The Prom

So bad...in so many ways...

The Asheville Prom...70's edition...Was swank indeed.

Much debauchery was had...but all proceeds went to a good cause...The Buncombe County Medical Society Foundation Project Access.

Click the pic for more embarrassing pictures of Ashevillians you might know...

The old man takes a soggy day...

After the fast guy that should have won went the wrong way, I managed to hold off Mark Ledyard for an awfully slow win (38:05)...but, a win none-the-less!

Results at the Citizen Times

Update on the fam...

Birthday party for a friend of Chilly's today - Wyatt Brown (WyWy)...All morning at Fun Depot...A huge dose of middle American consumerism ...ugh!

But, we got this cool pic...the first one of all 4 of us together!

Here are a few other pics and a short video...It's amazing how fast they are growing and changing...

CP0 2008 - Brutal!

What a brutal race! Every leg was a new level of suffering...

Snow, wind, cold, distance, mechanicals...this thing had it all...

Here is the race report from Black Dome this past weekend...We put 2 teams into the top 10 of the most competitive race in the East...

Here is the Dome's race report from www.trailblazerar.com

Getting ready for the mass start of 77 teams, we were hoping for a long prologue to break everyone up before a mass boat start in the snow...No such luck...in the end, the start was fine and we paddled away in 3rd...Enduraventure, EMS, ABC and us started to pull a little ahead, trading places a few times but staying together...We bitched hard at the take out about having to get out of the boat and get wet that early...But, in view of the rest of the course, that was nothing. We TA'd and took off on the bike with ABC in 4th...

We started up Addis Gap and caught EMS to make it a group of 6 in 2nd, 3rd and 4th going up the climb...Eventually getting CP2 and getting to the bike whack, we rolled up on Endura and EMS & finished out the bike leg with them...1st through 3rd were just minutes apart...and we were stoked to see the other Black Dome team right there as well...

The Paddle. What can I say? Epic. Brutal. Horrible. Dangerous. Debilitating. Demoralizing. Those are all pretty good words...but still don't quite get it. When you look at your neoprene gloved hands and there are icicles growing down off the fingers...that sucks. When you paddle as hard as you can and look at the boat house to your right to see that you are going backwards in 40 mph winds? That sucks worse. We started the boat in 3rd and finished in 3rd...but lost about 25 minutes to EMS and Enduraventure...

Coming out of the boat, we were trashed...shivering, hungry and beat down...we got in the warm car and TA'd as efficiently as possible...but it was still 30 minutes before we headed out on the bike...Black Dome/Sport Factory passed us here...but we rolled back on them in the first few miles of the bike...we made a quick mistake and they put a few minutes on us on the way to 8...but we rolled into 8 in 4th...and flatted right at Paul's CP...actually, the perfect place to flat as there was a nice big fire there.

We took off for CP9 with ATAC in 4th & 5th and here was where the wheels really came off...From 9, we chose the trail up and mistook the big shoulder we came to for the saddle we were looking for...and bushed right over it and down into the wrong drainage...judging from all the headlamps we saw, several folks did this...Then for some inexplicable reason, we bushed back up to what we thought was a high point that would take us over and into CP10...and proceeded to get sucked back down into the same damned drainage...so up we went again...and finally went over in the right spot to get 10 and ride out...But, these extra bushwhacks took almost 4 hours and untold energy out of us...When it came time to go up to Turkey Gap for 11...we took a look at our beat up bikes that didn't shift at all anymore...and quickly ditched it in favor of getting trying for more trek points.

Getting back to the TA, we were in pretty good shape...albeit a little cold and bummed about losing so much time and dropping a point...but, the other Black Dome team was there and still full course...we were stoked to try and give them as much help as we could...Off we went for 13...ATAC and Black Dome1 were looking for 13 as well, so we all ended up together and knocked it out fairly quickly...Then started the bush to the road up to Addis Gap...We lost ATAC at this point and would learn later that they had lost their passport somewhere near here...Now Black Dome1 and Black Dome2 were trekking together and making good time to 14...Consulting there, we were trying to decide if there was enough time for 15, 16 and 17 to the south...then we learned that Endura had dropped and Black Dome1 was now going for 2nd...I was sure we could at least get those 3 before calling it a day. We eventually voted to head up to 15...These 3 points were much easier than anticipated...and 3 hours later we were seeing Jon Barker at 17...Here, we had to make a call...Black Dome1 decided to go in from there and drop 18 and 19...giving them all but 2 points and a likely 2nd...We could go in now and take our chances or try for the bush to 18 to tie anyone behind that was still on the full course...the trick was, we would still have to beat them to the line...and we weren't at all sure that could be done. In the end we chose to head in and hope...I still think we could've gotten 18...but it likely would not have changed our finish place much...

Results as it looked to us:
1. EMS full course (wow)
2. Black Dome / Sport Factory (dropped 2 points)
3. Wedali (dropped 2 points)
4. Pura Vida (dropped 2 points)
5. Active Learning (dropped 2 points)
6. EMS masters (dropped 3 points)
7. Black Dome (dropped 3 points)

* ATAC apparently continued on after losing their passport and absolutely heroically cleaned the rest of the points to get to the finish just before 3pm...an amazing feat.

This was probably the most continuously brutal race I've been in...There was just never any let-up...Each leg was a new level of suffering...Even the final run in on 75 was into a f$*#ing headwind...

Gear used:
2 rain jackets
2 rain pants
2 pair Amfib tights
1 neoprene cycling jacket
5 pair Smartwool Adrenalines
2 pair cycling shoes
3 pair running shoes
3 pair winter gloves
1 pair neoprene gloves
1 pair neoprene cycling booties
8 chemical handwarmers
2 hats
2 buffs

Quick word of thanks to all the volunteers out there...Peter, Jon, Paul and all the rest of the zeros...thanks for the fires and the encouraging words...thanks Jono (we were on the receiving end of some of his good samaritanism)...and thanks to our support crews...without whom, we would be sad little hunks of ice in a campground parking lot this morning.

Congrats to anyone who even got into the boat for the start Saturday morning...What a race!

Jay C
Black Dome

Slate Rock Hike

What a fun day! Chilly & I got out for the first nice weekend of the Spring...Up, up, up...to the ridge along Slate Rock in Pisgah Forest...Great views...perfect for a snack before returning to the truck on Yellow Gap Rd....