Coast

Sometimes, all it takes is the alignment of the right stars to kick-start an active lifestyle. Perfect weather — sunny skies, highs in the mid-60s. A challenging, but not overly so, adventure. A supportive environment. Beer.

All of those conditions will be in play Sunday when our GetExploring! Greenville affiliate hosts “Bike & Brew, Whoo!” Meet at Winslow’s Deli in Greenville, take a guided bike ride for an hour or so, return to Winslow’s for an amber libation. Could put you on the road to health and happiness. It’s part of the Great Outdoor Provision Co.-sponsored group’s Fall Into Adventure series.

Logistics: Sunday, 2 p.m., Winslow’s Deli, Washington & 5th streets, Greenville. More info and to sign up, go here.

Sunday forecast: Sunny, high of 67.

Piedmont

Technically, you should have signed up for this by yesterday (our apologies). But Sunday’s opportunity to hike new trail is just too good not to acknowledge. And even if you don’t hike this trail when it officially debuts Sunday, make a note to hit it this fall.

The trail: the final 4.9-mile link of Mountains-to-Sea Trail between Penny’s Bend and West Point on the Eno city park in Durham. The stretch creates 105 miles of continuous MST in the Triangle, from Orange County east to Clayton in Johnston County.

The trail gets its official baptism Sunday, with a 1 p.m. dedication followed by a hike. Details can be found below.

Logistics: Sunday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m., West Point on the Eno City Park, Durham. More information here.

Sunday forecast: Sunny, high of 67.

Mountains

Lots of places to go see fall color in the mountains this weekend. (For the latest on where the color is especially good, visit VistiNC.com’s Foliage Reports.)

If you’re looking for a little context for the fall show, head to Gorges State Park Saturday where a ranger will talk about why some leaves turn yellow, some red, some orange, some purple. Then, after the presentation, he’ll tip you off to where the color is especially good right now.

Logistics: Saturday, Oct. 18, 1:30 p.m., Gorges State Park. More info: 828.966.9099.

Sunday forecast: Mostly sunny, high of 62.

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Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Getting There

OK, this is a little cheesy, a little last-minute, a bit OMG-I-Need-90-Seconds-of-…-Something. I could call it edgy cinema with the hand-held, cinema verite feel, but really it’s just dicey craftsmanship. And I could go on about the existential nature of getting there vs. being there, about how it’s as much about the journey as the destination, blah blah blah, but really, it’s just about hopping in the car to get to where we need to be. But mostly, it’s about the 90-Second/OMG thing. Anyway, here’s 90 seconds of the 10-minute ride I take to get to where I play the most, Umstead State Park in the heart of the Triangle.

For something that is a little more profound, though, come back after noon today and we’ll clue you in to a new project we’re launching. If you’re looking forward to the fall as much as we are, you’ll want to check it out.

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Wondering what kinks Tropical Storm Andrea may have put in your weekend plans?

Paddling. If you were planning on paddling, you might think again. With projected rainfall amounts of four inches or greater, some local rivers may be swollen to the dangerous level, especially for less experienced paddlers. Your best bet for assessing paddle conditions on specific rivers is to check with the outfitters who serve them. Find a list of 44 such outfitters, specifically those who rent canoes and kayaks, here. If you’re familiar with a specific waterway, you can check levels and flows at the U.S. Geological Survey site, here. If you need help interpreting what those numbers mean — what’s optimum, what’s safe, what’s not — you should have a copy of Paul Ferguson’s “Paddling Eastern North Carolina” for the eastern part of the state, the Benner boys’ “Carolina Whitewater: A Paddler’s Guide to the Western Carolinas” for the west.

Just because a river is dammed, don’t expect it to be safe — or runnable. This morning, after several hours of heavy rain, American Whitewater (which cites USGS gauges) reported a flow of 122 cubic feet per second on the Neuse River just below the dam. That’s deemed too low to run. Don’t make assumptions: check ahead.

Hiking. The rain is expected to move out by the end of today, but two to four inches can wreak havoc on a trail. Add to that winds that, in some places, were expected to gust to 30 to 35 miles per hour and we could be facing trail closures. North Carolina State Parks says it will report any closings in its system on park websites, which you can find here. National Forest Service trails may not technically close, but keep in mind that they tend to be less erosion resistant and thus more susceptible to washouts and other scourges of bad weather. If you’re contemplating a trail you aren’t familiar with, you might wait until things dry out.

