Fender ride

Close to bonking on today's ride. We headed out an hour after our scheduled ride with George due to rain storms...Bummed to miss riding with George. Would have been good to scare each other on lines in B+T's. Hope we get together soon.
Ken, Jeff, Bronte and I headed out near RR for the first mud fest of 2006. Rain ended as we got to the trail head. Temps in low 50's - Perfect! The rocks were slick and the roots slicker. Used a lot of body english to stay on line today and still managed to smack a few trees with shoulders and bar ends. The sherman fork bailed me out of many high speed situations. Down hill trails had turned to rock strewn rivers due to heavy rainfall late last night and in to the morning. Low laying areas were brimming with standing water. Toward the middle of the ride we no longer avoided the deep puddles.. all about keeping momentum and pulling back on the bars (and hoping not to smack a boulder under the surface).
Felt strong for the first half of the ride till my breakfast (oatmeal) burned off...ate my one and only mini luna, 100 calories don't go far. (Note to self..pick up more trail food) We were all in the same boat - out of energy food with an hour + left to go, wet, on the verge of bonk. Then I ran out of water. Made the best of having little power after three hours out. Concentrated on spinning the pedals up the goat-hill climbs and milking the recovery on the flats.

Put in 10 or 11 hours on the bike this week. Looking to ramp up for the next few.