Why so serious

Mountain bikers....you are not awesome. You are dorks, nerds, geeks and oddballs. Stop pretending you're awesome, tough, cool, gnarly, etc. What we do is a blast...a fringe sport. Tell everybody else that you enjoy riding, but don't tell them what kind of ride, bike, trail, place, secret, gnar, long, steep, shallow, rolly ride.

Just go have fun. Say hello to others on the trail...and keep on rolling. It's fun and that's all we should care about.

Moving on. hah hah!

The doldrums of fall....FIGHT IT!!!!

I just have to say that with the weather turning suddenly with temps in the 30's overnight and me still dealing with a 90 degree day's sunburn, I'm baffled. My mind and body are in a tailspin and yawns come out all day.

But I've gotta fight the dreariness and flow with the change. Adapt. Overcome. Everyday ho-hum must me laid to the wayside and think ahead.

This morning's ride cleared a little of the mental fog out. If only you could read the sticker:

Lots to catch up on

Busted out the DH bike for an 8th in Pro class at Beech. Stoked for my result but at the same time I think I can do top 5. Got a few purty pics snapped too.


The home life is fun too. Girls have been in swim lessons for 2 weeks and boy do they learn fast!




And then of course, there is the nightmare that was replacing the hinge bushings in my drivers side door. I cannot explain the sheer blessing I had in Bud Dotson and Cecil Jenkins. Bud offered to help, took one look at my door and suggested we get Cecil.

Long story short, he's a master welder who basicly recreated my door, modified a short drill bit into a super long one, broke out the welder, sawzall, drills, grinders, blow torches, etc and put on an auto body show you've never seen!
God bless them BOTH!!!

Epic Anniversary weekend

The weekend started with Ryane lettimg me have a "day of riding with the guys". Wound up hitting the big Black Mountain ride with Jeremy, Matt and Dave and we all had a blast. I had a flat twice in 30 seconds only to be saved by Dave. It apparently cursed Matt though as he proceeded to flat on the most fun part of the trail. Bummed for him, but stoked for the rest of us.

Sunday, the 'rents picked up the girls for a 3 day stay and Ryane and I busted out "Get him to the Greek", P.F. Changs for the first time (the place is awesome)& finished Coldstone Creamery.

But the best day of all was Monday. Ryane and I ventured out for some waterfall action in Brevard and stumbled on a very private, crystal clear deephole. It was easily 20 feet deep and you could see big brown trout swimming all in it, down deep and striking. We dove in and cooled off.

Then headed to Hendersonville to "street walk", play tennis back home and knock out some dirt cheap sushi to go from Asiana Buffet. Awesome anniversary!!!!

Softball District II Champions

It's been an awesome season for our little girls, Cassidy and Charisma. Both have really taken a shine to softball and done well. Cassidy in 6u softball and Charisma in instructional league/T-ball. Cassidy was picked for All-Stars and after only 1 game was moved to short stop. It snapped her to attention and she got the hang of roaming the infield.

She's the fastest kid on her squad and when she learns to field better, she'll make a fierce infielder. The coaches were AMAZING in All-Stars. Jason & Tara Alexander have done it for 5 years and are great people too. This summer she'll need to work on hitting, as next year they go to the machine pitch in 8U and she'll be pretty young.

Charisma has blossomed and all signs point to her being MORE aggressive than big sis and we were told that she'll be in 6u for THREE YEARS! That's kind of hard to swallow, b/c 2 years of this have been so busy. But that means she'll be one of the oldest on the field her last 2 seasons. Good for her, b/c she's petite.

For a laugh, notice the girl on the bottom left in the pic:


The coach said she was part of the team and insisted she get a trophy. She carried it into the grocery store and Ryane found it hidden in her bag at the POOL the next day. hah!!!

Super late post - Dirty Bird DH

Been neglecting the blog for a while, but have been getting tons of things done and hustling after Cassidy's All Star softball games! Be sure to click the pics for full size.




It was time to kick off the local race season back at the Bird. I had to stop by Grandfather campground to set up camp for Ryane and the girls before the race. High winds and no help made it almost impossible to set up a borrowed, massive, poorly designed tent. So I got there late.



Late, as it would seem, was perfect. The rain dumped as soon as I hit the parking lot and stopped as soon as I got registered. Track was slick and snotty, but a blast. I had to ditch my clipless b/c of a shot cleat and go flats. Fun no matter what. I nailed down 12th with a couple bobbles and riding the brakes too much, but landed among the big dawgs still. I don't feel 37.



I even appear at 1:33 in two different vidoes. Same time slot...can't beat that.
Click Here:

Dirty Bird Dh--June 2010 from Alex Boyd on Vimeo.

Dirty Bird race #1 2010 from TJ Kearns on Vimeo.

There are no more bees...and it sickens me!

I'm not a doom and gloom guy when it comes to nature. I believe we can teach the kids and they'll know more and do more to help nature than we have done. And we've done 10 times what our parents did. That's a good thing.

But this weekend, I saw something that seemed to me a harbinger of bad things to come. Since I was little, I used to walk bare foot to my grandmothers house through the clover. I'd get a honey bee in the foot about once a summer, no matter how hard I tried. But now, they're all gone. All of the honey bees, bumblebees, black & white faced hornets are absent.

I don't think it's a weather cycle. Something isn't right. What happens to our natural world when something that blanketed the grass all day every day simply disappears? That's a massive link in the chain of nature and I really worry about it's repercussions elsewhere.

My father mentioned that honey bees aren't even native to the US. So what bee was? And what will play their part now that bees are gone?

Bent Creek-Silent and Wonderful

You have got to love it when you haven't ridden trail in weeks and it starts to rain as you leave work. But all was not lost. Rule #1 of a trail ride is go. If you abandon it, the rain stops.

I got Bent Creek all to myself yesterday. It looked nasty out but since the trails have been so parched, the rain just soaked in and made the trails fantastic!!! I didn't even get gunk on the bike until I hit the parking lot exit. Flat out fast as snot, quiet, peaceful and serene!!

God Bless!

Massanutten Yee Ha - GES #1 - Podium town

I haven't been on the podium in a while. Been way too lazy too early in the season or on a bike of my own for too, too long. It was great being back on a familiar bike and a familiar trail (even if it is never the same weather).



Huge drifty turns and techy, straight forward rock baby heads mean full on moto style riding, something I live for.

Anyway, I landed on the Open class podium in 3rd behind a Pro and a buddy, Matt Griffin of SEI Racing. http://seiracing.blogspot.com/

See you on the trails soon. Oh, and my Turner 5pack is back up and running with some cranks finally. Yeah!!!

Downhill shuttles at Windrock

Just an absolutely beautiful weekend of riding at an incredible bike park. If you've never been, it's on par with the greatest riding areas in the U.S. Since no one is making money off it, it's doesn't get the traffic of a Snowshoe, but the terrain is among the best.

Short clip with me leading out Jason from SickLines.tv :

Out with the negativity

I saw some sunlight yesterday and felt a breeze that lit my spirits. I think God reached down and breathed new life into me this week. I'm enjoying it. May even do a ride in the gooey woods one morning this week!

Til then,

That Butch

Intervals make me feel alive

Is it wrong to actually enjoy intervals for the first time in a long time? Somehow I was actually looking forward to pushing myself. That's got to be a good sign for the rest of the week!

It helped that a free 30 minute DH video was online for the watching too. Cured the boredom!



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