Not Lazy Saturday

Leave the house on Saturday with good intentions.  Going for the "ride across town to the US National White Water Center, ride trail, ride to Renaissance, ride trail, ride home" thing.  I've done it once or twice.  Sixty something miles.  Lots of sads.  Sadder still, I paid for an annual parking pass at the USNWC, so riding there has no financial benefit this time.

It's hot when I walk out my front door.  Surprise.  Too hot for any clothes that I don't need.

The handy, not available from Backcountry Research yet but should be soon, Super 8 Strap in use.

I had tried to get someone to join me.  No surprise, I'm alone.  Ride on through uptown.

"Hooray, I'm at work on a Saturday."

I have a certain aversion to being uptown on a bike on my day off.

Push out the other side of the business world.  See a few roadies on their way back in from their roadie activities.  I wave and ding my bell because I'm not a real roadie.  Apparently, they're not either, as they smile and wave back.

Get to the trails.  Scan the parking lot for friendlies.  Hit the East Main Loop.  Quickly determine, once again, that I do not like my ENVE crabon frok with the adjustable offset in the 52mm mode.  I'd already figured that out at least once, but for some reason, I wanted to try it again.  This will suck the rest of the day.

Back out in the parking lot, see E Hag.  Chat with him, determine that he will go faster than my legs will want to at this point, go our separate ways.  Finish the rest of my loop and come back the the restrooms to fill up with water for the stupid next ride... and then realize I don't have time to ride to Renni and do a loop after all.  Plot a new route.

Figure out that the Super 8 is perfect for holding onto my "navigation system."  I know how to drive a car to Bike Source from here, but don't really know the most bike friendly route.  I see that I can also hit the Triple C Brewery on the way.  That's where I'm going...

But then I forget what I needed at Bike Source.  Now the trip is starting to feel pointless.  I rethink it through, decide that I can just go back through town, stop at The Spoke Easy, still get a Triple C beer, and then head home with more than fifty miles on the day.  I do that.

Greg gives me what I need.  I get the "usual."  Not sure if I should be happy or sad that I have a "usual."  Word spreads amongst the employees that "the timbers" are on their way.

"Timbers?"  I ask.

"The new A.L.E. barriers for drinking out front of the shop."

Oh.  Neat.  Finish my beer, go out to watch, end up helping because it looks like fun, and I'm the only one moving logs in Lycra.

Cory avoids getting too close to people in Lycra.

Finished playing, I ride the last five miles home feeling as depleted as I'd hope for when I left my house that morning, which I'm pretty sure means that I was "training."

Get home and flip the chips on the ENVE crabon frok back to the 44mm offset mode, vowing to never, ever, ever try it again.

BTW:  I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to use the Super 8 to hold my iPhone.  It seemed secure enough, so I went with it.  I totally forgot it was there, and hopped a 8" high median, dropped a few curbs, and navigated some washboard gravel in a construction site with it on there.  It never moved.  Does that mean I think it would be a great phone mount?  Dunno, but it sure worked in a pinch when I needed navigation... until I didn't need it but I left it there anyways.