It's the name the local riders gave to the loop that starts in Cullowhee. The name comes from how your legs feel on the ride. LOL. It's a great loop on small roads with little traffic. Most of the climbing is pretty steep. The TdF century will go over another loop off of the Ring of Fire which is Buck Ck. The addition on Buck Ck to the RoF loop makes the ride 60 miles with 8400' of climbing.

A 50 miles out and back ride to Fort Loudoun Dam on Sunday. Beautiful weather.

Cullowhee biking, is a strenuous thing
the elevation gains, form a firery ring
to bike around its mountains I aspire
I pedaled around the ring of fire...

I pedaled around the Burning Ring of Fire
My cadence went down,down,down
as the hills went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

I pedaled the Ring of Fire....

(Johnny Cash eat your heart out)

...how long before you get this tune out of your head?:roflmao2:

Thanks. Probably never. Though anything that takes my mind off the climbs might not be so bad. ;)

that's a good one Nota! it's stuck in my head now. i'll have to get that tune to the iPod for TdN/F.

Hey WP! Haven't seen you on BF lately; you're usually pretty regular.

I finally got around to registering for TdN/F rides -- just a couple minutes ago; I had to wait until I got paid.:o Guess I'm committed now.

I'm a little bummed, though. I'd hoped to be sporting the (way cool:D http://www.wilkes.net/~ratfink74/boards/BMCCForm.pdf) new "Still Crankin" club jersey and bibs I'd ordered for the rides, but I found out today that it'll be 4 more weeks before the order comes in. Oh well, guess I'll (still) be sporting my WalMart sale-rack long handled red 'n black "jersey", for the rides.

I've toyed with the idea of using my iPod during my rides, but haven't quite gotten up the nerve to cut myself off from the (annoying) sound of the wind whistling in my ears, and the cars whizzing by.

(btw, if ever any of you BF "guys" (WP, Neal, BWNC...etc) ever get over to my neck of the woods - Wilkesboro,NC ..."Brushy Mtn" area, and are up for a ride, let me know and I'll be glad to meet you somewhere to pedal a few miles on the bike with ya.)

yea, been a bit under the weather...damn bronchitis. :( just ruining my ride time now and gonna cause me to not be able to ride tour de leaves most likely.

as for the iPod, i only use it when i climb and then in only my right ear. i have to have the tunes cranking when climbing. :D

glad you got registered...did you register for the century or metric for both rides? i'm just doing the metrics.

I used my Ipod on the TdT. That was the first time I have ever used one on an organized ride. I put it in my ear at the start of the BRP for the long climb because I knew the route and didn't want to hear myself suffering on the climb. lol. I had it turned down though so I could hear or talk to the people around me. I won't use it on the TdN or TdF rides most likely because the climbs are shorter and the routes more technical.

Sorry to hear about your bronchitis. I kinda figured there must be something getting you down, as you're usually pretty regular on the Did You Ride thread - and also on your blog.

I'm doing both the Century rides. I fiure that since the registration fee is the same, I might as well get as much physical abuse for my buck as possible. :twitchy:

I'm staying at the Sapphire Inn in Franklin, Saturday night. I think my g/f is going to accompany me - now that I've got an actual bed to sleep in rather than a sleeping bag. She doesn't ride at all, so I'm hoping to find something to keep her at least occupied if not enthralled, while I'm off pedaling on Saturday. She's a bit of a "rock-hound", so if there's any gem mines close by, she can fritter away a few hours looking for, visually appealing if not valuable, rocks and whatnot.

I'll try and keep and eye out for you, Neal, BWNC, during the rides. See you there!

Cheers

There are lots of Gem mines and rock stores in the Franklin area. Also, she could ride up toward Highlands for the waterfalls and shopping in town.

That's a good idea. I didn't even think about all the waterfalls in the area. She like waterfalls and rocks a lot more than she does shopping -- which is good (fer me), as, provided we don't buy too many, the rock specimens we buy each year probably add up to a lot less than ti would if she was a typical woman, one that was into shopping for clothes and other such wasteful and unecessary expenditures. Besides, the rocks tend to last a bit longer than clothes, and they never go out of style.:D

Oh, and since I've derailed this thread enough, ftr, I did 15 miles on my excercise bike this morning, at 18.4 mph average, on the maximum resistance setting.....and into a slight headwind to boot. (I had a fan pointed at me to keep the sweat from building up. :winter:

yea, i've been pretty slack with the blog since i quit the actual training for rides & such...maybe i can work on it tomorrow while im out sick as i've got a bit to add to it since i last posted.....lots of new things going on! :)

Yes. Mild temperatures, no wind, a nice evening to be out. Why must the sun set so early?

got up late... 6:40am ride - 47 miles, around 3 hours... saw many riders headed to, and parked at the trace parking lot.

