Back in Cleveland to another Trailhead bike co to fix loose crank arm. This time, Charles discovered that an extra spacer was installed which didn’t allow crank arm to sit deep enough on bottom bracket spindle. Build up was wrong & Competitive cyclist made it worse by totally reefing down on pinch bolts such that I stripped the allen head out. Drove to Trailhead where Charles drilled of the bolt head, removed the errant spacer, and replaced the pinch bolts.

Made Ocoee white water center yesterday afternoon and found Grace & her buddy Mike Pace. Grace has immersed me in her circle of friends. Went  for short ride but loose crank sent me packing. Too late to drive back into Cleveland.

Forecast was for severe\s thunderstorms last night. Didn’t happen, postpones to later today and they are moving in right now. Drive back to White water center for race conclusion.

Update: parked in parking lot in Cleveland writing this for internet access. Storm moved in and I shut down to drive back to race. On highway I saw several lightning bolts in almost complete constant striking a mtn top up canyon. Thinking about racers on FS roads. made the XG and parked on dam hoping for internet access, none but did receive XM. Watched racers riding in a heavy down pour & high winds spinning to finish of 65 mile race. saw Grace and Mike, both had on rain jackets which made them an exception to all racers. 62 degrees where I was, up higher the temp was a few degrees cooler.  Weather forecast was for severe T storms and hardly a racer wore a rain jacket. Burrr.

A while later Grace & Mike were driven back to XG. I joined them. Grace started pulling off her wet clothes but she was going hypodermic. I grabbed her and her dry clothes and put her in my warm van. Once in dry clothes her skin color turned pink although there were still mud splashes on her face. The racers were covered in mud from top to bottom front & back.

Rain was still coming down @ camp site making sheltered enclosed cover the place to be, I hosted 3 pople in my van.

Lonny is a friend of Grace & Mike from Huntsville, he raced the 100 miles & finished just under 12 hours. I went to bed but Mike (65 miler) & Lonny kept at it.

Rain created small lakes between our camps. Had to have been 2″ of rain fell.

Tonight it is a truck parking lot outside Cleveland, TN where I stayed last year. Gravel parking lot w/ absent landlord who must give permission for the trucks to park. 2 trucks, engines on for a while then shut off and then repeat.

Yesterday AM I read an article in Mountain Biking about Fox shock service. Recommended interval is 8 to 40 hours depending upon conditions. I have perhaps 200 hours. issue is nonserviceable wear will do major harm. Service consists of replacing all the seals and lubing them. My shock needed treatment and I was parked at Trailhead bike shop. Knocked on the door before hours and Tommy opened it. I stammered a request and he said no prob he could do it in spite of shop being 1 1/2 weeks behind. I chose to remain during short service. I researched the space museum on line and it is what it says it is: space. And it cost $20. I said show me a plane and I would visit.

As Iwas working on my bike and older man stopped to take pictures of my van. I showed up and we engaged in conversation about traveling on road. He read Blue Highways. He takes pictures and posts them on Flicker, here is his report:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghb624/

Shop ride today meets @ Chad’s house nearby because Tommy left for concert. I parked on the flat in front of a small neighborhood park. A woman walked up walking her 2 dogs. She asked if I was back here last year as she saw my van @ 5 Points ( which is near here and shop also). She read Beth’s article in the paper and that they are friends. She brought her husband over for a tour. They have a kid in the Puget Sound and another somewhere else and they used to travel in a VW Westfallia and were looking for something different. Asked her to say Hi to Beth.

Pedaled over to Chad’s house which is the ride origin. 5 Points area where he lives is a historic neighborhood w/ old smallish houses. Reggie rode up w/ ear buds, Joe showed w/ a telephone ear piece. Chad had tunes also.  Chad is only single speeder but the 2nd hard tail. 5 Points sits at bottom of mountain, the park up above is 1000′ higher. We rode from Chad’s, picked up Toll Road trail I rode previously. I made several more tech moves, hit Land trust & picked up Rich. We rode up former paved road to top of mtn. Then the fun started. Flat out screamed for almost entire rest of ride. These trails are super as much seems to be ridden in vs carved out. I stayed w/ the bucks. Trees are fully leafed making the forest floor dark in full sun. Fading light caught us on a beat up techy former road and not seeing shadows but just dark objects missing important definition: sketchy lines. I missed one but managed to save an over the bars flight.  At the Land trust parking lot we jetted out to the paved road and drafted a car down, hit 35 mph. What an exciting and challenging ride. These  guys kept their legs in it. And I was there. First rate ride. Joy of riding w/ locals.

Back @ Chad’s I rode back to my van. I lost it! I forgot street I was parked. Saw a guy reving up his motorcycle. He shut it off and I asked him for directions. He missed by a block but I was back home. Drove back to Chad’s. Took a shower. The other riders showed. Lee, who didn’t ride w/ us arrived. His mother in law is Beth, the newspaper writer. He brought some of his wonderful home brew. I drank a nice porter. Raucous evening of them beer drinking and telling stories. I had 2 beers and switched to my water jug and affectionated their pure black cat. Sucker for attention. Gathering broke up about 11:30. I drove back to shop to sleep.

Today plan is to drive to Chattanooga to ride Raccoon Mtn, get a shower @ Trek dealer, then drive towards Cleveland for the night.

Made the TH. 1 bike car in lot. I greased the bushings on my bike. These grease zirks are threaded into frame and won’t pop out when too m uch grease is forced in. The main bushings allowed quite a few pumps of the grease gun. Suspension quieted down.

Trail sits on mountain top about 1600′ over looking the Tennessee river. Pedaled out by myself. Trail is in deep tree cover. Forest floor is open, trail has ridden down fallen leaves. trail is heavily ridden. I made my way around the loop, nice trail but not as exciting as last night’s Monte Sano ride.

