Where's the Damn Bait

Hoover Damn

Heading into Hoover Dam - we hit a big traffic jam and it was stop and go for a while. We ended up stopped in front of the Lake Mead Recreational Area sign:


Here is Lake Mead



The Dam on the Lake Mead side has these 4 towers that divert the water through the power system. The water level is really low....


The power is generated from turbines that the water flows through....


The downstream side of Hoover Dam -


The most impressive thing about Hoover Dam, would have to be the construction of the "bypass". There is a road getting constructed that will allow travelers to continue on their way without passing over the top of Hoover Dam. The construction is on the downstream side. One side of the construction is in the upper left of this picture:


And the other side:


To finish the trip - touch an angels foot for good luck!!

Stucka By A Yucca - Biking in Nevada

Plan was to ride at Red Rock Canyon... I had hooked up with the Las Vegas Cyclery Adventure Tours to have them give me a ride to and from the Canyon - and also to provide the bike and tour guide. There ended up being about 8 people on the tour. LV Cyclery takes riders out to the canyon using vans that run on used vegetable oil:


The Red Rock Canyon was beautiful!




Pics of the terrain....





So.... Everything was going extremely well! Here is a picture of me about 20 minutes into the ride as we waited for some slower riders:



Riding fast, and leading the group - my right hand ended up clipping a Yucca Cactus that was hanging over the trail. I heard a snap as a spear of the cactus broke off into my "bird finger" on my right hand. The Yucca Cactus has a sharp spear at the end of every branch.. Here is the evil bastard -



The biking trip was over for me.. I ended up heading to an "urgent care" facility that wouldn't touch injury - due to concern of damage to tendons, etc in my finger. From there, I was carted to the Emergency Room of The University Medical Center in Vegas. MANY hours later (over 10), and with some delicate work performed by a hand surgeon - i was on my way..

Here is the injury prior to any medical attention:



Im ready to roll again....

Bringing Home Some Metal

So...

The Bay Eye Care Bruisers entered a Hockey Tourney in Midland, and managed to place second.
At the event, my buddy Matt entered a drawing to win an autographed Hasek jersey.. The Bastard ended up winning it! Here is a pic of the spoils of the tourney:



Off to VEGAS in 7 hours!!!

BANFF Mountain Film Festival

Just recently attended The BANFF Mountain Film Festival. The BANFF Mountain Film Festival clebrates the spirit of adventure and mountains by hosting a festival that draws the world's best films on mountain themes. The top films from that festival go on "tour", and fortunately for me - the tour stopped into my town. Tickets for the tour were very cheap ($10). Here were the film selections:


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Entropy, 11 minutes, snowkiting

Entropy documents the most progressive season in snow-kiting so far. Join a couple of the world's best riders as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions. Along the way, they reinvent snow-kiting by taking a new-school approach and pushing the limit of ‘wake style’ maneuvers.

©Entropy (Festival edit). Credit: Alf Kollen. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Badgered - 7 minutes, environment

Badgered is an animated tale of the struggle between a badger who just wants to sleep and the outside world.

©Badgered. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Inner Balance - 5 minutes, unicycling

Inner Balance features top riders taking unicycling and trials riding to the next level.

©Inner Balance. Credit: Brian MacKenzie. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Searching for the Coastal Wolves - 52 minutes, environment

Gudrun Pflueger is an ex-world champion cross-country skier and long-distance runner. For the last six years, she has been studying rare wolves in the wilds of Canada, collecting evidence for use in scientific projects. In Searching for the Coast Wolves she goes in search of the elusive animals, a quest that culminates in a dramatic and powerful encounter.

©Searching for the Coast Wolves. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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King Lines: Es Pontas - 13 minutes, climbing

Filmed on location in France, California, Venezuela, Greece, Utah, and Mallorca, King Lines captures Chris Sharma's most outrageous ascents and visionary projects, and explores his fascinating lifestyle as a nomadic professional climber and global citizen.

King Lines: Es Pontas is a segment from King Lines, filmed on location in Mallorca, Spain. This spectacular segment captures Chris Sharma's challenging ascent of the Es Pontas arch. It’s deep water soloing at its best.

©King Lines. Credit: Big Up Productions/Sender Films. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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In-Flux - 17 minutes, kayaking

In-Flux is a film about the true meaning of kayaking - the perpetual need to travel the globe in search of that magic “something” found only on the river. Adrenaline-driven action and remarkable natural wonders are featured in the film.

©In-Flux. Credit: Paul Villecourt/outdoor-reporter.com. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer - 8 minutes, human/climbing

In Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer, Andrew Querner, a professional photographer from Canmore, Alberta, explains what drives his quest for the perfect shot. Difficulty and challenge are climbing's chief attractions, but the objective hazards the sport presents tap deep sources of fear as well. Andrew Querner's photography feeds on that, and captures many facets of the climbing experience.

©Higher Ground: Mountain Photographer. Photo by Andrew Querner. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Cross Country with Snakes - 7 minutes, Nordic

Cross-country with the Snakes, a short film about a nordic-skiing punk band, documents a tour with the Black-eyed Snakes as they ski all day and play all night. Nordic skiing, long portrayed as serene and classical, is cast in an exciting and dynamic new light through the lens of punk/blues rock and fast-action photography.

©Cross-Country with the Snakes. Photo by Hansi Johnson. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Trial & Error - 8 minutes, mountain biking

In Trial & Error, mountain biker Ryan Leech sets out to ride an incredibly challenging trail in the coastal mountains of British Columbia. During his attempts to ride the extraordinary trail, he reflects on the planned clear-cutting of the surrounding forest.

