The ME Trip

The boys decided to stay home and go with Shey to his race, instead of camp and ride in the mountains.

That left me with a great opportunity to take a day to myself. That is a rare thing...

So, I got a break from this guy

and this guy

and this guy!

I headed up to Ellijay on Saturday afternoon, after making a few fun stops along the way.

Normally, I hate to spend time on FS roads, as Aimee will be happy to tell you, since she had to spend a good portion of a ride trying to keep me sane during the Firewater 50!

But the sky had dumped an enormous amount of rain on the Ellijay zip code and FS roads seemed the best option for a climbing work-out.

The creeks were full (great for rinsing off the mud as I rode through) and the waterfalls were amazing.


Sometimes it's a great thing to have a husband with a "type A" personality. Hence the highlighted map, sealed in plastic.

It drizzled/rained on and off and there was a very cool mist on the road. This is awesome when you don't want to look up and see how much more climbing you have to do.

Once, I reached the top, the area was clear of mist and you could look down to see the clouds/fog in the valley.

The ride was so mountain bikey! Only three cars and no one on the trail, but me. Peaceful and fun.

Two markers: I was sliding down a trail and accidentally slid right under a branch that was hanging low...it was very cool, like those motocycle movies where they slide sideways under a big truck! I also am pretty sure I saw a mother bear and her cub. I say pretty sure, because I was out of there like a flash when I heard them and saw them moving up the other side of the creek.

Bees are the new cool thing and I saw them in several yards.

Muddy and happy, I headed back to Mulberry Gap for a fabulous meal.

Ginni and Diane served me a meal fit for a superstar! Yes, that is one monstorous yeast roll. You would not believe how delicious a yeast roll can be after 3 1/2 hours of sliding around in the mud.

Mulberry Gap is the most peaceful and serene place to be on the weekend. The two ladies who run the place are very cool and we stayed up late, as we solved many of the world's problem. (Obama will be emailing us shortly, I'm sure)

The offered me a very cozy cabin and I slept like a log, as it poured rain most of the night.

MG decore.

I love this sign.

I really wanted to stay in that lovely cabin and sleep in late, but instead I got up and drove up to the Kenda Cup race at the Ocoee Whitewater Center. Dave and Terry put on a great race and it's so cool that we have some local races in the XC national circuit this year.

Here Andy shows the crowd his latests Yoga move.

Wes explains just how "low he can go". Seth and Jesus are mesmerized.

Loretta before she played in the mud....

and after...

The big boys line up.
I love this shot of Anet on the line between two teenagers. Very cool.I left right after Loretta came across the line and it was raining pretty hard. I drove until I saw lighter clouds and jumped on the road bike for a spin.

I stopped at all the neat places that I always want to check-out, but never get to because we are on the way to or from a race.

This farm was neat.

This was their produce stand that was build with reclaimed wood from buildings on their property.
I missed my guys and I am one lucky girl!

I can't believe it's almost MAY!

Well, the boys and I had a really fun Saturday. (but Shey took the camera with him to Cohutta, so no pics)



Tristan emailed to say he was heading down to pre-ride Yargo on Saturday. It was really nice to catch up with him and we all had a great time playing in the dirt. We hope to head up to Brevard to hit some trails with Tristan and his buddies soon.

Tristan winning collegiate xc. He works hard and has so much talent. Just a great all around guy for our boys to hang around.




The extra mile of trail that the Yargo guys added is great. Lots of fun twists and dips. They keep the trail very well maintained, for sure.



Jansen and I had a little wind added in to our commute this past week. It wasn't bad until we had already hit the library and were on our way to Conte's. Then I was blown around the whole way home. It is so defeating to know you are two miles from home, but the wind keeps you on the road far longer than you anticipated. When I finally made it back home, I just sat on the front walk for a good fifteen minutes. It was a great workout, though.


Lunch at the library before Jansen heads into work. Yes, our bags are mostly filled with his food.....

Finally made it to the shop.

The garden is growing like crazy! This is a rock that my mom painted as a turtle for my garden.

Snow Peas and Lettuce

Blueberries

The apple trees are doing great.

