I'll be starting my twentieth PMBAR this Saturday at 8:00AM.  This time, I will be showing up at the start line with my eighth partner, Nick Barlow.To loosely quote Taylor Negron ("Whitey") from Whoopee Boys, "You can't just switch Dicks midstream... but you can swap Dick's partners.""Whitey"- back left, in his performance of a lifetime, Oscars be damnedWatts has been my stable partner since ..read more

Don't wanna hear a "womp womp" from the gallery, but it seems silly to do a blow-by-blow race post that ends in a precise and mediocre mid-pack 16th place finish in the men's' 50-59 category.Ooop.  Spoiled alert.I wasn't looking forward to riding alone with my brain.  Fortunately, my pal Burke had signed up for the hundred mile option that's actually one hundred and seven miles, but ..read more

I'm doing my best to settle into the fact that my 2024 "season" might be the first one without a mountain bike stage race since I first did La Ruta de los Conquistadors in 2004.  I'm also dealing with the irony that I'm publishing this post on the very day the Pisgah Stage Race starts, which I did last year... and it just happened to be the end of the streak.  Who knew?BTW: I found ..read more

I admittedly do a piss poor job of photo documenting the Fappening.  Not like it needs to be recorded for historical purposes or anything  It's bad behavior and nothing to aspire to in ones life, but we do it anyways.  Most of these images are not mine.  After a couple beers, I prefer to keep my valuables in my pocket when possible.  I'm capable of making (some) good ..read more

Details about Watts Fappening '24 this Saturday at the very bottom.Details about other stuff and things right chere. I had to buy a new Wahoo data acquisition device.  It does things I'm not used to.  I'm old.  I don't like new.  When the Summit Climb Feature (whatever it's called) kicks in, it makes the sound from Colors by Ice-T.  I do like that.  It does ..read more

First and foremost, this is Fappening.More details to come, but probably starting around 3:00PM at Lower Left Brewing (mebbe 4:00?), and then heading north and then south because I want to end up at home before I fall asleep.  Stops will be determined sooner rather than later.  Just expect this to be no fun, and you won't be disappoint if you join us.Second.I had a productive weekend.& ..read more

Points-wise, last week kinda locked the top five in place for the GC in the single speed category.  Based on the less than full parking lot when I pulled in, I'm guessing many had been dissuaded by the colder temps and lack of potential to improve themselves in the standings.  It definitely had the "time to make the donuts" feels.Had to embed the video for the yutes that don't get the ..read more

Obvs I ain't been totally "with it" lately.  My mind elsewhere.  Apology.Long story short, my mom has been living independently in Charlotte for almost fifteen years... almost as long as I've been blerhging.  In the early years, she lived really close to our place, but she actually grew more independent as the years went by.  She managed to find ways to pretty much do 99% of ..read more

Somehow I'm parked next to Bruce.  We always park in the same general vicinity.  We're basically the same age.  We finish the race about the same time.  Chalk it up to a "birds of a feather" situation."Robert Marion isn't coming today.""Huh..."I'd mentioned last week that I wasn't moving up in the GC unless someone in the top five missed a race.  Now that's happening, so ..read more

The Monday after last week's race, I was mentally fried.  Can't explain it.  The crush of reality and constant reminders of mortality.  Morose shit.On Tuesday, I woke up anxious over my to-do list of things, and despite convincing myself that the floppy front brake lever could wait until after Winter Shart Tarck was over, I couldn't help myself.  A bunch of Googling had ..read more