What, I Have Limits?

Last weekend was just too much fun for my immune system to handle and I am happy to report that today I am starting to feel better. I picked up the flu bug that's been going around. Now I haven't been sick in over two years so it came as quite a shock to my way of life. It's been four days of laying on couch trying to stay comfortable while my body feels like I have just had my ass kicked. There are a lot of people in this country that would not mind sitting on a couch watching tv for a few days but I am not one of them. It's been movie marathon at the crow's nest, with a few funny ones, some classics and a sad one. But with the help of theraflu, vicodin, and orange juice I am getting back to the world of the living. Since I am improving it looks like I can stick to the plan of heading to the Snake to hang with the crew. All the boys will be there in black and although I will not be "racing for a relapse" I will be there passing out beers at the half way point with the team car there for the boys just in case. It's been a few weeks since I have gotten to see the most of the crew so I can't wait to hang with the boys and girls. I am bringing Pisgah Works Bruce along with me so get ready for wild times Chattanooga. It's on...

Jut

bikes, beers and boogie nights.

Damn, it took me just about all week to recover from last weekend and of course as soon as I feel good it's time to get back to business of throwing down. Thursday was a little better than your average good day in Asheville. Started off with a good ride around town, followed by another enlightening green building class that focused on the structural options when going green. Stopped by a friends house on the way back from my class and kicked off the afternoon with an hour on a massage bed just to loosen me up a bit for what the night would hold. Call up Bruce grab a few beers and were off to see Boombox. These guys are going to hit Nashville in March and if you want to get down then check these guys out at the Exit In when they hit town. Two guys - a guitar and drum machine and they rock a tight groove. The scene in Asheville was of course sweet with plenty of dangerously cute Asheville ladies gettin' down. Rocked out until 2:30 and hung out with Jon Fishman for a while when he stopped by Stella Blue around 2:00 after playing with Yonder Mtn String Band up the street earlier in the night.

Friday was another urban ride and more funky good times. Hit the west side of town for food and drinks at The Admiral then walked across the street for some more good funk music at the Rocket Club. Hung out and boogied till 1:00 and when the music wrapped up at the Rocket Club it was time for more at the Crow's Nest Lounge.

Saturday it was time for some bike love. Matt J, Stan and I hit Richmond Park with the pups for some disc golf action to warm things up. Nice course with lots of elevation changes and trees that make for a tight and challenging course. Judah loved it and it's great to know there is a great course about 5 minutes away. Bike love kicked off with drinks at Bruce's then it was time to pedal over to the River Arts District. Oh my god, did this party rock. Bikes, free beer from French Broad Brewery, and three bands. Tons of cool bike people and Bruce dressed up like a bad porn star meets Vinny the mobster. Beers were consumed, the bands rocked, and once again the night wrapped up with me dancing on a school bus with the back cut off and dance floor installed at 4:00 am this morning. I haven't had more fun since the last night I can't remember. Thanks to all that threw this party and the girl who got me home. BIKE LOVE!

Hugs and Kisses. Jut

Livin' the Dream

Wow, feels like I have lived a lifetime in the past four days. To borrow a phase from an old movie, I have been sucking the marrow out of life. Now where do I begin?

I finished making my bed frame on Thursday. Cool platfrom bed style. Made it for less than 200 bucks and used all natural products, good times and now I finally have real bed. Went out with some other single fellas on Thursday night and called it a day.

The boys hit town on Friday. Jamie and I kicked it off with keg run to Pisgah Brewing Company and a trip to the I-9 Factory. They are located right outside of West Asheville and have an amazing facility with more bad ass wheels, machines and dirt jumps than one could ever imagine. These boys are doing it right and once I sell a few Green Homes I will put some green down on a set of amazing wheels. Check out Jamie’s blog for more photos as I forgot my camera to document the amazing work that goes into a set of these wheels. Big thanks to the boys for the kind welcome and for the beers and letting me borrow a bike to blast some air on their sick set of jumps. Elliot and Greg soon arrived at the Crow’s Nest and it was off to Barleys Tap Room for darts, beers and slices. Emmie, Fred and Libby joined the boys and we headed back to the pad to tap the keg of Pisgah Pale and had a dance party to celebrate Emmie’s birthday at the stroke of midnight.

Saturday was hazy to say the least as the good times on Friday night rolled well into the am. We hooked up with Benet, the yazoo boys and Bishop and decided to ride Pisgah. The wind storm from last week did some serious damage and we quickly found ourselves hiking over, under, and around giant trees that had taken a beating from the intense winds that blew though. We made the call to head to Bent Creek after getting on/off the bike numerous times over the a span of 500 feet. The boys headed to Bent Creek and I hit the store for party supplies. The party picked up around 8 and went off till around 2 am. Probably had a good 50-60 people thru the Crow’s Nest over the course of the evening. Great people, great music & great times. It went by in a blur and finally crashed out around 4 am.

