Two Wheel Blogs

I went out for a trail ride today, and pretty much got what I expected. The ride was awful. I had no lungs, no legs, no strength, no skills, did I say "no strength"? The trails were muddy in spots (impassible), and the amount of downed trees following the ice storms from a few weeks back was amazing. I sucked so bad!

I did manage to get a couple images from the endeavor. The first is a rock ledge that I usually can negotiate...not today, the picture should explain. The second is a discovery from post-ride. I was constantly running over and through branches and many times they kicked up into my wheels, face, etc. Apparently, this one got in my wheel good, but the wheel won the battle.

So, Unit, why did you suck so much today? You might be asking....

I will tell you.

A few weeks ago, I was headed out for a ride in St. Louis. I was eager to really bite off a big chunk of riding....I was literally heading out to my truck to drive off when my priorities suddenly got radically re-arranged. A VERY close family member suffered a horrible accident (honestly we are all lucky that it was not fatal). Everything stopped as we (my family) responded to the situation.

As you might imagine, this put a bit of a strain on Christmas, but we made the best of things.

Things at work continued in spite of the illness that ripped through the remainder of our work crew (many were out on vacation around the holidays). I imagine that the added stress of people covering for absences of co-workers made things worse. We still managed.

So, after a few days of working in a germ factory, and stressing about my family member who is undergoing medical procedures and surgeries to repair the damage, I too fell sick....just in time for my Anniversary, and New Years (I suffered miserably through both days). I literally could not get out of bed for days. So I got on some heavy duty medication to help me get over it....but my family was now going through it also.

This whole thing sounds like a sob story, or may be some attempt to brag about how tough I am...I assure you it is not...I was anything but tough for the past few weeks, these events brought me to my knees.

The reason I mention it is to set the stage for why I feel great about my crap-tastic ride today (which I fully expected after not touching a bike for several weeks). I may have sucked horribly, but I knew that I was able to ride today with the knowledge in my mind that I had fulfilled all of my obligations to family, friends, and customers over the past few weeks...in spite of it all.

I am sure that some people out there understand what I am getting at.