Got up this morning looking to do my usual morning ride, but it was cold, and not only that, but windy to boot - very windy. I can take the chilly, but 20+ mph gusts, I can do without. Waited til 2:30, til the day warmed up a bit and the winds calmed some, then managed to go out and get in my usual 43 mile ride. Took me 2hrs 35min.

Rinse, lather, repeat tomorrow.

Nice, warm October afternoon ride. I went through downtown, the 'hood, and then ventured a little in to the countryside. I cruised by the Ramsey House and stopped and explored Lebanon Presbyterian cemetery, which is among the oldest cemeteries in Knox County (1791).

I had ridden by the cemetery a few times and was curious what was there. Today I finally stopped to see. I was surprised to learn the cemetery was that old. The lot isn't very large, and it's well off the beaten path. A majority of the area is vacant. The headstones are scattered over part of it. I don't know if others disappeared, or if people were buried in unmarked graves, or what.

There was a church there until it burned down in 1981. Now there's a small pavilion with the old bell, commemorating the church.

Several of the old tombstones are no longer readable. I did make out an old one that indicated the person had been in the Revolutionary War with Washington at Trenton(?).

One of many neat places I would never have noticed had it not been for cycling.

6am, 47 miles.. 10 minutes faster than yesterday...this time was on my road bike. Maybe the fenders on my mtb really do slow it down a bit. ;)

Man you get up (leave) early; isn't it still dark out?

I just got back from my ride a few minutes ago; did my usual 43. I was actually hoping to best my previous fastest time (by 7 min), and bring it in, in 2:30 even -- and I was probably well on my way to doing it too, but half way through the ride....I got a flat.:mad: I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. That was actually the FIRST flat I've had, in the 5 mos and 1,500 miles since I've been riding.

I had a fit figuring how to workt the little CO2 cartridge thingy. I thought you'd just screw it all the way down on the little dispenser head thingy, then press it down on the valve stem and it would inflate, but Nooooo. I was about to give up and start walking back, when I suddenly realized...as I started to unscrew it, that that's how you dispense the stuff!

I run 115psi in my tires, and this got it back as hard as rock. Never having used CO2 on a bike tire before, I was expecting a mushy inflate, and to have to limp back home, but it felt solid enough that I was able to proceed on and finish my ride. So much for my 2:30 time hopes, though.:notamused:

Guess I'd better hit the Performance store down in Charlotte this week, to stock up on tubes and CO2.

yeah, it was completely dark for about 25min or so... this time of year, if you let daylight decide when you go, you'll miss out on some prime riding

So, do you ride with a light when you go out that early, or do you only go out when there's a near full moon?

I have a mesh safety bib with a 2" reflective stripe across it on the front and back, and I also have a make shift tail light - it's actually a rayovac headlamp that has a mode with 2 very bright red LEDs. It's much more visble than many of the clip-on lights I've seen on other riders. I don't have a headlight, though I have another one of those rayovac lights I could use for one. Basically, if I need to be seen by oncoming traffic, one of us is in the wrong lane... my shoes also have reflective dots on the backs of the heels. How visible they are, I can't say. I have not come across anyone pulling out of their driveway, etc but if I were to do so, I would stop and let them go rather than even begin to assume that they see me. Plus, there is not much traffic at 6am on a saturday or sunday... As far as in the evening, that's up on the natchez trace and on a 28 mile ride, you might get passed by 10 cars on the way out, and 2 on the way back. (it's as though the road is there just for you) Thus far... I've never had anyone pass too close, or even close at all when it was dark out. Wish I could say the same thing for broad daylight.

30 mile night ride last night on the natchez trace with 3 other guys from the national mountain bike forum... good fun. A bit cool on the way back though... (around 9pm)

I did my usual 43 this afternoon, finishing up at 5:45pm. It was a bit nippy. This was my first ride with my new Speedplay pedals. They are easier to clip into than the SPD's I'd been using, though, the "float" in them is somewhat different from what I'd gotten used to. My left foot stays pretty much pegged, but my right is all over the place, pivoting from side to side.

*rinse, lather, repeat, tomorrow*

I got in a 50.6-mile ride at 16.3 mph. It was slower due to winds in the low teens (mph) plus the temps were around 50. There weren't many other riders out this morning as I counted only about 8, including one poor soul carrying his ride. :( If you wimped due to the cooler temps, you missed some beautiful weather today around here. Jordan Lake was a pretty sight. I added about 6 miles to my usual Sunday route and those extra 6 miles seemed to take a significant toll on me. (Shades of my last metric.) Looks like I need to vary my miles up a bit more.

Did my usual 43 again today. Man is it getting cold. Must invest in a jacket or vest, soon; especially for next weekend's back-to-back century rides.