Mount Carmel excursion

Well its another week and another trip on the weekend *grin*. This time we visited Jens cousins in Mt Carmel with the goal of doing some mountain biking. It was planned that we would ride Saturday but the stupid weather had other plans *LOL*. Thankfully the weather cleared up for Sunday and we were able to get a 5-6 mile ride in. It was a little boggy but hey that's what mountain bikes are for *LOL*.

On a side note, for those of you in the know I was testing out my mountain bike after being in at the bicycle center here in Clarksville TN. I have had to take the bike back to them 5 times since I bought it last year and the issues had never been resolved. It took them charging me for a derailleur adjustment for me to get annoyed enough to talk to the right person. The bike was returned to them, the money (i was only 16 dollars but I felt it was the principle of buying a bike that works) returned to the account and another few weeks of work occurred to the bike. By the time it was finished the owner of the store dealt with the issue and made sure to ride it for half an hour to make sure it was fixed (which was all I asked every time I took it in but as it worked fine on the stand it looks like it was never done). By the time the work was completed, they had replaced the left (front) shifter, the front derailleur, the crank and the bottom bracket. Couple this with the chain and cassette already replaced quite a lot has been replace.

After the 6 miles with me putting good pressure on a few uphill sections the ghost shifting is finally gone. Props go out to the owner who once apprised of the situation took full ownership of the issue and got me a resolution (not his fault the mechanics never told him).

ok time for bed, peace out peeps.

S

Slow update

So we got out last Sunday (yeah I know its Friday) and did 2 hrs of mountain biking at Rotary park. It was fun by all although hard and I was whining like a little girl due to abuse by my pedals on my shins *LOL*. Details for the ride are below (first recording with Iphone app).

Weigh in on Sunday was 251 so I had a loss of 6lbs for the week but am still 8lbs from getting back to my restart point *le sigh* to continue on the journey. I can but keep trying.

Stats For the Ride

Distance :- 3.54 miles
Elapsed Time :- 1hr 57 mins 01 secs
Speed :- Ave : 1.8 mph Max : 8.7 mph
Altitude:- Min : 331ft Max : 443ft

Link to the Google Maps output from the App.

S.

More cycling goodness

Well we did more Motorcycling on Saturday. Instead of 300 miles in a weekend we did it all in one day. It was fun fun fun. We also met up with Jens sister for part of it. As a side note Lola has an injury (cracked headlight) but thankfully it looks to have been a minor flaw and is being covered under warranty and she will soon be good as new.

The route we took ended up being complicated to route so I am doing the out route followed by a map for our return home.

Here is out (NOTE: you have to view larger map as google refuses to show it in the little screen)


View Larger Map
and here is the return


View Larger Map

These are best estimations for the trip unfortunatly I am am not 100% sure but it is the general area *LOL*

Sunday we decided to do another form of 2 wheeled fun and took the mountain bikes to Rotary park. For the first time we did not take the repair kit and yup you guessed it, after 1 hour of riding it was called off due to a flat tire. We still had fun just it was cut short (man I have been of the cycles too long It felt HARD plus i am STILL having issues with the gears on my bike). As soon as I an I am going to have to take the bike in for gear work. I just wish they could fix this I am getting tired of it jumping every time I try to pedal.

EDIT: Mike joined us in Madison at Castle for most of the trip and thanks to his GPS he has sent me the route we took so I am editing the maps and you should now see an accurate representation of where we went. Thanks Mikey!!!!!

Weekend updates

Well weigh in for the week is 244lbs a loss of 2lbs which after some of the eating I am happy with. Coupled with this I have officially broke one of my goals which was to get out of the 40's for pant size. This message is brought to you today by a Steve in a pair of size 38 Jeans (courtesy of Old Navy who parted with them for a whopping 4 dollars after tax *LOL*) so this is officially a Red, Green and Blue letter week.

This weekend Jen and I headed off with the new tent and bikes to Montgomery Bell State Park. The goal was to see how well the new tent would cope with both of us in it and to take in some trails we had been told were really good for biking.

I was really surprised when it comes to the new tent Jen picked up. It looks small, it is small but it did fit both of us in it. The fact that we both slept about 8 hours ok wise is a testament to either us being tired or it being comfortable *LOL*. The major issue we think was using my CPAP in the tent as it created condensation in the tent and everything started getting damp. Also by the time 6am hit I was getting sore and could not stay in the tent any longer. I crawled out got dressed and dozed in the jeep till the sun came up and I could start a fire.

The funnest part of this weekend does have to go to the mountain biking. We had a blast (the whole weekend, camping, cooking out and biking was brilliant - Monty Bell campground is perfectly situated). On the Saturday after we set up we did the red route of the trails (see image below).

