Monthly Archives: August 2014

Granville Cross Country Invitational

Jonny started the 2014 Cross Country season at a home meet today. They ran at Bryn Du Mansion in Granville where there is a long steep hill climb that has to be completed twice on the course. Most of the runners say it’s the hardest course they run all season. On the way to drop Jonny off, I asked him if he had any goals for this race. He said he wanted to beat 17 minutes. That would be a pretty aggressive drop as his best time last season was 17:39 at a much easier course. Last year at Granville was his slowest race of the season with a 19:18, which was also his first 5K race.

Jonny ran in the High School Boys Varsity race that started at 10:00am. By then the weather was starting to get hot and humid with the temps being 77 and the humidity at 70%. At the start he made sure he was in the top quarter, not too fast, but not to get too far back in the pack where you could get stuck behind a slower group. By the time the first 1/2 mile was completed Jonny had positioned himself around the 10th spot. He pretty much kept with that group for the rest of the race.

He ended up in 12th overall out of 144 racers. He finished with a new personal best of 16:52.6 which he beat last years time by 2:26! He didn’t leave much in the tank after this race, but he didn’t hit that wall that some runners run into either. He ran about as perfect of a race as he could for himself. A year makes a big difference! Also he was the first finisher for Granville. I wonder what his goal for the next race is?

Here is some video I shot from this race:

Here is a link to the official race results found on Timerhub.com or you can also look at them on the Aces Running Site.

We have backyard chickens

Nikki and Stephanie ordered 5 chicks in the mail early in the summer. They started off being raised in the house and moved to the garage after about 6 weeks. They spent the night in one of the dog crates and I built a little chicken tractor out of poultry netting and PVC pipe that was light enough for one person to move around to different spots in the yard, but sturdy enough to keep curious cats and dogs out.

Over the 4th of July we inherited 3 full grown hens from the Ward family. At that point I started digging out an area in our garden to build a semi permanent chicken coop and run. It took a week to get everything measured out and level. Nikki talked to friend that had just disassembled their kids swing set and we decided to recycle some of their 4×4 wooden frames. We painted the wood and pocked up some more lumber to start building our 6×12 chicken run with built in coop. The chicken run is still being worked on, but the entire run and roof has been framed in. The coop is completed to the point where the hens are now staying in it for the night and are starting to use the built in nest box.

The chicken coop includes a web cam with night vision infrared capabilities so we can keep an eye on them during the night when they are in the coop. Anyone can check in on them at http://chickens.ourhobby.com. The username and password is guest. If you are using Internet Explorer select Active X mode or Mobile Mode. Any other browser, select Server Push Mode or Mobile Mode.

Hammy passes

Hammy, one of our male cats, was found this evening by one of our neighbors. He had passed away under their front porch. He had been missing for a week and we had an idea he has passed, as he was never gone that long before.

He was a real character who couldn’t just walk by our other cat, Joey, without slapping him on top of the head and just continue walking. He had the typical cat mentality that he was too cool for the rest of the world and we were here to entertain and serve him.

When we got him as a kitten he was very hyper and active and the movie, “Over the Hedge” was just out. He reminded the kids of the hyper active squirrel in the movie and was named after him.

Zoey makes Hammy upset

Asheville, North Carolina – Day 4

Today we headed back home to Ohio from Asheville. It was a great trip and I wouldn’t have minded staying another day or two, but I was missing family as well and looking forward to seeing them.

We headed down the driveway at around 8:00 am and headed through Asheville and got on US-23 North. We enjoyed the ride up through the mountains and the temps rose quickly and we shed our coats at the first fill up.

Making our way back home

We had a late lunch in Portsmouth and split from Mitch and Christy, we headed west towards Cincinnati. We headed north and got passed some places where the rain had just passed. We almost made it home dry, but about 8 miles from the house it started to rain, but we kept going until we made it Mike’s house.

It was another wonderful trip, with good company, which included Mike and Deb Tasker, Kevin and Nancy Moran and Mitch and Christi Nulph. That is such a wonderful area to ride that I’m sure we will be back in the future. I know it’s my favorite destination.

Asheville, North Carolina – Day 3

Today’s forecast was in the lowers 80’s today with only a 20% chance of rain. We headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway was about 7 miles away. We go on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed south towards Pisgah Peak. It was a very enjoyable ride up with the long winding turns and beautiful scenery. We went through 3 tunnels as we climbed through 3000 feet in elevation. The temps were quickly dropping and we were having a hard time seeing in the tunnels with regular sunglasses. We pulled off at a scenic outlook and put an extra layer of clothing on and swapped out glasses for the expected tunnels ahead.

