Time As I've Known It

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?

Dr. Seuss

Man he got that right didn't he?  Dr. Seuss, I can remember my mom reading Pale Green Pants to my younger brother while he ate scrambled eggs.  I still have that book somewhere, it still has stains on the pages.  That had to have been 50 years ago.  Sneeches?  Too Many Daves, Green Eggs and Ham. We read them to The Kid, plus so many others.

Does anybody read to their kids anymore?

I love to read, and not on a Kindle, but a real book.  I love the way they smell, I like turning the pages.

I bought a book on Amazon, it arrived Friday, I was finished with it by Sunday pm.  The Fifth Wave, it's a teen book but I don't care.  I couldn't put it down.

What got all this started?  I just got back from a movie made from a book A Walk In
The Woods.  Have you seen it?

The Movie

The theater was filled with old people.  Yea, people my age, I know.  Sad.

Robert Redford was the lead character.  He's 79!  About the average age of the other theater attendees.  The lady beside me must have been 80, she was bouncing and swinging her legs like a school kid.  She giggled every time Mr. Redford said anything and screamed out in laughter at any type of a joke.

The characters were supposed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail.  They didn't look like they could get out of the parking lot.  I mean if you're going to make a movie about old guys hiking the A. T. why not cast someone who at least looks like he could walk to the front door.

Not my favorite movie.

Race Time

Enough of that whining. And speaking of old guys.  I'm looking forward to the Florida State Championship round at Tom Brown next weekend.  It'll be my last race in the 50-59 expert class as I will turn 60 next racing year and can move to any class I want.  Should I go to sport?  Maybe all the way back to base?  I even think there's a 60+ class now.  It won't matter, I'll still get my butt beat, just by a different bunch of people.

Then there's cross season coming up.  Plus the Dirty Spaghetti.  I just love this time of year.

But I Like It

The Flint River somewhere below Albany Ga.

I'm finally getting settled in after vacation.  It seemed to take a while this time.  The south in August can be trying.  But there was this:

The Social Event of the Season

Big Worm had a party, everyone who was anyone in the cycling community was in attendance.  It was an eclectic group.  Roadies sitting down with mountain bikers!  Next thing you know cats and dogs will be hanging out together.  I must have behaved since I didn't hear any stories to the contrary.

Wrecking Ball had told a story about beer and a bath robe so I modified a bottle of Sailor Jerry's Rum especially for him.  He couldn't resist.

A bottle of Sailor "Terry", specially modified for WB

The Kid Leaves (again)

Just when we'd gotten used to having him around he moved back down to Gainesville to start another year of school.  

The outside of The Kid's cabin in Gainesvile

Bikes were the first thing to get moved in

He was only down there 2 weeks, then he was back for:

The FSU SECCC Race at Tom Brown

Collegiate mountain bike racing starts early, like after the first week of classes early.  FSU hosted the first round this year so it was like a home race for The Kid.  He brought the whole team with him (all 2 of them) and they stayed with us.  It was fun to have that many young people in the house.  So much noise!

An unknown FSU rider negotiates the hairpin turn onto Cadillac 

They had a time trail on Saturday, then four cross (downhill bikes on the BMX track), and finally a short track.  Rain most of the day made for some slippery going, especially the four cross, which saw a couple of crashes.  They all got together at Tijuana Flats afterward.  And by that I mean all the teams got together.  There must have been 20 of them.  But they didn't invite me.

All I did was course marshall all day.  Glad to do it, but not much fun.

Alex leading the race

Sunday was the cross country.  UGA, FSU, Clemson, Auburn, UF, and Ga. Tech were represented.  It's a very relaxed atmosphere, no ya ya, just a bunch of kids having fun on MTBs.

Once again I was stuck out in the woods making sure the hikers and bikers didn't get run over.  I was as nice as I could be but some of those folks just wouldn't listen.  They have no idea how fast a MTB can go.

The Kid leading the Men's B

As I was directing traffic an FSU student says to me, "Man your grandson sure is fast" then he saw the look on my face "Oh, is that your son?  Sorry man, hey my dad looks old too, awww, you know what I mean".  It's those kind of comments that make you feel soooo good.  And yes, I did feel old among all those kids.

A young lady from Ga. Tech finds Cadillac a little difficult

It was all over by noon.  When I got back to the house it seemed so quiet.  Just The Lovely Wife, the cat, and me.  The night before those guys were so fired up about racing, so excited, telling race stories, laughing, eating garlic humus with garlic chips.  I'll admit to a certain level of envy (well for everything except the humus, it's still in the fridge).


I really have no business being envious.  I got to race moto for 40 years with a great group of guys. We traveled to races and trail rides with the same amount of enthusiasm as these kid have.  After I got into cycling I figured it could be the same with this sport.  But cycling seems to burn people out faster, or maybe it's just a function of getting older, or it could be me.

Anyhoo.

I wonder if the kids know how good they've got it?  Did we at that age?  When I was in college my roommate said "My dad said this would be the best time of my life.  If it gets any worse than this I'm gonna kill myself".  Of course, looking back, it was a great time.


