Knoxify

If you think it’s cold where you are imag­ine being in Doug McFalls shoes. He’s the Win­ter Care­taker of the Lodge high atop Mt. Leconte and accord­ing to his lat­est blog post it’s neg­a­tive two degrees. We highly rec­om­mend you give Doug’s blog a read and if you’re feel­ing really hum­ble, send him some hand warm­ers. Hat Tip: Michael Silence

Now that the warmer weather is here, it’s time to head out­side and enjoy all that Knoxville has to offer. On Sat­ur­day, I packed up the kids and the hus­band and we headed to the Fruit and Berry Patch in NE Knoxville. Along with all the farm­ers mar­kets open for busi­ness this time of year, the Fruit and Berry Patch (4407 McCloud Rd., Knoxville, TN 37938) is a great way to spend a cou­ple of hours enjoy­ing and sup­port­ing local farmers.

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If you like to mix poker with bicy­cling then the Royal Flush Poker Derby might be the vice you’re look­ing for.

Accord­ing to the flyer above, the ride is on Sat­ur­day, March 21st and begins at noon. Rid­ers will leave from the old Bi-Lo in Bear­den. The best hand wins.

The Snow­board Rev­o­lu­tion crew recently made a trip to Ober Gatlin­burg by way of Arkansas and Mem­phis. I think they were sur­prised that there is actu­ally snow in Ten­nessee. Nod to Alex for the link.

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One of my biggest con­cerns in mov­ing to Foun­tain City was that I would be with­out a local bike shop. That fear was quickly snuffed after vis­it­ing Foun­tain City Ped­aler, located at 4620 Old Broad­way, just off the 640 exit.

Foun­tain City Ped­aler is small, but well laid out with plenty of park­ing for group-ride meet ups. They carry Marin, Dia­mond Back in addi­tion to a cou­ple bou­tique brands. (I saw a deli­cious BMC frame hang­ing on one wall.) They also carry Shi­mano wheels and com­po­nents as well as cloth­ing from Sugoi among many other accessories.

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I rode my bike to work Fri­day for the first time in my pro­fes­sional life. I didn’t feel like the stereo­types either: that guy who lost his license for a DUI, or that nerdy envi­ron­men­tal­ist who doesn’t own a car.

I am sim­ply a guy who loves cycling and doing the right thing, which in this case means not dri­ving to work when you live only 2.5 miles away. That and the price of gas in Knoxville just reached a new high.

But as a res­i­dent of West Knoxville — the part of Knoxville devel­oped with lit­tle thought to trans­porta­tion by any­thing other than a car — what are some ways to ease into the two-wheeled commute?

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If you fol­low me on Twit­ter @bcknoxify you know that we are get­ting behind the Arthri­tis Foun­da­tion and the Jin­gle Bell Run, which takes place on Decem­ber 13 at 10 AM.

We have reg­is­tered a Knoxville Twit­ter team called The Twittmas­t­wees, how­ever we are look­ing for all peo­ple inter­ested in run­ning and walk­ing with us. After­wards, we are hop­ing to grab some drinks and food in mar­ket square. This 5k is tons of fun, as many peo­ple dress up live elves, rein­deer, and of course the Claus.

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One of the great things about Knoxville is our loca­tion to many out­door activ­i­ties. Did you know there is a dude ranch close by?

That’s right, check out the French Broad Out­post Ranch located in Del Rio, TN, about an hour out­side of Knoxville. The ranch is the only dude ranch located in the Great Smoky Moun­tains and one of the few located in the east­ern United States.

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Knoxville has a brand new snow / skate / wake shop that is car­ry­ing the coolest board sports gear and apparel around.  The Board Room is open now, but their “offi­cial” Grand Open­ing is going to be next Fri­day, Octo­ber 17th.  Sup­port this local busi­ness by stop­ping by this week or for their spe­cial Grand Open­ing and get a fresh high five from the crew.

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As oth­ers have noted (see here, here and here), the Buck Karnes (Alcoa High­way) bridge pedes­trian lane is open. At 12 feet wide, it offers plenty of room for bike and foot traf­fic along with some great views of the Ten­nessee River. This lane is part of a larger plan to con­nect the Knox and Blount County Greenways.

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