Shey left on Friday to race the Cohutta 100. He said he had a good race. Then he spent Sunday at a local race with his Cycle Youth Devo kids.

The boys and I spent Sunday trying to replace their shower fixtures, staining the deck and working on various house maintenance. We accidentally broke a pipe and now get to come up with a plan to replace the pipe......

Here are Shey's pictures from the weekend. Adam scoring Cohutta. LOVE the beard!!

Cool John scores Cohutta, while his better half (John P.) scores Twilight in Athens.

Family Visits

We see my family often, but they travel this way and stay with us every other year.

Dad helps me with a ton of work that needs to be done on the house and yard each visit.

And Mom and I get to drink Kahlua and shop at the local nurseries.

This time we are working on the garden (irrigation system, raised beds and new fence), repairing holes in our walls (all dad's work), finishing the chicken coop, replacing the gutters and roof and so much more.

Raised beds with an irrigation system.

My garden frog.

This is the coolest thing ever! Dad added a faucet to the base of the irrigation system, so I can connect a water hose for hand watering the lower beds. It took me over an hour to hand water the garden last year. It will probably take about 15 to 20 minutes to water it this year. Love it!!!

Indy is always right by my side to help with the work.

But, it wasn't all work.

Easter fun.

We visited the Oakhurst community garden. (the boys and I love to stop by there)

Mom and I took a trip to the Monastery to pick up some herbs for the garden. Yum!!

Mom and Dad loved the chickens! Oh, and we got ducklings, which our guests and two sons got to share a bathroom with! I will take pictures of them soon. They are growing much faster than the chicks did.

Georgia wildlife.

Beer and a basket full of seeds. Life is good.

Jansen's Birthday

Jansen is 14!! Can't believe it!

He started racing the full length beginner races when he was 9 and seems like a 40 year old man in a teenager's body.

His calm, wisdom and clarity amaze me.

We had a long talk last night about college, life and longevity of his athletic endeavors. We were up until midnight. That is not unusual. He's just the kind of guy that you can hang out with for hours.

His grandparents were here for his Birthday, which is very cool. So, we headed into Southern Sweets to pick up his Oreo Cheesecake.

We had a great lunch at the Flying Biscuit.....our favorite restaurant.

His Highness sits at his "special spot" where he can survey his domain. No one is allowed to sit in his spot at the table. It disturbs him greatly to have someone sit at his throne.

His gifts were: a chisel and wood carving knife set by two cherries, mallet, super cool vest, his favorite book on bladesmith work (making knives) and, of course, cash.

He has worked with wood since a very young age and is anxious to use his new tools to create his pieces.

We grew him a cat.......

Good Vibes in March

Lots of great stuff happening around here.

First, the ING Marathon was awesome, again, this year! Leslie does an excellent job of coordinating the wheelchair escorts.



It was cold again this year at 6am, but it was dry, so we were happy. We had a great time riding with the wheelers and I had a female for the first time.



(here come the wheelchair athletes)


Maggie was a college chica and she was amazing. Mags cruised up the climbs and passed the boys! Good stuff! The two of us had a blast and she sprinted (and dropped) a guy down the home stretch.

(me and maggie, pic taken by another cyclist)




The boys had fun, too. Everett's guy ran into a curb as he took the turns so fast.



Of course we didn't have all the parts for our lights, so we had to dip into the first aid kit for some tape.....



Big Ben liked his whistle a little too much.....



Runners by GA Tech



We didn't eat here.




AND the Sorella Kits came in last week! Yeah! They look great and fit well.






Kindle will kill me for this one...

AND.....the BANFF Film Festival was AWESOME!! The very first film was a trials rider. He was balancing his bike on some totally crazy stuff....."The Sharp End" and "The Red Helmet" were tw of my favorites. Jansen came in to work with me and had lunch with his coach. That was a good day.

AND Little Ethan kicked some serious booty at the PanAm games recently. At 18 years old he placed 12th, in his first year as a pro!! Very cool and we can't wait to head up to Brevard to ride with Tristan and Ethan this fall!