Natural Born Filler

FWIW: I got the Pisgah 55.5k on the brain and not much else.

Not so much in an "athletic goal' kinda way, but just wanting to finish the "season" with generally warm feelings.  After the shit-tastic, wreck-riddled summer I had, it feels particularly nice to string together something closer to anything that's not a series of total abject failures.  

Speaking of...

I wrecked the other day at the USNWC trails... and I was happy about that.  There's a section of the Needle Trail that I like to try to take from end to end without touching the brakes.  I succeeded at that but not so much by keeping the bike upright.  I went down in the final left hander when my front wheel lost traction in the dense pine needles... at speed.

When I hit the ground, it wasn't so bad.  You know, like 99% of almost every time you might wreck your mountain bike.  A skinned knee, a bruised shin, an abraded forearm... not every time you touch the floor has to end up with weeks off the bike and a potential trip to an urgent care.  It's sorta nice to be reminded of that, even if my knee warmer ended up stuck my scab on the way to work on Monday.

I'd say my mojo is just about at 90-95% max-mojo at this point (mojo ≠ fitness tho).  I'm focusing on riding and not just avoiding the next wreck more and more with every outing.  I'm feeling super comfortable on this bike already, and I'm only five or so rides into the relationship.

This is how it's going into the Pisgah 55.5k.  Unfortunately, I do not have my Oddity Lowrizer bars, so I'll have to avoid staring at the 120mm of headset spacers whilst sadly pedaling up Bradley Creek Rd (for the second time in three weeks).  I went with the Rekon 2.6/Aspen 2.4 tire combo based on... dunno.  I found the 120 TPI Rekon I didn't know I had in the closet, and it seemed to be calling my name.  I guess the 2.4 Aspen for its added girth, being that I don't wanna "race" with the CushCore installed. 

(note to self: do not let the 140mm fork write checks that my back tire can not cash)

I would like to do "well" but I also don't wanna be plugging and CO2'ing on Pilot Rock either.  

So quite possibly the last hurrah of the 2021 "season."  After this, I'm thinking about taking the Wahoo data acquisition device mounts off my mountain bikes until it's time to commence with the 2022 making of great bike races.  Soon enough, I'll have all three bikes rolling and loads of time for Pisgah adventures and local rides followed by local beers.

I'm ready.