Burned Out From Exhaustion and Blown Out on the Trail

I'm tired of our local stuff.  If I was more of a roadie maybe I wouldn't get so burned out.  But I am.  Doing 3-4 hours at a time on the same trail system does get tedious.  Not tedious enough to get on the road however.  I still prefer anything dirt over pavement.

Come In She Said I'll Give Ya Shelter From the Storm

Add in the daily monsoons that are always accompanied by the sweltering humidity and you can see how it takes some of the fun out of riding.  Just a year ago I was in Colorado at this time.  I lust for the west like a dog does a squirrel during this time of year.  But life just got in the way.

In A Little Hill Top Village

Anyhoo, I'm headed to Santos early Sunday morning for a taste of something I haven't seen every week for the past month.  It won't be any cooler or dryer, but it will be different.  At least I can ride for 4 hours and not cover the same trail twice.

I Offered Up My Innocence

I finally got tired of the Magura brakes on my Epic.  I had had them warrantied twice and still they didn't perform properly.  Now they want me to send the system off so they can take a look at it.  Nah, I just went ahead and put Shimano XT on.  Soooo happy I did, I can't believe what a difference it makes in the way the bike handles.  Of course the new Racing Ralphs may have something to do with that.

Got Repaid With Scorn

Back to the Ocala trip this weekend.  There seems to be little interest from the crew in accompanying me. Must be my amazing speed on the bike recently.  I don't know what's happened.  I know the OMTP is hard to integrate into group rides.  Plus others are on their own training calendars and they also don't mesh very well.  And I guess some folks are just tired of riding bikes.  I get it, I really do.  I've been fortunate to find someone to tag along every once and awhile so I can't complain.  I do miss The Kid, I didn't realize how many times he went along.  However riding alone has it's merit.  I'm certainly getting plenty of practice at it.

By the way, the subheadings with song lyrics made The Lovely Wife uncomfortable since they don't have anything to do with whats in the paragraph below them.  So I apologize.  But I find some weird joy in sticking them in so please ignore it if it bothers you.

I'll Take A Little Bit of Everything

Not Tallahassee but I like it

The Biscuits and the Beans

Things are a little different around our house now.  The Kid is off at UF and he decided to stay down there this past weekend.  That's the first time in 18 years he's spent more than 7 days away.  I didn't realize how much we did together till he was gone on a weekend.  The adjustment is taking longer than The Lovely Wife and I thought it would.

Whatever Helps Me to Forget About

Anyhoo, the OMTP called for 3 hours Saturday, followed by 5 hours Sunday.  I had a previous engagement Saturday morning which left me getting my 3 hours in the mid afternoon sauna which is Tallahassee in July.  The whole ride I kept thinking about the 5 I was planning on doing the next day.

During dinner Saturday night at Monk's, over craft beers and amazing hamburgers, the ride I had planned to do with a group Sunday started falling apart.  Seems the clay roads had gotten rain that evening and by the time I got home at 10:00 it was too late to re-plan.  I set the alarm that night thinking I would just do a long forest ride.  Alone.

Once again, not here, Blankets in Atlanta

I was awake before the alarm Sunday, thinking about all that sand in the ANF.  When a loop just happened to appear that I thought had a good chance of taking 5 hours without slogging through underbrush.  I parked at Higher Ground at 7:40 and headed south.

I won't bore you with the details of the ride.  I managed to hit Fern, Tom Brown, Munson, and all points in between.  According to my coach I was supposed to work on hydration and fueling.  All the while maintaining a zone 2-3 pace with limited stops.  I had 2 PB+J sandwiches and a couple of gels for fuel, plus Scratch in my bottles for sodium.  To say it was humid would be an understatement.  I'd stick my head under the shower at the dog water and couldn't tell a difference.

The Thing That Brought Me to My Knees

In the end I did my 5.  Even if I had to ride a couple of loops around the parking lot.  The fuel part worked well, I had no gastric distress from the PB+J.  No cramps, until I got home and put on my compression socks.  I did run out of water 45 minutes from Tom Brown while headed back, leaving me to ride 15 dry.  Which doesn't seem like a big deal today but kinda hurt yesterday.

So Pile on the Mashed Potatoes, and an Extra Chicken Wing

That's how this kind of ride goes though.  When you're in the middle of it you start to hate the roots, the heat, and the bike.  But come Monday when you look back you're like "that was pretty fun" and start planning another.

Cause I'm Having a Little Bit of Everything