Holiday Parade in Helen Georgia with Woodys Mountain Bikes

Here's the crew from Woodys Mountain Bikes at the Helen Georgia Holiday Parade-Yes! thats the same Helen Georgia that the NORBA Nationals were held at.

A Jamis Bicycle ready for the parade

whats a Holiday Parade without goats!

The parade through the beautiful main road in Helen Georgia

David Sagat- D 29'er Team -Reality Bikes Georgia

Mountain Biking at Big South Fork-Tennessee

Yesterday a group of 10 came up from Knoxville to ride the Grand Gap and John Muir trails.

BIG SOUTH FORK MOUNTAIN BIKING

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is located about an hour north of Crossville, Tennessee and has some great mountain biking trails.  The National Park also has a campground with showers, a pool thats open in the summer, gift shop and Visitors Center and if you loop all the mountain bike trails together with some gravel roads you've got a 50+ mile ride.
 My favorite trails to ride there are the Grand Gap and John Muir trails.  I start at the visitors center and ride the gravel road out to Grand Gap then hook into John Muir and ride the gravel roads back, which makes for about 21 miles.  These trails have several spots that run right along the bluff tops and offer spectacular views of the Big South Fork River Gorge.  Make a note that Grand Gap and John Muir trails are officially only open to bike riding during weekdays.

Click here to download the map of the trails.

Bike Buddies

Bill from American Classic with me at Interbike- Bill and Ellen at AC are awesome good people.

There needs to be more focus in the world on good things.  Good things like good people, things to do, places to go, food to eat.  I'm grateful for good friends, good times, good places.  Thanks 

She Pedals Magazine

 

She Pedals Magazine has now been around for about a year, subscriptions are $28 www.shepedalsmagazine.com

It's Chili Dawg ride time again

Wonderful fall colors

Oh, I can't believe that it's already fall, the leaves are at full color and the mornings are chilly, so it's time for the annual Chilly Dawg training rides in Ellijay, Georgia.  These are mountain bike rides and anywhere in

length from 20 miles to 50 miles.  Some rides are gravel roads, some trail, or a mix, and always fun.  The thing about these rides that make them so special is that they are very inclusive.  You do need to be in some sort of cycling shape, but there's always someone to ride with and nobody gets left behind, they wait at turns and

stopped as a flat gets fixed out on a forest road in the north Georgia mountain

everyone gets looked out for.  The scenery up there in the North Georgia Mountains is just beautiful.  For more info call Cartecay bike shop in Ellijay, GA.

Mike Palmeri- our fearless leader

GABRAKY- Governors Annual Bicycle Ride Across Kentucky

The start with the riders and wheels in the Ohio River on the Kentucky northern border

Local store food stop-it's great how the ride supports the local businesses

It took me two days to learn how to say Gah-brecky, but other than the name challenges the event was a lot of fun.  The annual ride is put on as a fund raiser for the Old Theater in downtown Frankfort, KY and is fully supported with stops at local stores, some meals furnished and lodging options.

Fund Raiser for the Grand Theater, Frankfort, KY

some of the great food at Lindsey Wilson College

Beautiful Kentucky

The really cool thing about this ride is that the riders start the event with their bike tires on the northern state border in the Ohio River and end with their tires on the southern state border with their tires in Dale Hollow Lake. More Photos Here.  Mark your calendar for next year.  http://gabraky.wordpress.com/

The bus that at the end of the ride took us back to our cars.

Sequatchie Valley Century Ride- Dunlap Tennessee

Sunrise in the Sequatchie Valley, Tennessee

Around 600 people line up for the start, proceeds from the ride went to local food banks

scenery in the valley

lots of interesting old buildings are in the valley

this food sag stop was at someones house

great food and volunteers at the sag stops--thanks Chattanooga Bicycle Club

the Cumberland Plateau hill makes for great views

This event is every Fall, usually the first weekend in October, mark your calendars for next year, it's a fun ride in a scenic valley.  The roads at the beginning are a little bit rough, and quickly become really smooth.  The hills are rolling with only a few that get you up out of the saddle a little.