Funny what being called grandpa will do to your head.

Rocky Mountain High

The view of Quandry from 13,000.  Those little dots are people.

Just a little bit more on the 14'r hike if you don't mind.

Before the looooong hike down

These guys wouldn't get off the trail

Keystone Co.

The Kid wanted to do some downhill so The Lovely Wife and I went along with him to the Keystone ski area.  I had no idea what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised.  It's like it's own city, complete with shops and restaurants.

The view of Quandry from Keystone

After watching a rider endo and compound fracture his collar bone I was apprehensive while watching The Kid get on the lift.  After he made a lap down the mountain safely The Lovely Wife and I grabbed a seat at a restaurant call Kickapoo.  They had tables on a deck right next to a creek. You know a beer at lunch always tastes better, add clear blue sky, mountains, and no gnats, and you've got an almost perfect day.

We bought lift tickets and went to the top of the mountain to hike a 2 mile trail.  Riding up was definitely easier than what we did the day before.

The Kid all armored up after his first run

The Kid ended his day with a big grin.  He said I wouldn't like it, said it was too technical for me.  Whatever.

Anyhoo, we had a great day.

The next day we went on the slowest road ride I've ever gone on.  All bike path.  Not the most fun but still an experience.

Headed Home

So much to do out there, so beautiful, so far away from us.  So hard to look at these pictures and not yearn to be back there.  I guess that's why we go away.  I want to try other places, we've been to Breck twice now, I wonder if the rest of the west has got anything better?  I hope we get to find out.

We Might as Well Enjoy the Trip Down

We hung around on the summit for a while.  With all the people on the trail I was surprised how few were at the top.

Proof

It didn't get tricky going back down till we hit the snow field.  There was a path about 2' deep but the bottom was ice over rocks.  Probably no trouble for most of these folks but it kinda freaked me out. People were waiting at the bottom to get up so there was an audience.  The Lovely Wife did a little slide about half way down but recovered quick.

Going back down this was interesting.

I kept thinking tree line wasn't that far down.  But as the rocks kept going, I got a hate going.  My knees were sore, I was just plain tired, and I was ready to get off the mountain.  

Sometimes you just had to stop but that only seemed to make it worse when you got back up.

Finally the tree line and a path that wasn't full of rocks

The Kid comes back to check on us

You see all kinds of folks on the mountain

Of course in the end we made it back to the stinky rental car.  7 hours is a long time to hike above 11,000'.  Some of us were faster so we could have cut some time off, but why bother, the mountain doesn't care how long it takes you.  We were fortunate we had good weather, I'd hate to be trying to scramble down that in a thunderstorm.

We saw people running up and back down, then again, we saw quite a few folks turn back at 13'000'. Some people seemed well prepared, some looked like they were shell shocked.  We saw one girl coming through the snow field in sandals.  Lots of dogs and young kids, those guys are braver than I am.

Would we do it again?  Sure, maybe not that mountain but another 14'r.  I don't think The Kid wants to go with us anymore though.  He tends to worry about the old folks, says we scare him if he has to watch us.

We were so tired we almost didn't want to go out to eat.  Nobody stayed awake past 9 that night.  And yes, we were some other kind of sore for the next few days.  Still, the plan called for a trip to Keystone the next day.  I call these days freestyle days.  We just do whatever comes up.  The Kid wanted to do downhill so that's how we ended up in Keystone.  It was interesting.  More tomorrow.

Hey Colorado

The water tastes better when you're far from home, or is it only the thirsty that hunger to roam?  I know coffee on the porch tastes better when it's 41 and frosty outside in late July.

I had hired a MTB guide along with rented bikes for The Kid and I on Monday.  It was my first time doing something like this, plus it was a little expensive, so I had my doubts.  But it all turned out great. We rode single track from downtown Breckenridge and by the time we hit 3 hours my legs were done.  I did wish for magic legs, or 19 year old legs, because I would to have done it all over again.

Tuesday

We walked out to the car to find this guy eating the grass off the back deck.  We did not disturb him.

Today was 14'r day.  Mt. Quandary, just outside of Breck was the mountain.  We got to the trail head at 6:30 and the parking lot was already half full.  The hike below tree line was like a computer generated landscape.  I hummed all the John Denver songs I knew.

Once we got above tree line things got a little tougher.  All scree and talus, which to start with had a trail through it.  That soon disappeared.

They say there are no easy 14'rs.  I now believe them.

The hike started around 11,000', I started to get tired around 13,000.  We hit the snow patch at 13,500, and the summit at 14,265.

I have to say it was an awesome view.  Very windy and 50 degrees.  Then we started down.

I feel like the guy in Avatar who gets the alien body for the first time when I'm up here. 

It was 3.5 miles to the top according to Strava, we averaged 1 mph (The Kid would want it know that he had to wait on us all the time).  The trip down would prove to be twice as difficult as the trip up.

Funny, it doesn't look steep in this picture, but we were crawling here.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how the trip down went.

