I've been doing A LOT of mountain biking since I got up here. How can you not? The trails are fantatastic. My 10 year old 800lb bike, is not quite so.

About a month ago I was riding out at the U.S. National Whitewater Center when I my front brake decided it didn't want to work within the manufacturer's indended specifications. Lucky for you know who, it happened right before I was about to drop down a 30ft twisty turny descent with a lot of very hard trees.

Apparently the little metal piece that holds back the wire part bent and couldn't catch the "noodle" as the bike guy said. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, right? All I needed was a pair of pliers. Now, one would think, that at a multi-million dollar outdoor adventure facility, a simple pair of pliers would be easy to come by. Or so I thought.

Having spent four years of my life involved in rowing, I knew where there was water, there were boats, and were there were boats, there would be a boathouse, and where there was a boat house, there be tools. So, I made my way over to where the kayaks and rafts were stored and went into the rental office.

I was greeted by a soccer-player type college girl who seemed to be content that the cloudy weather had kept adventure seekers away from the park so she could pursue whatever. She was extremely disinterested in helping me.

"Hey, do you guys have a pair of pliers I can borrow?" I asked.
"Nope." she replied, rather quickly.

I could have argued with her, but what was the point. I went through the whole conversation in my mind, and it would have gone something like this:

Me: "So, you're saying that nowhere inside this 2500 square foot building designed to store and maintain rafts and kayaks, there is not a single set of pliers to be found".
Her: "That's right".
Me: "And you know this for a fact without having to get up out of your chair?"
"Yes, now if you aren't here for a rental, then you're just annoying me. Go away".

pfft, as if I would rent a kayak from a place that doesn't have a pair of pliers in their boathouse. Anyway, I was evetually hooked up by the rock climbing wall guy.

Now, the term "Mountain Biking" has the word "Mountain" in it which would infer that it was indended for riding on actual moutains. Beth went to Raleigh with her friend Kim this past weekend, so I loaded up the 4Runner and headed out to Asheville. This was going to be awesome!

So it start out and it's kinda flat. Then it the trail started to have a little incline in it. No problem. An hour and a half later, completely drained and soaking in sweat, I eventally reached the summit. I had abandoned riding halfway up and had walked my bike up the rest of the way.

I turned my bike around and started the decent. For the first 1000 yards or so, I was riding the brakes so hard, I think I melted the pads. The rest is an experience I really don't think I could put into words. It was basicly a controlled freefall. The leaves from the trees became a green blur. It was an experience that you just can't compare to anything else. 20 minutes later, I was back at the parking lot. The drive out, the climb. It was more that worth it.