final preps for A24

The Adventure24 is a day-long adventure race that my friend Kevin and I put on each summer (this will be our 2nd year) in Cherokee Nat'l Forest in eastern TN. Saturday was spent testing some possible new additions to the course (a recent bear attack has certain parts of the forest currently closed) and gathering directions for our volunteers and support crews.

First though, I joined Jim & Bill on a lovely 2.5hr tour of the Tanasi trails on mountain bike. This is only my 2nd time riding them, but it reaffirms that this trail system is one of my favorites.... beautiful views, some killer climbs (that burn particularly bad as I try to reclaim my pre-injury cardio fitness), & nice descents (did I say that? even though I normally hate them, they aren't too bad here... good place to practice when I turn sorta local).

Then I met Kevin (who is the main director of the A24) and we split up the duties so that we could finish up at a reasonable hour. The weather had been great all day until a mid-afternoon shower cooled things off a bit. It was nice to drive around and soak in the scenery - the drive thru the Ocoee Gorge area has to be one of my favorites (the other might be the Nantahala Gorge).

Here is a pic of a father and his 2 sons fishing in the Hiwassee River - the generators I guess were off, as the water flow was pretty minimal. Cool to see the bottom of the river... the fog was a nice addition too.



I got back to Atlanta at a decent hour and was able to get showered off before heading downtown to see Cowboy Mouth at a free music festival. It was an interesting experience, going alone (I normally avoid social events where I fly solo)... since the festival was sponsored by Southern Comfort, drunk people were everywhere. I had beer spilled on me, got nailed by flying mardi gras beads, and had some strange girl behind me touching my hair all the time (that was just plain weird). Otherwise I had a great night!