Off to the East Side

5:57am and I’m out the door. The sun wasn’t quite up yet, but the sting was already off the 32 degree low at whatever….3am? It had to be 40 because I was actually a little overdressed. The climb up from town got me to a good place, and it was easy peasy because I still have a 20 cog sitting on the back wheel, left over from the Whiskey 50 race a couple weekends ago. 32x20 doesn’t even seem legit as a singlespeeder gear, but define legit and get back to me. It felt like a good gear this morning and I was soaking up every tooth on the steeps of Lower Oldham. No dabs baby…it seems to get easier every year, primarily out of familiarity, and maybe I’m getting better at this – but it probably was the easy gear.

The drop back to down was only inhibited by the fact that I have a tube in my rear tire. I’m always a little more careful with the tube, and that 10 second difference on a 1/2 mile downhill feels a shit-ton slower. I got me two new Conti Race Kings, but haven’t set ‘em up with Stans yet. That’ll happen when I get back from vaca next week. The forest is so quiet in the morning. Maybe I’m the only dumbass riding in the cold temps – with most Flagtowners waiting until it warms up – because they can. All I know is, it felt good to be rolling two big wheels in a big forest, on a Friday morning. Makes shinin’ a seat at work a whole lot easier.

Off to Florida at 5:15am tomorrow. Siesta Key to be exact. I had no intentions of riding while there, but, I found a good deal on a weeklong rental for a road bike – and now I want to pound out a ton of miles on the flats at sea level. I just can’t give up on my fitness right now because I’m riding well, and I want to capitalize on keeping the mo' going. State MTB Finals on 5/22, and a road stage race on 6/12-6/13. I wanna’ race! By the end of the trip, I’ll have ridden a lot, D will probably have me back into running a 10K distance, and I’ll have spent mucho hours with Dad kayaking in the inter-coastal waterways and my fave – the open ocean, riding breakers and swells.

Me and D...should have a great time beating each other up, mixed with some great food, and quiet time on the beach. We haven't had a vacation together since Hawaii in 2007. I'm lookin' forward to some uninterrupted time with my brown girl.

My goal? Shot - got nothin' - 'cept some headphones and a pillow on the flight back to AZ a week from today.