Tour de Cure Part II

Yesterday was the Tour de Cure at Island Lake Recreation Area in Brighton. Jackie and I loaded up early and were on the road just after 7am. We had hoped to be there by 8:30, but some construction closures and a wrong turn on my part got us there just after nine. No problem though as registration was pretty efficient and we were able to get ready just in time for the 9:30 start.


Curt, Noelle and Mary were already there, ready to go. Curt got a cool jersey for raising money and being diabetic, so he started the ride in the front with the other "Red Riders", which is what the jersey said. We joined up with them shortly after as we were grabbing a couple last minutes things from the car.

The five of us had signed up for the 25 mile route, which left Island Lake Recreation Area, headed over and around Kensington Metropark, then back into Island Lake. The weather was perfect and it turned out to be a great ride, with around 800 other riders out there. We even ran into another Team Sandbag member, Brian, who was out there riding as well.

At the final rest stop of the day Jackie and I were grabbing some snacks when she says to me "hey, it's Ron." My first thought was "Ron who?". We're big fans of the show Biggest Loser, and one of the contestants from last season was there helping at the aid station. He's from South Lyon, MI which is just a short drive away. We talked with him a bit and got a picture.

All in all it was a great day.

Tour de Cure

Jackie and I are going to be riding in the Tour de Cure with our friends Curt and Noelle on June 14th at Island Lake Recreation area. Its a organized charity ride to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Curt has been a type 1 diabetic for a while now so it will be great to come out and ride with him. Jackie did it with them a couple years ago and really enjoyed it.

If you're interested in donating to us you can do so online, Jackie or Jason. Thanks.

Unfortunately it is the same day as the Ruby race, but I'm not exactly in racing shape anyways so no big deal.

No Lumberjack for me

Well, my Lumberjack disappointment is coming early this year. I've decided to throw in the towel on the race as I'm nowhere close to being ready and simply don't have the time to prepare for a 100 miler right now. That's due to a number of things, but nothing bad. The past few months have been very busy with work, lots of travel and long hours here. Apparently the hard work is paying off though as I recently received a promotion. I basically knew it was coming, just wasn't sure exactly how or when it would. Now I'm fully responsible for all of our marketing activities, report directly to the president of the company. Right now my job won't change a lot, just more accountability, but as we grow I will hopefully be adding some staff which will definitely transform the department.

We also have a lot of projects going on at home right now. Last year we finally finished the deck (thanks mostly to Lee and Sergio) and some landscaping around it. This year Jackie really wants to start a vegetable garden. The past couple years she has had a couple tomato plants and some basil planted along the house, but we decided to due something bigger this year. Since I need to cut all the sod out for the garden I figured I might as well rent a sod cutter and finish up the landscape beds around the yard too. Jackie and Jill picked it up yesterday after work, hoping to get everything done last night since the weather forecast wasn't looking the best. Well, before I could even finish cutting the lawn it poured rain, harder and harder. The yard was actually flooded in spots, but once it stopped for a while I decided to give it a shot to see if it would be too muddy. It cut really well and the wetness didn't seem to be a factor. The sod cutter was amazing. I ended up cutting out the garden and areas for a bunch of landscape beds in about 15-20 minutes. It would have easily taken me a full day with a shovel, if not longer. Today it's rainy, but hopefully I can still get some work done. Still lots to do, finish the garden, put in the plants in the landscape beds, put in some type of edging around the beds, groundcover. Then, when that's all done we're planning to put in a shed. So, like I mentioned above, not a lot of time for riding now.

