First Snowboard and Winter Plans

OK so some of you that have followed the blog since its start a few years ago might be wondering what is going on with the title change and what not. So let me take a moment to fill you in.

In December of 2009 I went up to App Ski Mountain for opening day. They had a special, 5 dollar lift ticket. So I borrowed my buddy’s skis and gear and took to the mountain for my first experience in the snow. Unfortunately the only runs open were the bunny slope and the main black diamond. After a few passes down the bunny slope, I was a bit bored and decided to make a pass down the black. Oops. I fell alot! I enjoyed going down the mountain when I was up, however I was having trouble turning both the skis... but I had a feeling I would be better at a snowboard. So with this Alicia was very nice and gave me a snowboarding trip get away to Winter place in West Virginia. My buddy Travis Smith and his g/f at the time joined Alicia and I on the trip and we had a blast! Snowboarding was much more "natural" to me than skis were. I guess it was the years of skateboarding that helped.

After that day in West Virginia I went riding at Sugar Mountain outside of Boone, NC many times and ended the season with a day trip to Beach Mountain which is a bit farther away from Boone, but is still in NC. This trip was with one of my good friends, Josh Beasley. Unfortunately, I took a hard hit when I relaxed at the end of a run and knocked my head pretty good. But that didn't change my outlook on it, I was still hooked and looking forward to going snowboarding again.

So this year after the riding season has come to a close I started looking around at gear. After talking with my boss one night he recommended a board shop, "Vertical Urge." When I went in I was immediately impressed with all the gear and supplies they had in that small store. The staff was great and they hooked me up with an amazing deal! Here is what I came back out with a couple hours later...

What I have now is all Burton gear: Board, Boots and Bindings. The board is the "Clash" (158 cm) the bindings are "Custom" and the boots are the "Motos."

At this point we have one trip planned which is in a couple weeks. December 17th-19th. Its looking as though it will be a guys weekend out which will include: Robert, Eman, Travis, Josh, my boss George and myself. Cant wait to get back out on the slopes.

Look for pictures and potentially video as well soon!

2010 Riding Season Recap

With the cold weather setting in, I went ahead this afternoon and added the Stabil to the fuel and set the bike up for some down time this winter. With this I figured I would post up some pictures to recap this past years riding season. It was a busy one with the multiple trips to Boone this spring, SS1000 ride, Summer ride to see Granddaddy, BRP End to Ender, Labor Day ride to Deals Gap, etc.

Most of the pictures below have been posted, however there are some new ones from various day rides that I didn't blog about.

This past winter I spent a good amount of time and money going through the bike, upgrading and replacing worn parts. This included: new chain and sprockets, Racetech emulators, Ohlins rear shock, checked valves along with cleaning and lubing other ket components.

Starting to tear down the FZ.

Hands down the best investment I have made to the FZ. New Ohlins fully adjustable shock.

Tearing down the forks to add the emulators.

First major ride of the year was a BIG one! Dad and I finally entered the long distance riding community by completing the SS1000, 1000 miles in 24 hours. We completed 1087 miles in ~18 hours.

It was a cold start that March morning!

SS1000 route outlined in Blue. "We rode to Jacksonville Florida via Macon Georgia to eat a Waffle House."

First of April, Dad and I made a quick day trip up Hwy 8 into Virgina and around Fries and back home. This was the first time I had put the bike in the twisties since making the modifications to the bike. :)

Dad and I spent some time on Hwy taking some pictures/video on Tuggles Gap. Below is a link to a short video I put together of the time on Tuggles Gap.

Fz6 Tuggles Gap

One of my favorite pictures.

Dad doing work on the FJR.

We made a stop by the Shot Tower on the side of 77 to get some pictures. Unfortunately it was closed still for the winter. That didn't stop us from going to get some shots..

I made many trips to Boone this past spring to spend the weekend with Alicia. As the warmer weather started coming around I began to make my way up on the mountains to have some fun.
However with the warmer weather came the onslaught of Floridians... This was just the beginning. It became an epidemic latter in the season. (See End to Ender ride report)

Making my way up/around Beach Mountain. Found this snowbird getting an early start.

A friend of mine decided that he wanted to get on a bike this year. Over the Christmas break he got himself this nice GS500. We made a day trip up to The Snake and around that area. Ended up stopping by part of the dam system in that area.

Brent's GS500

Atop one of the largest dams in the area.

In May I completed my senior design project which was a single wheeled trailer to be pulled behind my FZ. I ended up winning the Dean's Choice (1st place) in the design expo.

Trailer hooked up the bike!

