Christmas 2011

We had another super cool Christmas Eve together.  Shey, Jafer, Everett, Jansen and I met at the IHP to go for a ride/run, then we shared a special Christmas Eve meal together at Chic Fil A.  Yep, "It's my pleasure!"  Finally, we headed home for our Christmas Eve drive. 

We loaded up the car with boys, dogs and glogg and set off on our Christmas drive/dog walk to look at the lights.  Lots of cool lights to look at along the way and it was nice to have everyone home for another year on this special holiday.   We took a walk along Floyd street, where all the antebellum homes are, and talked and laughed together like we do every week.  We are so lucky!  Jafer was tired from working crazy hours this past month, but the glogg and hot cocoa pepped him up before it was time to open gifts. 

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So, back at the house Santa had left some pretty cool stuff for all of us and we enjoyed unwrapping each present while watching some weird leprechaun Christmas claymation movie................yep, weird.  Cycling stuff for everyone.  A super awesome hoody for Everett.  Grandpa slippers for Jafer.  Home Depot card for Jansen.  Another Garmin for Shey (we love playing with those things!).  Hincapie fashion for me.  I think the Pez candy dispensers were a favorite for the guys!

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Everett, caught snacking again, Jafer in his new cycling cap, Jansen is a cycling Ninja!

Shey got coal in his stocking.

Serena got a pig, that lasted 3 days before Indy tore the stuffing brains out and turned it into a pig zombie.

Indy the pig hater........

Another wonderful year with our extended family and friends.  We have so much to be thankful for!

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Weekend Two at The Crash Pad!

We planned a long weekend of riding around staying in Chattanooga, TN at the Crash Pad hostel.  The first day we wanted to hit at least 4 hours at Raccoon Mountain, then head down to Dalton on Sunday to ride the Pinhoti trails west toward the border.

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Everett wanted to stay and study for his last final, which was Monday and work at the bike shop, so we dropped him off at the shop on our way out of town.  Then it was a straight shot up the hwy to Raccoon Mt., where Jansen was sure he got the cold side of the car as we were changing.....brrrrrr.

Jansen tried these new Duro tires.  We love the reverse skunk look they have.

The views were spectacular, as always.

Fun rock drop-offs.

I always love the way this little part of the trail looks.  It feels like you are on another planet.

It was getting pretty dark on the trail as I came around a corner and Chattanooga's lights came into view.  It felt like the whole town was decorated for Christmas.

We only have a little cheap camera, so I couldn't get a great picture of moon over the city, but it was pretty cool.

After our ride we hit Greenlife for some yummy dinner.  The pizza was awesome!

Dessert was a snowman.

Chattanooga was having some sort of holiday celebration and as we drove down main street we saw storm troopers, wing fighters and lots of other characters with no less than 10 Santas.  (it was hard to tell which one was the real one)

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We got a good night's sleep at the Crash Pad and in an odd coincidence I found the same group of young climbers, that I had visited with the last time we stayed at the hostel,  were there again this weekend.  We got up semi-early Sunday morning and drove down to Dalton, then out to the boon-docks to park at the lot for the start of our ride.

The three of us rode together for the first section of the trail and shortly came across this water crossing......Shey said  "sh**, I forgot about this.  It's not really a problem in the summer."  Socks and shoes off and a careful crossing over slick, mossy concrete.

It was freezing, but luckily our legs/feet went numb pretty quickly.

So, 27 miles of great trail that looked barely ridden and service roads.  Lots of climbing in the beginning.  Three sets of sofa/love seats. (we have decided to start taking pictures of all the sofas we see unloaded on the side of the road/trail as we ride...we may make a coffee table book, look for it soon on Amazon)   Amazing views.  More seriously amazing views!  Very happy to have Snickers in my pack.  Worried I had lost the trail several times, but never did.  Everyone back before dark.

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Some vegetation attacked Jansen.

All in all it was another great weekend of riding with the family.

