Very warm quiet night up in the woods. And no river smell. Kicked off the down blanket. Listened to rain on roof. Forecast was for less probability of rain. Foggy.

Fixed bfast. Changed plans. Drove down mtn and skies cleared a bit. But Chilhowee ride would have been wet & muddy.

Needed to fill propane. Stopped @ quick shop for phone book search for propane shop. None in book. Drove down road further and found a bottled gas shop. A guy gave me directions to a propane retailer. Arrived. Met w/ knowledgeable person w/ 12 years of experience. I asked about purging the tank. He said that after all my use purge would be of no value. he opened the spitter valve and it spewed propane indicating that tank was completely full. The guy had difficulties understanding my tank. Bottom line, the guy in Brevard must have drained all the vapor out of the tank and filled it w/ all propane. Doesn’t make sense. I lack a valve on the tank so my action will be to open the spitter valve and if vapor comes out then it is ready for some propane.

Stopped @ Scott’s again to ask about my fork appearing to not fully extend after compression. Called PUSH & spoke w/ Darren. He suggested to remove seals, clean any gunk out & apply Slick Honey to stantion & reassemble. We did w/ not improvement. Darren said that w/ my low pressure setting the pressure is possibly not high enough to extend the fork. We pumped the fork way up and the fork performed correctly. My low pressure is just low pressure.

I also asked Scott’s about my fractured Mavic hub on my road bike. They took a picture of damage to send to Mavic. Shop is very cooperative. Dave & Doug are talkers. I will swing back thru area b4 heading to GA.

Did wash before leaving Cleveland for Big South Rec area.

Drove to Oneida, TN up twisty rt 27 in rain. Toured town looking for sports bar or any bar to watch OSY game. No luck.

Parked on town outskirts in a second hand store parking lot in the rain doing internet work.

Forecast is for more rain & snow on Thurs.

Called Tom Z & enjoyed a wonderful conversation. Mel joined later. Great to maintain connection to home.

Listening to OSU game on XM. Go BUCKS.

Heard rain on the roof during the night. OK. Bed was very comfortable. I slept late again. 2 nights ago I heard the traffic from the highway. TVA opened gates upstream and now the traffic was drowned out by the rapidly flowing river. It would have been white water but the river was a thick chocolate brown icky smell. I fixed scratch pancakes and enjoyed the morning which emerged as a wonderful blue sky warm day. I pulled my bike off the rack to adjust the fork when Bruce from 2 days ago pulls in. I remember that he and John were planning another ride on Sunday. And I was in the perfect spot for another ride. They were later joined by Webb & Linda. More later.

We rode mostly the same ride we did previously. I learned no new words but I did learn from both John & Webb that a 29er is the better bike hands down. John said he couldn’t make his Ellsworth  go fast downhill. And it was a pig on the uphill. He said that even the worst day on the trail is a good day was a lie. Next time he rides it will be w/ his 29er Fisher composite hardtail.

Webb @ 72 is the oldest person I have ridden with. I learned that when he was younger that he ran 100 mile races. Linda is 61 second oldest person. Very nice people, they invited me to visit on my way thru AL. Webb is still a practicing MD.

At the TH John recognized Zeke’s pickup. John said that Zeke is training for the trans rockies race and that he would offer lots of ride ideas should he return while I was still there. I was staying the night making the encounter a sure deal. A rider coasts down into the parking lot and beelines to me like he knows me. I immediately recognize him from my ride on Haw Ridge several weeks previous. He knows John, Webb, & Linda. He shared ride info as did Webb.

Enjoyable visiting & learning from other people.

The river really stunk from the released h2o so much that I decided to get out of the drainage by driving the logging roads up mtn until I found a pullin. I found 1 right @ a trail junction we rode by today. A mtn biker pulled in as I was deciding. Don Wright. And he shared a ride idea and names.

And then it got dark and I am all alone. Companionship and then solitude. Again, I have met, interacted, and been accepted by a whole bunch of people. Traveling by myself is key to opportunites.

