Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Sleepy, and Sneezy

I've been all them dwarves and then some over the past two weeks.  Also Coughy, Bloaty, and Smelly.  Also also Whiney, Bitchy, and Moany.

Things were going right as rain following the Watts Fappening a couple weeks ago.  I followed up a solid garvel ride Sunday with two post work Backyard Trail excursions, a big monster loop in the mountains, and a decent romp at the Whitewater Center on a day that I really shoulda been recovering from those previous days.  The weather was just too nice to not get at it and give 'er.  I've only got so many days left on the planet, so I try to use them up like Chuckie Cheese tokens when my parents tell me that we're leaving in fifteen minutes.

Idiot.

I knew the pollens were higher than Snoop at Lollapalooza '09, but the conditions were too primo to ignore.  I'd suspected that running would fall to the wayside once Daylight Savings kicked in and trail riding would be too tempting in whatever spare time I had available.  Sunshine and 70° is my crack cocaine with slightly fewer downsides.  That was the most saddle time I'd seen in a given span of time without there being some stupid race tossed into the mix.

Backyard do take a bite, don't she?

Early last week, I was having the usual Monday morning elevator conversation.  I mentioned that I could feel my allergies kicking in.

"You start taking your meds yet?"

My what?

So much new-to-me trail up in Old Fort these days.  I shoulda YOLO'ed but didn't tho.

I'm a bit more reactionary than proactive when it comes to my health.  I'd never considered pre-medicating for an expected issue.  Regret.

The was enough leftover pizza from work to share with frands on our big day in the mountain woodsen.

I let it sneak up on me.  Slight sinus pressure.  Some sneezing.  Sore joints?  What sorcery is this?

Home is where you hang you tiny hat.

I could really see the pollen in the glow of my Niterider on the way home from trivia Tuesday night.  It looked like snow, but yellow, angry snow.  Putting two and two together and getting five, I realized I've been choking this down into my lungs pretty hard for perhaps too long.

I was also celebrating bare knees after six months of regular knee pad use post-Horny Cat 69 incident.  My old man tissues are as good as they're gonna get, and riding in pads up a climb sucks all the balls.

Despite the fact that my allergies were creeping in, AND that I'd been watching the high pollen count pretty closely in Charlotte, AND against the wise advice of The Pie RN, I still went out for a post-work ride last Thursday.

If you ride in the Pisgah without a water filter, either your rides are pretty short or you carry too much water on your back all day... or you rely on your friends who carry filters.

So Thursday was definitely the tipping point.  I've been self-banished to the couch for the pleasure of enjoying short bursts of sleep interspersed with sitting straight up to cough my lung butter out and occasional fumbling around in the kitchen looking for some good drubs to take.

Dammit.

Certain house guests were not amused with all my night time activity in the next room, coughing, stumbling around in the dark, putting random movies on at 3:30AM hoping to bore/distract myself back to sleep, sighing and moaning in a loud manner...

Over this past weekend, I thought mebbe I'd be good enough to get out for a Sad Dad™ greenway ride on Saturday after the rain cleared out.  Nope.  Mebbe a Sunday trip to DuPont?  Not even.  Perhaps settle for the saddest of daddests just to pedal a bike in some sort of manner?  Not close.

Unless pushing my electric mower around wearing an N95 mask counts as a wheeled recreational activity?

I spent most of the entire weekend working on packing my mom's stuff for her move and knocking out whatever low hanging odd jobs needed done around the house.  Ten minute light fixture replacement I've been postponing for months.  Five outta six dirty bikes now clean.  Lost ball in my front tarck bike hub replaced.  Three attic dwelling tubs of holiday decorations sorted and mostly pitched.  Stationary trainer tossed back into the closet (although indoor riding coulda been back on the menu but nah).

All the while, happy people on bikes and feets riding and running past my domicile towards the greenway and trails, mocking me as I stare out the front window from my hermit-like but marginally productive seclusion.

Here's hoping I can get this ship turned around in time for the Triple Dip-v20.24 this weekend.  I don't think I'll be showing up with my A game, but I at least want to be able to enjoy a day of woods play on bikes with frands if I can.

Watts Fappening '24

I admittedly do a piss poor job of photo documenting the Fappening.  Not like it needs to be recorded for historical purposes or anything  It's bad behavior and nothing to aspire to in ones life, but we do it anyways. 

Most of these images are not mine.  After a couple beers, I prefer to keep my valuables in my pocket when possible.  I'm capable of making (some) good decisions.

3:07 PM and two bikes out front of Lower Left for a 3:00 PM start.  This checks out.

We started under similarly inauspicious conditions as we did last year.  Drizzle.  Zero sun.  Wet outdoor seating.  Poorly quaffed hair stuffs.

Beer one.  Yeth, I do cut my own and have zero professional training.

Eventually, our some of our fellow travelers showed up and the Fappening truly began.

I would say we kept things more "in control" this year.  A sign of our advanced age or increasing wisdom associated with life experience.  Those things can not be associated with each other, because I know a lot of ignorant old people do in fact exist.  I've seen them on TV, dodged them in the streets, and probably work alongside my fair share.

