here we go.....

Long road ahead.

Well, guess I can put all of those knee concerns behind me. Saturday was a classic spring training day, started with temps maybe in the low 40's, bands of cold rain riding the 10-15 NW wind across the valley, Belgians would be proud. Original plan was for a simple 2ish hours light spin out-n-back down to the spillway at Laurel. Swung into Duffy's and picked him up for a portion of the ride, nice to have some company. Jay shared the ride until we got to the church on 34, where he turned back, and I decided to change the script a bit.

My new booties, actually worked great!

Didn't feel like dealing with the Rt 34 traffic, so I hopped across to the backside of Whiskey. For not wanting to deal w/ the traffic, I sure put myself into a hole here. Options at that point were either the punchy-pitchy climb over the back of Whiskey, or a longish rolling detour along the base of the mtn towards Dillsburg. All the gauges still looked good, didn't want to push the fixy over the top w/ my knee, so I headed south for a bit, taking a few more unscripted roller avoidance turns and then finally recognizing where I was when I saw Gameland Rd somewhere south of Dillsburg.

Somewhere south of Dillsburg,

looking at northern Michaux/Whiskey Springs.

Eventually rolled into Franklintown. Man, I haven't ridden that neck of the woods since I lived there well over 10years ago. Checked out the old apartment, still the same, enjoyed some memories and turned north, it was time to head home. Cruised in along the Breeches, saw a few others out enjoying the now 50ish breezy sunshine, stopped for a little pick me up in Boiling Springs and brought it home into a building breeze. Clocked out just shy of 4 hours, 50 few miles, the 40:15 treated me ok, all in all.

How much for that pussy in the window?
White = Good Luck????

Boiling Springs pit stop.

Today I opted for the Cali rockstar start, out the door around noonish. Thought I'd try to catch the heat of the day, forecast calling for mid-hi 30's, passing snow showers with a big fat cherry on top: West winds @ 20-30. It was 32 when I left, then warmed all the way to 33 at 3 o'clock when I got home, the new baggy booties were just enough. It was aaaahhhwesome, why wasn't I skiing???? Woulda been a great day to ride the woods, but that messed up, lingering snowpack in Michaux has those ideas on hold for now. Back out onto the road we went.

The target was another 2ish hour loop, the tried and true staple of out to Newville and back. Attempted to hide from the wind, but can only do so much of that when you're heading directly into it. So I slogged along, into the 30mph snowy maw of the beast, often down in the drops & out of the saddle. Fighting the wind and rollers, barely able to break 10mph at times, it was neat. That wind is much more bearable while sitting on a chair lift.

Only another 500 miles of this,

hopefully w/out the snow:

Got out to Newville, and once again didn't feel like doing the out-n-back type thang. Also wanted to reap some rewards for the 1:20 I spent battling into the wind, so I went with the creek tour option, following the BullsHead and then Big Spring before jumping cross valley to Walnut Bottom. Made the turn at Walnut Bottom and picked up Pine Rd, ohhhhh baby, this is what I was waiting for, gawd damn! Got in a super ni-hi-hi-hiiiiiiice 45 minute session of tailwind assisted fixy silent spin. I absolutely, fucking love rolling it at 20ish, with a touch of feather wind on your cheek, flowing along on Ullr's sweet breath, pedals silenty turning over and over and over.

That's not training.......that's fucking therapy. Punched today's clock at 2:59 plus some seconds, 45ish mile. I'll call it 3hrs even. Definitely took another step in the right direction this wknd.

Interesting weather today, 32deg snow, sun & big wind,

click to enlarge for snow effect.

peace out.