Twas the day before the Holidaze...

I must confess I've been a little more naughty then nice lately. The holiday is in full swing as I can tell by the string of hangovers from holiday office parties and other xmas season related debauchery. Now that getting down with co-workers is behind me I can focus on the business of bikes and beer. As most of you are aware the Holidaze alleycat is tomorrow and come rain or shine we will be at Pritchard Park tomorrow at 1:00. Bring your cans of food and the items on the listed on last weeks blog post and be ready for further instructions and to ride pedal at least 10 miles around the city.

The race will end where Industry Nine wheels are born (21 Old County Home Road, Asheville NC 28806). So if you want to leave a car and ride to Pritchard Park you can save yourself the hassle of pedaling back downtown in the dark. If you will be joining us strictly for the post race party, show up at Industry Nine (look for the Open House Signs and ballons) around 4:00 and have a beer. The party should be happening at I9 till 7:30 then the kegs will move to another location (most likely the Crow's Nest).

We hope to see you tomorrow.

Jut

The Holidaze is almost here..

The Holiday season is now upon us and Crow Nest Productions and the Pisgah Brew Crew are planning one hell of a good time. We are proud to announce the first annual Holidaze Alleycat - Scavenger Hunt. Well WTF is an alleycat scavenger hunt you ask, please allow me to explain.

We will converge on Pritchard Park at 1:00 on Saturday December 20th for an urban ride in which there will be a few mandatory checkpoints combined with a search for Asheville landmarks and other objectives, clues, and challenges along the route. If you take a shortest route possible you will ride approx. 7-9 miles so bring a bike or costume that can handle a few miles of pedaling.

The ride will most likely end at a location in West Asheville where food and various drinks will be served (more on this later if you want to drop a car). A keg or two of Pisgah Brewing’s finest will of course be in the house so get ready to party and dance into the night after riding your bike around the city for a few hours.

The ride is meant to be fun but speed and knowledge of downtown Asheville will certainly help and prizes will be awarded for fastest time and most points as well as other awards. The entry will cost you 5 cans of food that will be donated to a local charity.

What will you need to bring?

A bicycle and light.
A messenger bag or backpack.
Bike Lock
Pen and paper.
Digital Camera or camera phone.
A few bucks for drinks along the way.
A map of the city might help if you don’t know your way around very well.
A cell phone.
5 cans of food.

How it’ll work:
Meet at 1pm by yourself or with a team of 2 to 3 people and be given:
1. Set of clues to look for, either pictures, information, or objects
2. Clue to get to the first mandatory checkpoint.
First three to get to each mandatory and complete the task receive X points. Each objective will have a point value on it as well. At first mandatory checkpoint, follow instructions from volunteer. Pretty easy.. Show up, ride your bike and party.

Holiday Costumes encouraged.

Abundance and Bicycles

Thanksgiving weekend Asheville 08. You name it, I rode it, ate it or drank it. Bent Creek single track, dirt jumps, dual slalom, pump track, nighttime xc racing, urban assault, and girls on handle bars.

Word up to my Flint Street family for hosting the good times on Thursday and all my crew who brought feast and to a lovely lady who dropped off the good stuff. Nashville rock star J Massey and one of Missoula's finest, Jhen, were in Asheville so needless to say we rocked it out in between riding our bicycles for four days.

The first annual Gobbler race came and despite the weather and the hours of post race bike maintenance it will require, I had a blast. I opted out of the downhill due to not wanting to take all my bikes apart but I am sure people got muddy and crashed a lot. I had enough of it after the night time xc race and slept in on Sunday. Good venue, cool event, good people, bad weather, oh well, at least the weather couldn't be much worse next year.

Well, the house guest have left, the fridge is full of leftovers, and there is a half full keg of porter in my front yard. Thanksgiving just won't stop giving.

jut

T.M.T.O.M.H.

Well, Im a jet fuel genius - I can solve the worlds problems Without even trying I have dozens of friends and the fun never ends That is, as long as Im buying Is it any wonder Im not the president (hes not the president) Is it any wonder Im null and void? Is it any wonder Ive got Too much time on my hands, its ticking away at my sanity Ive got too much time on my hands, its hard to believe such a calamity Ive got too much time on my hands and its ticking away from me Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands.


-Styx

lovely ladies micheal mooney on his tall mountain bike
credit: smmilleratcitizen-times.com

This weekend offered two totally different rides. Saturday I hit the Asheville Holiday Parade and partied/rode with the AOB (Asheville On Bikes) crew. The Pugsley got a make over and is now equiped with built in speakers and an exhust pipe that is hooked up to a bubble blower. Fun times.

Sunday offered some Dual Slalom and Downhill fun at the Headwaters Adventure Center in Brevard which is home to The Gobbler this coming weekend. The downhill trail will push anyone who isn't use to crazy steep and my years of bmx still didn't prepare me for the dual slalom. A little steeper than your average bmx track to say the least. This weekend should be interesting. At least there will be a good party. J Massey is coming into town, look the fuck out Asheville.