Computer acting up. Run engine to charge battery.

Managed river:

Today after release:

Noisy night in parking lot. Ran heater on low and made van too hot to sleep comfortably. Woke to alarm to meet 9:30 meet time in Chattanooga w/ Ralph who answered my SORBA forum asking for a guide on the mtn.

Fog & drizzle driving down, same @ his house.

Forum comments advised me to accept Ralph as my guide. Somebody else said yeah, bring a lung, But Ralph answered that he would be riding his “slow” bike, the suspension one. I learned that he normally rides a single speed and is really fast. Young guy, another engineer. What is it about mtn biking that seems to attract engineers? Early on I managed to stay on his wheel. His brakes squeal which sent a caution sound of up coming downhill.

Say this about the Spot. I normally ride last just because. I watch other riders on non Turner bikes slipping & sliding occasionally over roots & rocks. I seem to nail them straight away whether I pick a better line &/ or it is the stiffness of my bike. I think it is the bike. I really like my bike. 1710 miles so far.

We loaded up his car for the drive eliminating 1 rig from a potentially crowded parking lot. We were the only rig in the lot perhaps because of current conditions & forecast for rain. Raccoon mtn is a new trail system cut in on TVA land. The TVA purpose is to store h2o for hydro electric when demand rises. Mtn is above valley (duh) Could barely see beyond the front wheel. Lookout mtn of Civil War fame is nearby, lost in the fog.

Only riders on trail. Nice ST, not much for stuff on tread except for normal roots. Today they were wet but not overly slippery, as long as they were hit @ right angle or keeping front wheel light to “float” over. Rain matted out the fall fallen oak leaves making the tread easier to find & a bit less slippery, and maybe drier. Fog so thick we both removed our riding glasses. I have a small fender on my down tube that blocks some of the stuff that gets flung off the front tire. Still I kept my eyes squinted hoping that no splatter made my eyes.

The trail system is a big loop around mtn. About the furthest point away the clouds opened up for an intense downpour. It stopped after about a min. A bunch of feet further it opened again and poured for several minutes. I know I was pretty wet: My tights, socks & shoes, & gloves. My rain coat kept my upper dry but the rain made me cold. We considered bailing if it kept up. It quit but we were still wet. Still 2 hours of pedalling for 15.50 miles & 1200′ vert. Trail is like some other eastern trails in that sometimes another trail was just a few feet away. Lots of looping playing w/ topography. All trails made by bikers. Sweet.

We stopped several times to talk about trail issues. But the stops almost ceased once we got good & wet.

Ralph and his wife are active in Chat SORBA and played big parts in bringing the trail into existence. The club has plans for over 100 miles of ST. TVA is a cooperative landlord for trail construction.

Back @ Ralph’s ( who is English) house I washed off my bike & enjoyed a shower & dry clean clothes. He made me a cup of real English tea w/ milk & sugar. Tasty.

My fork seems to stay compressed to far which concerns me. I stopped @ Scottie’s for advise but they are closed on Sat.

Diesel for $2.09/ gal near shop. Nice price to fill up to.

Weather forecast is for more rain days out. I was thinking about driving N to Big South up @ KY border, which from what I understand is a big area, but because of forecast I returned to ThunderRock XG up the Ocoee and Tanasi pronounced TA nasi. Alone again. TVA pulled the plug on the river and it is gushing by XG. Tanasi rode OK in the wet in case that’s what tomorrow brings.

Ralph designs robotic welding machines. VW is building an assembly plant outside Chat.

Wet wet wet. Van is dry & toasty.

I am thinking about modifying my appearance to resemble Arte Johnson as the dirty old man on Laugh in. That or Clint Eastwood w/ my poncho in his spaghetti westerns.

Like sitting on exercise ball again.

To all you Spokanites: keep shoveling. May you have enough beer on hand. Skiing in it, if you can get to it, is more enjoyable than mtn bike riding in the liquid state.