Through the heart of the city, AKA The Big Buildings.  Essentially, it's like going to work on my day off.  So.  Many.  People.  About.  Yuck.

North to greener pastures.

I'd forgotten how much I like OG NoDa Brewing.  It's like it doesn't exist... which was a nice change of pace from stop #3 that probably had two hundred people crowding it all up at 5:00PM.

The evening was almost incident free, aside from Christian hitting one of those strange white dome traffic control things, which as far as I know only serve the purpose of injuring cyclists.

OG Common Market and a stroll down member berry lane.  Pretty much the invention of the "a convenience store but you can drink in it" in Charlotte.  Now we live in a world where if a place of business has a checkout register, it more than likely also had a bar... in Charlotte.

It was probably a great accidental idea to have the Fa--- on the night we turned the clocks ahead in order to keep the night well in check.  We were in bed at what I'll call a reasonable hour, enough so that we once again kept our promise to do this the next day:

It may have not been the most spirited garvel ride ever, but we never considered bailing on the entire 56 mile route, so win?

There was some brief discussion about a '25 Fappening and whether or not it should happen or mebbe emphasize the day-after ride with a later start of the consumption portion of the weekend... which makes sense, because we used to start at noon and keep bumping it back in scope and magnitude almost every year.

Now on to serious business from here on out.

Reasons are just well supported excuses

Details about Watts Fappening '24 this Saturday at the very bottom.

Details about other stuff and things right chere. 

I had to buy a new Wahoo data acquisition device.  It does things I'm not used to.  I'm old.  I don't like new.  When the Summit Climb Feature (whatever it's called) kicks in, it makes the sound from Colors by Ice-T.  I do like that.  It does actually work compared to my old one which was failing, and thus it will serve me in the continuation of killing the spirit of single speeding with screens and screens full of useless data.  

Who knew one would need to maintain an EDC tool? Mine was getting sticky a few weeks ago, being all reluctant and whatnot to come out of its hidey hole in my steer pipe. Thought the problem was solved.  Nope.  That nice blood blister is all about trying harder and not smarter.  Meh.  This issue has now been addressed.  DM me for recipes.

I'm still not back up to riding this eroded chute on Cove Creek.  It was in my whale house.  Now it is not.  It has gotten significantly worse since the last time I nailed it almost a year ago.  It's a race to the bottom between my skills/bravery and the power of flowing water shifting rocks the size of loaves of bread.

I hate that I love QT for my "needs."  Garbage food with plenty of calories that never tastes (that) bad.  It's easier than thinking ahead, buying a frozen pizza, heating an oven, keeping my hands off freshly'ish baked pizza outta said oven...

Got into a serious conversation with a hiker at the top of the Butter Gap descent.  I feel bad that I left her with some incorrect information, as I'd forgotten exactly what the whole Butter/Cat reroute was gonna look like.

But as she stood there and basically blamed all the mountain bikers for the damage done to the trails in Pisgah, I had a chance to inform her... a little bit.  With the fine example of how a sustainable trail can be built by looking right there past the fence blocking "new" Butter, I explained how a lot of trails in Pisgah were built without an understanding of how to make a trail that can stand up to the amount of rain that falls in a temperate rain forest.  Old school "water bars" VS grade reversals were both right there on display to contrast and compare.  I pointed out the huge hillside that has to do something with all the water, and that H20 will take the path of least resistance, the fall line trail right in front of it... thus, ditch.  That and about a billionty other things to include all the volunteer work, grants, and fundraising that mountain bikers do to benefit the area (and obvs themselves), and she seemed to take it all very well. 

Dare I say it was a cordial interaction?  Nary a once was I swattened with her hiking poles in my face.

Did I mention I really do love my Vassago Radimus?  I'm in a great place where every bike I own serves a purpose, but this is probably the most smiles per mile machine I have.  Granted, I'm normally "racing" on my now ten year old Vertigo, which means my smile is displayed as "pain face" in moments of heated battlings.

Sure, if I could do this frame in a custom manner, I'd make a few tweaks, but geometry-wise, I wouldn't change a thing.  I have an unparalleled confidence on this bike, and although the first technical trail slapped me in the face this Saturday, we hit it again for shits and giggle at the end of the ride, and we were all peas and carrots again.

Enough of that.  Here's this:

Join us for the billionth sorta-annual Watts Fappening '24. On this journey, we will celebrate Watts's slide into his mid-life/existential crisis, Bill Nye's approximate 50th birth-a-versary, and the exact six month anniversary of me introducing my knee cap to the world (I'll bring my photo album). 

We'll start at Lower Left at 3:00PM and then... 

Triple C 

Monday Night (or if the vibe is bad, nearby Hi Wire) 

Common Market Southend (for beers and grubbage) 

Urban Market District (or OG NoDa is that's a bust) Birdsong (for beer and nuttage) 

Spoke Easy... 

From there... well, then we shall see. If you're trying to catch up to us, expect 45-60 minutes between stops allowing for travel time.

It might be moist.  I doubt that will change things.  Mebbe an update on the FB page if we delay.  Mebbe.