This is about as long as today's road ride....

So much to talk about.





Let's see, let's see. Where to begin.

The Beach

Last week, the 12-18, I went with my family (mom, dad, nana, luke, aunt liza, uncle blue, amanda, jason, lindsay, matt, and our family friend Steve and Gayle. - Even cousin Orran stopped in on his way to The Charleston School of Law. Pretty much all we did all week was swim, lay around, and eat seafood. As usual with the fam, an excellent time was had by all. It was a much needed break from work for me. Though, now that I have had a break, I want another one. Freetime is priceless.

Classic Orran

After getting back from the beach I went on a long mountain bike ride at Douthat State Park, with Brandon, Tinnen, Eddie and some cool West Va dudes. It both kicked my tail and was totally perfect. Those long rides are the best.

Danville Mountain Bike Race

Yesterday (26 August) was the 2nd race in the VA Derailer Series (and no I didn't spell it wrong, the series is supposed to mirror the rich railroad history of the area - or something like that - so it is kind of a play on words) Anywho, Luke and I rolled on down there, and in standard race form, we ran into our friend Dave Bradeson at Sheetz. It seems to be a common happening when we are driving to a race.

Anywho, the race was an 8.5 loop of pretty much all single track. Luke, Dave, and I did the sport class, so we did two laps. In standard practice for short races, Luke beat me by one spot, and Dave was right behind me. Luke owns me at anything shorter than 40 miles. He is cool people though and I was happy for him. I enjoyed the race, but after doing so many endurance events lately, it felt like it was just way too short. It was still really cool to see everyone and just be out there riding something different. Next time I'll take two water bottles. One just won't cut it for me. I was getting too thirsty.

Check it out - It's Kenny!

Last night I was just chilling, gettin pumped up to watch the Sharpie 500 on TV. And yes I do watch NASCAR sometimes, but I mean seriously. It was the night race at Bristol, if you can't watch a Hokie football game, you gotta find something to watch. Anywho, I got a call from Brandon informing me of some big road event at Afton mountain on Sunday (today). I called up the roadies who were going and found out when they were meeting, and how much it was, and my decision was made. So at 5 am this morning we were off to do the Blue Ridge Extreme Century Ride. It is fun to do something different every once in a while, different ridge, new place, new people. Im not very fast on my road bike, but I do enjoy the scenery, and definitly the descents. The climbs, well I suppose they are cool too. The ride was so well put together, great rest stops with tons of food and friendly people. I saw a lot of nice old farms, interesting buildings, a chipmunk (which you never see here), and a dead copperhead whose head had been smashed by a car. I will probably do it again next year, and hopefully it prepared me for the SM100 next weekend. All in all, my finish time was 7:59. I came in just barely under 8 hours. Hey man, I rode my bike 100 miles today. Who gives a damn how long it took me. It rocked.

PS: Adam and Tim rolled in at some ridiculous time like 5:48 or so, which is just gross, and awesome. Paula and Donna finished around 7:02 and 7:08 I believe. They did really well, and were a really good group to do the ride with. Even though I was only with them for about the first 20 miles. Right on! Im tired.

I didnt take any pics though. I didn't want to lose my camera, I should have taken it though. There were some sweet landscapes I could have captured. Dangit! - Next time. I may take it at the SM100. We will see.

DAD

Oh and by the way. Saturday, August 26th was my Dad's Birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad!