As previously discussed, this week will not got down amongst the finer ones of the year. But that is all, pretty much, sort of, kinda behind me. The important things is that after four days of nothingness and crap trainer rides, I finally got my cottage cheese-like ass cheeks in the saddle for a ride atop the Boone today .
Today the winds were calm, the sun was out and the sky was blue; it was the antithesis of the prior four days. The mid-forties temperatures were less than desirable, but after all the shit that was thrown our way earlier in the week, I’ll take it!
Wonderful gravel! (Note deer running across field).
It felt so good to be back on the bike after a four days of rest and a couple indoor spins. The ride I mapped out would have me getting in 51.5 miles of dirt roads, pavement and gravel and I was stoked for every mile.
Rush hour traffic.
The first half of the ride was mostly dirt and gravel and then switched over to long stretches of rural paved roads. Roads there were jammed with Amish buggies. OK, “jammed” might be a stretch, but I seriously passed four or five buggies in roughly five miles. I guess noon on Friday is Amish rush hour.
After some pavement it was back to gravel and a nice little tail wind. A tail wind that I enjoyed immensely until with a bout fifteen miles to go, in the middle of powering up a short hill, I heard the punch in the gut “ping” of a spoke breaking. CUSS!
After stopping, tucking the spoke out-of-the-way and making sure that there was no significant wheel wobble to rub the frame, I carried on. However I did bail off of the gravel so as to easy on the wheel, and the remaining miles were ridden on pavement back to town.
Aside from the spoke incident, the ride was awesome and I had a blast. The only other disappointment was the fact that the paved bailout from the dirt roads cut two miles off of my ride and I once again ended my ride just short of fifty miles with 49.3 miles. Sigh.
After a quick shower I headed down to Terry’s for a quick repair (thank you!!). While most of my friends are racing the Rust Shaker XC race on Saturday, I will be heading out to once again try for the elusive 50 mile mark.
Later.