Week in review

Nothing too exciting around these parts. Erin and the kids are still fighting off their illnesses. Poppy was given the stupidest haircut ever. Seriously. The grass keeps right on growing.

I did manage to squeeze a couple of rides in. Tuesday was a slosh ride out on the arsenal. Decided to hit the full loop, about 10mi. Good ride, but a lot more water and slime than I had anticipated. I was finally getting in a groove when out of nowhere a little black flash with white accents. Crap! Skunk. About 2-3ft off the trail. No time to really do anything about it, so I gave a loud cat hiss and shot by. Fortunately I came up on it fast enough that although startled it didn't get a chance to spray me before I passed the danger zone. I pedaled on for another mile before realizing that the sinking feeling I was having was indeed a flat. We have the burliest thorns out here in AL. Looked like someone drove a finish nail through my tube. Nothing like changing a flat on a slimy/muddy tire.

Wednesday found me trying to hang with the SORBA group ride. Steve and Sean showed, both have a lot more saddle time than me this year. I did my best to hang on the Family trail sprint. Then I was given the lead heading down the rockiest descent in the park. I was instantly regretting the additional pressure and lower volume settings in the rear shock. It rode exceptionally bad through the repeat rock hits. I was able to ride the entire trail at decent speed, but at the bottom my hands and forearms were toast. A good indication that my suspension wasn't doing all it was suposed to. We started out again on some unmentionable trail. As Steve and Sean started to drop me I again had that sinking sensation. Yep, another flat. Another thorn. Jeese, these things are brutal. So I did a quick change and tried to catch up to the faster riders. Note, exercise in futility. All I managed to do was kill myself and tire me out for the rest of the ride. I managed to catch up to them at the bottom of War Path. From there it was a combination of hike and ride back to Goat. I was surprised to find the trail was so flat. I had never ridden up it.

By the time I got to the top of Family trail Sean and Steve were rested. They "spun" back to the bikers lot. Of course their spin was a bit more spry than my own. Heck at that point I couldn't even keep up with the weekend warriors on Family back to the truck.

I sure hope these rides are making me stronger/faster, cause they sure aren't doing anything to boost moral or ego. No one to blame for my sloth state. Too much time off last year. Double hard to get back into action this year. Oh well.

Hey, is it beer thirty yet?
So my morning started with Faith bringing me a beer at 8:30am. She had gotten up. Everyone else was down stairs. So she snuck into the fridge to get some strawberries for breakfast. Since she was there she decided that I needed a beer for breakfast. Far be it from me to turn down a beer. It's noon somewhere. Gee, wonder why this beer gut isn't getting any smaller...

happy Friday