Hold me now...

I've only really got one actual "race" left that's solidly on the calendar (pen not pencil) for the '26 "season."  The Old Fort Fifty is just a month away, so let's just let that be my current raison d'être.  This past weekend was in a bit of flux going into it, as I'm still trying to get past that strange high heart rate thing that happened a week ago.  

I did the longest, flattest, saddest dad ride on my TKO that I could think of on Friday.  So.  Hot.  Outside.

Inside too tho.

Things fell together late Friday night, and being that the Old Fort Fifty is the next thing of concern, I woke up at 5:00am to get out to refamiliarize myself with the area and test the legs (and heart).

Pushed up Star Gap pretty early on and decided to take a couple runs at Heckle Rock on the 32".

First time down, slow.  Methodical.  It's been reworked (again) since the last time I came down it.

Second time, let off the brakes after getting past the first rock line and...

Puncture.

Doh.  

That said, once again, TruckerCo Cream II did it's job.  I took the time to break out my tire plugger before getting Bill Nye's mini-compressor fired up, but I ended up putting it away unused.  The hole had already sealed up, so once again, it gets my...

SEAL OF SEMI-APPROVAL

I guess just "semi" because they still generously include a syringe with every half and full liter bottle, so I have a billionty syringes now after being a loyal user since 2015.  This stuff works better than any other sealant I've tried (or witnessed not working on other's bikes), it's inexpensive, and I won't not sing its praises every time it saves my ass.

Although (true) Lower Heartbreak Ridge is not part of the Old Fort Fifty, I passed on my first chance to ride it when pre-riding sections of the race back in '24, because I figured I'd see it eventually... and then Helene happened.   They finally got it reopened a few months ago, so I really wanted to see it this time.

It didn't disappoint.

FWIW: 32" wheels rule the roost on switchbacks, up and down.  Mebbe it's just mine?  Dunno.  It railed them coming down Star Gap, Lower Heartbreak Ridge, Bernard, and Kitsuma AND was super confident going up the ones on Kitsuma... and I cleared the zig-zag switchbacks going up on Bernard that I never even bothered to try on a 29" single speed (I don't think, anyways). 
 

3-D printing these bad Larrys and putting them on my Etsy store.

I got a whole lotta riding in over the weekend, and I think mebbe I'm over whatever hump I found a week ago.  

Oh, the Aspen AT 32" is worth the wait.

Once I get a squish fork 32," I'm not seeing anything holding me back other than me.