As much about my birthday as needed

Another birthday weekend come and gone, and another trip up to Charleston, WV.  We like it.  What can I say?

We even talked Bill Nye and his girlfriend June into joining us.

Friday night was the usual free concert across the street from the hotel at the amphitheater on the banks of the Kanawha River.  Live on the Levee always hauls ass, and BYOB concerts come with their own amount of danger.  I was all but done for the night by 9:30PM, but the yutes dragged me out into the night for more delights.

Getting up for a ride in the Kanawha State Forest the next day was not the easiest thing I've done in awhile.

Bill Nye had never been, so I tried to get to a lot of my faves... although the impact of the previous evening mighta kept Wall Fork off the agenda.  

Hadn't been down Teaberry Rock in some time.  Did not disappoint.

There aren't a lot of easy miles in the forest.  For example, we did a .8 mile climb up an old rocky road bed and gained almost 500 feet... just to get to the next climb.  This was my first ride in Kanawha on a geared bike, and it was a much more pleasant than schlepping a one geared bike cycle up all these uber-steep mountain sides.

We got back, cleaned up, taco/burrito at Black Sheep, and then we played 26 holes of janky, community-sourced, sidewalk putt putt golf.  I won, but I think they all threw the game for the birthday man-boy.

And then margaritas and over to the ballpark to watch the Dirty Birds take an exciting win in the first game of the double header... and then they lost the second one.

The Pie snagged herself a picture with the local legend Toast Man.   

Due to a copyright infringement thing, he can't sing Yeah Toast anymore, but he still brings a bunch of toasters and enough extension cords to violate at least seven fire codes.

Speaking of fire...

I don't know how they pull of such a great fireworks display and two ball games for $9, but they do.  That and about ten minutes before last call, someone walked up to us and handed us more beer vouchers than we could shake a stick at.  We did our best to honor their wishes, and The Pie distributed what we couldn't use to the joyous masses.

Sorry not sorry for the lack of images and crazy details, but quite honestly, I was just taking it all in.  "Celebrating" birthdays isn't something I really do much of, so it was enough for me to just be in the moment as much as possible.

Also... probably one of my last rides on a geared bike until after the Breck Epic.  I need to settle into the discomfort and simple joys of one speeding again.