“My future starts when I wake up every morning…
every day I find something creative to do with my life…”
Miles Davis
Being able to run out the door directly into conservation land is Mother Nature’s gift to trail runners. The Greenfield Trails Association calls for further exploration and a double-water-bottle run. Many mountain bikers keep the switch-backin' and rockin'-terrain fern-free. The mix of single and double track, small bridges over streams, and the mecca of moss add to its natural beauty.
I spied five of these newts on course:
I charted out a challenging lollipop route with a fair amount of up and down along with a bit of road to link it all up. At about 4 miles, with the options of adding a lot more mileage, the footing forgives and forgets. Rocks, roots, newts, mushrooms, and gnome droppings (just kidding about the rocks), speckle the path. While out there, I meddle and imagine a TUG (The Ultra Gang) and company small Fat Ass 6-hour ... or sumpin'.
The woods run was not without possible bite. By 7:30 on a wet morning the buzzing insects were awake and hungry. But their appetite was nothing to the Deep Woods Off, which I applied before diving in. Some of the insects in this region have zip codes!------------------------------------------
Sunday afternoon, after the rain seemingly passed us by, Dave and I headed out on our bikes for an inaugural ride. I'm new to the clipless system and was a bit nervous to embark. Putting me at ease, Dave adjusted and tightened my cleats, super-charged me with confidence, and clipless was old hat by the end of of the driveway.
Dave's a great rider who's logged 100's of miles this season (including a century a few weeks ago)! This was my first ride of the summer and I hoped I could keep up and apply my running fitness to the road bike. Not having run long in a few days, I was raring to go! The loop had its fair amount of climbs and flats. What goes up must come down and I enjoy seeing just how fast I can accelerate down a hill. My maximum speed of 34.9 mph was not fast enough to break the 40 speed limit. Maybe next time! We hung together with a delightful 15 mph average over about 22-23 miles. Apparently this tiggerrr was restless.
Dave's a great rider who's logged 100's of miles this season (including a century a few weeks ago)! This was my first ride of the summer and I hoped I could keep up and apply my running fitness to the road bike. Not having run long in a few days, I was raring to go! The loop had its fair amount of climbs and flats. What goes up must come down and I enjoy seeing just how fast I can accelerate down a hill. My maximum speed of 34.9 mph was not fast enough to break the 40 speed limit. Maybe next time! We hung together with a delightful 15 mph average over about 22-23 miles. Apparently this tiggerrr was restless.
In addition to riding with Dave, the best part (besides not crashing, not getting hit by an 18-wheeler, and not forgetting to clip out at intersections) was that the rain came back while we were riding. Just us out there on the roads....two giddy FOOLS in the RAIN.
This was sideways rain—the torrential big droplet rain that forces cars to pull over. In the moments before it unleashed its fury, I commented how much enjoy training in inclement weather. Is That So? Then the sky opened up, dumped bottomless buckets, and continued to laugh upon us until we pulled into his driveway. And, yes, then the sun came out. We were destined for a wet ride. I LOVED IT. What a blast.
This was sideways rain—the torrential big droplet rain that forces cars to pull over. In the moments before it unleashed its fury, I commented how much enjoy training in inclement weather. Is That So? Then the sky opened up, dumped bottomless buckets, and continued to laugh upon us until we pulled into his driveway. And, yes, then the sun came out. We were destined for a wet ride. I LOVED IT. What a blast.
2 comments:
Hmmm...who is this Dave of which you speak? SOunds like a great guy. I like Dave's generally speaking ;)
Yes, Great indeed! I know how terrific the Dave in your life is, too! Hooray!
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