Woke up at 8:30 to the ride call. I was secretly hoping for a rain out and a few more hours of sleep but it was only light rain and the threat of more to come so we headed out to Black Mtn. for the Sunday epic. Met up with Matt J at Biowheels, and hooked up with Chris B, and Bishop at the trail head for Kitsuma. Climbed up Rattlesnake in cold winds and light rain on the big squishy bike. Now this was the third time I have taken the Blur off road. The gears came in handy for the multimile climb up rocks and roots to the top of Heartbreak Ridge. The gears however did not seem to help with my lack of energy and hangover from the past three nights of burning it at both ends and a five hour bike ride in Pisgah is not the smartest after 4 hours of sleep. The crew was nice enough to wait for me at the several points along the climb for which I am eternally grateful. It wasn’t all pain and suffering though as there was great 6 mile decent waiting for us once we reached the top. The climb back up to the car was rough and I was VERY happy to see the car once I was done. After ride pizzas at My Fathers in Black Mtn where 7 guys consumed enough food to feed a small community and I could feel the life coming back into me. Great day overall, we missed the major rains that came in an hour after we wrapped up and I was able to call the weekend to a close.

This barely touches on all that took place and I am still too tired to type much more. Come on up boys and girls, Jamie, Dunn and Elliot will admit that it doesn’t get much better than a weekend at the Crow’s Nest.

Until next time...

Jut

Happy Valentines Day!

Now, I have never been attacked by a Cougar but I could use a serious mauling right about now. Today is V-day and society and our significant others expect us to get a cheezie card, go shopping or buy dinner. I say buck the trends and just really let your partner know how you feel by giving them some of the good stuff, screw the shopping part and just screw. I saw too many lame jewelry commercials last night on tv and dudes at Target looking for some last minute piece of crap to express their love. Excuse me but yes I am jaded this V-Day, my leg is re-injured from the death march on Black Mtn, so I can’t even ride my bike which is the only thing I have been "riding" these days. With no home girls is Asheville to make me forget about my pain guess I will just have to get over it. For you out there who do have someone, get down, go down and don’t stop till rocking till the break of dawn. All of my love…

Jut

The Funk Will Cure Your Pain

no pics just links. Last week was a struggle. The peg leg kept me moving slow till Friday. However, a ride around town and a party on Friday night loosened things up a bit. After a few singapor slings at Bruce's and Ian's pad, I bit off a little more than I wanted when I called out Black Mtn Trail in Pisgah for the Saturday ride. Although when I called it I wasn't thinking we would actually ride up Black Mtn Trail. The only time I have ridden it I climbed the fireroad only to go down Black Mtn. Well, Bruce had a different way to ride it so Chris B, Callam and I followed. It started intense enough as my blood was pumping 100 yards into the trail. As soon as we start heading up we see a creek crossing equiped with a gap jump on one side coming off the hill. Nothing too big but it was a good 10-12 feet across and a few feet down if you didn"t make it. Now, I had not been on the bike in a week and hadn't even started to warm up but I felt the urge to jump it. I headed up the trail about a 100 feet thinking I would do a practice run to check the line, speed, etc. but at the last minute committed and sailed into the air 7 ft above the creek going way too slow to clean it with ease but luckly only cased the other side with my rear wheel suffering no real damage. With my heartrate pumping I proceeded to see if I could make it come out of my chest byclimbing every thing possible as we headed up Mountain with one gear to choose from. Once we hit the ridge we decended Buckhorn Gap to the Pink Beds up Club Gap back to the ridge and headed to Bennett Gap to finish off the day with a great decent. After a good 4 hours of serious riding in Pisgah I decieded to call it a day and took it easy on Saturday night as my fun that day was had on the trail.

Sunday was Chris Benents B-Day and there was a party at the bowling alley to celebrate. Pitchers of beer, some bowling balls and good party was on. Met a couple of cute ladies that were interested in going to hear Maceo Parker and my decesion to hit the Orage Peel later that night was made. Pedaled home, grabbed some food and pedaled to the show thru crazy headwinds. Holly funkin funk. Grand Pianoramax openned the show and these guys threw down. A little spoken work with some badass beats. Check em out! After a killer openning band, Maceo and crew came out and got the funk on. It was like watching a master at work pulling out all the stops with a band made up of some of the most bass ass funk musicians still alive. The set was great and they played for what had to be 2.5 hours. Give the drummer some, as he cranked out the whole set never taking a rest while the rest of the musicans got to do a little rotation. Great show and one that should have me riding high on the funk for the rest of the week. As my friend Nicole said, "he needs to play every Sunday". It sure would make the rest of the week alot better. Jamie P is heading this way on Friday. We are hitting I-9 for a factory tour and a session on the Pump Track they built behind their building on Friday afternoon to kick it off, damn I love bicycles. If anyone is up for getting down this weekend bring the funk, party at the Crow's Nest on Saturday night and rides all weekend. Word.