Bike Culture- German Bike Shop

 

 

A friend sent me this photo of this bike shop near Berlin, Germany that has about 

120 bicycles hanging from the outside.  Nice.

Drama Queen Ride-Cartecay Bikes from Mulberry Gap, Ellijay, Georgia

The Drama Queen ride was started three years ago by the crew at Cartecay Bikes after one rider had a bad day at one of the events they promoted. The person went on to post bad comments online about the event, thus- the Drama Queen ride was born. Two manditory requirements of the free ride are- you must wear a "crown" and after finishing you must go by the registration table to sign out and make a "complaint". The biggest complainers of the day win prizes. This years ride started and finished at Mulberry Gap mountain bikers get-a-way cabins and campground, and Diane and Ginni made us an awesome lunch of hamberger with all sorts of side dishes for only $10, and that included an after ride shower. What a deal, that place is great.
Mike and Terry of Cartecay Bikes are terrific at putting together fun rides, the "DQ" ride went up Pinhoti 1 and 2, then went up Bear Creek to the overlook, then up to Potatoe Patch and then on and on and on. I cheated and only road 22 miles of the 38 mile "short" route. There was also a crazy difficult 50 mile course. Put this one on your list of rides to do for next year.

BIKE CULTURE

This was in Architect Magazine, looks neat.

Calvins Coda Elite

Nice ride sent in from Calvin at Belmont Bicycles, Belmont, NC

29'er ready to roll at Fools Gold this weekend

Here's my JAMIS DRAGON 29 that I will ride in this weekends Fools Gold 50 miler in the mountains of North Georgia. The event has a lot of gravel roads, techy singletrack and over 7,000 feet of climbing. I hope to make it in somewhere in the 6 hour range. Last year I finished in about 7 1/2 hours, including a major melt down with about 7 miles to go, I was so "popped" that I had to sit for awhile, it was probably 20-30 minutes. Last year it was also the week after my little brother had emergency open heart surgery (heart disease runs in our family), so I kept thinking that I was "having the big one" of a heart attack when I was really pushing it. But, that wasn't the case, I had a full physical a week after the race and everything checked out great. So, for this year the plan is to just stay steady, and stay out of the red zone. Cross your fingers and say a prayer!

Hinch Mountain Ride

Last weekend Peggy joined me for a ride up Hinch Mountain. The bottom at the start it was just a cloudy day, but the top of the mountain was completely in the clouds, you can see the progression in the pictures above.

Harpeth River Century Ride - Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday I rode the Harpeth River Ride, 100 mile event put on by the Harpeth Bicycle Club and Nissan. The ride started in Franklin, TN which is just south of Nashville. It was a really hot day, with temps way up in the 90's and the course was surprisingly tough. At the 62 mile option cut off I considered cutting my century short, but I talked myself into sticking with my original plan of ridding 100 miles.

This picture is from the start of the ride as we lined up. Three of the Radio Shack team members lead out the ride (Nissan is a co-sponsor of the team). To the left in the picture you can see the long line of 1,500 riders ready to go, and the expo tent area. The venue at Nissan was really great, with an expo area, registration, lunch and lots of parking in the parking garage, which was nice today because it was in the shade on this hot day.

The 100 mile course was surprisingly hilly, over 8,000 feet of climbing, thats more than the 3-State, 3-mountain course. Of the 100 miles, over 50 miles was going up hill, thats amazing to me, I guess I didnt realize that the Nashville area is so hilly.


After riding in the extreme heat for 6 hours and 47 minutes on a tough course it was wonderful to see the tall silver Nissan building on the horizon, a sweet sight! Great job putting the event together, and thanks to the crew at Harpeth Bicycles and the super Jamis Bicycle display at the expo area.