Character Building at Sherando

Today Bill, Michael, and I went for a tough mountain bike ride at Sherando State Park near Charlottesville, VA. This was the last adventure for the Spring Break 07 trip. The ride would have been completely manageable if we ended it after the first 2000 feet of climbing. However, we decided to go for about 2000 more vertical feet after that. Not to mention the fact that the second 2000 vertical feet was done mostly off the bike because the trail was too rocky to even walk on. The ride ended with an incredeibly sweet descent back to the road. All we have to do tommorrow is wake up and drive back to New York.

Back On The Road

The past few days have been sort of a blur. We got up Tuesday morning in Asheville knowing the green was running, but also knowing we had a lot of stuff to do. We finally got to the Green around noon with no shuttle and no key for the put-in. Eventually we worked it all out and got on the river. Bill must have thought it was a play run because he was surfing just about every hole. I got a good shiner above my eye from Gorilla but it all went well.

Back in Asheville we stopped at the Dirt Patch (we almost didn't leave) and then headed north to Fayetteville. In Fayetteville we paddled with Pete and whole load of others on the New at a very mediocre level.

Thursday morning we woke up and heard that it had rained in Northern WV. Bill and I hopped in the car and headed to the Upper Yough. Once again without a shuttle I was forced to bike it. Only this time it was about 40 degrees and raining. It sucked. The river was fun we cruised down it in record time.

Once that mission was over we hopped back in the car and drove the 4+ hours over the shenendoah mountains. The drive was a pain, but well worth the effort we got to see some very clear examples of how devastating mountain top removal mining can be.

Right now we're in Charlottesville getting ready to go mountain biking with Michael. We'll be back in New York tommorrow.

Southeast Dual-Sport Day

While the snow continues to fall in New York, Bill and I are still in Asheville enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather. Today we headed down to Brevard and took advantage of all the sweet ass recreation the little town has to offer. It took us a little while to get there but once we finally got our act together we made it over to Looking Glass Rocks. I learned a very important lesson today. I suck at climbing. We tried to do a multi-pitch route but I just wasn't up for it. We tried a couple of routes. I learned a lot, and Bill spent a lot of time belaying me because I was slow as malasses. We eventually got over to Dupont for some sweet ass East Coast Slick Rock Mountain Biking while the sun was going down. Tommorrow, it's on to the Green.

Mountain Biking in Asheville

Asheville might be the greatest place on earth for doing any awesome sport that doesn't involve snow. After partying hard on Saturday night we finally rallied and went to Bent Creek for some awesome mountain biking. The members of the posse for this mission were Robert, Garvin, Bill, Andrew, and myself. It was sick.

Huge posse on the Tallulah

I met up with Bill in Asheville, at which point we rallied all the way down to the Tallulah. On Saturday morning we woke up to a wonderful surprise of snow all over Asheville. I think everyone was really pissed at us because the idiots from the north brought the snow. The Tallulah was sweet, we paddled with a lot of great people. There was some swimming early in the day but we got past it. The picture is of Andrew Bell. He is an awesome c-1 paddler.

Stepping Up

Yesterday was my third day kayaking in 2007. I got to run the Green with Andrew, Robin, and Amos. It was an absolutely awesome day. I fired up everything without scouting. I was the recipient of a significant beatdown at go left on the first run, but made up for it the second time around. I'm usually the first one to say, hey, stop let me look at this. I didn't really feel that it was necessary yesterday. Maybe, I'm finally growing a pair. Oh yeah...I cracked off two solid runs Gorilla.

some exciting happenings in Blacksburg

It is true, the mountain biking in Charlottesville is sweet. I had a great ride with Michael, and then drove to Blacksburg. I made it all the way from Lake Placid to Blacksburg, VA without driving on I-81 once. Impressed?...you should be.

I wanted to let the world know about a great event I found out about last night. John Rugh informed me about the innaugural Tour De Franzia. This event involves riding bikes to multiple sites and drinking Franzia. I'm not sure what could be better.

Holtwood Dam on the Susquehanna

I stopped by Holtwood Dam on my way to Charlottesville. I've been hearing lots of good things about this place for a long time. Unfortunately I could not find anyone to paddle with me. It was an absolutely beautiful day, so I didn't mind ferrying from island to island figuring out where to go. I ended up finding a decent wave, but after so many months out of the boat my skills weren't exactly up to par. The session at Holtwood was followed up by the longest drive ever, on the sketchiest backroads to Charlottesville.

The Spring break mission is on!!

It's spring break, and I'm gettin out of Lake Placid. The Rig is packed up with 3 boats, two bikes, a skateboard, and some other extraneous items. The plan is to hit up Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Fayetteville, and Asheville. The boating is not looking too good, but things can always change.