North Carolina 2011

This is the dog that can fly in airplanes, go to Disney World, sit in restaurants, and go to the beach.

Mrytle Beach with the moonrise

We all buried Megan, burying Megan is a family tradition.

North Carolina to see my sister Karen has always been a blast. Every time I go, I have to ride a bike, any bike, because we are there so long, like 1-2 weeks and I get baserk after not riding that long but there is good riding there by the way. We were there for 10 days and I logged in 2 road bike rides and a mountain bike ride. The road rides were near Karen's house out in the country farmland. The roads are, I tell ya, a lot of fun and I like hilly roads. Utah roads are flat and boring except all the gradual mountain climbs. But these rides in NC, were really nice. For the road rides, I did ride a 1992 Nishiki Alien mountain bike, the kind of bike they put in museums. I looked it up in the internet and it's a vintage classic bike, and people actually sell them a lot of money as long as the parts on it are the original and guess what? The parts on this bike except the tires are the original. So this is my brother-in-law's bike he bought a long time ago and hardly rides it(thank goodness). Anyway, it does have the first Rock Shox ever built on it, but it really needs to be rebuilt.

We did go to Mrytle beach with everybody on one weekend in South Carolina. I am not a big fan of the beach but I've made it! I did last a day and half out of 3 days but I still had a lot of fun just swimming in the waves. We played in the sand and buried Megan. The best part was that we ate at a lot of good restaurants in Mrytle Beach, my favorite was a lasagna from an authentic Italian restaurant and it was to die for. The best lasagna I've ever had, it was so good because it was authentic, not an American lasagna. Another place I liked to eat was Captain George's with all you can eat crab. I've never liked seafood that much but I guess when you are by a beach, all you feel like is seafood, weird. Anyway, I ate a lot crab, clams, and mussels. Very good.

When we got back from our beach trip, we just kind of hung around the house for a while and one day I rented a mountain bike from Greensboro and went down to Uwharrie National Forest about 45 minutes away from Karen's house where there were some trails. The singletrack was great and I got a good ride. I had a lot of fun on a steel frame Niner, awesome bike. I loved the feel of the steel. I probably got like 14 miles that day. It was so hot and humid and when I was finished riding, I was totally drenched. I wish I had a towel. It was fun though, and very pretty with all the trees. After my ride, we did go to Seagrove, kind of like Spring City but with a pottery store every block. We did go to Phil Morgan's shop(a famous pottery maker) and we were all talking about how I went on a bike ride in Uwharrie and he was talking about a sasquatch there. There was he was, a guy that makes pottery for famous people and movie stars and he was talking to me about the sasquatch? Anyway, friendly guy. He was really kidding about the military does training there that dresses up in weeds and they look like sasquatch's.

The trip was fun and we ate at lot of good places, went to the beach, and I did some biking. Also went to the dentist. Since my brother-in-law is a dentist. My sister would never let us go back home without going to the dentist. My teeth are in good shape and he made a mouth guard for me because I lost my last one.

I guess we will be going back for Megan's graduation and Andrea's wedding.

Road bike riding.

The Niner I rented for like 35 bucks. Awesome ride.

This is the bike that should be in a museum, all of the parts are the original. Still an awesome ride!

Deer Valley 2011

Well, I wasn't ready for this race, I was physically tired from like 2 weeks of heavy lifting at work and still had some bad training rides, maybe a couple of good ones. I went to this race anyway because Deer Valley race course is one of my favorites. I didn't want to miss this one and I thought I'll just go and have fun even though I don't do that well.
The night before, I had a major case of diarreah. I went to the bathroom many times, even the next morning before the race, maybe like 5 or 6 times. I put a ton of electrolyte tablets in my water, speaking of water, I drank like 3 times as much water before and during the race because I've lost so much water and vitamins and minerals. The race started, and at the first was a steep walkabout climb and my legs were hurtin' already but I still went because I couldn't wait for the fun, fast, downhill later in the race. I did the Clydesdale class again because I am about 225 pounds and that class did 1 and a half laps(it felt like 2 laps). Even though I finished dead last, I had a lot fun and I thought it was good enough for having diarreah and sore everything on me. All I cared about was finishing and everybody in the class congratulated me at the finish and I got a 5th place ribbon and a Kuhl jacket. That was worth it. I think I've really earned it! This race course was a blast, one of the favorites of the year.