In case you need a little more funk in your day. hit me again...

Jut

Fat Tuesday and Peglegs

Marti Gras has come and gone and all I have to show for it is a headache and temporary pegleg. Yesterday started off healthy enough as I ate some good oatmeal and set off for a 3 hour ride with Bruce. We climbed up to the parkway in 70 degree temps and sunny skies. We had an adventure route in mind and I trusted Bruce who had looked at a map to get us there and back without any major hikes or trails that would require us to stay out overnight. About an hour into the climb my legs let me know that they are not quite back from the race weekend, with heavy legs I push the pedals of the sycip up the Blueridge. We hit the trail about an hour and a half into the ride and just as quickly we are off the bikes and hiking up road stairs and navigating major rock outcrops. It was fun for a little while, kinda like riding Hamilton Creek with the opportunity to fall of a major cliff if mistakes were made. Grinding up a steep mountain side was not the recovery ride my legs were looking for and when we ran into hikers who informed us that our final destination was still 7 miles UP the mountain with more of the same I decided this was as far as I was going for the day. We turned around and headed back down, which made for some very technical descending along with exploring some historic sites where there were remnants of a hunting lodge built in 1900.

Back in Asheville I cracked the first beer of the day, gave the dogs a bath, made some lunch and got ready for the fun to come. Being Marti Gras Day it was only fitting to be drinking by 3:00. I have been to the Gras a few times and spent my far share of time in the streets of New Orleans so I know how to kick it. Ty got home and we were off to the bar. Three pints of Pisgah Pale at Jack of the Wood started things off. Meet some good people there but decided it would not be Marti Gras without a pretty colored Rum drink so we walked down the street and caught a seat at the Yacht Club for Hurricanes. The drinks were great but at eight bucks a pop it was a little too much like New Orleans so we headed back to the house ate some food, drank some Yazoo Dos and grabbed the bike for what adventure was next. As Bruce and I were heading down town Ty calls to say that the Grey Eagle was “going off harder that he has ever seen it”. The Firecracker Jazz Band was playing the marti gras party and they were tearing it up. Tons of people shaking their butts like it was the Dragon’s Den in the French Quarter. Lots of cute ladies in costume, two dollar Turbo Dogs, and a smoking hot band makes for a good time and a good time we had. Meet several ladies via the dance floor, learned how the do the Charleston and caught a beer buzz that only Turbo Dog can provide. Not quite satisfied when the band wrapped up at 12:30 we head downtown for a night cap. I don’t remember the name of the bar but I do remember overweigh chicks flashing titties a few feet away from me. Kinda like a car wreck that you don’t want to look at but for some reason you can look away. Oh well, after a pint a several titty shots later I decided it was time to roll. Got my bike out of Ty’s car and pulled the lamest move I have done in years. With a running start I tried to jump onto the seat only to miss, plant my left foot on the ground and let the bike ride away with my other foot on the pedal. I very quickly found myself doing the splits and laying in the middle street on Broadway in front of Barleys Taproom looking around for cars or someone laughing their ass off. Fortunately since it was past 1 there were neither so I get up only to realize that I could hardly walk and my leg muscle was wrenched from me doing the spits. The pain went to my head and I felt like I was going to throwup. I hobbled inside, gave Ty his keys and headed back out to fresh air and my bike that I now had to ride home. I couldn’t throw my leg over the bike so I decided to start walking (hobbling) up the hill towards home. At the top I made it to the pedals and used my good leg to get me home. Feel asleep to escape the pain, only to be awoken by severe pain and a wicked hangover. Didn’t want to have to get up for fear of falling down but did eventually and have been hobbling around all day. I got the whole pirate walk down pat by now, I just need a cool hat and parrot and I can hit the open seas. Hope to be back on the bike in a few days, wish me well.

The Icycle has Melted

The Icycle was this weekend and all I have to say is "good times". Headed out Friday to hook up with some of the Yazoo Crew and check into our cabin. Beers were consumed a downhill course was created in our front yard and the weekend was on. Elliot, Dan D, Dunn and Kurt made the trip up in time to get out for a ride around Fontana Village. Great stuff to explore and play on everywhere, the place is basicly a playground for bicycle and play we did. Our cabin just happened to be at the highest point on the hill so everytime we rode somewhere via bike we got to climb all the way back up top. So needless to say I got in my climbing miles this weekend. After a little backwoods urban type ride we made some dinner, more beers, and decided we were appropriately buzzed for a few night runs on the downhill course. We would pedal up from our cabin, bomb down and meet up with the volunteer driver and hauled ass back up the hill for another. The first night the trail was covered with leaves and very slick after it rained all night on Thurday and Friday morning. Some exciting runs and we called it a day kicking it Yazoo Crew style well into the night.

