No thank you, I have had enough today and the rest of my weekend…

After our last bike ride on Old Walland Road, I told John that it was time to throw in a few more hills. I had successfully powered up a couple of short, marginally steep hills on our ride to Townsend and my confidence had taken an excessively big bump. He agreed, we talked about it a bit and dropped the topic. Last weekend came and went (we biked the VA Creeper Trail-no uphill there) and I kinda forgot about my gung ho attitude toward hills.  So it was with a certain amount of naivety that I agreed to ride the back roads of South Knoxville for a “change of scenery.” 

We started from Pinkston Library, a popular parking spot for bicyclists.  A couple of serious looking cyclists pulled in the spot beside us so John rushed me to get on the road and get a nice head start.  I don’t think his ego could handle them passing us and considering my sub-average average speed, they WOULD pass us.  

We cycled on Martin Mill Park for less than 1/2 mile before we turned off, traffic still makes me skittish. As we made the turn and looked up, I heard John in the “background” apologizing for the b-i-g hill in looming ahead so soon in the ride.  Whoops!  I gritted my teeth and pedaled on, I ran out of gears and pedaled on, then I swore and……pedaled on.  First hill over. 

The next 5-6 miles were a repeat, some hills smaller, some larger.  I cried on the way up and and squealed on the way down.  I even discovered some new muscles in my forearms (going faster than 29 mph downhill is currently not an option for me, especially on a very curvy 2-lane road). My seat hurt, my calf muscles screamed and I ready to be done. Another 12-14 miles later we were within striking distance of the car. John offered a “bonus” 4 mile repeat.  My response, “no thank you, I have had enough today and I headed back to the car.

Here are a few photos from our bicycle ride:




Does anyone know where we are?  Apparently John does and we have more hills to climb, just right around the corner.













Yesterday was full of fun stuff!  For starters, I slept in late, decadently late for me.  Considering that we usually wake up between 5:30-6:00 AM 6-7 days a week, 7:30 AM was, well, late.  Coffee in hand, I lounged around for a while before heading out for the iwin 5k.  The race is called iwin for two reasons:  1) I am the only participant and 2) I always win. 

The 5k course includes a little downhill, even more uphill and some flat.  I run the course once every couple of weeks to measure improvement and Saturday was a double thumbs up.  I won with my fastest time yet (still too slow post) and I was happy!  Bicycling is paying off. My legs are noticeably stronger, I am pushing harder and I felt great.  Cooler AM temperatures didn’t hurt either. 

After the run, I spent some quality time with the lawn mower and knocked down several weeks of grass (err, weed) growth in the front yard.  Then I took the weed eater for a spin.  One of our front gardens is harboring an active nest of yellow jackets and John is emergency room allergic so I got the job. Getting rid of the nest is on our “to do” list but the nest sits right next to the house, so the gasoline-fire bomb is out.  We are researching other options.  

With exercise and yard work out of the way, it was time to head to Blount County for a baby shower for my boss. Nice afternoon with work associates and my boss’s family.  Then home,  quick nap and dinner time.  I was starving, craving barbecue so we hit the early hour at Sweet Pea’s and mingled with the boaters coming off the river with big appetites.  We ended the evening downtown at the movie theater where we had some good laughs watching, “The Campaign” with Will Ferrell.  Funny stuff!

Hope you had a good  weekend too! 

17 Miles on the VA Creeper with Friends…

A few posts ago, I dropped a comment about work friends and a spring triathlon.  What I didn’t say is that the group, ages 19-59, is less than ideally fit and preparing for a sprint tri will be a huge challenge. To keep the motivation up and the bodies moving forward, we developed a bucket list of activities to get us through the fall and winter.  Wisely, much of the list is centered around bicycling and run/walking and the first activity, an easy bicycling excursion, was up for this past weekend.

