I responded, "Yes dear! i *know* this!"
I will admit, I was a bit intimidated and unsure what crossing the mountain was going to be like. I am on a bald rear tire, the roads will be wet, at best, and either icy or snow-covered at worst. I don't recall being so concerned about my safety to get on a bike before. I seriously considered driving over -- for all of a minute! Additionally, it's GOING to be cold, with a high of 28*F for the day, but should get warmer once I turn south.
She attempts to instill the fear of God in me once more, telling me the driveway was scary and that the road that our driveway joins is also slick. Okay! I got up and got the last minute stuff ready and packed the bike. Then, walked the driveway and the road and am confused.
This woman has grown up in Indiana. She has seen some serious weather! As I walk the driveway and the street, it's relatively fine. The driveway was a piece of cake. I *did* see some ice on the road, but it was avoidable.
I planned on being in Greenville, SC by 6 PM, when Christopher would be off from work. My only planned stop would be at Oskar Blues Brewery to pick up a couple beers for later. Google Maps puts the drive at 3 hours. So if I leave at 1:30 PM, I should be fine to make it to Christopher's by 6.
And that's what I did. By now the weather was probably as warm as it was going to be for the day. I had my thermals on, a long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, and an insulated flannel. All this underneath my riding suit with upper and lower liners. I also donned my balaclava and thick winter gloves.
The roads were relatively clear. I only had one butt-clenching moment. The second tunnel eastbound on I-40 was covered in white. I wasn't sure if it was ice, snow, or salt. There were two tire tracks per lane and I pointed the bike's tires in one of them and somehow managed to keep it there throughout the tunnel. It was scary! It may have only been salt, but I didn't want to find out that it wasn't -- *especially* with a bald tire --in a tunnel -- with traffic behind me!
I found Oskar Blues with very little problem. I ordered a Deviant Dale's (YUM!) and took the free tour of the brewery. Then I purchased a few to take to Christopher, since OB is one of his favorite brewers.
I was a little bit chilled upon arrival (not bad, since I still had feeling in the fingers and toes), but after about a half hour or so at the brewery, I was feeling back to "normal". I packed the beer on the bike and then headed out.
I never got cold again for the rest of the ride. Of course, the temperature was a balmy 40*F now that I had gotten further south and into lower altitude.
I got to enjoy almost all of 276 without interruption. I was cooking along just fine, when I came upon a line of cars with a cop at the head of it. SIGH! Luckily, he turned off soon after as did a couple other cars and I was back to exercising Cloud9 and wearing out the rest of that bald tire now that I'm on dry roads.
The fun part ended all too quickly and I was now ready to get to Christopher's and have a few brews. I got a little turned around and *almost* wished I had a GPS, navigating in the dark is a pain when you don't know where you are. By the time I found his place it was 7 PM. Greetings were exchanged and Christopher's wonderful lady, Sara, had picked me up a Chic-Fil-A sandwich. Thanks, Sara. I sat down and enjoyed dinner with the four of them.
Shortly after dinner, She had to head out and Christopher and I went over to Mo's to hang out. Around 9 or so we headed back to his place for some more beer and just to catch up. We saw the wee hours of the morning solving the world's problems and chatting about nothing. Great night!
Saturday morning, Ethan, Christopher's boy, had a basketball game and I felt privileged to be able to attend it. It's been YEARS since I had been to one of these. Such fun to watch these kids.
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| Ethan is #22 in white |
The beauty of it was, that the ref's were there only to stop play for timeouts and the clock. There were no fouls called and there was some blatant travelling going on ... I mean just outright running with the ball in hand. It was comical.
Even better the timekeeper would stop the clock and wouldn't allow the buzzer to sound during a possession. He allowed the kids to finish up either with a basket or a change of possession -- really cool.
After the game, it was time to head to Mo's. There really wasn't much wrenching this year. A lot of tire changing (myself included) but very little wrenching. Poor ol' Steeeevvve was kept rather busy at the No-Mar changer. Thanks, Steeeevve for helping me out as well.
I had no issues getting the wheel OFF the bike. However, we were having some issues mounting my tire, but Mo came to the rescue before patience wore thin and announced it was time for everyone to wash up and go upstairs to eat.
After lunch it was back at the tire. We got it seated, but it took four people to do it. Damn low-profile tires!
As if that wasn't enough, it was tough getting the wheel to balance. We would place a weight and let it spin and never got it right. We even cut weights looking for the right combination, but never really found it. We got close enough and left it at that.
When I finally got back to the bike, I realized I had put my brake pads in the wrong way. That was easy enough to fix, but just seemed to be the prelude of what was to come.
I couldn't get the wheel back in and keep the caliper mount aligned at the same time. There is a trick to it, but I had only done this once and couldn't recall what I had done last time. Then one of the guys helping suggested to put the axle in to help hold the caliper mount in place -- BINGO! *that's* what I did last time.
Why the hell couldn't I remember that? After that the wheel slid right into place and everything went back together -- with no extra parts.
A little later it was time for a beer run. I know *I* was ready for one by now.
Maryann and Mo put out quite the feast, as they usually do! I did my best to be disciplined, but with the delicious bounty prepared, it's just not easy to do.
We had to head back to Christopher's to get E-man to bed so we left at some point after dinner. My mind is a bit hazy at this point as a few quality beers had been consumed. I had decided to leave the bike, so I wasn't driving. A few more beers at Christopher's and this night was in the books as well
For maybe six years or so, Kent and I had discussed hiking up Table Rock. He and I had discussed hitting it Sunday, since I would actually be in town and wouldn't need to be home until 10:30 PM. By Sunday the Ryders had decided to join us.
It was a beautiful day for it. A nice, sunny, 50* day. Perfect for hiking.
However, I had NO idea it would be so long of a hike. I figured a couple hours, then I will break in my new tire. WRONG!
I knew it was a 1900' ascent, had *no* IDEA it was a 3 hour hike up and a 2 hour hike down. It was already noon-ish. So much for breaking in my tire, it will be near dark when we get done hiking.
The hike was worth it, though. It was a LOT of steps (over 6 miles worth), but the trail was well marked and well maintained. Quite a few rest stops were merited.
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| Kent and Mitchell |
These were taken when we were "almost there". Kent and Mitchell had hiked this previously. I had no idea what I was in for -- neither did David nor Polly. Kent had fun baiting us with "we're almost there" and "it's just around the corner".
After much more climbing and another mile or so of Kent's assuring us how close we were, we reached the summit.
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| at the top ... finally! |
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| what a view! |
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| serenity (photo taken by Kent Matthew) |
On our way down, a very young deer had crossed the trail in front of us. We sat there watching it watch us for a few minutes. Then we noticed further up, that Momma's watchful eyes were fixed on us as well as this yearling's brother/sister.
David and Polly needed to head northwest, and Kent and I had to head back to Mo's to get our bikes. By the time we got there, it was dark and getting cold ... and I'm going north. BRR!
I was trying to get my mind set for the cold ride ahead. I layered up again, thanked Mo and the Goddess for their wonderful hospitality, and headed out.
Actually, it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. The roads were dry and what snow had fell that day was all gone. It wasn't even that cold going over the mountain. I'll take it!
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