Mountain Bikes, Bass Guitar, and other stuff I like

what? only a 75 suffer score Strava! that's bullshit, i pushed myself hard out there

Extraordinary ride at Blanket's Rode clean and confident. First day back on singlespeed in a few weeks and I really felt it. Climbs were tough on VMT. Some hike-a-bike toward the end. Had fun exploring lake area. Not in a real rush, just looking to put some time and miles in today. Leafy as hell on the trail but pleasantly tacky otherwise. I feel like a mountain biker again after today's ride.

-Rained last night so the course was slick and muddy. It was an accomplishment for me to ride clean (no crashes) Dialed back some and babied a few corners. -Raced with the singlespeed because of the gearing simplicity and I figure I was just as fast if not faster versus the geared bike. At the start, about 10 racers jumped ahead of me. I really need to figure out how to keep up with those jackrabbit starts. - Got bogged down again as the bikes stacked up in the first quarter mile. It was a steep rocky climb. Some hike-a-bike through there because of the logjams. This definitely slowed me down. I normally do this loop in 35 minutes give or take so I was 2 minutes off my pace. Seems like some of the racers had never ridden before. - 2 jerks behind me for a few miles kept talking about passing me but never did. Kept yelling out "guys let us pass!" "we really gotta pass these guys" The guy in front of me yelled "Either execute or shut the f*ck up!" HA!...

Wow, where to begin. It's been a crazy ride with lots of ups and downs. I'm not sure what was the impetus but maybe it was having to test my blood sugar levels because I was pre-diabetic. Another wake up call was trying to play basketball and my back and knees hurting so much that I could barely move. WTF! Years of drinking and eating whatever I wanted with zero physical activity had finally caught up with me. Big surprise.

Wow, what an event! Cool organizers and a real laid back vibe. I love the grassroots events like this. I felt horrible for the first 2 laps and had no legs, trying to feel my way around the course. It was really rolling and not too much climbing but it felt like most of it was uphill. Nothing too technical but trail system is new so it was like a washboard, which my shitty fork hated. Lost front brake on 2nd lap. Must've been passed by 15 racers on my 1st lap. Demoralizing.