Looking Through A Glass Onion

"I told you about strawberry fields

You know the place where nothing is real

Well here's another place you can go

Where everything flows."

                                             -John Lennon

I got my thinking shoes out Tuesday. A lucky break from the high heat days gave us a perfect Colorado spring day here in the Southeast. It just so happened to fall perfectly onto my day off and with a kitchen pass in hand, Daniel and I headed off to the mountain. A place I've not been to in far, far too long.

Hello, old friend. 

The past few months have been whirlwind. Time truly waits for no one and it keeps tick, tick, tickin' into the future. Between family visits, high mileage vacations, racing, work and all it's extra-curricular commitments, life became frenetic. Here we are about to start July and I'm not quite sure why I haven't taken the time to escape up to the mountain. I suppose the spontaneity of the trip and length of time away made the trip feel even more magical than normal, but the dry conditions and low humidity certainly contributed.

Daniel in rock flow mode. 

The mountain resets the soul. You leave clear headed, refreshed, and if you're lucky still in one piece. I've seen it send the most skilled to the emergency room for stitches within feet of the trail entrance and watched it dislocate no less than 3 shoulders in less than 3 bike lengths of rock. It deserves respect but it often rewards the courageous and diligent.

Upon landing one of the succession of rock drops in the opening 3 miles I felt something strange in my drive train. It felt like the chain was popping off the teeth of the cog. I stopped to check, all appeared ok, although my chain was a bit slacker than when I'd started. I pushed on. Climbing a short grunt of a hill I felt the popping again and took a closer look. My chain had really become slack and I suspected my sliders moving. Nope, just a busted link. No worries I've got an extra in my... crap it's still in my Kanza bag still being held captive in the Swiftwick van from out Kanza adventures.

Luckily my laziness came to the rescue. I'd left the chain long from my Colorado 20t setup and slid the sliders back to use my normal 19t, giving me enough chain to remove a link and press a pin back in to get me rolling again. No extra chain links or quick links (Grant!!!) between the two of us I wondered if we should just bail to the car and maybe hit up a local bike shop. Wait, I'm working on reinvention. We pressed on. Shame on me for not being more prepared. But time was getting on and the trail was calling. It'll have to hold. I'll have to have faith.

After we got rolling again, Mr. Flow Daniel started having a few dabs. In fairness this was his first ever trip to the mountain and his first time in real technical rocks with distracting 40-80' exposed drop offs as penalties for failure. We worked many sections until he had it, but some we left "on good notes" being I was the only one who could legally drive stick and knew where we were and how to get home.

This 'hour away Pisgah' is my favorite place to escape to in TN. Daniel agrees. Killer views enhance the already killer singletrack. A small taste of the mountains close to home. A good reset button for the soul.

Still rockin' the Colorado scratch-n-sniff. 

Summer is in full swing. Days are already getting shorter, but Summer rules are now in full effect. No trail ride without a post ride swimmin' hole. Be it Cheston, Duck, Old Hickory, or Kentucky/Barkley .