I needed a water bottle. I wound up contemplating the price of paradise.
Packing for a week of backpacking last night, I could only put my hands on one Nalgene bottle. My MSR water filter screws into Nalgene water bottles, making an otherwise annoying task – pumping water from a stream – slightly less annoying. Since I was leaving town early this morning, I’d have to pick one up on the road. Which put me standing in front of the somewhat new REI in Asheville late this afternoon.
Before you wait for Suzy to slip off to sleep tonight, her Halloween sugar buzz having finally worn off, and before you sneak into her room to pillage her plastic pumpkin, think about this: For every fun size Baby Ruth bar you filch, you’ll need to go disco dancing for about 15 minutes.
When I saw that Jeff LeBlanc was leading our ride, I knew that whatever he said was going to happen on the ride would be what would happen. Rare in group riding circles and reassuring, especially since this ride was at night, on mountain bikes, through twisty trail in the forest. While I’d done night rides before, this was a first for my 14-year-old stepson. The fewer surprises the better, and I knew from experience that LeBlanc, a retired Marine remained possessed of Corps discipline.
While fact-checking (yes, bloggers fact check) a post that will appear next week, I ran across a curious aside noting that “the most fuel-efficient vehicle available — the bicycle” gets “30+ miles per burrito.”
Frankly, that seemed conservative to me. Granted, it was unclear whether the author was burning a basic 350-calorie burrito from the dollar menu or a higher-octane version, say, Moe’s 950-calorie Homewrecker. Still, an assertion was made. So I Googled “energy from a burrito.”
Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, the 2.6-mile out-and-back trail to the top of Hanging Rock, in its namesake state park.