Image copied from Montgomery Bell trail pdf. All copyright the State of TN

Sunday we decided to do a longer route before heading home. Knowing that there was a downed tree towards the end of the trails we decided to do a route in reverse. We headed off down the blue route (intermediate trail) and rode that till we hit "4 Points Junction" on the map. From there we rode a little of the red trail till it hit marker 6 of the white trail and headed down that. This consisted of what is classed as the white pine trail and the storm track and of the 3 trails we had been on I think this was the coolest. We were unsure how long the rabbit run (white) was towards the end so we omitted it and returned back to the trail head and civilization. Totals for the weekend are a guess, but I think it is about 2 miles on Saturday and about 8 or 9 on the Sunday.

One good point is that we met a guy as we were packing the bikes up who we gave a copy of the map to and who told us about another trail near Columbia so we may be heading there to try it. Its a loop of 8 miles and starts at easy and builds up.

Steve in action

Its the same barn as Jens pic but from a different side and we have just returned to it from our route. It is me trying not to show my cheesy grin and look suave... I failed *LOL*

Jen in action

This is Jen next to an old barn in the middle of Rotary Park. We are about halfway into our ride and she is shiny, can you tell *grin*

Weight Update & Images of our bikes

Ok first off, it has been a rough 2-3 weeks for me in the weight department. I gained from 242 up to 245, then I gained from 245 up to 252 lbs. Last week I gained some of my focus (mojo) back and I weighed in Monday morning at 246 lbs. I am trying to get myself back to 242lbs this week and push to the 230's. Wish me luck.

On an update to our new mountain bikes. I have pulled images from the cannondale website for our 2 bikes. Please note that these images are the copyright of Cannondale and should not be used without proper credit (which I am doing for them right here). I will be posting more images that we have take but I need better lighting for the shots so will probably wait till the weekend.

Now That I have more details on the bikes I now present to you *drum roll*

Jens 2010 Cannondale F5


My 2009 F7 with CO2 Frame Technology

Mountain Biking

After Competing in the Dirt, Guts and Donuts race last month Jen and I where somewhat bitten by the mountain biking bug. I'm not saying that we are giving up road biking, rather that we are adding mountain biking to our repertoire. We had been looking for newer mountain bikes that were not walmart specials (read Heavy assed POS's) and after much looking, much test riding, we settled on Cannondales from the Bicycle Center in Clarksville TN.

Until I can get all the photos I want to post of our new acquisitions I am giving you a teaser in the form of the jigsaw print, this is the front of the top tube from Jens bike and as you will note they may be a little artsy (I decided to do something more than just straight forward photos of them, but that will come also.

As you might note from the print Jen got the Cannondale F5 and just so you know I got the little brother the Cannondale F7. When we finally picked my bike up Saturday we headed down to rotary park and ended up having about an hours fun on the new bikes. Its amazing what a decent mountain bike will do to you. For the full hour on this bike I had the cheesiest grin on my face and NOTHING could remove it, not even when I wiped out on a soft dried up stream bed (just dirt no damage, pedal sunk in about half of an inch). I got up dusted myself a bit laughed when Jen asked if I was ok and got back on the bike to catch up. This is a definite change from the race where I wanted to throw the POS target bike in the lake (might have been why I was going slow when I found Lisa in the water *LOL*).

All I can say is roll on the weekend, I have printed out the bike trails for Montgomery Bell park and if we can I hope to get out on the trails for a good amount of time. We are also hoping to try arrange a time to meet up with Scott et al. from work along with Lisa and get us all involved in some decent trail riding. Lisa if you see this I will make sure Scott pick trails away from water !!!

ERK just noticed its midnight. Time to hit the sack.

Night all

S

Dirt, Guts and Donuts

So we tried our first attempt at mountain biking this weekend. At the suggestion of Scott in work he thought it would be cool if we come out to Gallatin for the Dirt, Guts and Donuts race as it was a nice easy introduction and would be fun. Ok he got the fun part right and it probably means that we need new bikes but easy? Not a chance *LOL*.

First I talk about Jen - or as I like to call her, the mountain goat on wheels. First time out at a mountain bike race, riding a POS 45 - 50 dollar walmart special bike and she won the woman's division. I bow down to your mountainy might Jen *LOL*. From what I could tell she was stoked and had a hell of a time.

Me - that's a different Story. I did not finish. The thing is I went out to see if I would like mountain biking and to take it easy. As such I was in the situation that I came across the other Did Not Finish rider Lisa. The reason we did not finish? Lisa had ended up going off the trail heading down a 5-10ft embankment and dropped another 5-10ft into the lake, bike and all. I did not finish because it was only human nature to assist in getting Lisa , her bike and other gear out of the lake safely and making sure she was ok till people better trained than me could make it to the spot (I had called Jen and sent another rider behind me for help). The end result was that we both did not finish, the more important result for this situation is that Lisa, while a little sore is ok and did not require a visit to the hospital.

Ok time for me to hit the books
S.