springtime

hey everyone. I hope you all have made it through another winter. spring ( and pollen) are in the air! since my last post I have continued on an unusual journey in cycling-new bikes and rides. first off, I am signed on to ride the cascades 1200k in washington. that means training and that's where new bikes and rides came in. a chance trip through umstead park got  me thinking, 'hey man, lots of hills in here to grind'...right in my backyard. my new weapon is a gary fisher sawyer 29er.  it's a killer bike and I've had a blast riding and meeting new bike friends. shoot, I entered 2 races! the 2nd one was the bushwack where i came in 23 out of 100 on a 28 degree morning! super fun! i'm commuting through the park pretty regularly.

there have been some new brevets as well. I rode my handsome cycles speedy devil on 2 rounds of Mike D's carolina crossroads 200k in november, including the 'end of year ride and party'..jerry has a new route from raleigh as well-'the bomb'. martin has a new perm I want to try too.  on new year's day about 10 folks showed up in Salisbury (early!) to do Tony's brushy mountain 200k. it's a really nice route! give it a shot. TX rando stampede buddy John Preston was up from Fla and joined us. he did really good for a flatlander ;)
'twas a chilly start with rain at the end, but a great day for sure. 

i've been using some different gear for a while now, and feel I can give a good review. 
hopefully I will start putting those reports up very soon..

happy roads and trails...