Pics

Hey Everybody,
I went back and added some photos to the older posts from my trip and put a few more in the gallery.
Cheers,
James

MTB Ride - Northwood Trails, Sunday June 1, 1:30 pm

Hello friends,

The MOB crew will be riding mountain bikes this Sunday at 1:30 pm at the Northwood Trails in High Point. The ride will leave from Northwood School off of Lexington Avenue. This is a great opportunity to check out this sweet network of trails with folks who know them well. If you have any questions as to the starting location or other ride details give us a call at the shop.

Thanks!

Back in İstanbul

The Bulgarian segment of the trip turned out to be a short one. On Thursday we left most of our stuff in Edirne and rode across the border near a Bulgarian town called Kapitan Andreevo. We kept going until we reached Svilengrad, which is just a bit larger. İt was a great little town with incredible food. (Veselin, now İ know that all of your stories are true, and İ will have to plan a trip to see more of your native land!)



Later in the day we headed back to the border. The immigration officer on the Bulgarian side was a guy in his twenties, and he asked about the brand of the bikes. He wanted to know where Konas were made. My first thought was the question was something related to customs, but then İ asked if he was a cyclist. He simply pulled up he sleeve of his uniform to show off his tan line as his answer. This was the first cyclist that we'd met on the trip. We saw one other, but unfortunately he was going the other way on a busy divided road, so we never got to speak.

Friday we hopped on the train with our bikes to get from Edirne to İstanbul. İt was a five and a half hour ride through beautiful country-side. At one point we crossed the path that we'd taken on the bikes and even saw a restaurant where we'd eaten through the window.



There is one day left in İstanbul. A good portion will be spent breaking down the bikes for travel, and tomorrow İ begin the journey back...

İ hope to see all of you on Tuesday at the Kranked 7 premier!

James

Kranked 7: The Cackle Factor

Hello Friends,

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the nice spring weather!

This coming Tuesday, May 27 there will not be a Tuesday Night Special ride because of the screening of "Kranked 7: The Cackle Factor" at the Garage in downtown Winston-Salem. This is going to be a great evening full of mountain bike fun! (as much fun as you can have without actually going for a mountain bike ride, that is) The event begins at 8 pm. Admission is $5 and tickets are available at the shop. However, if you show up by bike, that is, if you ride your bike to the Garage, your admission fee is waived. There will be door prizes and even a chance to win a sweet bike! If you think you've seen some sweet bike stunts before, wait until you see "Kranked 7: The Cackle Factor!" These guys just keep going bigger and sweeter. So cruise on over to the Garage this Tuesday night to check out the local premiere of “Kranked 7: The Cackle Factor.” The fun begins at 8 pm.

Looking ahead to next weekend, the 3 Mountain Madness ride is on Saturday May 31. This is a great road ride for a good cause. The ride encompasses three local climbs: Hanging Rock State Park, Sauratown Mountain, and Pilot Mountain, plus the rolling terrain between the climbs, so there is some elevation gain involved in this one! The ride starts and finishes at the Armfield Civic & Recreation Center just outside the town of Pilot Mountain. Visit www.3mountainmadness.com for more information.

The MOB Saturday Morning MTB Ride will leave the shop at its normal time of 9:30 this week.

Mock Orange Bikes will be closed Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day.

Thanks and we’ll see you soon!

Edirne

Today we headed straight north through the western part of Greece. Our last stop in Greece was a little town near the border called Kastanies. We had a great lunch there and then crossed into Turkey. We rode about 76km and ended for the day in Edirne. We arrived early enough to spend the afternoon touring a couple of the historic mosques here. They are stunning. Dinner is next!



Tomorrow? Hopefully Bulgaria, but we are running out of time.

All the Best,
James

Greece

The first stretch of road on Saturday out of Şarköy was dirt right along the sea. It was a bit bumpy but fun. The next few stretches of road were pavement, but they didn't help progress. They were rough, and the wind was in our faces. Then the climbing began. The longest of the climbs was 5.2km. It was plenty steep with no shoulders. At one point Sophia pulled off the road for water and a break. Little did she know, she'd picked up thorns in both front and rear tires. A few minutes later both tires were flat. I was ahead and didn't realize, so she had to push quite a bit of the climb. When she caught up, we got her tubes swapped. Needless to say, when we arrived in Kesan that night, we were quite ready to just put the bikes away for a bit, even if we had only covered 70km. A hot shower and a good meal had us thinking about getting on the bikes again. The next day was our crossing into Greece!



