HIDE AND DO NOT SEEK!

It has been quiet here at Zeke’s Great Smokies Two Wheeled Adventures. No posting, no comments, no replies since last week. There’s a reason for that. The Navigator and I went into hiding Thursday evening last and didn’t emerge until Sunday afternoon. We went into the woods where there was no data connection and no cell phones. There were no landlines and no other means of incoming communications. I imagine we could’ve read some smoke signals if times really required it. In a word, it was pretty much heaven..

(5280’ feet in elevation brought colors in abundance!)

Still the world didn’t stop and when I plugged in and logged on last night I had word from…

…Cross Country Stan reported in over the weekend as he makes his way east on his trans-Canada summer tour. For his report and to view his images, click on the “Where In The World Is Cross Country Stan”? link at the top of this page.

Also Reporting In…

John Bryan reports on his final days of BRAG. Check out his report and images below.

BRAG is over for this year.  My total mileage was 402, spread out over 7 days.  It would have been a little under 400 but Google Maps sent us on a wild goose chase Friday.  According to Google Maps, the motel was was about 4.5 miles in the wrong direction.  Two of us didn’t figure it out quick enough and got an extra 9 miles, making the total for that day 72 miles instead of 63.  Those last 9 miles were in the mid-day Georgia heat and were brutal. Metter, Georgia had a big party for us.  They had a live band and lots of local vendors in the park.  The attached picture is downtown Metter. The 10 screws and 2 plates in my left pelvis held up perfectly.  If you remember, in December, 2009, I had a really bad cycling accident and was in a wheel chair for 8 weeks.  I was a bit apprehensive about how the repaired parts would hold up to a week of hard riding, but it went great.   The only physical problems I had were in my quads because the first few days were really hilly and there aren’t any hills down here for training!  Next year, I’m hoping to get to Waynesville for a couple of weeks before BRAG to get some serious mountain training in! Next year’s BRAG will likely begin in Chattanooga, TN and run SE through Georgia.  I talked to someone who has ridden RAGBRAI, VIRGINIA, the NC Mountains to Sea ride, Ride Florida and BRAG; she said the NC is her favorite, but that BRAG is the best organized. The BRAG website is here:  http://www.brag.org/ The NC website is here:http://cnc.ncsports.org/contentPages.cfm/contentVariable/Fall_Ride  This website is down right now, but it has been the right one in the past.

 

Hide and don’t go seek…

The Navigator and I enjoyed each other’s company this weekend along with our two aging Labrador Retrievers, Zeke and Orla. We’re all getting “longer in the tooth” and, as a consequence, our walks were shorter and slower but no less enjoyable. We let the Grand Dame of the family, Orla, our yellow Lab set the pace. At 13 years of age and having some health issues, we matched our speed and desires to her abilities. In other words, we stopped and “smelled the roses” more often than usual. Zeke, still feeling his oats as he nears 11, still managed to leave secret encoded liquid messages to any other travellers with the sensitivities to be able to decode the message.

While we didn’t take our bikes this time, it doesn’t mean cycling was far from my thoughts. More on that perhaps tomorrow when I dig out of some work related matters.

Until later,

- Zeke