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Thursday, July 16

Better to berm out than fad away

I'm starting to wonder if my accident at the Trans-Sylvania Epic wasn't such a terrible thing...

Hear me out, or read me out, as it were.

So maybe I had a chance at winning the single speed category.  Maybe.  I was feeling good, riding well, and looking quite handsome.  Then it fell apart.  Dinged myself up pretty bad, many of my body parts hit rocks that day.  Some worse than others and I only had my back/pelvis x-rayed.

I had to really slow down for awhile.  Three weeks... maybe four.  No extra riding in the morning, no Pisgah Enduro™, not much fun at all.  Then a failed (doomed) six hour race.  So much meh going on at the time.

Slowly, I started feeling better. Morning rides commenced, but the pain in the meaty part of my hand from the accident did not like holding onto the bars of my tarck bike.  I thought maybe I'd have to back off on morning rides.

It finally dawned on me that I could just ride my much more upright mountain bike and have much more happies. Since my "road" loop dipped into a local park, I decided to hit the trails and neighboring green ways. Hardly mountain bike specific trails, but better than nothing.

It's been awesome.

That 1-1.5 hours of road, gravel, single track and whatever else are soooooo nice.  Best of all, I'm not feeling burnt out or unmotivated.  Very atypical feels for mid-July.

Even though I have to get up at 5:30-6:00am to make it happen before work, I still find myself going to bed looking forward to getting back up.
I'm having, dare I say it, "fun."

The Misfit/Meatplow V.5 has really found a sense of purpose.  Keeps the wear and tear off the Vertigo/Meatplow V.7.  It's still a blast to ride, and I'm stoked that I was able to breathe life back into it.

That was way too positive of a post.  Expect a return to cynicism and self-loathing soon.

I really need to start making plans for my "no responsibility" weekend coming up.  I have been quite literally riding my ass off all week, and have plans to do more tonight.  Molar riding, molar doing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

did you put those hockey cards in your wheel?
that makes my rides fun :)

I also have colorful sparkling things kids put on their handlebar ends, that makes my ride fun :)

most of all though, a fun ride is a relaxing ride.

we're getting old I guess... I hope not.

Anonymous said...

a good read is this blog - http://www.jilloutside.com/

everyone should do more of that... she's a tough cookie!

John Parker said...

Let's hear more about your Tour the Divide bike build......I mean that's the only reason to get a bike with an Alfine hub right?