I love races that start at noon! I slept in and rose to a good cup of coffee and one enormous pancake prepared by Dunn. The thing was so big I couldn't even finish it. We roll down the hill around 11:00, sign up and roll around with a boys for a few. In pedaling around I noticed every other bike was a single speed. I haven't seen this many people lined up racing ss since Sea Otter or the worlds in 05! Turns out there are 40 riders all racing with one gear and by the looks of the bikes there better be some fast dudes here. We line up for a Lemonds start that was fortunetly just a short sprint to the bikes. Across the field I am able to make out my bike since I had red grips so I actually run for the bike in hopes of a decent start. the race began with a short grassy climb to a small section of pavement then you hit a muddy wall of mountain side. Wanted to ride but it was pointless so I jump off and run up the hill. My heart is coming through my chest and I am only 60 seconds into this race. I made my way into 3rd by the top of the run up and ask myself what have I done. I have basicly set myself up to suffer for the next two laps knowing that I am in a podium spot but first suffer miserably for the next hour or so to hang on to it. My heart rate never comes down and all I think about is the 36 other people that are trying to catch me. I press on and 3/4 of the lap down I am caught. Feeling rough as I head into a downhill section covered in leaves I spend too much time on the brakes and sure enough a dude on a surly catches me and pulls away. Spent the next lap or so looking for him but was never able to pull him back in. Lucky for me though as I didn't see another rider except to pass a few people with gears. Good race and the trails were in great shape considering the rain 24 hours prior. Took home a 4th outta 40 or so guys.

Next it was back to homebase to replace all the calories I burned with some of the best post race beverage in the world, BEER. Me and the crew brought enough of the good stuff to keep the party rockin all weekend so we threw down while I put the rigid fork on the Sycip to get her ready for the late night festivities. The downhill race began around 7:30 and we, the "HARDASS" class were the last ones to get to go. This of course just meant more time to drink beer and get drunk so we headed back down to the cabin for two more pints then hung out by the raging can of fire at the start with Ivory and tried to see who could be the loudest and most obnoxious of the hardasses before we started our race. Ivory and I have a more than healthy (make that unhealthy) spirit of compitition between the two of us so I really didn't care who beat me as I came across the line before him. I just beat him last summer at Fontana to take 2nd and he finished 3rd in the ss crosscountry race so he was looking for payback too. Ivory bust out his secret weapon before the start, a 42 x 16 gear but it would prove to be no match for the fur and a 32 x 17. My desire for once again staying a few seconds in front of Ivory pushed me to lay down the second fasted time the night in the H.A. class and Ivory took home 3rd. Better luck next time and remember, one secret weapon at a time there wildman.

More beers and a party. Free kegs flowing everywhere and a house full of drunken mtb freaks made the post race as fun as any race I can remember (or not remember). In our cabin we had drums, guitars, harmonicas, a gaint speaker hooked up to the laptops and a box that rocked. We kicked it hard till 1am when M.J. proposed a night mission. Normally at 1am after drinking/riding all day I would have had to think about it for a second but the time was right for one more ride... We set off with Matt leading the way up the mountain as Cal and I tag along. A good hour at night riding ridge trail with a bed of leaves 6 inches thick made me feel like I was laying down fresh tracks in the snow on my board. We hiked up some seriously steep hill looking for the trail we wanted only to find a good spot to chill have enjoy one last beer, a few minutes with nature and what ever animal was making the wicked sound by the rock overhang. Back on the bikes with one less light I lead us out as Matt rode blind behind me in deep leaves over rocks and fallen trees. We made it back with no crashes, hit the front yard down hill once more and called it a night.

Great weekend and if you happen to be a couple hours from Fontana next year on the first weekend of Feb this is the place to be. One last note from my sponsor that I would like to share with you all. This came to me this today after emailing Linus this morning.

"I'd be glad to sponsor the team again this year. The wool jerseys are the most popular items we sell at the brewery, even at the price. We sold our last one back in November and actually had two people fighting over who saw it first. We need to get some more in stock.

I appreciate the exposure that the team is giving our brand. I'd like to do more to promote the team's successes at the different races throughout the year. Could you send me more info throughout the year and I'll start putting it in our newsletter. I'd also like to get some kind of group picture put up in the taproom, something like "What's Happening with Team Yazoo" where we can post some news about the team."

So fellas, let's keep our sponsor up to date on the what's up. And to everyone out there, make 2008 your best year ever.

Peace.

Jut