Tips, Techniques, Examples about my favorite musical instrument, the Twelve-String Guitar.

If you play guitar check out Playing Technique, or Strings / Setup. There are also some interesting posts about guitars at, you guessed it, Guitars.

If you want to spread your musical talents around, you will find some good info at Recording.

Marketing - meh - I'm probably the world's best bad example. Although you could find funny stuff there.

I've made some music videos through the years, and you can find them and other interesting music at Music I Like, Music I Play.

Friday, April 27, 2007

In Shape == Tired

I haven't posted much lately - and haven't picked up the guitar much either. My enthusiasm seems to have disappeared along with the cold weather. I'm riding my bike every day. A week ago Thursday Pete and Gary and I went from Sunshine Bicycle went on what Tony described as 'an epic ride'. Thursday night is usually Paris Mountain night. This Thursday thunderstorms rode in during the afternoon, but we thought there might be a break in the clouds, and off we went. Only us three. Usually we get 10 or more on these rides. After an hour, at the foot of the mountain, the temperature dropped, the thunder cracked, and the rain let loose. My shoes were immediately filled with water. We started the climb; my legs were stiff - heck, my whole body felt like a crowbar in the cold rain. Tony and Gary are pretty strong riders; it was an effort to follow them.



Paris mountain rises from a thousand foot elevation up to 2,000 feet. For the direction we take the climb, it is about 4 kilometers, or 2 and a half miles. This makes an average of about 6%, but there are some false flats, and a steep section just halfway up, and it ends with 200 yards at about 10%. It rises through enough elevation so that there are changes in vegetation and climate. Tonight this seemed exaggerated. A double hairpin about halfway up had a strong wind swirl, and I ducked behind Gary, who was forced to struggle through it. Shortly after that Tony and Gary gradually pulled away by about 20 yards. It was suddenly foggy - no rain, no wind, and I could barely make out there figures up ahead. When I reached them at the top they were standing around chatting to 3 other crazy cyclists who had climbed up from the other side. I took up down the hill alone - it was cold and I didn't want to cool off any more. The descent was interesting. The descent is about 7 kilometers, mostly gradual turns, but they seemed treacherous in the dark and the wind and the rain. We didn't see any cars on the downhill.

An hour later I was back at the shop trying to load my bike in the car, uncontrollably shivering. I shivered until I got home into a hot bath.

We did the ride again this Thursday - a few more riders - lot less rain and it stayed pleasantly muggy and warm the whole ride. We have Andy Baker (Carolina Cyclone Development Team) with us, an incredibly strong junior racer, so it was a fast paced night. I had a huge lead on Andy and Pete at the start of the climb and they blew by me at the halfway point. Holy Cow!

So I'm getting lots of riding in - definitely getting back in better shape than I've been in years. And now I'm starting to remember how it felt during my healthiest years when I raced bicycles in the Northeast...I'm tired all the time.

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