Road cycling. Since the state should begin drying out over night, the weekend should be good for road rides (although lingering thunderstorms could be an issue). However, with flooding possible in low-lying areas there could be some lingering effects, especially in the flatter eastern part of the state. Storm-related road debris could be an issue as well.

Mountain biking. Forget about it. It will be awhile before even the most well-designed trail network dries out. If you’ve really got a hankering to ride, check out your favorite forest road.

Climbing. If you do get rained out of your favorite activity, there’s always your local climbing gym. It’s always sunny (in a florescent way) and 72 (in an HVAC way) at your local indoor climbing wall. Find the gym nearest you, here.

Enjoy!

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The hardest part of a race? Anymore, it’s just getting in.

This morning, at 7:59, I sat at the keyboard, my right index finger poised of the Enter key. In the window of my browser was this address: http://www.sportoften.com/events/eventDetails.cfm?pEventId=7902 — the site to register for the Feb. 4 Uwharrie Mountain Run. The site was set to go active at 8 a.m. today, Nov. 1, 2011.

7:59:57, 7:59:58, 7:59:59 … 8:00!

I punched the Enter key and what may well be my toughest challenge in this 20-mile trail run was on. For the first five minutes I watched a circular gray arrow spin in the browser window. Then I began getting a “Database Error” message. I rebooted (when in doubt … ) and somehow found myself on the registration site for the 2010 Uwharrie Mountain Run. I regrouped and managed to advance to the circular spinning blue arrow in the browser window. Hope! It was 8:21 and I was feeling wildly optimistic, giddy even. At 8:27 I was on the registration site, by 8:37 I had appeased the god of credit card verification and was officially registered. I pumped both fists in the air, elated: Only 38 minutes of cajoling the computer machine to register. I was in, baby!

Yesterday, I ran into Triangle ultradistance running icon Joey Anderson on the Neuse River Trail. Anderson was in taper mode for next weekend’s Mountain Masochist Trail Run in Virginia and was doing a short six-miler. We chatted a minute before Joey asked if I’d run Sunday’s Monster Dash 5K at Cameron Village.

“We had over 1,000 runners,” Joey said, and by “we” he was referring to race organizer The Athlete’s Foot, where he works. A thousand!? I thought back to the first Monster Dash two years ago, which had less than 200 runners and last year’s race, which had maybe 400. I thought about the tight venue — both the course itself, an out-and-back on Clark Street and Oberlin Road, and the limited opportunities for parking. I also thought about the race’s ties to Cameron Village, and how relocating the race wasn’t an option. I wasn’t surprised when Joey said, “They’ll probably have to cap it next year.”

Ah, the dreaded cap: the limit on the number of people who can enter an event. The cap: the reason I sat pensively at the keyboard this morning at 7:59:59 with my right index finger poised over the Enter key.

Virtually every race — from foot races to triathlons to cycling events to … whatever — that has been around for two or three years and has developed any reputation has a cap. Sometimes the cap is no big deal. Occasionally, you can even register for a capped race on race day. Often, though, you need the stars to align and be something of an online zen master to get into a popular race. Last year, for instance, I toyed with the idea of entering the Umstead 100. Alas, the notion didn’t occur until the afternoon of the day registration opened; by then, the 250 slots for the race had been snapped up.

As for the Uwharrie Mountain Run, I was surprised to find that registration remained open as of 11:15 this morning. But if you’re interested in running, I wouldn’t dawdle.

In the first three hours registration had already topped 800.

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A pair of recent studies have found that athletes who throw down some beetroot juice before an event tend to do better from an endurance standpoint. In November, a study appearing the Journal of Applied Physiology found that runners who beetroot juiced increased their endurance by 15 percent during high intensity running. And a study just published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise finds that competitive cyclists are likewise affected. (Beetroot juice has also been found to lower blood pressure and cleanse the kidneys and gall bladder.)

Researchers at the University of Exeter took nine “club-level competitive male cyclists” and had them do time trials over 4K (2.5 mile) and 16.1K (10 mile) routes. They did both time trails twice: Before one time trial they drank half a liter of beetroot juice, before the second they drank a half liter from which the nitrates had been extracted.

When the cyclists drank straight beetroot juice, they had a higher power output measured in watts, and completed the 4K course 11 seconds faster and the 16.1K course 45 seconds faster. (The cyclists’ VO2 levels were monitored to make sure maximum output was consistent throughout the test.) The findings suggest the cyclists’ muscles and cardiovascular systems were more efficient under the influence of beetroot juice.

Could a new Gatorade flavor be far behind?

Photo: That’s beetroot juice, not Beetlejuice.

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