Georgia Cyclocross State Championships Masters 35+ 2011

The Georgia Cyclocross State Championship race was held this past Sunday at Yargo State Park.  Everett had to study for his final exams (though he is a former state champion in cross), so Shey, Jansen and I headed out to the race.  Yargo always has a great course with technical turns, fast flats, gravel and a long sand section.

Shey raced first, in the Masters 35+, and went out hard with Eric Neely.  The two of them stayed together through most of the 45 minute race and Nate was always a threat who was close behind.  It was quite nerve-wracking for the spectators!  Shey finally pulled away in the end for the win and the chance to wear another State Championship jersey.  Yeah!

Shey and Eric through the sand.

The guys coming fast into the barriers.

Cyclocross is a great adrenaline rush, but it's also really nice to catch up with old friends and we enjoyed talking to people we don't normally get to see during the mtb season.  Lamar is pretty excited that Everett is leaning toward the field of robotics. Travis is a staple at these races and is looking quite strong this year.  Bruce is back, what more can I say.  Peter looked good dancing around the course on his pink bike.  Farmer G. took Joey on in the SS race, which was hilarious!  Holly crashed spectacularly and won  some huge silver glasses that Andy had found on the side of the road while riding over to Yargo.  Lee made the guys drool with his zip-tie gun....ooooh....aaaaah.....Josh and Amy have the cutest little boy who was dressed up like a bear... Cross is one big happy family!   It was great to see everyone!

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Huge congrats to Shey for a hard-fought title!!

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Georgia Cyclocross State Championships Juniors 15-18 2011

Jansen raced his age category this weekend and was hoping to have some fun.  He has a lot of hours on his legs from weeks of base and we hoped they would 'wake-up' for a sprint!   You could tell he was having a good time on the course as he made his way around each lap and watching him ride through the sand was pretty cool.  He had two Cycle Youth teammates and a Fulton Flyers (road) teammate out there with him and they were all riding strong.

The start of the juniors 15-18 race.

By the second lap he had a 1+minute gap on the field and rode smart for the win.

We were so jazzed to see Mike there!  He came out on his mtb to ride the trails and make Bruce feel good about his crazy red and white kit.  Mike is in Atlanta and just finished his training as a EMT/Firefighter.  That is AWESOME!

Retro pic of Tristan, Mike, Everett and Jansen, hanging out after a race at Tsali.  All four have been state champs and Tristan and Mike made the national team as juniors and competed at the world championships.

I had planned a long ride on the trails at Yargo, but we were all so hungry after the guys finished their races, that we hit the road for burritos, instead.......and Elizabeth is never one to turn down yummy mexican food!  I think she and Jansen are discussing her new chickens in this pic.  We missed Everett and Jafer this weekend, but hope to catch up with those guys shortly for more riding.

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Huge congrats to Shey and Jansen on their new jerseys!!!

Working off Thanksgiving at Bear Creek

 5 hours of Cohutta is the perfect way to burn off that awesome Thanksgiving Day meal!

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We decided to meet Monte and John at Gates Chapel for a 8:30 am start and you know what?!?!?!?!  We were on time!!  I know, I know you don't believe me, so I got a picture!

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This is the Lindner's on time......right here  \/

Ready to roll....

The guys did a big loop up Bear Creek, Potato Patch, Pinhoti Terminus, Mountaintown, Bear Creek and lots of FS roads in between.  I did P1, P2, 68, Bear Creek, ascend  Mountaintown....yep, just because Shey told me not to....that took freakin' forever, crazy rocky climb.....then derailleur got a little bent and then I met the boys on their way down Mountaintown, so I then descended MT and rolled my wet butt back to the car.  Wet from hitting hard in the middle of TWO of those crazy creek crossings.

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Great 5 hours and tired legs on the way home.

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I had lunch here:

With my little friend.

The trails were amazing and the creeks and waterfalls kept me smiling.