On May 15th (a week after the design expo) I graduated from UNC-Charlotte with a degree in mechanical engineering! It took my 5 years, but I finally got through it.

One expensive ass piece of paper.

After graduation, Dad and I made a trip down to Florida to see my Grandfather as his health was start to fail. On the way down, Dad and I stopped at the 8th Air Force Museum to look around.

The bikes next to the F4 Phantom on display at the 8th Air Force Museum.

Catching a sunset in Fort Myers.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Rode up the Gulf Coast on the way home.

We found the rain on the way home! I think this picture is what ended up killing my camera.... later in the day we rode in the hardest rain I have ever been in. See Florida ride report for more details.

The SS1000 ride was certified and shortly after the Florida trip our certificates and tag backs came in the mail.

Thats right!

Later in the summer Dad and I finally got things together and completed our End to Ender ride. We took 3 days and went up to Virgina to start at the top and ride down to Cherokee. We camped the two nights at motorcycle campgrounds and on the third day made our way around the Georgia mountains before coming home.

Start of the BRB in Virgina.

Just a cool shot.

End of the Parkway.

End of the Parkway

After After After the BRP ride I was needed a new rear tire. Once I got it back on I went out for a quick ride to scuff in the new tire. I went up Hwy 8 to Tuggles Gap then around the BRP for a bit. However I managed to find a road off the parkway that interested me...

I found a creek! Who says the FZ cant do off-road?

Finally got some pictures of the farm land off Squirrel Spur Road. Beautiful area.

Im thinking aliens did this... is there a reason it looks like the knob could fit upside down in the hole next to it? (Pilot Mountain)

In the heat of the summer, Mom, Dad and I made a run up into West Virgina to ride Hwy 16 back down. West Virgina has always amazed me. The rivers, railroad and road always follow each other.

Racing the coal train.

I love that movie!

End of July I started working in Clayton. After I got settled in I went out for a day ride. Ended up back roading my way down to Wilmington.

No Fun.

USS North Carolina in Wilmington

BIG guns!

On Labor Day weekend, Josh, Jon and I made a trip to Robbinsville, NC to ride with the MTF crowd. This was our yearly trip to Deals Gap and surrounding area.

This year, Jon's Father, Doc joined us.

Gathered up on the Cherohala Skyway.

Team J^2

After Jons wreck during the Labor Day ride he ended up purchasing a Harley Sportster 48. On a warm weekend before Thanksgiving, Jon and I made a day trip out Cape Lookout on the Outer Banks. It was our goal to take a picture of the bikes with the light house and to do so with each one on the Outer Banks. However this wasn't able to happen at Cape Lookout. There are no roads on the island. Bummer. Oh well we are still planning to continue these rides and hopefully by the end of the next season we will complete our goal.

Jons new ride!

Cape Lookout

Over all it was a great riding season! By far the longest season I have had by far the most miles, though I did fall just short of my 50,000 mile goal. (Odometer is currently reading a bit over 47,000) Hopefully next year I will be able to gain more miles than I did this season and I will make it out past the Mississippi River.

There are some big rides all ready scheduled for this coming year, including a BBG, a possible Smokey and the Bandit Run, and the yearly Deals Gap ride. :) But for now, the bike is put up for the winter, waiting for the winter maintenance. However, I will still be heading to the mountains this winter, but for a whole new reason.... Time for some snow boarding. Details to come soon...

Outer Banks Ride #1 - Cape Lookout

Last July I took a job in Clayton, NC which is located just outside of Raleigh. I found myself a nice apartment with a garage about 15 miles from work and I have settled in quite nicely. Raleigh is a fun city with an excellent night life and with the help of some friends I have come to like the area. However, the main downfall to Raleigh is that I am roughly 3 hours from the mountains now. It is still possible to get out that way for a day ride, though my time is limited once I am there. With the mountains further off, I started looking for riding to the east.

I have never been real fond of the beach, though I have come to know the Myrtle Beach area rather well in the last few years. The Outer Banks and the light houses in particular have always caught my interest, but I have never made it out that way due to the distance from Lexington. Now that I am a couple hours away from them, I see no excuse to avoid them anymore.

After I got settled in to my new apartment I decided that I wanted to make it to each of the light houses and take a picture of the bike with each one. From there I would frame the nice pictures and hang them on the wall in my dining room. I informed Jon Mock of this idea of mine and asked if he would be interested in joining me for this multipart adventure once he started riding again. Again, this plan was not difficult to sell to him and a month after he purchased his Harley; we set date and headed off to Cape Lookout.

