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Friday Dirt time has been put on hold for the past two weeks :(. Group assignments, papers etc have been a bit more important than dirt. I've only been doing smidgen road rides this week & last..must get assignments finished...
Tomorrow & sunday are dirt time though this week..ahhhhh
Next week's looking sweeter :cool:
I have done so much dirt time my bike finally needed a tune-up! My husband bought it for me last July but I only had about 20-30 miles on it. Now it has over about 160 which is quite a bit in trail miles. I did my first race 2 weeks ago, finished 10/12 but had a lot of fun. I am going to work on my technical skills before the fall and probably do some more races. Should be getting a lot of dirt time, our women's weekly series just started. :)
Sundays dirt ride was a 20 mile out and back on forest service roads. 2 friends joined me for the ride on an old washboard dirt road along the upper Chewuch River. It was supposed to be a loop ride, but the FS gate was closed at a stream crossing because of "salmon spawning". The stream was also running way too high and fast to ride, not wanting to disturb the salmon we went back the way we came. Fun fast ride back, shocks worked great smoothing out the road.
We also saw an osprey catch a fish in the river! Fantastic!
I've been riding dirt every other day, mostly to exercise the dog, but also solo adventures after work. What a Kick!!!
Congrats on your first race Aggie Ama!
"...osprey catch a fish in the river!"
LOL out here I am lucky to see a crow eat road kill, which is what I saw MTBing today. Actually, I think a hawk caught it and dropped it, as it was circling above the crow as it pulled what appeared to be a rabbit or opossum apart, right on the edge of the trail. Good ride though, I added about a mile of constant climb to the beginning. Normally, I drive up part of the dirt road, and park right where the gate is, but today, I parked at beginning of the road. The trail just goes up and up for the whole first mile; it was hot and I had to stop once under a tree to recoup. From where I normally start, the trail climbs and descends like a rollercoster for the whole ride. So at the end I get a reward of a great downhill all the way to the car WOOOOOHHOOOOO. That is the part I like, sometimes gravity is your friend ;)
Forestbiker--did you go over that log?
Aggie--I think mtb'ing agrees with you. :cool: You know you've reached a milestone when you need a tune-up of the shocks. :D
I want to ride the trail but when I want to go it's either a)raining like crazy and the trail is too muddy or b)there's a wind advisory and I'm afraid the danglers from the ice storm will come crashing down on me. Instead, I have been riding the gravel roads and taking in the scent of honeysuckles.
DH didn't have to work on Saturday! Which of course means, I get to sneak out of the house for a few hours for a quick ride on some single track.
It was a slice of heaven. I even managed to increase my average on that trail from 8.3 mph to 8.7! Go me! I'm hoping to average 9.5 mph on that trail by mid-fall this year.
DH and I did 14 miles at Fair Hill yesterday. We found trails that we'd never ridden before, and had an absolute blast. It amazes me to think that I've been riding there for more than 5 years and still find areas that I don't know.
I ventured out to the trail that we have a short club race this weekend & did three practice laps (ran out of time..). :o
I figured something out in terms of forcing myself to use my left side more . If i grip my left handlebar with all my strength, I seem to feel a bit more "all there" if that makes any sense.
Still tons o fun :)