Swim, Bike, Run and Repeat…

After settling into our place here in Asheville, I have started to get a good lay of the land.  Top of the order was finding the YMCA to keep up with my swimming practice.  Asheville is very athletic minded so finding one wasn’t a problem!  Everything here is all about organics and healthy living.  You are truly an outcast if you shop at anything other than a organic food seller.  As long as the food is clean I’m in!

Yesterday it snowed about 4 inches here.  Most of the city shut down as they don’t see much of the white stuff unless it’s at the top of one of the mountains.  I must say they did a good job of cleaning the roads.  We were asked if the snow bugged us…  I think  the only thing that bugs me is that I left to get away from it!  Not a big deal though, instead of cycling we got our runners and checked out a nearby trail.

The snow had fallen through the trees so it made for some tricky footing.  Other than that we practically had the park to ourselves.  There was this one guy though, probably 5 foot 9 and weighing 180 pounds kicking our ass around the trails.  He said it was the first time he’d ever seen this much snow since he moved to Asheville 2 years ago.

We ran for about an hour and 45 minutes before we piled back into the car.  Shoes, clothes and skin completely drenched!  After taking in a recommended organic shop we went to the Y to do some laps.  As I said before, Asheville is highly athletic as the gym was packed at 2pm in the afternoon! 

Today was a bigger adventure.  We again went to the Y (early in the morning to beat the keeners).  Afterwards we fueled up and headed West to a town called Wayensville.  I mapped out a loop which was about 80kms.  Taking into account the mountain ascent is the hardest part.  As we have found out, they are usually over an hour up.  Today was one of those days!

It was about 20K to the bottom of the mountain.  It seemed like forever because every ride/run seemed to always start up and stay going up!  This climb was gradual with some tough spots near the end. 

The toughest part was definately the descent as some parts were covered in snow.  It seemed even tricker for Chris as he flatted on the way down.  After I had a brief panic attack where I thought he went over the guard rail, I found him about 800 meters up the mountain.  A quick change and he was good to go again. 

At this point the sun was getting blocked by the mountain which made it reaaaalllly cold.  We actually pack stuff just to go down the mountain as your hands, chest and face freeze.  Since Ricky wasn’t parked at the bottom we had to keep ourselves warm by sprinting whereever there wasn’t snow.

Another problem occured as Chis’s tire again blew out.  He had about an inch slit in the tire which meant I was on my own to get the car.  I peddaled pretty hard to get back to the car so I wouldn’t have to make Chris wait for long.  What I thought was a short 8K jaunt turned into a 15K leg busting ride!  I was so tired when I put my bike in the car!  First time in this young season where all I wanted to do was nap!  However I had to go pick up Gairns who had run to meet me (in his sock feet!). 

All in all a great day.  Enjoy the pics!  Sleep for this kid!  Happy Tranin!

Cliff