More Hiking

Thursday we wanted to get some more hiking in. After our experience the other day we wanted to make sure we chose something a little easier. We ended up heading to the Alum Bluffs Cave trail. This was the second time Jackie and I had done this together and my third time. Like the horseback riding, my dad and I hiked this trail about 20 years ago. Its amazing how I remembered stuff from it. We didn't mind hiking it again, its a beautiful trail, challenging but not overly difficult. The trail eventually goes all the way to the top of Mount LeConte, one of the higher points in the park, but we only hiked about half way, to the Alum Cave bluffs. Once we got to the half way point I really wanted to go all the way to the top. Nobody else wanted to go with me though. They did offer to wait for me, and I think I could have moved pretty good on my own, but it was a little late in the afternoon so I decided to head back with everyone. Hopefully next time we're down here. At the top there are some cabins that you can hike to and stay overnight. I think that would be a great way to introduce Jackie to overnight backpacking without having to carry so much.

Here are some pictures from the day.

































































































Today is our last day here. Curt and I were planning to head over to North Carolina to ride Tsali, but we woke up to some dark clouds. A quick check of the weather revealed a large weather front moving through with rain expected all morning. Shortly after it started pouring. So looks like no riding. Hopefully the weather clears up a little and we can maybe get out for a short hike or something before heading home tomorrow.

Mansions and Trail Riding (sort of)

So we're still enjoying our vacation in Tennessee. On Tuesday we got up early and drove over to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore Estate. I had a couple meetings to attend to for work so Jackie, Noelle and Curt went in without me initially, then Curt headed back out and picked me up. The home is amazing and over the top. It reminded me of some of the castles we visited in England with Dave and Allison. The house was really cool, but the gardens were even cooler. Plus there's a bridge on the property that was in the Last of the Mohicans, which is my favorite movie so it was cool to see that in person.




















































The next day we did some trail riding, not the type I thought I would be doing down here though. We did a one hour horseback ride through the Smokey Mountains. It was Jackie's first time on a horse and only my third. Actually I think the last time I rode a horse was at the same stables in Gatlinburg with my dad and sister about 20 years ago.

Ramsay Cascades Trail, take two

So we wanted to get a nice hike in on Sunday, our first full day down here. Curt had a couple books and we got a big map of all the trails so we spent the morning looking at our options. We wanted to start out with something relatively easy to get the girls used to being out there and not wear them out on the first day. After looking at lots of options we decided to just go back to the Ramsey Cascades trail we had hiked part of the day before. It was a four mile one way hike, so pretty far, but it was listed as moderate and the part we had hiked was relatively easy. Well, we were wrong and we did wear the girls out on the first day. The first mile and a half was relatively easy, following an old jeep trail. Then the trail turned narrow, rocky and extremely rooted. It was a great trail, though a really strenuous hike, and the waterfall at the top was absolutely worth it. At 100 feet high its the highest falls in the park that can be accessed via trail. We had looked at some pictures of it online, but they really didn't do it justice.

After hanging out at the top for a while we made the trek back down. It was tough descending through the rocks and roots, but still a lot easier than the hike up. Once we got off the trail we all wanted nothing more than a big dinner so we drove straight to a restaurant in our hiking gear and had a big meal.

Vacation

Jackie and I are on vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with Curt and Noelle right now. We left on Thursday evening, drove down to Cincinnati, OH where I worked for part of the day Friday. Then we drove down to Knoxville last night. Today we headed down to Gatlinburg, had some lunch, and drove the Roaring Fork Motor trail. Its a five mile narrow road that winds up and down the mountains, with a bunch of turn offs for trails and scenic views. While on it we saw the black bear below, about 10 feet off the road. He didn't seem to mind the cars, just went about his business.































We finished the loop pretty quickly, since we wanted to go get checking into our cabin. The cabin is great, very new, three bedrooms. After hanging out there for a bit we decided to get a short hike in. We drove up the road to the Greenbriar area of Smokey Mountain national park and headed up to the Ramsey Cascades trail. It was a little late and there were a few thunder clouds moving through so we didn't go too far, but it seemed like a cool trail, following a rocky river uphill.




















































Tomorrow we're going to do some more hiking and maybe some riding. Later in the week Curt and I plan to head over to Tsali in North Carolina for some riding. I'm very excited about that, those trails look awesome.