Buck Springs Gap

We went through another 5-7 tunnels and were thankful we all decided to put another layer of clothing, although a few us put on a lighter layer than we expected to need and were still cool by the time we hit the peak elevation of just over 5000 feet.

Pisgah Peak, North Carolina

We had lunch at the restaurant located there and by the time we were done eating the pop up storm had arrived.
It was pretty cool watching the clouds roll in and sock us in at the top of mountain, but it meant we were going to have head down the mountain in the rain. We geared up and headed out and it rained all the way down. We took it nice and slow and didn’t have any issues though.

We passed a few waterfalls and stopped at Looking Glass Falls to take some pictures just as the rain was stopping.

Looking Glass Falls

Selfie at Looking Glass Falls

We made the ride back into Asheville and stopped in town to get out, walk around and let the ladies window shop. After an hour or so of window shopping we were ready to get back on the bikes and head for the cabin for the night.

Tomorrow we plan on heading home and leaving around 8:00 am. The weather looks good for tomorrow, but today’s weather looked good as well and we still rode in 45 minutes of rain! We were stuck in the only pop up shower in western North Carolina. I hope our luck fairs better weather wise tomorrow.

Asheville, North Carolina – Day 2

Today was beautiful weather. The day started off with clear blue skies and the temps were quickly in the 70’s with the high reaching about 82. We took a tour down downtown Asheville and rode past the Biltmore Estate. We then headed out to Bat Cave, Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. The road that’s takes use there is interesting. It starts out as a 5 lane road and after about 10-15 miles narrows down to 2 lanes. About a mile or two after that you are in the mountains and the road has lots of tight curves for several miles. We passed the town of Bat Cave and then Chimney Rock, which is the park where they filmed of the final scenes from Last of the Mohicans. We continued on to Lake Lure, which is where Dirty Dancing was filmed. They have a bicycling event going on and there lots of peddlers on the road. We stopped at Lake Lure to get off the bikes and take a few pictures.

Lake Lure, North Carolina

We headed out of Lake Lure and the road turned twisty again. After we got back out of the mountains we headed north on 221. 221 was as straight as an arrow and we took that all the way to 226. 226, also known as Diamond Back, is another switchback road up the side of the mountains that leads us to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

View from above 226, also known as the Diamondback

We stopped at the top near Little Switzerland to take in the views and take some pictures.

View from Little Switzerland on the Blue Ridge Parkway

We then headed down 226A, which has even more tight turns. We almost got out of the all tight turns on our downhill run when Kevin, who was leading, slowed way down and motioned me past. He didn’t have rear brakes and was going to have to take it really slow and cautious the rest of the way down. I went the rest of the way down and then thought that since I didn’t have a passenger, I should head back up the road and offer to take Nancy the rest of the way down to make it easier for Kevin with only half the braking power. He had already make it through the last couple of tight turns and we stopped on a side to assess the damage. It turned out to be a couple of loose bolts near his brake pedal that was allowing the bracket to slip instead of applying brake pressure.

We decided to call it a day since it was after 4:00 and headed back to the cabin. We dropped the girls off at the cabin, so they could shower while us guys took the bikes back down to the grocery store to get supplies for dinner. We had another excellent meal of salmon on the grill. We enjoyed the rest of the evening on the deck letting the hot tub soothe our sore muscles and then enjoyed the fire pit until we each called it a night.

Enjoying the fire pit at the cabin

Asheville, North Carolina – Day 1

We had decided that we were going to meet at Tasker’s house and leave around 8:00 am. I headed over to Mike’s and before I got to their house the rain started pouring. It wasn’t a light rain either. It was a downpour. Kevin didn’t make it over until after 8:30 and he was soaked to the bone by the time he pulled into Mike’s. The rain didn’t let off until after 9:00 which is when we actually got on the road. We all got wet, but it wasn’t raining as hard as it was at 8:00. We got about 8 miles from Mike’s house and roads were dry.

We rain into rain on and off throughout the day and were becoming quite skilled at putting our rain gear on and taking it off due to all the repetitions we were getting today.

Rest Area in Tennessee

We made it to the cabin just before dark. The cabin is wonderful, I wish I could say the same about the driveway. The driveway is plenty good for a car, but the dirt path is washed out in enough spots to be challenging for fully loaded street motorcycles.

We unpacked and then headed back down to the grocery store for supplies. We had homemade grilled chicken salad, with fruit. We were all very hungry and the food was delicious. It was almost midnight by the time we got cleaned up and headed for bed. We put about 460 miles on the bikes today. It took longer than we expected because of the weather, but overall it was good travel day. We still need to decide where we are going to go tomorrow and that will be the topic of discussion over breakfast.