The White Top Mountain to Damascus section of the Virginia Creeper Trail was a good 1st ride.  Seventeen miles of mostly downhill demanded nothing more of us than a few pedal strokes and a “bicycle hardened” bottom.  Lucky for me, I had been toughening mine up on a tiny bike seat.  My friends, not so much.

Friday night after work, John and I drove to Abingdon.  We went with the intent of rising early to bicycle from Abingdon to Damascus VA Creeper section to meet our group at the Blue Blaze Bike Shop in Damascus for the 9:30 AM shuttle to the top of the mountain. But as the saying goes “the best laid plans….”  Despite two alarm clocks and a 6:30 AM wake up call, we could not force ourselves out of bed.  By the time we finally woke up (about an hour later), we had missed our opportunity to bike to Damascus. 

Packing, breakfast and a 15 minute CAR ride got us to Damascus on time. We found Wendy and her daughter Keely, hanging around the parking lot but Shannon and Daniel were no where to be found.  A round of frantic texting and one phone call indicated that Shannon and Daniel were not only at the wrong rental company but in the wrong town-Abingdon, 15 minutes away. 

Decision time, do we hold up 36 people on the 9:30 AM shuttle to White Top or do we wait for Shannon and Daniel and take the 10:30 AM shuttle?  It really wasn’t much of a decision.  Wendy and Keely took the 9:30 AM shuttle while John, Daniel, Shannon and I took the last 4 seats on the 10:30 AM shuttle.

Daniel and Shannon sitting outside Blue Blaze waiting for the 10:30 AM shuttle

John on the backseat of the 15 passenger shuttle vehicle

Once we and our bikes were unloaded at the top of the mountain, there was nothing left to do but point our wheels down and begin a two hour “coast” back to Damascus.  With White Top at around 3576’ and Damascus at 1930’, we would be dropping about 97’ per mile.  Not much pedaling required!

Wendy and Keely relaying a crash story before their front wheels ever hit the trail

At the trail head.  Note the crazy recumbent bicycles behind us

Wendy took off first and her daughter followed closely behind. Lots of people trying to start at the same time, the most irritating was a group of 6-7 recumbent who were preoccupied with taking photos of each other and otherwise slowing down and/or stopping in the middle of the trail.  We put them behind us as quickly as possible.



The 17 mile ride went quick, 2.09 hours to be exact including this stop for ice cream and french fries.  Lots of traffic on the trail, which kept speed in check.



Just moments after I took this picture of Shannon and Daniel at the ice cream shop, an older lady (did I really say that) crashed on the trail.  We missed the actual fall but looked up from our goodies long enough to see an entire Boy Scout Troop rush to her side to administer 1st aid.  She was very patient as they cleaned her scuffed knee and applied band aides.

Wendy examining her french fries, while Keely watches

Unfortunately, no pictures were made during the ride, we just didn’t stop long enough to do so.  Too much risk of damage had I tried to photograph while riding.  It will have to suffice to say that the scenery was beautiful and the late summer flowers were colorful.

Back at Blue Blaze, we loaded our bikes and headed to Quincey’s Pizza for lunch.  Lots of Creeper rides inside!  We had to wait on our pizza but it was worthwhile.





The ride home was pleasantly uneventful.  We arrived in Knoxville by late afternoon and proceeded to do very little for the rest of the weekend!  Oh, and a cruise ship has nothing on our overnight at the Hampton Inn Abingdon, check out our towel bird!
  

A slight correction in direction…

Yesterday as I struggled to get through a bike ride, I realized it was time to adjust my bicycle goals, a slight correction in direction if you will.  It has been 10 weeks since I climbed on my bike and embarked on a regular effort to ride.  Before then my riding was spotty at best, and then there was the crash in February…



With the decision to return to the bike, I followed a strategy to ride several 12-15 mile days during  the week and increase my longer, Saturday rides by several miles a week.   The goal was to have everything come together for a 40-mile group ride on August 25 and several similar rides in the fall. The plan worked for a while, up to and including a strong 26-mile ride last Saturday.. 