Fall Riding in Pisgah

I've been laying low and doing some amazing rides lately. Last Friday Ivory and I climbed up Laurel Mtn with 30 ft of visibility at all times to the Parkway and dropped Big Creek in the dark in the rain. We pulled off some amazing technical trails and were having a clean ride till we hit steps at the top of Big Creek. Slick covered in leaves at dusk in the rain they proved to be a good challenge. I barely escaped and Ivory took an amazing fall but lived to tell the tale.

Yesterday we did some early season snow riding in Pisgah. Good times, snow covered roots/rocks and baby possums.

Get out there and ride.

Jut

Get Swanky Yall.

What a difference a day and chatting with a few of the old school crew makes. The Swank 65 is this weekend and haven't really been getting excited about it until today. Several of the Yazoo Crew are heading to the mountains to join in the fun and Pillsbury is coming in from Chatty. Strength in numbers and good beer waiting at the finish line have me thinking about pedaling hard once again and seeing what I can take. I pulled off a third place finish in SS last year after pedaling my touring bike to the race from Nashville to Asheville in a few days. This year my training for the event consisted of riding everyday i could for two months, taking two weeks off, racing Double Dare, taking two weeks off and now then jumping in head first to the Swank. I have never had a training regimen (obviously) or a planed too far in advance when it comes to racing. I just get excited right before someone says go and a switch flips in me and it on. I think it comes from my years of racing BMX.

To "train" for BMX you simply rode as much as you could after school and on weekends with your buddies for fun and when it came time to line up on the gate you're cool and calm till the gate drops. When you heard that sound of gate hitting the ground, the race was on! I still have the same attitude when it comes to MTB Racing. I say I don't feel like going fast today, then when it's time to race I can't hold myself back.

So, I am once again looking forward to hanging with my friends and fronting with a lackadaisical attitude five minutes prior to racing. I will be thinking "I am going to ride with my buddies and just "chill" and enjoy the ride today" that is until someone says go and I take off. BMX roots never die, thank god.

Riders ready, watch the lights...


Jut Rut (aka Cru Jones wanna be)

What Happened? / What's Zappenin!

Wow, what an amazing past few days. Halloween weekend was more fun than a thirty something should have! Lots of people on bikes and good times at the Pumpkin Peddler. Have I mentioned that Asheville is a cool town to live in. A good 50 people plus were out in costume and taking it to the streets on Friday night. Then it was off to party with a few hundred more people at the Wedge post bike ride and the Brew Crew even got a gravel lot derby going. The competition was fierce and to my amazement nothing but our livers were injured. We had a number of good riders going for it and it came down to Adam and Marshall dueling it out in the gravel lot with Marshall taking the win from an owl on a fixed gear with skinny tires. Don't mess with the owl... Marshall was the proud winner of a RAD t-shirt which by the way are available. If you don't get the costume, I was Crew Jones for Halloween. Who is Cru Jones you ask, well he was only the coolest bmx kid to come out of 80's and main character in the movie RAD. If you want a t-shirt let me know and just like in the movie they are ten bucks and proceeds go to the RAD Racing Team also known as Pisgah Brew Crew. Pick one up and maybe I will get to race Hell Track.

Saturday was a rest day and there was a plan to lead a ride Saturday night on Farlow Gap. Bruce and I packed up the gear and made our way to the SORBA gathering at Cove Creek in hopes of keeping the party going and combining it with a downhill ride that would offer more opportunities for the type of destruction one should welcome on the Day of the Dead. Well, the SORBA crew is a great bunch but I think our need for a good time out weighed the need to climb to the top of Farlow and risk life and bike so we hung out for an hour or so and sampled some beer and chili and made our way back to town for the Day of the Dead Dance Party. It was a good call and the Apple Pie Shooters combined with killer dance tunes proved to be more fun than a potential hike out of Farlow Gap with broken bones, bike and camping in the cold with a bunch of dudes.

Tuesday was another reason to celebrate and a big high five to Obama, his staff, volunteers and supporters who made it happen. I am feeling better about the direction of the country and our place in the world already. I'm not expecting miracles from him (at least in the first term) but anything is better than the past eight years of right wing - neocon - world domination in the name of Jesus philosophy that president asshole brought to the table.

Alright, enough ranting. Well this weekend looks to be another good one. I am heading to Pisgah Brewing tonight to grab a keg of Organic Goodness for the race / gathering this weekend. Although I am not feeling like "racing" 42 miles in Pisgah on a single speed this weekend I signed up and paid my dues so I will be on the line and ready to do it come Sunday. The Swank 65 is a good race and hopefully my attitude changes and I find my legs when Todd says "GO". It doesn't help that I have a crew of friends heading up for the race and it's difficult to catch up with them as you bomb Farlow Gap. It also doesn't help that my roommate's band, High Windy, is playing Jack of the Wood on Saturday night and I have plans not to miss the show. Keep riding and keep rockin' good people, see you on the trail.

Jut Rut