We were up early and ready to head for the border on Sunday. About 2km out, we started passing trucks lined up for customs. We just kept passing them, hoping that we'd be able to slide through a different line. When we finally got to the front, it was quite a process. We went through 4 stations on the Turkish side, pre-inspection, immigration, customs and then post-inspection. Then we started rolling for the actual border. It was a bridge. On the far side, we got a final salute from the Turkish soldiers and a wave hello from the Greek ones. Then we started passing trucks again... When we got to the front of the line, the first station on the Greek side was a huge car wash! There was no way around. We had to ride through and get sprayed down. I guess that Greek customs didn't want us bringing any Turkish dust across the border. Immigration and customs were relatively painless, aside from the looks that we got for being soaked! We finished our 87km for the day with a brutal headwind all the way in to Alexandroupolis. We found a nice campground, I took a dip in the Aegean, and then we headed to dinner. We had the most amazing mixed seafood platter: squid, octopus, shrimp and fish. Of course, it was accompanied by a wonderful Greek salad topped with the largest piece of Feta that I've ever seen.



Monday we had planned for a rest day, but... I saw the Cave of the Cyclops (from the Odyssey) marked on the map, and I had to go. It was a good bit out of town, and the bus system wasn't getting us there, so we hopped on the bikes. It was a treat to ride them without the panniers. They felt almost light! The Cyclops's Cave turned out to be closed, so it was probably more of a tourist trap than anything, but we did stumble on the site of an ancient Greek city called Zone. It was one of the earliest Greek settlements this far east in what is now modern Greece. There was actually an archaeological team there excavating. It was cool! Our rest day turned out to be 51km on the bikes. It was probably the right thing to keep our legs loose.



We had to back track a bit this morning before we turned north. We ended up on a stretch of road that was every roadies dream. The surface wasn't perfect, but it was good. There was a good bit of climbing, ripping descents and too many turns to count. For 50km we saw 3 cars, 1 herd of goats and 3 herds of cows. That's it. We finished out with 84km for the day, and we're in a little town called Soufli now.



The plan for tomorrow is to keep heading north.

Cheers,
James

Şarköy

Started out Thursday on some of the best roads that you can imagine, two lanes, no lines, rolling hills, relatively smooth and not a car for miles and miles. Ran into some busier four lane roads mid-day. The further that we've been getting from Istanbul, the less touristy the places, which is making the experience that much more enjoyable. Had lunch in a cafeteria in a little town. The lentil soup was great, and it's amazing how much energy it gives you to keep the pedals turning. The bikes leaning on the wall outside were quite the novelty for the locals.

It really has been amazing the way that people react to us riding along. People in cars honk and wave and give us plenty of room. The only locals that don't seem to be too excited to see us are some of the dogs. They give good chase and make a lot of noise but no real issues.

Our 80km for the day ended with a screaming decent towards the Sea of Marmara, whice put us in the town of Tekirdağ for the night. Got a bit lost coming into town, so we had to stop for ice cream to regain our sense of direction. Once that was accomplished we had no trouble getting to the waterfront and finding places to stay and eat.



Today was epic. The road was marked as secondary and scenic. Sounds perfect, right? It was. A few kilometers out of town the pavement ended. The road wound up above the sea, through forests, grape fields and olive tree groves. A lot of the climbing was steep, and the descents were sketchy, to say the least, but this is the stretch of road that I've been looking for. Mıd-afternoon the road dropped out of the hills to a fishing village. From there, we rode just above the water to the town of Şarköy where we've stopped for tonight. It's a great little town. Wandered along the waterfront for a while, then through the open air market. Just had another great meal. That seems to be the theme of the trip!



70km of dirt and gravel will wear a person out. I'm done for the night. Until next time,
James

On The Road

Istanbul was a blast, so the bikes didn't go together until Sunday night. Sophia's derailleur hanger was a bit tweaked, but we got it straightened out and shifting like butter. Traffic in İstanbul was a bit mad, to say the least, so we found a different way to get out of town. We took a ferry boat up the Bosphorus as far as a town called Sariyer. We jumped off the boat and started riding. Our destination was a town on the Black Sea called Kilyos. Our map said that we could ride along the Bosphorus and simply turn left and follow the Black Sea coast. The crucial road that showed on the map just simply wasn't there. That meant about 20km of back tracking, and we learned our first lesson about riding in Turkey, ask a local about the road ahead before you get too far along it. By the time that we got back to the coast, we were ready to sit on the beach and relax a bit, so Kilyos was perfect.



