What??

What the hell is this thing? It looks like some kind of sweating fungus. Weird stuff. Saw it along the bike path between corby north and south. Got some funny looks as I took pictures of this thing.

Also saw this big old moth. Looked just like a leaf, but it caught my eye and I stopped.

Rode this AM with Randy, Jason, and Brad. Hot, wet, and slippery. Randy seemed to like it - sicko.

I ran into a tree on a downhill at Sunbridge. Looks like it's time for some new tires, that's two wrecks in one week. That's too many.

Wednesday Nite

Met up with Randy, Jason, and Jim after work to do some good riding. We ripped through the Corby South Trails, then Jim took off (I think he had been riding for awhile). The rest of us continued on through the North side. Coming out of Corby North Jason drilled one of those bollard posts on the bridge with his knee. Looked like it really, really hurt; and if what it looked like wasn't enough, the sound it made made my stomach churn. That didn't stop us from laughing at him though.

Karma is a funny one though. She got me back good. In the Brownie trails it was all good. Then, in GSC I hit one of the cross trail logs just right and went over the handlebars. Faceplated beautifully, complete with chunks of mud in the helmet and everything. Jason and Randy were tickled. I think this might have been the first time I did that in their company.

Even still, it was a good ride; we were lucky to be out.

Wednesday Nite Ride

Planning on being at Corby around 5:30PM for a fast ride - bring your game face. I think Randy and Jason are showing up too.

Rode Monday with Randy, Jason, and Mikey. Pretty fast at first and very warm. Felt great.

Mikey went down in Corby North. Going too fast around a corner and washed out. I was glad, he was starting to make me feel inadequate.

Should be a good night tonight, if the spiders aren't too agressive.

buggy and fast

rolled through the corbies and gscs this afternoon. temp was 98 when i left the house. spiders were pretty bad at gsc, but i didn't really care. rode as hard as i could maintain and felt pretty good. got the chills a couple of times, which always makes me smile. figure it means i'm skating the edge, which is a good place to visit every now and again.

trails are in good shape, and gsc is starting to smooth out. can't wait till it's ice smooth like the corbies. i remember 2 years ago when they were bumpy like that. funny how over the course of a year or so the trails just smooth out and a person forgets how they were at the start. regardless of kind of a rough ride, they are some pretty fast trails.

i'd like to get out tomorrow night again. hopefully it will be hot. it's good to soak it up while it lasts. everybody is fast right now. hopefully some folks will post and meet me out there. so monday night - lets shoot for 5:30 at corby. post if you can do it....

Trail Conditions

GSC, Brownie, Corby North are all in excellent condition. Hard pack, cut wide, and very fast.

Corby South is a little more dense, but is not hanging over the trail and is not annoying to ride. It is also hard pack and fast.

Krug is still overgrown and blocked by trees. It will have to be a winter project to clear and re-route.

Sunbridge is clear, but is overgrown in on some trails. It needs a good cut on the upper trails. The lower trails are still in pretty good shape.

These guys are making trails too. Yuck.

Smithville ride on thursday!

Is anyone racing this weekend in smithville? Jim and I had talked about going out sometime this week to get an early look at the race loop. Thurday is going to be the only day that I can go and that will be after work. Jim, let me know if that works for you and anyone else that wants to go just let us know!

Took My Medicine Today

100 degrees heat index, they said today. Started Corby and the GSC at about 12:30 for a solo re-connect day. Balanced the line between sustainable riding and heat stroke for the entire time. No stops except to cut out two trees, but I wasn't looking to rest on those pauses. On the way home unzipped the jersey and let the wind hit me in the chest. You know what I mean when I say it's at that moment that life's demons kind of clear away, vision gets clearer, and things start making sense again - cause that clarity has been earned. I'll be on the bike more now, and that's the way it needs to be. May have lost my way there for a while.

To all of you, early July and the trails look as good as I have seen them at this time of year. It ain't easy to keep up, I know. I've been trying to do my part with a handsaw, but that's not enough and I'm sorry. Might try to get out with Randy for some power tool work this week, if I can.

Got this new toy from my mom for Father's day. Should help after the next big storm when there is a bunch of trees down. It's the perfect size for a chainsaw and a can of gas.

Saw some alarming signs in the GSC today too. Was seeing what looked like horse hoof prints, but couldn't be sure while I was moving. Finally stopped to move a tree and was able to identify some horse pooh right by some hoof prints. Not super fresh, it had been laid before the last rain, but alarming none the less. I don't expect those trails would handle horse traffic well. We would do well to redirect them back to Krug if we run across equestrians on the GSC trails.

Anyway - happy riding. I plan to be out some this week. Hope to see you all on the trails!

A Big Thanx and a group ride Fri morn

Huge gracias to whomever cut the big tree outta the GSC trail...Stanton, I would guess. The spiders are back out in force. Also, Bradbob suggested a group ride Fri morning at Corby at 8:30 am. He figured most peeps would be off work and be able to ride for awhile. I hadn't remembered how hard riding all the trails backwords from normal wastil till I rode em that way last night. Damn! RT