The Pisgah 111K was last weekend, a great event and it’s in my backyard, I don’t even have to drive to the start. Unfortunately I decided not to line up for this year’s version, despite a perfect forecast and trails in close to perfect condition. The race is close to 70 miles in Pisgah and pretty much eats up an entire weekend day just two weeks removed from PMBAR and 4-5 weeks after the Stage Race. A time commitment that I just wasn’t ready to make this year. I won’t lie it’s a little unfortunate making those decisions and then seeing everyone get ready,  the bikes on the back of cars with number plates. I know I’m going to have a good weekend but there’s always that fear of missing out. I was also not completely happy with my go at the 111 last year and wanted some redemption. However that will have to wait until next year.

With Saturday not tied up with racing and not too many other really pressing things on the schedule Katie decided she was going to do a bigger ride. She also mentioned having some interest in PMBAR next year, maybe not riding with me but with a friend. With those interests I suggested they branch out on their ride and get to some trail they hadn’t spent much (if any) time on. So I offered to drive them up to Turkey Pen Rd. so they could ride Squirrel Gap all the way home. I’m excited for her to get out and see some of the other trail in the forest, as it is most of her time is spent around the Black Mountain lot with an occasional trip out to the hatchery. There really is some pretty good variety if you can get up to Turkeypen or North Mills area. The only unfortunate part of this was that she let me know they wanted to leave around 7 am. That’s not too early but was getting into my only ride window of the day since I would have the kids and my mom was in town.

However, Saturday was going to be about her and her riding. I made my plan to get out really early and make sure I was back by 7 am. I got up early, got my coffee, and made the decision to do 276 to the Hatchery, 475C, Bracken. In my head this was a 2 hour ride. After taking care of morning business I was a min or two late out the door and I had 1:54 mins to get the ride in. I started trying to run numbers in my head and got worried I was going to be late. I put my foot on the gas and kept it there for most of the ride. When it came to descending Bracken I went straight down, Blue, Yellow, Blue pretty much the fastest way down. It would turn out that if I’m riding hard that ride can be done in about 1:40, honestly I still had some gas so I think I might could do it a touch quicker if need be. Anyhow, other than the few bugs I ate it was a pretty cool ride and I was back in plenty of time to play shuttle for Katie.

I spent the rest of the day with my Mom, doing yard work, playing with the kids. The kinds of things I love to do on weekend days. I really do like to ride my bike early on the weekends as much as I can, that way I get to spend the rest of the day doing all of those things, it’s like the best of both worlds. You’ve just got to be willing to make the effort. Oh and the youngest is crawling now, so we have two that are mobile, I’m pretty sure this is the beginning of the end.

After a big ol Family breakfast Sunday morning I had the chance to get out and ride with TC. I also got the go ahead for a 3-4 hour ride, on a Sunday during the day, with a friend, so this was a pretty nice opportunity. We ended up doing a fair bit of gravel, but a good loop nonetheless. 477-276-475B-Cove Creek-Davidson River Trail-475C-Bracken . It was a lot of fun to get out and ride with a friend, something I don’t get to do near as often as I’d like. Trying to get schedules to line up when your windows to get out are so small is pretty tough. So when the opportunity arises it’s great to be able to take advantage.

We wrapped the weekend up with some family play time out at the lake, catching up with some other families, having a cold beer while everyone played in the water. Great way to cap off a pretty sweet weekend.