Yesterday the plan called for a ride of 30-miles, only I didn’t feel it when I woke up. I was sluggish and slightly ill. Could have been the Mexican food we ate for Friday dinner or the restless night’s sleep (most likely aftermath of the food), but I felt like I had been hit by a truck.  We followed our usual Saturday plan, John left the house early to bicycle to Walland, TN  (about 27-miles) and I left 45 minutes later to meet him at the entrance to Old Walland Highway with fresh drinks and ready to ride.

I was running a few minutes late (gas gauge read E when I left the house-whoops) but it turned out to be a good thing.  All available designated parking areas and roadside shoulder parking spaces were filled with cars sporting bike racks.  Luckily, a few pulled out just as I arrived.  John was a little early which resulted in a rush with sunscreen application and drink transfer but we were on the road pretty quick. 

Mentally I had divided the ride into 3- 10 mile segments.  I focused on the  1st 10, which would take us just beyond the end of Walland Road.  Riding out was tolerable though my legs felt heavy and my mind was not focused on the task at hand.  I must have been complaining a lot because about 4-miles in, John asked if I wanted to go on or turn around.  I chose to go on.

As we neared the end of Walland Road and entered the 2nd of the 10 mile segments, some decisions had to be made... rolling hills or flat into Townsend, TN.  I chose flat, climbing would have ended the ride for me.  The Townsend police have been known to harass bicyclists so John suggested we take the greenway.  I think he was concerned about my lagging pace and possible panic in fast, heavy traffic.  Good call on his part.

As we bicycled  toward Townsend, John suddenly decided to cross 5 lanes of Highway 321 to pick up the greenway on the other side.  The frequent  hotel, restaurant and roads crossing through the greenway was driving him crazy.  We caught a brief (and somewhat scary) opening in traffic and hurried to the other side where we wound our way toward the Little River and a quiet 2-lane road that ran parallel to the highway.

At this point in the ride I knew that getting 30-miles would be difficult.  I needed more than 16 miles and we were only about 12 miles from the car.  We started doing loops on a residental street near the river until it occurred to us that the residents might think we were casing the neighborhood.  It was time to head back to the car.



The last miles were painful for me. I peddled and coasted, peddled and coasted. Somewhere around the Wesley Woods Camp driveway, where I stopped for the 2nd time in 4 miles, I realized it was time to redirect my goals. I will continue to struggle and suffer until I can increase endurance and strength so adding additional miles is pointless right now.  It was time to let go of my goal of 40-miles by the end of August. 

Coming to this decision did not make the rest of the ride easier.  I grumbled all the way to the car.  On several occasions I contemplated sending John to get the car and pick me up but my pride would not allow me to do this. As the wind picked up toward the end of the ride, John pulled in front of me.  Instead of being my protector by riding behind me or my companion and cheerleader by riding beside me, he became a life savor by pulling me back to the car….at a painfully slow pace for him.  I completed 28.25 miles, John, 55.75 miles.

I planned to take today off from exercise to formulate a training  plan (it will include dreaded hill repeats) and rest my very tired muscles, but I really couldn't sit still. I went out for a very short 1.5-mile run.  After discovering that running is not completely compatible with an aging body, I don’t run much in the way of distance these days but it was nice to get out and feel the pavement under my feet....something I am doing a little more frequently.

Foul riding...

I went out for a ride this evening, it was a mistake.  My legs were wobbly from the addition of running and steps to my workout schedule, I felt exhausted and I was a bit whiny.  Whiny quickly turned foul when I discovered my Garmin, which had been updated with the latest software last night, would not download a satellite signal.

I rode 3/4-mile loops around the neighborhood while I waited for the satellite signal to download.  It did not. John road with me, then around me and finally ahead.  He was silent with my inability to get over my technical malfunction and I was vocal.  Finally he suggested we go home and give it up for the night.

Upon arrival home, my Garmin promptly loaded the satellite signal...

