Amazing!

Friday.

What an epic (for me) week in the saddle. The Campeon has been resurrected and delivered the goods like meth headed pizza guy (not sure what that means). I got out to ride the roads near my Dad's digz yesterday, and they did NOT disappoint. Some of my fave road riding is the back roads and farm roads of the Scottdale/Mt. Pleasant/East Huntingdon/Dawson area (Pflug knows what I'm talkin' about).


I did up a sweet low traffic ride with some good rolling climbs, plenty of sunshine and good legs. The ONLY thing that took away anything was an occasional head/cross wind, but it wasn't enough to lesson the overall "titz" level of the ride.

There are a few rides a year that I do to test my fitness. This ride was one of them. I know the climbs, I know the roads, and I know what my body feels like when I'm "on" and I know all too well what it feels like when it's "off." And it was so on today, that I felt a little weirded out. I'm not saying I could keep up with the local fast guys, or "compete" at a higher level. Just saying I know when my fitness is good and it was GOOD on today. Very stoked to be feeling like this in March!

Vintage and perfect.

My family used to buy bottled milk from this farm when I was real young. I used to beg my dad and brother to take me to see the cows, only to be scared out of my mind when I got near them. Glad to see they are still around.

What's the deal with the lackluster pic above? I had to get a shot of this scene to as a reference for the following.... As I cam up the farm road (a bit further down the small climb) I saw the tractor rolling through the dirt, and I thought it was just tilling up the field. Hunks of wet mud were being sprayed all over and even being tossed out into the road near me. Just as I thought "big deal, what's a little mud?" I recognized the throat coating scent of cow shit. That wasn't mud it was manure!! LOL! I was laughing out loud as I rode along, thinking how I almost rode head long into a literal shit storm!

As I finished the last 100 yards or so of the ride, I spied the B-Man and my Dad down at the nearby creek, so I looped down to see what they were up to. B-Man wanted to show me some minnows in the creek. So I laid my bike down and headed down close to the small creek for him to show me. I was then able to tell him how I played in those very woods and around this very creek when I was his age. Having woods near a house, even a small patch, was better than any playground. B., then helped up the Campeon for me and the three of us headed back to the house. Good times.

On to today's ride...

I had heard via Don and Montana that the trails at Boyce were in fine condition, so my goal was a multi hour dirt ride there today. I once again wanted to test the legs and test some changes in nutrition, namely I using Perpetuem in my bottle again, and once again wearing a hydration pack. I love not riding with a pack, but I felt like at the end of last year (especially at the SM100) I was not drinking enough and paid the price with epic bonks and dehydration.

It had been some time since I was on dirt, so I also wanted to work getting the feel for dirt back. With the Boyce like and flattish LBD race coming up I decided to find a nice loop and pound out a few laps trying to be consistent as possible.


So I went with a nice 7 mile section of the park that had what I wanted and pounded out 4 laps on it. Ended up being about 3:25 or so, with slowing for hikers (including 4 camouflaged teenagers, one wearing and Iron Maiden t shirt) and dog people. The only real mud to speak of was a couple open field sections.


The rest of the ride was mostly tight single track, bordered with a TON of thorns. I got so freaking cut up! AND to boot one nasty thorn limb ripped my new XXC shorts! UG!!!! Oh well, got me a back up pair.

Overall felt good, and the nutrition and pack all went down well. Saw a bunch of other riders out enjoying the trails and that is always nice to see. I'm closing in on 13 hours so far this week, and tomorrow should put me up and over. If I can get up and at 'em in time, I may be joining some folks for for some feats of strength on the road. If not I plan to hit the pavement solo.

After a lonnnnnnng winter, this week has been a real gift. I'm sure the WPA weather will be pretty psycho the next few weeks, but glad to have weeks/days like this.

Later.