a day at the trails

this is the happy couple at castlewood. it's not often that we get to hit the trails together, but we pulled strings and made it happen. originally, i was planning on doing the ghisallo shop ride, but deanna mentioned she'd like to ride mountain bikes and that a couple of her co-workers would like to go, too. trouble was, the lefty fork on the rush was flat as 2 day old vess cola. never fear. a quick call to luke, and he delivered a top of the line scalpel to us for deanna to ride. thanks luke!

filled to the brim with starbucks, we dashed out to castlewood to meet these guys, jeff and mike. they are good guys who, like most of us, don't get to ride enough. i noticed, too, that their bikes were nice, but could use a bit of upgrading...i know the perfect place for that, fellas!! jeff drives a bitchin' camaro subaru, which makes him alright in my book.
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i ran into so many people i knew at the 'wood. i felt like a rock star. there was ralph, sally, carrie, andy o, jim vandeevan (of all people!!). kinda of like a reunion day or something.


this is the happy couple after the ride, still happy. deanna did the impossible: not a single fall! she kept the dirty side down and rode very well. the trails were great, but soft, which required a higher output for speed attained. she was pretty tired by days end, but as usual began to ride stronger as the day went on. the boys rode well, dispite jeff needing a qualified mechanic needing to look at his shifting...
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when the crew was done riding, i took off for a couple of hot laps on my own. i was tearing up the trail and feeling good when the lords of the inner tube descended upon my rear wheel and took what is rightfully theirs. five minutes later, after having snubbed the tube lords, i was tearing up the trails again. up the cardiac climb, i saw the majic 188 again, so thursday was no fluke. but wait! there's more! i circled around, going down justin's, through the field, and headed up ranger station. i planted my pearl izumi clad rear in the saddle and powered up ranger station, getting out of the saddle and attacking at the top. the monitor had been beeping for about 30 seconds already so i knew i was in for something big, and i saw it. 189. yep, i'm still alive and kicking, baby!
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my pennance for the extra riding time was having to ride home. deanna had to pick up the new baby sitter, so she had no time to wait around for me to get my rocks off on new heart rate monitor highs. i was still riding a pretty good high on the way home. i rode with the crew at castlewood for 1:30, by myself for another hour, and had another hour to get home. of course, marshall road was again on the parcourse. this time, i merely pedaled up it with vigor, rather than the piss and vinegar that i had thursday. nevertheless, it marked the end of my freight train of cycling, as i bonked big time at the top. i still had to trudge 30 more minutes or so to make it home. the freight train had become more like a zoo train.
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i love riding my bike, and i love sharing that with the beautiful mrs k. too many things get in the way of us riding together, but life is just like that.