Spring Break Part 1...

I have to confess, I've not been living up to the "Thong Song" as my anthem for my Spring Break but it has been nothing close to boring.  I have found myself hiding out in the Knoxville, Tennessee area, kicking it with friends.  It's been really good to catch up with some of my old homies!  Good food and beer abounds!  I also made my first trip to the observation deck of the 1982 World's Fair Sunsphere.  Also as you would suspect, I've been riding the bike quite a bit as well.  Sunday, I went out for a spin on the fixed gear and got the realization that it's not very smart to ride a brakeless fixie in an area with a lot of hills.  To top off the scenario, the road was pretty wet as well.  Needless to say, I'm going to throw a front brake on when I get back to the Boro for general purposes.  I mean, I'm a married man and need to think about protecting my future claim on society.

Beneath the Sunsphere

Earlier this morning, I was able to roll out of bed just in time to meet up with the owner and manager of one of the local bike shops, Cycology Bicycles.  The three of us got in a nice 30 mile ride that climbed up and around the various hills/mountains in the area.  One climb in particular was up Butterfly Gap Road.  In some parts, the grade was around 18%.  I'm not sure the exact length but I assume it was around 4 or 5 miles.  At the top, we made a nice 6 mile descent on the Foothills Parkway back down to Highway 321.  I've been wanting to ride this route for sometime now and was glad to have these guys around to show me the best route.  Friday, I plan on joining them for another climb up what the locals call "The Wall".  I've done this one a couple times before but I'm excited to see how I handle it now that I'm in better shape.

At the base of the climb up Butterfly Gap Road

This is what most of the climb looked like

Picture from the top

A view from the top looking into the valley

From the looks of the current weather forecast, it looks like rain is in the mix for the next two days.  I brought my "whale tail" fender to throw on the bike.  Hopefully I can squeeze in a few rides as long as it doesn't get too nasty.  The area has a really nice greenway system that is hardly used by pedestrians during the day.  Maybe this will make for a nice leisurely ride.

Oh yeah!  I forgot to mention!  I acquired two more bikes this week!  My mom has some clients who had two late 70's Takara road bikes that they were looking to get rid of.  My mom spoke up and was able to take these two bikes off their hands and gave them to me.  The bikes are in near perfect condition except for the need for new tubes and tires.  That shouldn't be much of a problem.  Yesterday, I washed them off and lubed everything up.  When I get back home, I'll change out the cables and housing as well.  The bikes aren't anything too fancy, probably from the Bike Boom of the late 70's.  Regardless, they'll make great additions to the stable.  I've got plans to use one as a grocery getter with baskets and racks and the other will go to my wife to use as a city ride.

I'll keep y'all posted on the Uneventful Life as the week progresses!