Corn, Cycling, and Cooler Temperatures…

With June temperatures topping 100-degrees, we are going to spend the summer hunting for cool places to escape.  Wednesday, July 4th, we had just such a place in mind.  Old Walland Highway , located in Blount County at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains foothills, is a favorite of local bicyclists and runners.  Aside from relatively flat terrain (as flat as it gets in these parts), this nine mile stretch of two lane road provides beautiful scenery, lots of shade and pockets of cool air drifting off the Little River.  Nice destination on a hot summer day! 

I had a long bicycle ride on tap, well, long for me.  I think John considered it a warm up to his long weekend ride and a chance to encourage his wife in his favorite sport.  We got the bikes packed and left the house about 8:45 AM. Our drive was a quick 35 minutes along the country back roads in South Knox County. While Old Walland Highway is a multi-use road (motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists and runners), it was clear by the large number of cars with bike racks parked in the parking areas,  bicyclists ruled!

 

View from the parking lot at the beginning of the road

Getting ready to ride!  We look cool and collected here.  At the end of the ride we were a hot, sweaty mess!

For as long as I have been cycling this road, summer means the 1st mile + is acres deep in  corn.   We have always assumed the family that owned the acreage would continue to farm and every July we could ride through their maze.  Then, a couple of years ago, we noticed large earth moving equipment in the back of the property.  A few months after that discovery, we found buildings going up.  So sad, so we didn’t go back for a while. 

Then the next year we discovered the owners had sold the property to the University of Tennessee for an agricultural farm.  Nice!  To the delight of all, the corn will likely continue to line the 1st mile or so of Old Walland Highway in the future.

One side of the corn maze

Old bridge that once connected Highway 321 to Old Walland Highway.  It has long since been replaced with a modern new bridge.  Luckily this little piece of history still stands.

Star etched into the concrete of the old bridge

                              The bridge is now a shaded footpath

 

         Little River from the abandoned bridge      

              

The turnaround point on the Townsend end of  Old Walland Road was once the only bridge, a one lane bridge that could accommodate one vehicle (car, motorcycle) at a time.   It too has been replaced.

We stopped at the halfway point for the photographer (me) to catch my breath, the photograhee was doing fine!

When we arrived back at the car, the parking lots were still packed.

Since John changed vehicles, neither of our cars have a hitch for the bike rack so he had to devise a creative way to transport our bicycles safely.

Only a man could come up with this system of Styrofoam and seat belts.  It worked well but the squeaking Styrofoam almost drove us crazy.

 After looking at all that corn along Old Walland Highway, we slammed on the brakes when we saw this...



Yep, 14 ears of corn for $5 at RivenDell Farm.  

I am never particularly good at describing rides (or runs for that matter). We pedaled and pedaled. I had moments of utter brilliance (in my mind anyway) and a few mental breakdowns. My legs felt strong, my legs felt weak. But in the end, I rode the 18-miles (my longest ride in over a year) and I overcame a bit of the fear that has recently dominated my bicycling attempts.

So now I have a goal, a plan to ride from the beginning of Old Walland Highway to the Wye at the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains. The ride is about 40-miles out and back and I have my sights set on late September, a time that falls in between the heat of the summer and the crazy leaf peeper traffic in October. In between now and then, I have some riding to do!

Spring in January...

This morning rolled in gray and gloomy.  Sometime before 7:00, Mike Witcher our local WBIR weatherman,  flashed across the TV screen predicting ridiculous amounts of snow for much of the country.  But here in the south, he says, we will see only cooling temperatures and rain.  That's okay, because for a brief few days over the weekend, winter took a pause and we had an incredible taste of spring. 

We were out of bed early Saturday morning totally motivated to get out and enjoy the warm, sunny day.  Our first destination was House Mountain for a quick  3 mile hike to the West Overlook.  House Mountain is about about 20-25 minutes from our house and provides the opportunity to hike without taking up the entire day. a nice benefit when a person has other things to do. 