This is not the one I fell in, but there were at least 6 creek crossings and I got to cross them twice!  Yea for me!  I rode hard into most of them, but the current caught me in one of the deep crossings and I went down pretty hard and  then I went down in a second creek crossing for no apparent reason other than to cool off my butt and get my backpack nice and wet.  Oh well.  Thank goodness I was wearing wool socks and gloves!

Beautiful trails!  And the guys really enjoyed hanging with Monte and John D.  Thanks so much for driving up from Macon you two!

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The Perfect Weekend Smells Like: burned sugar, coal smoke, fresh pine!

Spent an awesome weekend watching the boys work on rockets and pewter figurines.  I was the cinematographer and got some crazy video!  No better place to be than with my favorite guys!

 

Then, we picked out our fresh cut tree and found a place for it among the bikes.

There was riding, of course, but no pics, so boring post, really.  I'm anxious to head back to the mountains to ride, but it was soooo nice to hang out at home for a change.

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Chattanooga in Daylight!

Dahlonega's Hiker Hostel has a huge Walton style breakfast and Mulberry Gap's breakfast buffet is amazing, but Crash Pad...???...not so much.......... so we drove in to Greenlife, once again and filled up on some good stuff.

Then rolled out and yep, you guess it....slid down the hill again.

We toured the town of Chattanooga and rode along the river for a good while.

We hit a lot of bridges and they were pretty cool.

Everett was following a crane/heron along the waterfront.

Then....we slid down the hill a few MORE times.....then drove over to the open air market.

Next, it was time to hit the trails.  Enterprise Park at the Volkswagen plant is just a few miles outside of the town and there are a few trails there for walking, running and riding.  Everett forgot his jersey and didn't want to wear a t-shirt.  I kept catching a glimpse of orange in the woods and it was weird.....

The trails are smooth and hard packed and a lot like FATS.  It was fun and fast.  There was a skills areas...meh.

Mad skills.....

Smooth single track and several families out riding.

We hit all the loops and they were fun, but it would take a lot of laps to get in a long ride.  The drive around the park is really hilly and pretty cool.  The fall colors are amazing!

Everett remembers getting Superman ice cream when he was a kid at Chattanooga, so we went in search of something with similar colors and we found a punked out Superman sherbert?  Oh, well, close enough!

We had a great time and hope to head back up that way soon!!

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Shey and Jansen had done a long base ride in the Georgia flatlands with Charles Reeves and friends.  Jansen was happy with 5 1/2 hours.  Then they both raced the A's in Marietta the next day.  Jansen had a brake mechanical and had to stop to fix it, but they both had great races.  Jansen 9th and I think Shey 11th.  Not too shabby!

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UCI race in NC next weekend..........wahoooooooooooooooo!!

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Chattanooga Into the Night

Everett and I drove up to Chattanooga to stay at the Crash Pad hostel and ride in the area.

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First, we stopped at the hostel for check-in and a tour, then we drove over to Greenlife for dinner.

Mmm, yummy pizza and gelato! I got chai flavor and Everett got wheatgrass/mint.

Greenlife has a garden on the roof and they have bees to pollinate. Whole Foods purchased this store, so we have seen some changes, but it is still a pretty cool place to get our snacks.

We like to walk after our meals, so we headed off on foot to walk by the river. We came across this really cool hill with kids sliding down on cardboard boxes. Hmmm.....there were some extra boxes laying around.......

Everett soon became a pro at "grassboarding" down the hill. He was pretty fast!

This is what you get when you hand the camera to your son.....so, I slid OFF the cardboard a few times...can you tell?

After sliding the hill about 60 times, we continued our night walk along the river.

Back at the Crash Pad we had them start up the fire and brought out our snacks. We looked up directions to a new trail that was built by the Volkswagen plant on I-75. Easy directions and we plan to head over there tomorrow afternoon.

The bunks at the crash pad are made from reclaimed wood from the house that once stood on this property. The bunks have blackout curtains, a reading lamp and fan. The counters and cabinets in the kitchen were created by local artisans. I think the owners are climbers and there were several college kids there who were climbing in the area. They were funny to listen to, as they worked so hard on their witty banter.  he-he