Thursday, July 30, 2009

END OF WORK WEEK, END OF MONTH RIDE

The “Big J” and I managed to celebrate the end of my work week along with almost the end of the month with a nice post-work ride today. We were joined for the first time today by “Dr. J” (no, not THAT Dr. J”). “Dr. J” recently joined our bicycle advisory committee. He comes by his title of “Dr. J.” honestly, He is an honest-to-God physician, which is comforting to know when riding with him. :)

 

We planned our ride to to take in NC 209, down along the Pigeon River on Riverside Dr. and then back up to “the Triangle” in Crabtree before returning to Lake Junaluska and circling the lake. While there was moderately heavy post-work traffic on NC 209 North, we had the luxury of minimal traffic along the river. We enjoyed an unexpected break when “Dr. J.” flatted while running along River Road. He was prepared though and a few moments later we were back up to cruising speed. After the climb up from the river to the Triangle, “Dr. J” left us to return home and “Big J” and I made our way back to the lake.

On this leg of the trip, we were passed by 3 cyclists working a nice pace line and, going in the opposite direction, our fellow advisory committee member Jay on his commute home. His employer, MAST General Store, is one of the few in the area that reimburses employees for using alternative forms of transportation. Once on the Lake grounds, we were amongst numerous walkers, runners, and cyclists as they completed their workouts in advance of the evening showers. We completed our ride just as the rain began to fall.

Upon arriving home, my “better half” and I were treated to a beautiful late afternoon rainbow superimposed upon Cold Mountain. (Yes, THAT Cold Mountain…) My thoughts turned to Eldon and Susan and of the struggle that they are facing and have faced. I’ve never met “Fatty” nor have I ever met Susan but I have been fortunate to read Eldon’s blog for about a year now (link above and in my favorites). As they have fought cancer, Eldon has given us all the gift of following and experiencing their fight. I have been lucky in that I’ve not lost my wife nor any children to cancer and I pray daily that I’ll never know that pain. My brother, sister, and I did lose both parents to cancer (father – colon cancer  and mother - multiple myeloma) so we have some inkling and understanding of what is happening to Eldon and his family. The rainbow this evening served to remind me of peace and hope and the strong wish that we might all come to that place at our days end. With that in mind, the best I can do for “Fatty” and Susan is to wish for them the promise of the rainbow and release from the pain…

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Until later,

- Zeke

4 comments:

Jim Artis said...

Lovely photo Zeke!

Unknown said...

Many thanks. I just happened to have my wife's Canon Powershot with me because I had been downloading the images from our ride. Usually, when I run to get a camera, whatever I wanted to get a picture of is gone... :)

- Zeke

Anonymous said...

It isn't clear to me how I ran across this blog!

My wife and I have an almost completed house in Bethel, near the intersection of 215 & 110 with 276. I've been looking for places to ride and have seen some folks leaving from the athletic fields by the middle school. Unfortunately, we can't get up there as much right now as we would like and it's even harder to get the bike up there when it's a short trip.

But next spring and summer, I'll be looking for rides!

I did find the 209 ride and it was pretty good. I've driven the Love Joy road ride down to the lake, but haven't taken the bike down there yet.

What are the other good rides in and around Waynesville?

Unknown said...

Hi,

Well, however you got here, I'm glad you did! Maybe you should bookmark my site so it won't be a mystery in the future... :)

We are in the process of launching a website (www.bicyclehaywoodNC.org) that will be more full featured than what my blog currently serves and having local rides is high up on the list. I'm hoping to be on-line and live by mid-week. This blog is more my personal effort and the website will be more dedicated to our Bicycle Advocacy group here in Haywood.

There are usually rides leaving from the middle school. I know of one that leaves from the middle school each Sunday morning and rides up through the Pigeon Valley and then up to the Parkway. I've posted several rides on MayMyRide and there are links on my blog postings if you don't mind backtracking a little. The northern end of the county has lots of outstanding riding along NC 209 with some significant climbs if that interests you. The road over Crabtree Mountain from the Crabtree side is one heck of a climb. You want very good brakes when you descend on the Canton side of the mountain.

I live in Bethel and ride home from my work in Waynesville on occasion. I enjoy riding along the Pigeon down to Canton and then up NC 110 toward the house. That is generally a pretty good ride. NC 215 from Bethel to Canton is a good ride along the river but you have to be careful of drivers going way to fast on that road. I've nearly been hit a couple of times when they came around a curve and there I was...

You will not have any trouble finding lots of good riding roads in Haywood County. I also post rides over in Buncombe and Madison Counties that are sponsored by the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club. They are very active with planned group rides.

I'll hope to see you on the road and "see" you here on my blog again!

Thanks for reading!

- Zeke