch + Fun = Broken Teeth

We ended up staying in Athens this weekend, and wonder of wonders, it didn't rain!  Knowing we wanted to ride, were we about to sleep in Sunday morning, then leisurely caffeinate ourselves in front of the tv?  No WAY.   

Met up with a few fine folks of yore, and headed to Frady Branch for our own version of wildlife management.  Undaunted by the 30 degree morning or the bridges that weren't there, we jumped on our bikes---then immediately got off in order to carry them across the river to get to the trails.  But then, it was awesome!! 

We rode on some of the southeast's only 'triple track', we laughed, we sang, we admired the beautiful foliage..and some of us participated in a few marvelous crashes.  Assisting with some routine trail maintenance, Edge caught a tree in the face and cracked his helmet clean through the foam and titanium ring.  The arboreal head-on collision was also enough to break a tooth and add some zest to his grill!

As for the rest of us, one sprained his right ankle and couldn't get his foot out of the pedal  for the rest of the day, one of us endo'd downhill and caught a branch in the eye, another landed in numerous ditches because he was willing to try any and everything, and one...well?  One of us (ahem, Cleg) made it through the day totally unscathed. 

Rock n' roll everyone, good company and injuries are what make getting out of bed early on a Sunday morning totally worth it.  We had a great time, and of course, the post ride imbibing helped us forget about silly teeth, ankles and eyeballs for a little while longer.  Pfff, who needs 'em.  Let's ride!

Pisgah Stage Race Day Four

A mighty win.

Wouldn't you know, missed the finish by about three minutes.  Aaargh!!  Promoters were forced to cut an 8 mile loop out of the final stage due to ice and general precariousness, wreaking havoc on my punctuality.  Missed them on their bikes, but still caught them in their kits--Bill in his stage win jersey.  Yow!

But once the kits were off and the winter jackets were on, we sat in the massage queue with Fat Tire in hand and had a conversation about the weekend's events.  So?  How was it??

Edge:  This race was everything I expected it to be, and more! It had epic trails, awesome competition and a splash of gnarly weather thrown in for good measure. After stage 2 I had lost what lead I had on Peter Butt by three minutes and had some work to do on stage 3. Then at the start of stage 4, it was voted that Farlow would be taken out due to unsafe conditions, so my only ace in the hole was out.  Instead, I had to keep pace with the Aussie all day or at least keep him in sight.

At the end of the race, I lost by two minutes.........It was hard to swallow, thinking back on all the times I could have gone a little harder and didn't or couldn't.

But all in all I had a great time, rode some epic trails in very epic conditions, and got a chance to see a lot of Pisgah I hadn't seen yet.

Edge and Pete Butt were the only ones to finish in their class...each got "a custom medal."

WB also had a great race, and reigned supreme of the elite masters!

Terrapin later rocked the HELL out of their custom medals, making a nice book end to their wonderous, four day feat of icy, mtb glory.

See ya'll at Swank and you can believe that next time, Farlow will be ON!