Back to Normal

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, things are getting back to what I consider "normal".  My ride schedule of some sort of rides Tuesday's and Thursday's seems to be back on track, I'm not sleeping 11 hours a night and I'm getting up early enough to get some exercise in before work.  I'll take it.  Yesterday, I hit my (almost) full mountain bike commute home for the first time in a few weeks and it felt great.  The legs were surprisingly snappy and I was actually able to ride beyond an infants ability level.  I won't bore you with the story.  Some captioned shots should do.

Early in the ride I picked up some leaves in my rear wheel.  I looked down to asses the annoying situation and when I looked back up I took a nice pointy stick to the face.  It hurt like hell but thankfully only left a 4" long scratch.  Maybe my co-workers won't notice.  With how often I come into work with visible cycling ailments, it's no wonder none of them have taken this foolish sport up.

 

Then, I had a stream crossing.  45 degree water can put a damper (get it?  GET IT???) on a ride.

Then I saw this snowy owl checking me out when I entered the preserve.  He didn't look this creepy in real life.

The trails are littered with two things right now, leaves and acorns.  The leaves aren't in full effect yet but those damn acorns can be like trying to corner on ball bearings.  In nice sweeping corners they meant a bit of two wheel drift but if you trust yourself and your tires you'll most likely come out unscathed.

 I'm testing out some new mountain bike gloves.  The Mechanix Impact Pro Glove.  I was going to recommend them as alternative cycling gloves since they're tough and cheap but checking the site, they aren't so cheap.  Thankfully for me, I got them for free.  I'll have to hit that salesman up again when he comes to the office.

Old, abandoned  stone foundations are pretty cool during the daytime but at night, miles from civilization, they're downright creepy.  Once Blair Witch thoughts started creeping into my head I high tailed it out of there!

And then a first for me, I had a water bottle split on me while taking a drink.  I've used plastic water bottles in sub zero temps and never had this happen.  This bottle is about 7 years old though...