Beverly and John at the trail head

The .8-mile hike to the rock outcrop known as the West Outlook is a nice climb with switchbacks. We noticed the quaint log fences that lined some sections of the trail in disrepair and in many places, replaced with red plastic barriers (above photo-right side).

The West Outlook was crawling with Cub Scouts so we stopped a little below the rocks to take a few photos.  A stiff breeze blowing up the side of the mountain put a bit of urgency in our step as we hit the exposed rock outcrop.  We barely paused before continuing across the ridge top, down the mountain and back to our car.

                                                                      Ridge top trail

                                                        View from the West Overlook

                                            Great Smoky Mountains from the Overlook

Sometime after lunch, I decided to go for a run.  I haven't been running much recently so I knew it would be painful....it was.   I ran away from the house for several miles.  Since I am not a fan of exercise walking I knew that I would run home from the turnaround point just to avoid walking.  It worked, it always does.  The run reminded me just how much I miss doing it on a regular basis.

Evening arrived and we had some decisions to make, movie and dinner or dinner and early sleep.  Dinner and sleep won (although I really want to see The King's Speech)!! We went downtown, parked in the Market Square garage and strolled the city streets.  Everything was busy.  Crowds were waiting to get in the Bijou and the Riviera Theater.  Most restaurants had patrons sitting outside enjoying the nice weather, while others waited for a seat.  Coffee shops were busy, people strolled hand in hand, groups  chatted and laughed  and everyone seemed to enjoy the beautiful evening in downtown Knoxville.

We stopped at Latitude 35 for dinner, our first visit there.  Food, service and atmosphere were good.  This was a pleasant ending to a perfectly beautiful day.

Sunday arrived, we were up very early for early church.  Church, coffee, visit with my parents and lunch with the family and it was mid afternoon.  We struggled with our afternoon activity and finally settled on a greenway ride.      

                    John unloading our bikes in the parking lot across from the Lady Vols rowing center

An incredible number of people were out enjoying yet another spring day.  We must have seen a hundred people (and some dogs) walking, running and riding bicycles.  While we thought it fantastic that so many were out, it was hard to dodge and weave through the crowds.  We rode from the waterfront to Bearden and back and returned home to get ready for the week ahead.   

All good things much come to an end and this morning's gray weather arrived too quickly.  That's okay though, it's not time for spring yet, we are only 6 weeks past the winter solstice. But what a memory we will have of the last weekend in January when, just for a brief moment, we caught a glimpse of  spring 2011.   

Running (and bicycling) again...

I mostly enjoy my job but I am on vacation this week...off, out of the office, gone fishing. Reminiscent of the good parts of unemployment, I can sleep late, linger over coffee and facebook and watch Ellen on TV. Vacation also offers me an opportunity to refocus on running.  

Many times on this blog I have voiced my difficulties with running in heat.  I count my success by how late in the season I can run before putting away my running shoes. This year I actually suffered through August without completely throwing in the towel.  Good girl I thought, you made it through the worst of summer. But my success was short lived.  September arrived with back to back to back above 90-degree days.  Every evening the weatherman ticked off another sweltering day.  When the long, hot, dry month finally shriveled away, we were one "above 90-degree day" short of the all time record and my running shoes were in the closet.  I had lost my motivation, my mojo, I quit caring about the run.

Then a wonderful thing happened, the weather changed, fall arrived and I started thinking about running again. I laced up my running shoes and hit the road last week, it felt good.  This week, so far, has been great!  Yep, that vacation thing again.  I linger over coffee and facebook, then head out.  Running like this is comfortable, relaxed and fun.  It has been and will continue to be a bit of a rebuilding process.  Next week, when I return to work, I am going to have to find the discipline to slip out of bed in the cold, dark hours of the early morning instead of turning off the alarm for more sleep.  But I have hope and I have goals again.