Tuesday we learned our second lesson about riding in Turkey, the locals don't necessarily know anything about the road ahead. Our map and the road signs disagreed, so we sought a third opinion. We asked a bus driver and ended up with another extra 20km. Once we were back on track, had a rest break under an old Roman aqueduct and a bit of lunch we got some more bad news. There was a huge road construction project ahead. We were told that the next stretch of road would be some of the worst that we'd ever see, AND 3000 trucks a day are moving back and forth on it. This tıme both accounts were spot on... Still, between dust clouds, we had some amazing views of the Black Sea, and the temperature couldn't have been more perfect for riding. After a day of dust, exhaust and rough roads, we picked up some snacks in a village called Subaşi and then headed out of town to set up camp. We found a nice spot and were crashed out by dark.



Today has been a gem by comparison. The roads have been relatively smooth, almost no traffic and some of the most beautiful rolling countryside that you can imagine. We only logged about 70km today and had a headwind most of the way. We're stopped for the night in a town called Saray and have found that Turkish dish called Lahmacun can make you forget a day of wind in the face.



Tomorrow we're on the road again heading north and west.

All the Best,
James

Istanbul

Hey Everybody,
It took almost 24 hours of flying and layovers, but I've made it. I arrived in Istanbul about noon NC time on Friday, which was about 7pm here. I have to admit, I haven't even looked inside my bike bag to make sure that it is okay. That can wait until tomorrow. However, I did head straight out for a donner kebab and some raki. Jay, I've got to tell you, the baclava here is incredible, and I enjoyed it under moonlight in front of the Hagia Sofia.
Cheers,
James

National Bike Month

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this nice weather we are having here.

Do you all know what month May is? It is National Bike Month according to the League of American Bicyclists. What is National Bike Month? Basically, it is a month-long celebration of the bicycle! This fun month encompasses National Bike to Work week (the 12th through the 16th), which culminates with National Bike to Work Day on Friday May 16th. So definitely keep those dates in mind this month. What else can you do to commemorate Bike Month you ask? Ride your bike 100 miles in a day, attend a local bike race just for fun, or donate an old bike to Cyclesafe.org or another advocacy group. There are so many possibilities!
For more information visit www.bikeleague.org.

Moving forward, here is something else that is very cool: Tuesday Night, May 27, in lieu of the Tuesday Night Special ride we will have a screening of Kranked 7 at The Garage in downtown Winston-Salem. This is the latest in the "Kranked" series of mountain bike films. Just when you thought you had seen it all, these guys keep going bigger and badder! Check this out, here is the official synopsis:

The Cackle Factor – Kranked 7

Radical Films detonates into mountain bike mayhem with ”The Cackle Factor-Kranked 7”.

Inspired by old hipster slang for the insane asylum (the cackle factory), the film trips with stunning footage cut to a post-industrial explosion of funk, rock, reggae, hip-hop and punk.

As the world spirals into madness, seemingly at war with itself, the best mountain bikers are judged against it. Join us as we freak out and explore WHO IS INSANE?
US OR THEM?

Featuring epic riding sets from: Jamie Goldman, Nathan Rennie, Steve Romaniuk, Mike Kinrade, Eric Porter, Kyle Ebbett, Timo Pritzel, James Doerfling, René Wildhaber, Mike Hopkins, Ben Boyko, Kirt Voreis, Garett Buehler, Ryan Berrecloth, Josh Bryceland, Ben Walker, Dylan Dunkerton and Curtis Robinson

Filmed in HD in Alaska, British Columbia, California, Vermont, Switzerland and France.

Soundtrack features: the Hilltop Hoods, the Kinks, Zebrahead, Tsunami Bomb, Ziggy Marley, the Guess Who, Anti-Flag, Five Alarm Funk, Placebo, Lagwagon, the Misfits, Supercabin, Pennywise.

The fun begins at 8 pm on the 27th. Cruise on over to The Garage and check out Kranked 7!

As a side note, check out the Southern Virginia Mountain Bike Association’s website. They are a great club with a lot going on in the way of events and races, most of which are not too far away from the Winston-Salem area. Here is the website: http://www.svmba.org/.

Join Erika tomorrow morning at the shop at 9:30 for the Saturday Morning MTB ride!

Thanks and we'll see you soon!