Drove out to “my” campsite and it is occupied by 2 cars enjoying a camp fire. Drove up the road a little bit & found an open site with XM radio reception.

Watched Bucket List on laptop. Great entertainment for $1.00, so much I went back for another one tonight. battery is issue as i drain the juice. the worst part is the frige shuts down. Engaged in conversation w/ Sportsmobile about installing a second battery.

Stopped @ The Hub to check my seat adjustment & tire pressure. My knee is still behind the pedal axle even w/ seat all way forward & pedal cleats all way back. This position typically favors a rider pushing a big gear and not the spinner I am trying to become. Tire pressure per pump agrees w/ store’s pump. So i ride w/ hard tires.

Drive out to fish hatchery for ride start. Warm AM: shorts w/ knee warmers, short sleeve jersey, & gloves. Uphill on roads for almost 2200′ in 5 miles. Roads are freeze thaw soft and suck the energy out of each pedal stroke. The roads were also rutted up from cars.

Finally made Farlow Gap trail start:

The trail dropped almost straight down:

Trail is way back in there. Some small streams to cross, all hike a bike:

Trail after for me some serious walking my bike down sections joins daniel’s ridge that I have been riding from fish hatchery. Even lower there were tricky spots. This pic shows a narrow trail bench cut into hill side but it doesn’t capture the 75′ drop to the creek below:

A few more rock gardens and then it was back down to road back to hatchery.

Saw 60 degrees on van thermometer that I discovered in the owners manual.

Gave trail feedback to Sam @ The Hub who said he is able to ride all but 1 climb out of a creek crossing. Bravo for him!

Finish this up & back to woods for dinner & another video. Mono, tell your son i have found other entertainment.

Sunday the temp in town reached 70 degs. Where I rode was just a few degrees colder. Getting spring hot. Trails were freeze thaw mud which is slimy and erodes away quickly. Bill V., I should have not been riding those trails.

Warm night & nobody to share the road w/ me.

Another PT session working on my left knee.

Shower & wash & laundromat.

Socialized @ Sycamore Bikes. Parked @ Dolly’s & Sam from The Hub stopped by and I beered him. 2 bike shops in town kitty corner to each other across no pedestrian crossing intersection.

Dad, the video rental machine you told me about is now in a chain grocery store. I am sampling The Bucket List later tonight.

Why am I hanging so long in Brevard? It is the first mountainous riding coming North and it is the first mountainous riding out of the snow. And the riding is challenging w/ some big rides. I have met several friendly people and the camping is free in the FS land. Next states of AL & MS aren’t get off your couch stimulators. I have a PT apointment on Friday and i might do the picture show this week. There are mountains here.

Campers sleeping outside @ spot #1 w/ no tent. Warm night, low heat inside.

Met Scott @ fish hatchery. Technical ride. Beautiful day; got to almost 70 degs which started driving out the winter frost as it is. Some trail pieces were downright slippery: Steer the front wheel & body English the rear to follow. I forgot how technical the ride on Daniel’s Ridge is and the climb was a lung hurler. Great 16.14 mile ride for 2471′ vert.

Hung in the fish hatchery parking lot after Scott left. I walked along a pen about 5 feet across and 100 feet long that was stuffed w/ brook trout about 6″ long. A feed lot for fish. Lots of fly fisher people in Davidson River just downstream from hatchery.

I was wearing my Pisgah jersey when a younger rider asked about it. He said that he is a friend of Bruce’s & raced w/ him at the time trial on Sat in GA where I will be riding someday after Brevard.

Made good recipe dinner @ camp spot and made a good meal but a bit of a mess to clean up.

Yesterday’s ride left me w/ the feeling that something was “wrong” w/ my bike but couldn’t pin it down. The wheels wanted to track differently and felt squirrely. Yesterday Scott thought I had too much air in my tires but per my pump gage I was at 37psi. Yesterday we let air out and made the tires even softer. Today Scott used his better pressure gauge and learned that my pump reads 5 psi soft which explains the squishy ride because the tire sidewalls were flexing. Today I pumped to the “real” 37 psi and discovered that the bike literally flew. All this time I have been riding soft tires w/ greater rolling resistance. part of the trail was like a FATS section going uphill and I just jumped on it. I flew. The traction & control in the technical was even better. Pump gages are suspect. Harder tires (more air) have lower rolling resistance but bounce the rider more making for harder control.

We both forgot our cameras for today’s ride.

Zags got blown out against Memphis last night.