I found a thing to do

I tend to do my wallowing in the muck of self-pity in private.

That said, it's not real anyways.  Just boredom.  Which is a right proper past time of the privileged.

Ho hum.  The struggle to find a struggle is real.

Between the rain that's been squashing proper ride time, a lack of anything resembling a "goal" on the near horizon, and staring out the window wondering how soon before lawn care becomes a thing again...

I've realized recently how normal people are able to gain weight at a rate right around a pound a year starting at the age of 25.  Without the making of great bike cycle racing on my mind all these past years, I can see where they'd sneak up on me.  I'm currently no larger (winter weight) than I've been since moving down here from Ohio in '96, but I look down on this added girth, and it's obvious how it would just happen.  Much less like watching grass grow and more like mebbe a tree... until it's big enough to provide shade.

And then you're all like, "Shit, when did that tree get so big?"

The early "season" goal of possibly doing the Pisgah Stage Race is off the table.  Heading up to see family in Ohio around other people's schedules is the priority at that time. Probably a good thing based on my current condition anyways.

*pauses to gaze into an even deeper than before navel*

Not that I would, but the idea of buying a road bike keeps creeping into my cortex.  More so, the idea of a road bike than the actual road bike.  What it represents.  Escape.  Something other than spinning my knobs off riding a SS MTB all over town looking for curbs to jump.  I've been down that literal road before tho, so I'll just skip to the part where I hate it and throw money out the window of my car while driving down the highway.

In an effort to avoid the privilege of boredom and despite all my feelings and better judgments about doing this event, I signed Nick "Dip 'n Spray" Barlow and I up for the Ride and Seek Adventure Race at the US National Whitewater Center tomorrow. 

Cons:

I don't like alley cat/adventure type races.  Too much left to chance.  I like mystery checkpoints like Garfield likes Mondays.  Grrrrr.  I know PMBAR is my favorite event in the world, but... ummm... that's different... because I said it is.

I don't know all the ins and outs about getting around the USNWC.  All the connecting gravel bits, roads, paths... hell, even some of the trails that are relatively new.  I know Pisgah much better, and look at how well I can screw up at PMBAR.

I've been told that there's been some cheating in the past events (not riding trails in the proper direction/out-and-backed checkpoints).  I hate being outsmarted, but I really, really hate losing to someone who cheated.

Neither Nick or myself are in shape.

It's probably gonna be muddy.

Pros:

I need something to do Saturday morning.

It's relatively cheap and very close to my house.

They still had one XL and one XXL event t-shirt left.  Huzzah!

Regardless of the outcome, it will be fun to play bike games in the woods with Nick.  We can get pissed off together all day long.

There's not enough time to even think about trying to get in shape.

It's gonna be muddy just about every where else, and with evening plans in the books already, what else was I gonna do?

Next week, expect much regaling.

BTW: A quick tire swap last night from shart tarck skinnies to normal meats.  The milKit Booster 2.0 is still 100% at getting tires to seat on the first try.