Two Wheel Blogs

Just as soon as I get a training schedule that calls for 7 hours of off-road riding for this weekend, the weather decides to ruin any real possibility that I can make good on that schedule. What a kick in the sack! I have really been enjoying the time on the mtb, as it's re-energized my training. No offense to the roadies, but slogging endless miles dodging traffic just isn't the same as some good ol' down home cookin' that only the dirt can offer.

I was even hoping to take the cx bike off-road for a little bit this weekend, too. Oh, well. What's the use of having a plan if you can't break it. Let's just hope I get out on the roads and the weather doesn't further relegate me to the trainer. Now that would be a real problem.

Boy oh boy, the trails over at The Wood (aka Castlewood) are just about as good as they've ever been. Smoking fast to be exact and combined with the cool weather they have made for some uber-fun outings the past week. Friday, I rolled with Matt Grothoff and we rock and rolled the trails until a brief, but heavy rain drove us back to our cars, but not before we tackled the decent on Cardiac Hill. Man, it's been 15 years since I laid a tread on that stretch and the reasons why were brought back vividly. It's steep, it's very technical, and it's boulder strewn.

Yesterday I took the opportunity to head over to the 'wood and roll the trails for 90 minutes or so. This ride marked the first time back on the mtb following my shoulder separating crash in January. I decided to take the Niner s/s (which was also the bike I crashed on) so the ride had some significance in my return to the dirt.

It's been all to long since I've had a full weekend of great riding. It was nice to finally get one, I've been jonesing, feining, straight craving some good trail riding. I got that on Saturday.

So riding lately has pretty much been contained to two types, boring ass trainer rides, and colder than hell road rides. I sick of both, and I was finally glad the cards played out for a ride up in KC today.

The trail was comprised off all compacted snow. It was great riding, fast, and pretty. Here's a pic of a very sketchy river crossing. Not going to lie, a few times I got a bit worried hearing ice crack. But it was the only way I could get to the good stuff...

It's a winter wonderland out, now two weekends in a row. Luckily this is the powder type, not the slick ice and sleet alot of us got last weekend. I got to ride up at Landahl last Sunday, right after the storm. It was an awesome ride, the ground was covered in sleet, and it made for a good excersise.