July

Lots of riding over the July 4th weekend. We started with a San Felasco trip on Saturday morning. BW, BJS, B, and I loaded up in BJS's truck and after a stop for bagels and coffee hit the early morning road to Alachua. We got to the trail head around 9:30 but due to some other type of head BJS and BW had to hit we got on the trail closer to 10:00. Man the way those two have got to time their toiletries you'd think they were older than me.


San Fan is nothing but fun single track. You don't have to do loops of the same thing over and over to get a decent amount of mileage. I recorded 5700 feet of climbing and 26 miles by the time we got back to the truck. Nobody wanted any more, we had had enough. The pace was steady and we didn't stop very often. It's was so hot and humid that stopping was torture anyway.


After the required stop at the Conestoga Restaurant we pointed it towards home and B and I were back in Havana by 4:00. I got cleaned up, opened a PBR, and hit the couch to watch the TDF. Air conditioning is a wonderful thing isn't it?


"Well, no good times go unpunished" I thought as I did the yard work in 97 degree heat Sunday afternoon. We did get away later in the day for an easy ride at FM. T is really enjoying her new ride. It's amazing how big a difference 7 lbs. makes in her ability to ride and enjoy the bike. Oh that's a 7 lbs. lighter bike by the way. I would never make the mistake of discussing my wife's weight.


I had planned a long forest road slog for Monday morning but when I didn't get any interest for any company I pulled the plug. I wasn't too pumped to do it alone again. I rode this route last year on the 4th of July solo and while an adventure, it just isn't as much fun doing long distances by myself. Fortunately a Zone 5 crew ride came together at the last minute Sunday night so B and I met the gang at 8:30 (which must be early for them) and did a calm pace for 26 miles on the north side trails. Then I took the fam to see the new Transformers movie that afternoon, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Not a lot of miles when you add it up but I was tired after every ride. The heat makes it seem like we rode twice as far as we did. We're into dog days now so when it doesn't rain in the afternoon I feel like I should be on the bike. Maybe I shouldn't say "should be"; that should read "want to be".

As a side note my main competition in the GSC went to the make up race in South Carolina a couple of weeks ago and managed to get 2nd. That was taking a chance since that was a SERC race and a long way away. But it paid off for him as he now has a 2 point lead over me. I now have to not only beat him but hope somebody finishes between us. Anyhoo all I can do is pedal and hope for the best. I could whine about it, I could point out that I beat him heads up every time we raced. I could complain about the 5 points he got in a time trial that he didn't even ride. Never mind that this is my last chance at a year end award before I move up to sport. At my age I'm not sure how much "better" I can get. Crap, this may be my last opportunity at glory now that I think about it. But after all it's just two old men racing bicycles in the base class isn't it?