Hair Raising Descents, Spirit Lifting People, and Fund Raising Rides

What an AMAZING three days.
The premise - sign up for a fundraiser ride in Morganton, an adorable little town in the foothills of these majestic Blue Ridge Mountains, but RIDE THERE over the course of a couple days on twisty lonely dirt roads, have enough juice left over to intimidate on the start line of the kids bike derby race, and get home in time to pour beer for the second NC Cyclocross Race in Boone on Sunday.
check

check

check

and CHECK!

Despite getting off to one of the SLOWEST starts to a bike tour ever, it was one of the most gorgeous and lonely rides I have ever been on, with probably less than 10 cars passing me in 2 days!  This is mid-week North Carolina dirt roads!  Loads of time in my own head, perfecting strange accents out loud, singing songs that pop into my Rattle-Can brain for no apparent reason and generally having a pretty swell time.  Heres some of the better photos.

open to interpretation, wrong turns, and spur of the moment ice cream stops!

Always a great support team!

Coffee sponsors CAMP Coffee Roasters were kind enough to hook it up...

...go see them in Blowing Rock!

Rhoddie Bikes is the friendliest damn shop EVER!

so much washboard, so much breaking I had to let air out of my tires 

Looking back to the mountains I cam down...

toughest dirt climb on a loaded touring bike ever!

Legendary HC Dirt loop!

Next time - I camp here!

switchbacks for DAAAZEE!

first cup in the DARK!

second cup by the river!

Apparently these are used to tag trees for destruction by a local logging company but those who know Le Tour de France know that this is the colour of the Hill Climb Champs jersey. Perfect motivation.

TV PARTY TONIGHT!!!!!

the most beautiful 10 mile wrong turn ever!

....buzzards!

saw it on the map and was hoping to see a sign, there's gotta be a Tom Waits song in there somewhere. 

24 hours after a slow start I was already back in civilization

Morganton has a great greenway next to the Catawba river 8 miles out and back.

back to the car to shuttle over to the following day's ride start

with a quick stop at Fonta Flora for tasty beverages of a malted and fermented variety

got to the ride site late and camped out, woke to some amazing views!

whos ready for a 9am start time?

kitty sleeps hard in the autumn sun!

the ride went around Lake James in the foothills, beautiful views at every turn and some great legit rolling hills.

"rolling hills" believe it or not I coasted more than half way up that.

"Win the Party"

3 laps, 1 crash, and a lot of shit talkin"

The drive back was loaded with traffic and cramping legs, but the views of the leaves changing colours in the mountains up here was UNBELIEVABLE!  I really do get to live in an amazing seasonal spot.  All cause I chose to stick out that first tough cold lonely winter, and rejoin the beer industry.  I made it home in time for a Burger at my fav pub, and a hot soak!  Up early the next day to pour beer with this maniac at the #2 NC Cyclocross race - of which I got ZERO photos cause we were busy silently judging everyone's visible bulge, and keeping wasps away.

Spent the wee hours of the night finishing the November Schedule for work and here we are...a caughts up now aint we.

Im going to leave the FUNDRAISER site up a little while longer to make some more dough for the Non Profits so if you like this and want to see more - get over to GoFundMe and donate!  As much as I love the narcisitic selfishness of a good solo bike tour putting PURPOSE behind this one felt good, helped me stay motivated and allowed me to make some really good genuine connections with like minded people - hey wait - I think that's called COMMUNITY!

Perfect.

Get out there this fall

Scotito du Nord.

Fall in the High Country peeps!  Leaves change, beers get darker, flannels and hoodies get the summer mold washed off, and BOOTS!  Fall has always been my favorite season and with it usually comes the feeling that I wanna run.  So many years of conditioning to pack it up and go to whats next living and working seasonally has primed me for these feelings - but NOT this year.  This year Im quite happy to be staying put!  The usual human complaints of unsatisfying work, flakey friends, a town that doesnt have everything you want, shit car problems, health, fitness, aches and pains, heartache begging me to run... NONE of it this year!  Plus, did I mention its BOOT SEASON....in a college town!  Heres some of the shit I been up to when not perving out at the local cafe...

Me and this particularly hedonistic "Lets go RIGHT NOW" sporty friend and I floated around in hit-n-run style at the rental boat house on price lake singing smooooooke on the waaaaaterrrr.... 

I took another day off trip to Abingdon, Virginia for a little CREEPIN' on the Virginia Creeper Trail...

There was a miserable persidential debate that led itself to a mediocre drinking game, with pro level drinking, which in turn led to some fantastic art exercises with this one...

so you fold a piece of paper in thirds, each person draws on of the following; head, torso, legs without looking at what the other drew, then reveal the creature at the end.  hilarity!

There was a little coffee brewed outside with a few friends who like that idea...

 I hiked up here...

I hiked ridiculously early to one of my favorite spots...

And was so smitten with the idea that I hiked another fav at the ungodly hour of 5am to brew some coffee in the clouds...

And my good friend Sara got my art hanging in a real live gallery to sell to raise money for said gallery...

Then things got kaliedawierd...just the way I like em!

HUGE thanks to my homies up here! You know who you are, and you mean the world to me!  Its for the love up here that I stay.
Call Me,
Im down for whatever!

Scotito du Nord