The West is the Best

It was an auspicious start.  As we taxied away from the gate at the Tallahassee Airport at 6:00 in the morning, the pilot came on the intercom, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a computer malfunction and will need to shut the plane down for a minute and see if it will come back up.  The emergency lights will be the only thing on, I apologize for the inconvenience."  You could hear a pin drop when he shut it down.  We all sat in silence until he restarted and told us it had worked, then everybody let out a collective sigh.  We would make our connection in Atlanta.  I was to be a challenging day of travel to Colorado.

On the flight to Denver the two young children behind me amused themselves by kicking the back of my seat and squealing intermittently the whole flight.

I had arranged for a rental car through Priceline with Advantage.  When we got to their pick up lot there was a long line and only two people working the desks.  After a 30 minute wait the clerk handed me the keys, he said "You don't mind a Corolla instead of a Kia do you?"  I shook my head and left to find our car.

The little Corolla was filthy with so many dents and scratches I couldn't take pictures of all of them. The inside was stained and smelled like old shoes.  We crammed the bags in the trunk and got in line to go out the gate.  Two cars in front of us an older couple must have gotten in the wrong car and the lady checking us out told them to back up, so they did, which caused the car in front of me to start backing up, so I put it in reverse and turned around to try and see out of the muddy rear window.  I hear a horn blow and felt a bump.  Yes I had backed into another car.  All manner of chaos ensued.

Fortunately no damage except to my families ears due to my sudden inability to control my temper. We got out of Denver only to sit in stalled traffic on I-70 for an hour.  Hey, at least the view was nice.

Stopping at a Mexican Restaurant I had a beer.  The temperature was 61 and windy.  I forgot about the trip out, almost.

Crews Rest, our home for the next few days

The view off the porch

Sunrise

The Giant Kid and the old Smurff

We made it to the cabin.  Monday was better.  Can I tell you about that later?

A Little Bit of that Ole Chomp Chomp

All he was doing was trying to get across the shady paved road, somewhere outside of Monticello Fl. He was minding his own business when along comes this group of Lycra clad devils on machines. "Gator!" someone hollers as they zip by.  "Damn" he must have thought, "This just ain't gonna be my day."

They all stop and gather around him.  They are not afraid, after all he can't be more than 3 feet long, what harm could he do?  "We should move him off the road" one of them says.  After all, they are all basically nice people.  All with good intentions.  Still, not many cars pass this way.  One of them approaches.

Out come the cameras as the bravest (or dumbest) one circles him, trying to grab his tail so he can fling him to safety.

His face is not shown to protect his children from embarrassment

Please notice how he is reaching across, exposing his arm to the little mouth full of very sharp teeth. Moments after this was taken he grabbed the tail, the little fellow grabbed his arm, he yelled, flinging the gator, not towards the road side but towards the circle of people gathered to watch.  Much screaming and jumping around ensued.  The group rolled away, leaving little gator to continue his march across the road, and with a new found taste for human flesh.

Tupelos

On our little crew road ride last Saturday we stopped in Monticello at a little pastry shop called Tupelos.  All of the items are homemade except the drinks.  I had a huge piece of lemon bar cake and a root beer.  We all sat outside and got a sugar buzz while watching Silk howl at his video of the incident described above.

The Kid and I sprinted for yellow signs, county line signs, and city limit signs.  I kept having to change the rules to keep up with him.  I just don't have that extra kick that his 19 year old legs have. Imagine that.

New Tire

I put a new tire on the front of my MTB.  New rubber is awesome.  I was feeling froggy last Sunday, rolling down the multi use at Tom Brown.  As I leaned into a corner I found the limit of my new tires traction.  Sand over clay is a hard surface to lean into.  No major damage except for a new lack of confidence in my brand new tire.

Hey Colorado

We leave this weekend.  Highs in the low 70's, lows in the 40's at night, 0% humidity.  It's gonna be tough to stand that type of weather.  I'm taking a jar of gnats, I'll stick it over my ear, just to make it feel more like home.

I have the whole week planned out, it's a weakness of mine.  Monday we have hired a guide and rented MTBs.  Last time out there we spent most of the morning trying to find the trails, then when we did, it started to rain so I hope this goes better.  I've never done any type of a guided trip before.

Tuesday is the day we try to summit a 14'r.  I have no misconceptions about how hard this will be. The Lovely Wife has been training for months but it's hard to train for lack of oxygen.  If she falters we'll just give her a can of bear spray and a whistle and pick her up on the way back.  Heck, I'm not sure I can make it.

Wednesday is a recovery day, The Kid wants to do some rafting but we'll see how we feel.  I have a couple of easy hikes mapped out just in case.  Most likely it will be a tourist day, eating and shopping.

Thursday I have planned another cycling day, this one self guided and much easier than Monday.

Friday we fly home.  I know, I would have liked to stay longer but all the flights headed east were red eye.  I hate flying.

PS: There are two song lyrics in this post.  The first is the title which is from a Molly Hatchet song, Gator Country.  The second is the subtitle of this paragraph.  It's from a Gram Parsons song.  I bet only Wrecking Ball knows who he was.

Anyhoo, I'll see ya'll on the next page.

Gator Cycling at the TDF