It's August! Riding through the heat.

[north woods gal]

My best day, yesterday, since my accident. No, not in total miles, though they were good. Did 14.4 miles of pavement in the morning on the Gunnar single speed, then followed it up, right away, with 3 miles of laps on our trails with a fat bike. Then did another 2 miles trails with a fat bike in the afternoon.

The real plus for me, though, was that for the first time since my accident, I felt a little bit like my old self as far as strength. Real confidence booster for me because I was beginning to wonder If I would ever get back to the old me as far as conditioning. Seems like it's taken forever, but I now have real confidence I can make a full recovery. Was actually able to ride the trails, aggressively, the way they need to be ridden to do them right. Also very pleased to report that I had ZERO interest in riding over boulders or hopping logs, as per my resolution to ride safer after my accident. In fact, I still cringe a bit when I bypass some of those obstacles. Also nice to know that I can still enjoy the trail riding and that it can still be challenging without taking unnecessary risks on the stunt stuff.

Picked up the Pugs 2 from the shop, now with its new fast rolling tires, set up tubeless. Turns this second edition Pugs into an even better dual purpose rough road and trail bike. Those big easy rolling 4.4" tires smooth out the roughest trails. Love them. Definitely a 12 months of the year bike, now. Have the same tires on another fat bike and they really do a great job in the snow, too.

[north woods gal]

Sheila, I've ridden a Muk and loved it. Very modern fat bike. Salsa has done a good job of continuously upgrading it to stay with current technology. For all my trail bikes, now, 1x is the only way to go.

[Crankin]

Glad your strength is returning, NWG.
I am glad weather, driving, and being in Montreal is keeping me from riding, so my crash stuff heals, although I am ready to ride. Not that I’ve been sitting on my butt.
We got here around 2 yesterday, and after some assistance from the hotel, parked our car; the whole street is closed in front of the hotel. We stored our bikes in a closet in the lobby and drank our welcome champagne. This place is lovely. We are staying in Old Town, so it is filled with tourists. Did some shopping and walked for a few miles and then had wine at the hotel bar until our 9 pm dinner at an outstanding gourmet pizza place.
This morning we caught an Uber to Mount Royal Park and hiked just under 4 miles. Glad we went at 9:30, it was mobbed when we finished. What a treasure in the middle of the city. We stayed on the wooded trails as much as possible, but when we were on the packed dirt roads, there were tons of cyclists. Sadly, most had their helmets hanging from their bars.
After getting back, we cleaned up and had lunch and walked more. We were both tired, so spent the past 2 hrs relaxing and reading before dinner. Tomorrow, we drive to Brattleboro, VT for one night. It’s going to be crappy weather, rain, so no more outdoor stuff. Our good friends in Amherst are coming to meet us for dinner, as it’s only about a half hr away. I expect we will be home by noon on Saturday.

[emily_in_nc]

It sounds like you are having a wonderful trip, Crankin, though I can't imagine eating dinner at 9pm. LOL! I am in my jammies and parked in front of the TV with my book by then. Not very cosmopolitan, this gal.

nwg, such a good feeling to be "back", isn't it? I am so happy for you. I am also relieved that you are not tempted by the boulders, logs, and other obstacles on the trails. Riding = good, crashing = bad. Right!?

[Crankin]

Emily, I can eat at 9 on vacation, as breakfast and lunch are later, punctuated by periods of outdoor activity and rest. Even on the days I am getting home at 6:15, I may not eat until 7, but I am still in bed by 9-10. I get up early!
There’s going to be bad storms here, shortly. We did have some rain on the way, down. We stopped in Montpelier for lunch, and went to a pizza place we’d been to before. However, the other times, it’s been like 10 degrees out!
Looking forward to dinner. Brattleboro is full of old hippies and unusual shops; spent some time in a gallery and an antique shop. I’ve already got 3 work related phone calls/texts about next wk. Back to reality.

[north woods gal]

Thanks, folks. Emily, not to worry, I've removed most of my dangerous stuff from the trails and/or blocked off the segments that contained them. That helps to remove the temptations to do stupid stuff. I've also taken a closer look at the trails and have been busy removing the smaller rocks and roots that I previously ignored. Overall, just trying to make the trails safer as far as any objects that might cause a crash. The trails still twist and tun and have the same steep ups and downs, so they're still demanding and fairly technical, but hopefully a bit safer.

We're having a good friend of mine for a visit. She's my age, but hasn't been riding in over a year. She was intrigued by the fat bikes, though, so we let her ride the old Pugsley on our morning neighborhood road ride. ound the big wheels hard to pedal, since she is out of shape.

[Crankin]

NWG, that's exactly why I am not getting a fat bike. There's only one made for someone as small as I am, and it costs a ton; all of the reading I've done spoke about how short/petite people are at a disadvantage with fat bikes because of the wheel size, which is the thing that makes them great for riding in the snow. While I am not out of shape, I found the type of strength I needed when I was mountain biking was harder for me to develop than for road biking. I've come to the conclusion I am just more of an endurance person, although I keep working on the strength at the gym.
Got home yesterday around noon. We had a great dinner with my friends on Friday night and an excellent breakfast at a place that specializes in quinoa based food, but Brattleboro was just a bit too full of weird people around my age! I've been to many other places in Vermont, and this was different. We did stop at a great farmers' market on the way out, but figured we didn't need to buy anything. We did, however, stop at a chocolate place that opened about a year ago, that we pass every time we go see our friends. Bought a few pieces of white and dark chocolate and DH bought chocolate covered pretzels, which I don't like. It didn't take us too long to get the laundry done, since it was mostly our bike/hiking clothes and get to the farm and grocery store for food. It was nice to eat at home.
Did a 15 mile ride around 11:30. My legs feel much stronger after riding in all of that wind and riding with a larger trunk bag, on a slightly heavier bike. Of course, it is predicted to rain on Wednesday, when I can ride. Tomorrow I go back to the gym. My instructor had her baby, so the class won't be as hard for the next couple of weeks!
The knee is healing well.