Bridge Day - New River Gorge

What a perfect time of year to drive to the mountains! The leaves were changing and the views were fantastic.



Bridge Day is an annual event for base jumpers when the state of West Virginia closes the New River Gorge Bridge and allows them to legally jump from the center of the bridge, 857 feet from the river below. The atmosphere there was friendly and exciting and everyone on the bus had a great time.



We even stopped by the Natural Bridge on our drive back to Richmond the following day. It was a superb way to end an action-packed "season" of trips on the bus. Now it's time to prepare for the next BIG trip - California. My friend, James, and I will be skipping the cold winter months by driving to Southern California and living there from December through April. Updates of that drive and the time in California should be showing up within the next couple of months.

Creek Olympics (a.k.a. wakeboarding)

When I asked a few friends if they'd like to come wakeboarding Saturday morning I failed to mention the other activities of the day. I didn't really know what to expect and figured wakeboarding by itself was plenty anyway. When we reached the diascund reservoir, though, the day's events were pretty clear to see. There was a game of Cornhole, a rope for tug-of-war, some kind of rope toss game, Bocce, and beer...plenty of beer. We basically spent the entire day playing games, wakeboarding, and chilling real hard. Dave and Adrian's team won second place for the day, so we even got to bring home a trophy.

Philly - Build, Destroy, Rebuild

This pretty much sums it up:



Nine Richmond Cutthroats (and friends) went to the Philadelphia Cutthroats' event. Mayhem ensued. Some highlights (kind of): the bus got a shitty tag painted on it immediately, there was a drive-by shooting on the block, we got to see Skidz one last time before he left for Australia, the bus didn't break down, I won $14 playing footdown, and every second of the event was awesome!

Blue Ridge Relay

A relay race spanning 208 miles and lasting over 30 hours. Yes, a relay race. Like, you know, on foot!

I met half of this team Thursday afternoon as we drove to Grayson Highlands State Park. The next morning I woke up and rolled out of my sleeping bag to meet the rest of the 12-person team. They seemed pretty normal - straight-laced and reasonable - but proved to be nothing of the sort. I witnessed these running junkies make their way up some harrowing country roads and nearly 40 degree climbs. I even got the chance to test out my new bike on some of the steep downhills, flying past runners suffering their way to the bottom. I had a great time and will definitely be there next year as a shuttle-bus driver as long as my schedule allows.

Shenandoah 100

The Shenandoah 100 mountain bike race is a tough one to finish. Last year I threw in the towel at the fourth aid station (somewhere around 45 miles). This year, however, I was determined to finish. I pulled in a time of 11:31:52 with three flats and a comfortable pace. Three other teammates of mine also completed the race. Jason Hopkins came in at 11:32:58. Roger Sattler finished with a time of 11:51:39. Joe Fish blew us away, though, with a time of 9:41:19!

The best part about this year's race was the bus and its crew. In past years I've just driven with other racers, but this time we brought along three guests (and my dog), which was perfect for the three-day weekend. The event was huge this year with over 550 riders and having some friends to share the event with was great.

Boston Southie Tourney (bike polo)

Here's a quote from bostonbikepolo.wordpress.com:

"I, and I am sure all of Boston Bike Polo, was humbled by the show of comaraderie from NYC, class from Ottawa and belligerence from RVA."



We drove to Boston with twelve players, thirteen bikes, and several cases of RedBull and FOUR. Yeah, it was a wild trip to say the least. Once in Boston, the herd crashed at Phil's old house and awoke to the sweet smell of Dunkin' Donuts. After a quick snack we headed to the court, adjacent to the bay in beautiful Boston, Massachussetts. A few pickup games warmed up the group and then the real competition began. Richmond had five or six teams at the tourney, which meant that sooner or later we'd have to face off against each other. It ended up being team Jennie VS the Steel Horsemen (my team). The RVA rough-housing was crucial as always and my team was able to sneak away with the win. The next battle would be Ottowa. We'd played against Robbie and Alexis in DC, but their third player, Jen, proved to be a formidable goalie. It was a hard fought game, but in the end we fell to the Canucks. After that we faced a Boston team. Perhaps it was because of the recent loss to Ottawa, but for some reason we seemed to fall apart out there. We lost to Boston's "Judas and the Betrayers". At the end of the day we walked away with third place. The polo was great anyway, so we weren't mad for long.



After the games we basically just partied and rode bikes for the remainder of the weekend. On Sunday we loaded up the bus and started off for Richmond. The bus wasn't feeling it, however, and we had to limp it all the way home, trailing smoke and ATF. It'll be an expensive repair...

Asheville (North Carolina)

There were many highlights to this trip, but Park's house, I mean, FARM, was epic!

He lives on a farm with trails leading from his backyard to Dupont. His "garage" is a barn with stables, many of which are filled with bikes. It's definitely a mountain biker's dream.



We headed to Asheville on Friday afternoon ready for adventure. There were six of us aboard, but two would be leaving our crew once in Asheville on a bike tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway (all 469 miles). We arrived at Matt's house that night and hung out for a bit before hitting the hay.



The next day we said goodbye to Joey and Tony and got brief trail directions from Matt. We rode the Laurel Mountain Trail near Asheville which was quite a challenge for Eva and Mia. They held their own though, and made it through with a few scrapes.



That night we walked to Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company. The beer (Ninja Porter) was great and so was the pizza. A heavy rain set in while we were there, but slowed to a drizzle for our walk home. Lori let us sneak into the pool by her house too, which capped our day perfectly.

The group unanimously opted for a more relaxed day on Sunday, so we drove to the Parkway in search of waterfalls. We found two. One was a secluded spot with smaller drops and pools. The other was just off the parkway, but it was a warmer, sunnier place which helped fight off the chills after jumping in the brisk water.



The final day Joe and I rode with Park while the girls drove to explore more waterfalls nearby. We couldn't snap any photos while riding, but I can assure you that the riding was phenomenal. The trails in Dupont are fast, smooth, and flowing. It seems that each corner has a berm or wall ride and the waterbars serve as perfect jumps.



We tried to wrap up our ride by 2pm so that we could get on the road. After packing up and saying goodbye we were headed back to Richmond. All four of us agreed that it was a great trip and we hated leaving. The drive back was a blast as usual and Eva took over the driving responsibilities halfway which let me enjoy the party atmosphere in the back of the bus. As usual, it was a GREAT TRIP!