©Trial & Error. Credit: Harookz. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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Ain't Got No Friends on a Powder Day - 5 minutes, skiing

Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day features Loris, a "classic" freerider. Jean-Yves, however, has a more or less "accidental" style. This film draws a parallel between two styles and two approaches, which are otherwise worlds apart.

©Ain’t Got No Friends on a Powder Day. Credit: Lang-Willar. Courtesy of The Banff Centre

This was my first BANFF - and hopefully it can become a tradition to check it out every year.

Back to Mudland.....

Back home...lotsa rain, lotsa mud, lotsa work.....

blah...

CAROLINA ON MY MIND

After rolling through the Smoky Mountain National Park, I wandered into the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina to get some miles under my bike!


The National Forest has Four total different loops... They are:
The Thompson Loop
The Mouse Branch Loop
The Tsali Trail Right Loop
The Tsali Trail Left Loop

The Tsali (SAH-lee) trail system is a beautiful but heavily used set of single tracks that follows the shore of Fontana Lake. The Smoky Mountains provide magnificent panoramas across the lake to the north. The trails are well marked, so navigation should not be a problem.

Here is the history:
The Tsali Recreation Area is named for a Cherokee man who hid in this area in 1838. The US Government had ordered the Cherokees to move to Oklahoma--a tragic removal that's known as "The Trail of Tears". Exasperated by the brutality to his family, Tsali and others managed to escape to these mountains.

Tsali was coaxed to surrender by a promise to allow the others to remain in the area. Tsali voluntarily came forward as a sacrifice for his people. As a result, he, his brother, and two older sons were shot and killed.

Today the Eastern Band of the Cherokee live on ancestral Cherokee land about 12 air-miles east of the Tsali Recreation Area.

Elevation is up to 2040'.... Bring your lungs!!! :)

The trails alternate between horses and mountain biking depending on the day...


I have heard that the best trail is the Tsali loops, but I ended up there on a Tuesday. I choose the Mouse Loop. After a mile or so, I stopped to take a quick snap of my bike with mountains in the background -


The single track was great! Portions of the trail had HUGE dropoffs down the mountain if you screwed up and rode too wide or off the singletrack.






For the most part, the trail was really non-technical and had few ridable obstacles. There were a number of trees that had fallen over the trail and made it impassable (requiring the rider to dismount and pick the bike up and hop over the tree). No biggie, but did impact the flow of the ride.

The highlight of the trail was:


The MouseBranch Overlook added on a couple miles of trail to bring the total mileage to around 12 miles. Otherwise, the mouse loop ends up coming in at just over 8 miles. The view from the Mouse Branch Overlook was AWESOME!




I hope to sometime ride the entire trail system!

Smoky Mountain National Parkway

Headed through the Smokies on the way to a biking trail in North Carolina. The total distance is about 30 miles through the parkway from TN to NC. The views and hiking trails were awesome! I was really pressed for time, trying to make it to the mountain bike trail prior to an impending thunderstorm (according to the weatherman - which never happened). I did snap some quick pics of a stream in the parkway though:







Next time - more time will be set aside for hangin round the smokies!

WHERE IS THE CORKSCREW!?!?!?!?

Stopped into the Smoky Mountain Winery to sample the wares and make some purchases...
Here is a pic I took of the winery:


The winery is located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee - and opened its doors in 1981. Free tours and wine tasting is available. I took full availability of the free wine tasting.

For the most part, the wines are fairly sweet. I actually prefer dry reds.. I ended up purchasing some Leconte Red.

LECONTE Red-A dry, light bodied red wine from a blend of French-American hybrid grapes, Chancellor & Leon Millot. Similar to a Beaujolais in style. Aged with American oak. Serve at room temperature with meat and pasta dishes.

I used to not really like "oaky" wines, but as the years go by - I enjoy them more and more..

The winery does have a cabernet that they do make, but none were available at the time of my visit.

Here is the basic label for the winery - where they just change the variety name...


Wanna visit here again.. Try the Mountain Memories (The Smoky Mountain Winery Cabernet) and take a tour....

Lunch and a Lift

Lunch was at the Gatlinburg Hard Rock Cafe... I should have taken a picture of the entrance, but i mussed up on that one. A very cool picture i did get was a guitar and display of THE MAN IN BLACK.

Johnny Cash's music will always be in style!

After a good burger and a beer, we hit the "SKY LIFT" in downtown Gatlinburg. Basically, its a ski lift that runs up to the top of a big hill... The ride starts over a river, and blazes uphil.. Here is a picture of the beginning:


The birdseye view of Gatlinburg from the top was pretty cool....

Rip(off)ley's Believe it or Not

Plan for the day was to go to Ripley's Aquarium, and maybe Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. At the entrance to the Aquarium, the dude selling the tickets said that if you buy tickets to TWO Ripley's Venues - you get the third free. Tickets to the Aquarium, Believe it or not, and the "Ripley's Motion Theatre" were obtained.

The Aquarium was the only place worth going to... There is a very cool shark display that allows a person to see the action from above the water, along with a moving platform that moves you underneath and through the shark tank. Here are pics:

We are


Gonna Need


A Bigger Boat


The "Believe it or not" Museum was a letdown.. There were a couple of two-headed animals, but the majority of displays were illusions or "tricks of the mind".

The final venue was the "Ripley's Motion Theatre".... This was a theatre where a person straps into a chair and gets thrashed around as a movie plays out on a screen. The movie is shown from the perspective of the attendee riding a buncha different things (i.e. snowmobiles, dune buggies, etc).. So, ya basically get thrown around in a chair for about 30 minutes.

So.....

Ripley's Aquarium is worth it.

The Motion Theatre and Believe it or not Museum isn't.