It's been a while...

Work:
The work scene has been super busy the last few days. So busy that getting a chance to post any news has been a chore. The show bikes are coming along nicely and all of the parts should be here on Thursday. Looks like I am going to have some bikes to build this weekend. I have to photograph all the show bikes before they are shipped on Monday. A few bikes are not going to be back from paint until Friday...cutting it close, but that is how we roll. The time line sucks but it keeps getting easier all the time. The boss man has spent the past few days in the UK visiting some of our friends across the pond. I am sure he is having a great time. I am jealous of that for sure...but I would want to be riding and not working, so I guess I am better off staying stateside and organizing the Handmade Show. I will hold out until Eurobike.

Ride:
With the workload being at the current level and the weather being very cold, I have felt lethargic and not to interested in the bike. Or at least riding it. I have been feeling like I need to rest and catch up on some recovery time. I managed to get out for a few hours with my financial adviser for a "meeting" at Raccoon Mtn yesterday afternoon. He was in Chattanooga for an earlier meeting and we have been needing to get together anyway. Nothing like professional meetings on the bike. It makes those type of necessities way sweeter. Talking about grown up stuff while still acting like a kid. That is the balance we all need in life.

The best part about hanging with Tracy is that I owe him my gratitude for selling me my first real race bike. So it appears that he has been advising me on many levels for a while now. Several years ago I was getting interested in mountain biking again. I spent some time on the bike back in college, but nothing too serious and mainly used it as transportation around campus and to and from the bars. After school was over, I was hanging around with a bunch of racer types and they insisted that I get a new bike. At that time in life, I was certainly not in the market for anything new, so the guys asked around to see if anyone had anything for sale that they could let go at a bro deal price.

So Tracy stepped up and offered me a 1992 Yeti PROFRO with an XT 7 speed groupo on it. Built by Frank the Welder and made in Durango, the real deal Yeti years. The rest is history my friends. I spent so much time on that bike...long after he spent a ton of time on that bike as well. It fit beautifully and had a killer battleship gray color that I still love today. That bike became my first single speed and I actually raced it in 2005 at the SSWC in PA. It is now my city bike and still gets some love, but nothing like it used to. I have to say that it is the only bike that I actually have an attachment to. I rode my first race on it, won my first race on it, did my first SS race on it. Oh the memories.

I am hoping that our Tuesday night action will continue, but the weather is not looking very promising. It is going to be touch and go today. If we do make it out, it will be a frigid and wet experience, but that is nothing new. I am keeping my eye on the weather to see if there is going to be an opportunity to visit the Cherohala Skyway on Saturday. It seemed to be the magic ride before that last Snake Creep Gap, so I am going to try it again. After 80 miles and 11,000ft of climbing, a 34 mile, 7,000ft day does not seem so bad.