It's so good to be back in a bike shop.

Really diggin it here in Charleston. Get up @ 6:00 am- take Alex to school by 6:45 and to the shop and riding by 7. 3 hrs. to ride every morning then to work. Repairs, customers, bike builds- something new every 10-15 mins. or so. I am not nearly as exausted as I was at Cane Creek sitting in a chair all day. Should get 300+ miles/ 17-18 hrs. in this week. Nice to get back to some decent training. The riding down here is definitely lacking compared to NC but as far as usefulness for training goes, I have everything I need here.
I'm healing up nicely from Sat. miscue and should look as ugly as normal here soon. Gotta go- DH

Bonehead Move of the Week

Rolled out At 7am this morning for the John's Island group ride. Easy spin over and found a small group to ride with with some of the usual suspects. Rolled it 28-30 mph down County line road for 30 min. or so. Hurt me pretty good but I hung in there. Headed on to Hollywood. Rolled in to the hollywood sprint @ 30+. Pulled off right before the sprint to coast in easy. Insert front wheel into hole @ 30mph. The impact knocked both my hands off the bar. The bar was very slippery and due to some incredible foresight I had removed my gloves a few miles prior. Anyways- long story short- fold one week old front wheel, pavement on the face at 30, tear up helment, face, jersey, shoulder, elbow, knee, shoe, rear derailleur, and saddle. ( in that exact order.) The weird part was that I didn't slide, normally there is some sort of projection and then you slide. I got dropped like a sniper got me- straight down on the head and stuck right where I landed. Came out OK- scrapes and a sore neck and headache. I'll take it. Anyways- got a ride home with my new co-worker and his wife (hi- I'm David and I crash on my face ), went through Shower Hell and now I'm gonna go eat. Later- DH

Left out a bit.

I left some details out from my last post. I am working @ The Charleston Bicycle Company, we sell Cervelo, Felt, Seven, Jamis, Cannondale , and Orbea bikes. These are all great brands and I have only sold Cannondale out of all of those listed. Super fired up to be dealing with Cervelo and Orbea- 2 great bike companies with a fine product.
Living up on Hwy 61 with some friends till I can get a house on James Island. Looking forward to getting some serious mileage in this winter ( 25-28 hr. weeks ) and slaying all this spring. I'll be racing for Team CBC in 2008 and we should be a very strong Pro 1/2 team. Later- DH

Somewhat relocation

Well- I'm in Charleston. Worked at the Shop all week. I like it there, cool people and a good shop. The hours pass much faster with some human interaction and sunlight. Didn't realize what a dark cave of solitude I was working in- no wonder I was always tired at the creek. Anyways, got some hours in on the bike this week, looking forward to ten more or so this weekend. Great weather ( a tad hot ) and decent riding. Did a few hours on Wed- got in a couple of laps over the new bridge. That's a no joke workout- wish it was here the first go round. Anyways- living with friends right now and Liza is still in NC till the house sells. Hopefully it will be soon, life is kinda Chaotic right now with everything and everyone scattered out like this. I'll get up some pictures soon- left my Kodak software and USB thing @ B-Town. Later- DH

Last Ride

Did my last ride in Brevard today. Low temps, perfect trails, great day. Solo ride kind of fitting. 2 1/2 hrs., 27 miles. Here's the pictures- figure out my exact ride and you win a prize.

Cool Ride

Went riding on Wed. with Kent. We parked at the Ranger Station and decided where to go. I hadn't been on Twin Falls trail in awhile so we went there. We rode up the Horse stables road to Clawhammer, good conversation on a nice day. The climb to the trail wasn't bad. After a break at the trailhead we descended. I came around a blind corner and found myself face to face with a black bear. He was about 3 feet tall on all fours. I wasn't scared like I imagined I would be. He was- He peeled out with all four paws flinging rocks and debris and crashed down the hillside into the woods before I knew what was going on. Kent came flying around the corner and almost crashed into me on a big nose wheelie skid. We could hear the bear way down the mountain still crashing around. Guess they really are more scared of us than we are of them. Anyways- that was cool seeing a bear on one of my last rides up here! DH

Hall's First Law of Mind Control

I have had a theory for awhile. Today I gathered enough evidence to prove it, therefore making it a Scientific Law. My theory is this: You can directly control the behavior of your entire city by mowing your grass. Yes. I'm not the only one privy to this info.

Anyways this is how I have proven this.

1. went outside with the hedge trimmers to clean up an unruly bush. I reconned the area- 3-4 yards up an either side of me and across the street as well. People were out and about this morning (11:00ish), but all yards were high grass. People were working on other projects. I finish trimming the bush and set my experiment in motion.

2. Crank lawnmower and mow 3 rows in the front yard. Cut off lawnmower and observe. A skillsaw across the street stops. Two people jump in their cars with red gas cans. They are back momentarily with full cans of fuel I presume. One by one lawnmowers start on every lawn up the street. Little red pushmowers, big green John Deere riding mowers. I look across the street- the carpentry work has stopped and full blown emergency grass mowing has commenced. I count eight lawns being mown in full scale panic attack.

This grass mowing epedemic is compounding as well, spreading to the next street over. The next neighborhood too. Who knows how far it will go.

I'm off to drive the nail in the coffin now- I have a weedeater and I'm gonna use it. DH

Dawn Patrol

Woke up at 5:oo this morning. Hopped on the moto and rode up to the Parkway. Made it up to Devil's Courthouse while it was still dark. The plan was to watch the sunrise. The sunrise was nice, but it was the weather that pleased me the most. 65 degrees, crisp, low humidity, and a nice breeze.

It is funny how the human brain works. At that exact moment, the weather made me remember the two other times in my life when the weather was identical.

I remembered swinging on a tire swing at the babysitter's (where my brother and I were soon to be kicked out ) when I was in 4th grade. It was a early October afternoon. I was on a tire swing, not the kind that hangs vertically, but the horizontally hung type that hangs on 3 chains. I was wearing a yellow "Fayette County Elementary Tigers" T- shirt. I loved that shirt. I remember hanging out of the swing and spinning, looking up at the fall leaves in a state of total bliss. I could have stayed there for hours.

The next time I felt this way, I was in Charleston 4 years ago, late Oct, early Nov. I was riding my Mountain Bike out to Fort Johnston to ride some illegal trails. It was the same type of weather- crisp with a nice breeze blowing in off the marsh. The trails were in great condition, the leaves had just started to hit the ground. I wasn't there to train, race season was over. I was riding because I enjoyed it. Rode for awhile , then took one of the trails that meandered out to the beach. Got out to the beach and was completely content for a few moments. With the breeze on my face, the smell of the marsh, and the sound of the waves, I could close my eyes and imagine I was anywhere I wanted to be.

Anyways, the sun was up now, so I fired up the moto and headed down Hwy 215 to Waynesville. That was a really fun road to ride. Further down, at Lake Logan, there was a Triathalon being held. Tons of people were running and riding bikes. They had the swim course laid out in the lake with bouys. Amazing how many more people there were there than the Mountain Bike National Event I attended last weekend. On to Waynesville- Candler- Hwy 151 to the Parkway ( another great road- lots of tight turns ) back down 276 to FR 475, past the Fish Hatchery, to Ingles for a muffin, then Home. 110 miles on the bike, 1 mile hike, 1 sunrise, 1 triathalon, and a muffin before 9:00. Now I can trim some bushes and mow the grass. Later- DH