…AND HARRY MAKES THREE!

By yesterday (Saturday, November 27th), my post-Turkey haze had lifted enough and holiday/home chore duties had been cleared enough to make some time for a ride. Heaven knows I needed it!  The Wood-man and I determined on Friday night that we would get out and put a few miles into our legs this weekend…

PREPPING FOR THANKSGIVING 2010

 

So, I’m up getting ready for my first cup ‘o joe of the day and contemplating what might be an appropriate posting for today’s entry. Without any fanfare, the phrase “turkeys and bicycles” popped into my head and set me to thinking. I wonder what’s out there in this big old wonderful world where the words “turkeys” and “bicycles” might intersect in space and time. I did what any reasonable, semi-literate computer oriented individual might do… I Googled the words “turkeys and bicycles”.

LAST WEEK’S MEETINGS RECAPPED…

Last week saw two important bicycle related meetings occur, both of which will hopefully continue our progress in bringing cycling more into the mainstream of our local community. The two meetings consisted of our monthly BicycleHaywoodNC advocacy group and the second was our next full committee gathering for the 2011 Blue Ridge Breakaway….

CYCLING INCOMPATIBILITIES

The last week has given me the opportunity to review, relearn, and discover again things in our lives that are seemingly incompatible with cycling. In my case, some of these things/events have proven to be incompatible with writing about cycling as well…

FALL WEATHER MAKES GLORIOUS RETURN!

The touch of winter last weekend that resulted n 7” of snow in places and only short lived traces in other places has been replaced by some gorgeous, glorious, sumptuous riding weather. The end of Daylight Savings means that after work rides are a thing of the past for several months. The silver lining to that cloud is that lunch rides are just simply wonderful! The temps are up and pleasant and this day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky…

(A clear sky to the east from Crabtree Church Road…)

 

A TOUCH OF WINTER ARRIVES…

Monday, November 1st, turned out to be the best riding day of this week. It was the last dry, relatively warm day that we’ve enjoyed. I managed to get out and do a nice 20 miler before the sun set on Monday.

(The “before” image of a lovely riding day in late fall…)

As I had worked from home this day keeping with my effort to avoid the use of gasoline one day per week (at least), I had a nice late afternoon start from Bethel Middle School. I felt like some climbing might be “good for the soul” on this date so my route took me down NC 215 to Stamey Cove. Traffic was moderately heavy on the two lane road known as NC 215 as folks were making their way home from a Monday workday.

NO, TODAY IS THE DAY (10,000th Visitor Arrives)!

 

Well,  we didn’t record the 10,000th visitor to Zeke’s Great Smokies 2 Wheeled Adventures until today (Monday). The 9,999th visitor was the good old Google.bot crawling the site. The 10,000th visitor arrived at 8:26 a.m. (UTC time –4.00) so that would be 7:26 a.m. The visitor was using Charter.com as their ISP and Internet Explorer 8.0 as their browser. According to Google Earth, the coordinates of their site put them squarely in a field some 53 miles away. I do note a couple of structures nearby so let’s assume they were checking in from one of those abodes rather than the middle of a field in 39 degree temperatures!

Again, thanks to all the readers that have gotten us this far! Here’ to the future of more 2 Wheeled Adventures!

- Zeke

WILL TODAY BE THE DAY?

One of the aspects of writing a blog that remains interesting to me is watching the statistics tracking visits and page views. Possibly today or tomorrow, I should reach the 10,000th visitor to my site. As I type, I’m sitting at 21 visits short of that new plateau. Averaging 26 visits per day, I may get there there before the midnight hour.

(Will today see the 10,000th visitor?*)

I’ve remarked frequently to friends that writing the blog helps to keep me motivated to ride and, hopefully, to find new and interesting cycling related materials that are of interest to my readers. Through the time that I’ve been publishing this blog, I’ve tried to work hard to utilize technology to make this a more interesting reading experience. I’ve also tried to be vigilant in improving my writing skills that were first nurtured by my parents, especially my mother Ila Jean, a published author herself.

THE WORK WEEK WRAP-UP!

This work week has reached its end and I’ve not gotten in a single ride since last Saturday during the Wood-man’s and my gorgeous trip over to Newport, TN. Between catching up on home chores, a rainy several days, and evening meetings, my Fuji CCR3 has gotten several days of rest.

The cold front following our severe weather pattern mid-week is now firmly entrenched resulting in clear blue skies, which means there won’t be any heat sticking around overnight. This is predicted to be our coldest night of the year thus far. The temp has already dropped into the mid-50’s at my house and the sun is still shining. We’re getting the weather that Tracy, the Springfield Cyclist, had yesterday. Click on the link to get his take on the dropping temps and to see him in his snazzy Team Fatty jersey!

Meanwhile, The VeloHobo has been continuing his perusal of the internet for ultra light cycling. He’s on to some light weight dishes and cutlery from Finland…

Regionally, The Asheville Citizen-Times took an editorial stand supporting more bike lanes and sidewalks for the local community. The editors note the positives to be achieved by continuing to increase non-motorized transportation alternatives. It’s good to see the stance they are taking! Of course, the comments to the editorial are full of the usual “it’s a socialist conspiracy”, “a waste of taxpayer money that only benefits a select few..”, etc. (I’m personally on the verge of never reading comments again…)

Locally, we had our first planning meeting for next year’s Blue Ridge Breakaway. Our group met this morning bright and somewhat early and got down to business. The permitting process is going well thus far and conversations with the Blue Ridge Parkway officials has again been very pleasant and cooperative. We reviewed and considered suggestions to route changes/additions. This is a conversation that will continue for some time. In fact, we meet again next Friday to focus only on routes. We’re asking for permits for 700 riders next year. Given the success of this year’s ride and the early registrations we’re already receiving, 700 may not be enough! If you are looking for a great riding experience in the mountains of Western North Carolina, please check out the website and give us a strong consideration! There should be sufficient routes and mileages to entertain and challenge all comers.

Meanwhile, down in the eastern section of N.C., our good friend Jim Artis is hard at work on his newest adventure, which is utilizing a flying drone to take HD video and images. Jim’s forte is blending technology and cycling. With his latest adventure, he is reaching readers on a global basis as he brings together flying, imaging, and cycling coverage. I can certainly see the day where one of Jim’s drones does a “fly by” of a race and gets a real bird’s eye view of the rider and cycle. Check it out at Cycling Experiences!

Jumping out to the West Coast, Ted at BikingInLA does his usual comprehensive round-up of all things cycling. Los Angeles may be on the cusp of instituting a  significant piece of legislation that allows cyclists to pursue, through the civil court system, individuals who have harassed them . This would put the cyclists on a more powerful footing to get their issues addressed. The bill calls for a $1000.00 fine if the alleged harasser is found guilty.

That’s about it for this wrap-up! Have a great weekend and “keep the rubber side down!”

Until later,

- Zeke

THE DOGS OF MADISON COUNTY AND OTHER MATTERS!

(Part II)

This is part II of two parts covering Zeke and the Wood-man’s ride on Saturday, October 23, 2010 from Waynesville, NC to Newport, TN. To read Part I, CLICK HERE!

 

In Part I, the Wood-man and I had just competed our 20th mile of the trip and were sitting nicely amidst the colors of Betsy’s Gap. We were ready to mount up and head down…