The plan was to ride on Saturday, however Call of Duty – Black Ops had just been release and Jon was un able to put the controller down Friday night. In addition I was out all night Friday with some friends and didn’t make it home till the early morning hours Saturday. I regretted texting Jon on Saturday morning to inform him that I was just too tired to ride, but after he told me about his late night of gaming, I didn’t feel so bad. So we went back to sleep and decided to try again on Sunday.

Sunday morning, I loaded up the bike and took Zeus for a walk before heading out to New Bern. It was a 2 hour ride down 70 from Garner to get to Jon’s place just outside of down town New Bern. After I pulled in Jon showed me the new ride and around his house. His place is nice and it looks as though he is doing well for himself. We talked for a minute then headed out for some lunch and fuel.

Jon played road captain this trip since he had been out this way before and knew where he was going. As we made our way east he pointed out where he worked, Cherry Point, and let me know where the best places to eat in the area where. Roughly an hour later we made our way through Morehead city to Harkers Island. We stopped at the roads end and took some pictures and discussed the beautiful scenery we passed on the way in.

Jon's new ride. Harley Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight. Note the riding boots.. Still a sport bike rider at heart! However, with those low forward controls, hes needs them..

Road Ends Here...

Haven't had to many ocean back grounds...

Started getting artsy again.

One of my favorites.

"Heres Your Sign" Apparently it was low tide and judging by the water marks, at high tide it might be difficult to see the rocks.

From Harkers Island you could barely see the light house on Cape Lookout and the only way to get to the light house was via boat. Unfortunately for us, there are no roads on the island so there is no way for us to get the bikes near the light house. This meant I wouldn’t be able to take a picture of the bike with the light house. I really wanted to go see the light house so we went to the closest ferry and paid 15 bucks to catch a ride across the sound to Cape Lookout. It was worth every penny!

We sped across the sound to the lighthouse on what amounted to a fishing boat with bench seats. The ride over was spectacular and only took about 10 minutes to get from the shore to the light house. We were told we had roughly an hour on this island before the ferry would return to make the last pick up of the day. Jon and I walked around the island going from the shore on the sound to ocean side in a matter of minutes. We stopped and took lots of pictures as went and reading up on the history of the lighthouse. It was amazing to see just how tall this thing was and how much work went into maintaining the lighthouse before electricity was ran out to the island. The museum on the island, which was once the living quarters for the workers, was rather small but had lots of interesting information.

Our hour was almost up so we made our way back to the dock and waited on the ferry to come pick us up. The boat ride back was quick, but amazingly beautiful. I would really enjoy taking a boat ride out through the sounds sometime just to see all the shoals and islands. It is so beautiful out there, I could have taken 1000 pictures while on the boat had the water not been so choppy and rough.

The view while riding the boat across the sound to the light house.

The sun made for some dramatic shots of the light house.

Again, I was getting carried away with the camera.

Dunes on the island.

That's one very big light!

I found this very interesting.

A long ways up!

The diamonds are actually serve a purpose. The black diamonds are facing North and South, the white diamonds are facing East and West.

Back on the mainland we geared up and headed back to New Bern. We stopped for dinner in Morehead City at a place called the Ruddy Duck. Oh man was that good! I had a PittsBurger which was a large hamburger patty, cheese, bacon and French fries. YUM! The interior of the restaurant was very nice, they even had several old outboard motors mounted to the rails separating the bar area from the restaurant. Very neat! I’m thinking this place would make an excellent RTE location….

Back on the road we made our way back by Cherry Point and into downtown New Bern. Jon gave me the quick and dirty tour of New Bern since it was starting to get late and I still had a two hour ride ahead of me to get home. New Bern is a neat old port city with a lot of history. New Bern is actually the birth place of Pepsi! We stopped by the corner store where it was invented, so I made like a typical tourist and pulled out the camera for a few shots. In Lexington, we have these large pig statues that are decorated for the BBQ festival for various businesses down town. I am thinking they got this idea from New Bern… as they have large bear statues that are elaborately decorated for various business all over the area. I didn’t get any pictures of these statues but I imagine I will be back to New Bern soon, so I will be sure to get some pictures to post later.

The outboards were running along this banister. (Phone Pictures)

Where Pepsi was started.

Inside the corner store.

The Spanish moss at night is creepy, but pretty at the same time.

Back at Jon’s house we talked for a few minutes before I got back on 70 and made my way back to Raleigh. It was good to see Jon again and to be riding with him again was a real treat. Glad to see him back on a bike and enjoying the open road and adventures.

It was another great day on the bike. 342 miles added to the mileage log for the year. Hopefully we can get in another ride before the cold weather really sets in.