I'm on the right track, baby - I was born this way

It's that time of the year again.

Three weeks into the 11 weekends straight of one or both of us working, I am enjoying a few quiet moments on a Saturday afternoon with no sounds except for the gentle rain. It's nice to have a chill day after the recent craziness at work (in many ways but mostly in the busy category) as well as general springtime overcommitment on the philanthropic, social, and racing levels.

We kicked off the Pisgah Area Cycling/Sycamore ladies' rides 2 weeks ago with a spin on North Slope and last Wednesday with a great ride in Dupont. The turnout has been encouraging, and I am excited to see so many women out on the trails!

The kayak and I bonded again after a 5-month separation. I fired up runs on the high[er]-water Tyger as well as the elusive Citico Creek 2 weeks ago. Citico Creek, a tributary of the Little Tennessee, lies just east of Tellico Plains, TN, a few miles off of the Cherohala Skyway.

I have been itching to run Citico since grad school and only made it to its larger sister, the classic Tellico River for runs on the Ledges (class 3-4 creeking) and Lower (excellent class 3). When I finally got to Citico, the water level was low but still quite runnable. Pigs in Space, the largest class 4 rapid, looked a bit manky for my taste at this level, so I skipped it. Everything else was good to go. What a beautiful stream!

Thad and I snuck in a day of climbing at Cedar Rock. We headed out to Stone Depot for some exploration. No one really divulges much information about Stone Depot...NCOBS uses it frequently, as do several local summer camps, but the beta is minimal. We found maybe 10-12 routes, some bolted and most wet, then led up and did laps on a 5.6ish route that I think might have been called North by Northwest. It was fun to cruise and not stress about climbing hard.

Other great day adventures:
- Lake Logan loop (80 miles) in full-on winter conditions with snow & ice on 215 and 276 north of the Parkway
- XC racing at Hobby Park as an old woman
- many great mountain bike rides like this fun, mid-length ride from the Black Mountain trailhead: Black Mt->Buckhorn Gap->South Mills River-> Squirrel Gap-> Horse Cove Gap-> Horse Cove FS road-> FS476-> FS 1206-> 276-> FS 477-> Bennett Gap -> 276
- scouting assorted streams including the Little (at flood stage), Snowbird Creek, and the Upper Nantahala