Woke early to rain and gray skies. Trails are a mess from the past few days of rain so the road bike made the most sense today. Lesli had a few appointments set-up for late morning and early afternoon so that gave me about 4 hours to link up some roads through Boxford and points north west. Made the mistake of heading through Haverhill again..when will I learn? Roads are shit and that city is just too busy for continuous spinning. When I left home at 10:30 a.m. my plan was to ride to Haverhill, cross the Merrimac river and head up to Plastow NH and then over to Aimsbury. That would have put the ride in the neighborhood of around 80 miles. Don't know why I didn't cross the Mighty Merrimac? Just wasn't having a good time in Haverhill and kinda freaked out..was thinking too much about the weather, if it was going to rain or not...just pussed out.
I did how ever have a good ride. Turned out to be 2.5 hours, 49.8 miles....Should have gone to Plastow. Next time I guess. I blame it on the weather.
Dropped my GPS in the middle of the street 17 miles into the ride. I quickly turned around and darted for it, lady in a mini van almost squwashed it. I had been keeping the GPS in my jersey pocket, taking it out at intersections for reference, basically a pain in the butt. I had just enough duct tape to rip into two long 1/8th inch wide strips and lash to my stem. Worked out much better to look at the screen while riding, making decisions before I hit the intersections...what a concept...planning BEFORE I need to react! JB and his blog gave me the idea of mounting it on my bars but didn't actually do it till I needed to. I just never learn, - won't change till I am forced too. I'll look into that Garmin bar mount instead of relying on the duct tape...Although it did work great in a pinch but would be pretty cheesy if I were to do it every time.
I am on Vacation for a week after tomorrow. Need to work around the house and paint the final side of our house. The neighbors have been hinting about our multi-colored crib since last October. But as for Tomorrow, grabbed an overtime shift at work but wished I hadn't. Saw my neighbor (Harvey) who is a die-hard roadie. He invited me on a ccb ride out of Topsfield tomorrow morning. Bummer - would have been great to ride with a large group and learn their routes. Oh well, gatto pay for my new ride some how!
Man, I am talkative tonight..just got lots to say I guess. One last thing. I need to talk to Brad about a road ride I'm planning for Wed and Thurs of my vacation week. I am spinning your way for a two day, 200 mile road loop. Save me a bed Wednesday night, I'll bring the beer.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
200m 2-day epic? wowsers! make sure you don't overdo it on the tempo - if you slam too hard you could be in recovery mode for too long w/cohutta looming so close... but i bet you'll end-up with crazy golden legs for cohutta!
yeah maybe a bit overzealous with that plan. The legs feel soo good I got bit crazy for a minute! Agood mix of 50 mile road rides and a few 2 hour mtb rides will do me well...maybe save that ride north for later in the season and round Winnipesauke !
Post a Comment