Slept well @ Thomas’ house. Rain came in.

Drove to SBC to inquire about helping at the 6 pack downhill race. Suggested to drive to venue, Brandywine, WV and help the timing operation.

Headed out W on 33, Twisty climbing 2 lane up Shenandoah mtn to state border & twisty steep down to Brandywine. X’d into WV wind & rain picked up. I’m thinking I am going to be in the rain volunteering for something that I am doing just because… ? Rain & wind abated by time I dropped down into WV.

A note about these roads: They lack the elevation but they make up for it in climbs, twists, banked corners, & tenacity. No shoulders. But the roads get the job done.

6 pack downhill celebrated it’s 14th year. It is a downhill race ridden by mostly XC riders & course is mostly a steep XC course. Park of my understanding is it used to cost a 6 pack of beer per race and at end of season series winner got all the beer but it was consumed at an invitational party and everybody got in on the prize. I recorded time at the finish line.

I am impressed with the close community of bikers here. Been going on so long and riders have grown up with events.

Race broke up & next event was a fixed gear race in the city park near Tim’s. Fixed gear mtn bikes. Gets crazy. Bunch of racers & hangers on race / watch these guys dice it out in tight woods track. Fixed gears: think tricycle: your legs have to constantly go around, no coasting.

Then the season ending party: It is a sorta costume kegger party. Lots of people crammed into a small house & back yard drinking beer listening to loud music. Wild. I lasted for 2 hours & retreated to the silent comfort of my van.

Leg pain is not responding to steroids & pain pills doc prescribed. I will be trying acupuncture & Chineese medicine first thing Monday.

Hanging around town waiting for Monday appointment & then head North. Parked @ city park hoping that I can get in for a swim for exercise when they open.

Push Industries will be getting my fork on Tuesday, I hope to get it back before Tday.

Meeting Cal and Brian Minter for dinner on Wed at Heath, Ohio.

Sure at odds when I am not either biking or planning on biking. This leg thing needs to go away.

Crunchy gravel parking lot survival to me means security from the property owner. Gravel means unimproved / under development and perhaps a more absent landlord. Plus dishwater runs thru the gravel. Noisy truck traffic on the hardroad, however.

Drove back into town & hung at the grocery store parking lot doing chores & computer work. I sharpened my 2 knives.

2 nights ago at Cally’s I asked these 2 young guys sitting next to me where I could buy Moonshine. They suggested Bush Mill further down the road and go to the Mom & Pop gas stations and ask and I might get a lead to a score. 2 hours away. I researched Moonshine on Google and learned that VA sells legal moonshine as Virginia Whiskey. The pitch was convincing. Today I bought 2 2 different bottles, 1 of corn, less than 30 days old and a corn, barley, & another grain and aged 2 years. Pot still double distilled. Haven’t tried it. I need to learn the correct way to drink it. Neat & out of a Mason Jar? My rationale of the state store was that perhaps the distilling didn’t leach out lead from the solder joints.

Plan is to help on the trail maintenance project for the bike club. Thomas lead it. He is active in club leadership, and to me, knowledgeable & skilled at the trail work. We rehabilitated 6 grade dips on a local trail. What a hump. Walked in on trail made for bikes. Bike trails take a long time to get from here to there. A hiking trail would have been a straight shot. Worked and hiked out in dark.

This is what we did:

Final product:

Thomas invited me to park in the vacant lot beside his house and a shower.

Last night laying in bed thinking about what this tendinitis effect was going to be I hatched plan B. I worked with Shenandoah bikes and Push industries to reschedule my fork service to be performed before Tday. I removed my fork from my bike and put on a trash fork back on to allow me to still carry the bike on the fork mount. Not having the bike to ride eliminates the temptation to ride before i am as healed as I could be. So no ride stories until closer to Tday.

Tim, owner of  the bike shop, invited me to his house to hang and / or shower. I took him up on the offer. What a neat guy and neat house environment. I likened it to Alice’s restaurant church house. Lingered. I among other things need to learn how to be a guest and accept people’ invitations instead of running away from them. I indulged them in a Craig conversation and was still invited to stay.

I am accepting Cal’s dinner offer in Heath, Ohio next week.

What do I really want to do? I don’t know, I do not have a person to argue with to shape my plans against. No bike riding has left a deep hole to fill with unplanned plans.

Off to crawl further back into the van.