Ice Cream Social 2.0

In some small towns, probably large towns too, people sporadically meet at the local town hall and host ice cream socials. Like a duck to water, people of any ilk naturally gravitate towards ice cream. It's fun, it's social, it's ice cream -- it's an ice cream social.Ice cream socials are so 1998. So here in Asheville, host town of the national cyclocross championships, I'm hosting bike rides this week. Better than just annual neighborhood gatherings and ice cream, I'm using do(ugh)nuts as the magnet to ride bikes. Better than just ice cream, we have donuts! People like donuts. No, people love donuts. Even if people say they don't like donuts, they're lying to you and they really like donuts. In addition to donuts, we have piping hot coffee, great people, friends you know and friends you don't yet know, bikes, the Blue Ridge Parkway as our playground, a killer expo and bike racing to watch afterwards, and donuts. Let's call it the Super Duper Fun Donut Bike Riding Social.Here's a fraction of the energetic group we gathered yesterday. We actually had a dozen on the ride, but only these folks wanted to get their picture taken in front of the Hole'mobile. We put together an awesome ride that tugs at my nostalgic heartstrings from my time in home-sweet-Asheville with a fairly standard Black Mountain loop. T'was delightful as the weather was stunning.Waking to the pitter-patter of rain this morning nearly put a damper on the enthusiasm of the donut eatin', bike ridin' crowd. We had our biggest turnout this morning with about 20 people collecting at Hole Doughnuts. The room was as steamy and welcoming as it was overcast and damp outside. Lots of hellos and handshakes and high fives and smiles all around. Here's a collective of people we gathered this morning at Hole Doughnuts from New England. Our group was actually much bigger, but this was the wicked awesome New England contingency.Look closely and you'll likely notice that their flannels and down parkas are not bike riding attire. They, plus another many in the room with #CXNats on their mind, were there for the social atmosphere. Not for the riding today.Alas, you can't control the weather so these dank conditions were more the order of today. After that New England get-together at Hole this morning, we rallied the troops and Reid and Kyle were up for the challenge.Thankfully SRAM not only makes the world's best components, but some cool hyperfunctional neckwear.So continue to stay tuned here, Instagram, and Twitter -- all things @iamtedking -- to see what/where/how/when are riding in the coming days. Saturday was supposed to be nasty weather. But it's looking better and better every minute I check. Variety is the spice of life so let's scope out Vortex in downtown Asheville. Meet sometime after 9 then we'll ride from 930am @ Vortex. See you then!