With the onset of cool weather, I also pulled out my bicycle.  I have only  been on the bike a couple of times this year and last week proved a bit uncomfortable for my rump.  While I favor running, I am better on the bicycle, faster, more confident. I am trying to decide whether to abandon my 18 year old Trek 1400 for something shiny and new.  The answer should be easy but the investment is big and if I am not going to ride regularly, then the money is wasted... 

Virginia again...

A last minute decision to join friends Will and Kim in Abingdon necessitated an early morning start to our Saturday morning. After a 9-mile run for me and 52-mile ride for John, we grabbed some stuff for the weekend, loaded our "mountain" bikes on the back of the car and headed to Abingdon.

Abingdon is a pleasant drive from Knoxville, all interstate that is fringed with broken patches of Appalachian mountains...absolutely beautiful. We arrived in the small resort town in time drag the bikes inside, change for dinner and meet Will and Kim in the lobby. We had dinner reservations at House on Main before our theater reservations at Barter Stage II.

This was our first visit to this restaurant and dinner was fabulous! We each ordered something different and tasted around, except Will a vegetarian, who stuck to his squash and eggplant lasagna. I had a Maine Scallop dish and John, goat cheese ravioli. My mouth still waters thinking about it.

After dinner, we hurried to Barter Stage II, an intimate theater across the street from the original Barter. Stage II was constructed in 1829 as a Methodist Church and converted into a theater in 1967. The intimate space holds about 170 people and provides the opportunity for theater goers to be very close to the stage. It's a wonderful space but the play, Violet, not so good.... Enough said about that!

Sunday morning was all about bike riding. Although Abingdon is famous for its hiking and Virginia Creeper multi-use trail, a lesser known trail lies some 1.5 hours southeast of Abingdon, the New River Trail. This 52-mile trail is another rails to trails conversion and runs from Galax, VA to Pulaski, VA with a side leg to Fries (pronounced Freeze if you want the locals to understand you). The New River Trail was our destination.

We arrived outside of Galax (at the Shot Tower parking lot) around 10:00 AM where we were met by a shuttle service. As it turned out, our shuttle driver considered himself the unofficial promoter of all things Galax, VA. A local bicycle racer, married to a successful local runner, our shuttle driver is the son of the Galax mayor. During the school year, he teaches high school chemistry, during the summer he shuttles New River Trail bikers and races. He took us on a quick tour of the small mountain town, talked about the challenges of unemployment in a community who had been dependent on furniture and textile mills for survival and suggested places for us to eat and stay. Fun!

The shuttle was quick, about 20 minutes , after all, Galax is not a big town. We unloaded our bikes at the trail head and noticed a number of other cars in the parking lot. As with the VA Creeper, this is a multi-use trail and includes not only runners and bicyclers but also HORSES. We are not fans of horses on multi use trails due to the random dropping of horse poop and the skittish nature of trying to pass horses, with on bikes or foot.

Much of the trail is in the shade, which made for a pleasant ride on this hot, summer day. The surface is the same gravely surface used on the VA Creeper Trail and with the recent dry conditions, we stirred up a lot of dust that stuck the suntan lotion we had sprayed on our legs.

I had not been on a bike in almost a year and it didn't take too many miles on the rough surface for me to feel the effects of sitting on a bike seat...a discomfort that got progressively worse as we road the 27-mile section of trail. Luckily the scenery along the trail was distracting.

The trail followed several water ways. Cooper Creek ran mostly along side the trail from Galax to the Fries turnoff. From Fries turnoff to the Shot Tower, the trail followed the New River.

Along the way, we crossed a number of railroad bridges and rode through a couple of tunnels.

The bridge below crosses the New River at the Fries junction.

We also stopped to explore a couple of power plants.

With all the stops to check things out and eat lunch, we finished the lower section of the trail in just under 4 hours.

Post ride, John and I jumped in the car and drove home, we had my parents 65th wedding anniversary to celebrate today. Will and Kim hung around the area another day to explore.

A great trip! More photos and commentary here .