Back @ parking lot an elderly woman returned from her hike & struck up a conversation. She invited me to stay @ her place. A sincere offer. I declined as I hoped to find some activity @ bike shop. Found the shop & walked in expecting to find manager I met last year. I learned he is no longer there w/ not much to say about it. i asked the new in charge for a shower and nixed that wish saying they had to create rules. No shower.

Next move was to drive further east to Cleveland. Exited Chattanooga during rush hour. Found a KOA for a $3.00 shower. Fixed dinner in large retail shopping center. Then drove to present spot.

Friend Dave from Wisconsin bike shop that adopted me in Sedona told me that the new BikeMag issue is out and my story is made public.

NEW ISSUE OF BIKEMAG IS OUT WHICH CONTAINS THE ARTICLE ABOUT ME. What else is cool is the writer will be @ IMBA conference to meet. I checked a big box news stand tonight and the mag is not on the shelf.

I am now in eastern time zone. Mariners home games start @ 10:00.

Forecast for this weekend is for thundershowers, severe ones on Sat, race day which is the first of the Ultra endurance series races, 100 miles. Course, I heard, is 30 miles of single track, the rest gravel road. Could be nasty. Grace arrives tomorrow as does the rest of her gang as well as me. Do a wash & grocery shop before heading up river to Ocoee.

just totally amazing that I only have a tiny spot of poison ivy after riding in it for all these days. hard to believe. Its the same story w/ the locals also. What effort is required to get the plant to oozes the urishiol?

Slept in airport parking lot. Same 2 cars of guys who left late last night were back @ it early today, some kind of training center.

More driving, today’s goal is Huntsville. Called Grace @ 8:00 where she was still in bed recuperating from a hard mnt bike race the day before. Today is a recovery ride for her and we make plans to meet @ 5:00 up in Monte Santo SP.

My first stop is Trailhead bike shop run by Tommy, another character in a string of characters I have on my stringer. This is the home of the Runt Crit. Low & behold, the winner of last years crit and next day purchaser of the runt was @ the store. Wed night is shop ride and more jocularity and shenanigans are promised only Tommy will be @ the Ryman hearing Levon Helm. Tommy has a woman mannequin in his restroom that is nattily dressed in a girl scout uniform. Her name is Mandy. Tommy said Grace dropped her off. Occasionally she becomes the focus of  exhibitionism. I would like to have her as my seat mate. Could be too much fun.

Scored a vaporizer pipe which will spare my lungs of combustibles.

My SI joint has been acting up getting tight. I asked Tommy for a chiro recommendation and he gave me Mike who is a mtn biker. Scored an appointment b4 afternoon ride. Amazing the different chiro skills in the industry. He worked on my skull getting sutures to work. His put is the head makes the hips work. My SI still hurts.

Drove up to Monte Santo SP which is almost 1000′ above town. Can be ridden to from bike shop. At TH I was getting ready when a rider stopped by and called me by name. Who? It was Chad from last year fast ride. He reminded me that I watched him go down in a splatter from rolling his front tire off the rim on a landing off a drop.

Grace arrived as did 8 women mtn bikers, it was a chick ride but not for Grace & Craig. Grace has a new used van. Tsali, her standoffish dog was along. Last year she wouldn’t let me touch her until one day she got in my van where I petted her breaking the ice. Tonight it was I forgot I know you. Short easy ride on family trail for Grace’s recovery ride. Her season is all about Leadville training and she seems to be following her coach’s training plan.

Drove down from park to Grace’s which is near part. Met her son, Wills. Let Tsali in my van and we got back to where we were last year. Grace needed to pack for drive & overnight to Nashville, next day fly to New York for day for speaking engagement, night in Nashville then Fri drive to Tanasi trail @ Ocoee white water center for a race on Sat. She persuded me to spend the weekend @ Tanasi. She will have other friends in attendance and this has makings of party weekend. Forecast is for T-storms unfortunately.

Spent night parked @ curb @ her house.  She finished up her packing and left. I drove to Trailhead to socialize. My plan was to ride Monte sano. I parked in an apartment complex @ base of toll road climb. I parked in front of a unit that was being renovated so that no tenant would be parking there. Good plan. I pedaled off. Trail up had a lot of rocks w/ small tech moves that stymied me last year in the wet. This year in the dry I did a little bit better but still walked some. Upper section was like a long rock garden, something that I had to just keep grinding on. Goal was park office to obtain a trail map. Made the office and picked up the map. Trails here leave park and the map shows them leaving but never coming back in. I found Goat trail to Flat Rock connector which left the park while dropping 500 feet switchbacking. Challenging riding. Rode connector for almost 3 miles and it still hadn’t joined a return trail. decided that maybe it would connect but I wouldn’t ride it out so i rode back the way i came walking up steep switchbacks. Just poison ivy. Why I don’t have any is curious.

Found my way back down mtn to parking lot. A parking violation was on windshield. Just a foul, no harm but park elsewhere.

Back to Trailhead for a shower to wash off urishiol if any. Hung for a little while. Drove to Bandito Burrito for dinner. Back @ Trailhead side street parking for sleep spot. Main street of Andrew jackson Way is noisy but I am legal.

Stopped @ grocery store for beer. Selected a beer made w/ pecans. Picked p a small piece of german chocolate cake that was topped w/ pecans. Last  year Tim’s wife gave me about a gallon of pecans from her trees. Southern pecans. Will try the beer tomorrow as I am sipping a single malt from Scotland.

3 hour ride almost 2000′ climb. Tired.

Tomorrow is space museum day then shop ride in afternoon, they leave early.