It's 56°F on Christmas Day. What to do? GO RIDE!

After opening presents, eating breakfast, playing with the new Wii Fit, I headed out to Carvin's Cove for a nice solo bike ride.

I had a suspicion that the gates at the boat dock would be locked when I arrived, but I hoped that I could just find a spot to pull off to the side of the road. Sure enough there's a nice off road spot just down from the no parking sign. HA! I noticed two other cars parked in similar fashion, so I felt relatively safe leaving mine there on the roadside. I didn't figure a cop was going to drive 2.5 miles down a dead-end road on Christmas without a purpose, so I parked. I got out and was preparing to ride when another biker exited the Cove. I greeted him as he pedaled off up the road. I got my stuff out, decided what to wear and headed out down the fireroad. I was cruising right along trying to figure out what if any adjustments needed to be made to my cleat placement (the right one needs to be moved back slightly, I think). I was comfortable riding today, so I didn't mess with them.

Once I got to Schoolhouse, I decided to get rid of my jacket, so I stuffed it into itself and rode on. Everything that was frozen a few weeks ago was good and thawed today. The rain recently created some good mud holes. You could feel the tires getting sucked in and of course there were some very slick spots. I literally spun the back tire on a few occassions as I pedaled up and over stuff. I can tell I've not ridden in a while. My energy level and cardio is poor. My zeal for obstacles is not what it was in September. I got to the first water crossing on Schoolhouse and did great despite my front fork bottoming out. I continued on and rode fairly well on Schoolhouse. I did see one other biker near the picnic table. As I exited Little Bell a while later, I saw two more bikers.

I rode part of Forest, but it was very muddy and icky that I decided to skip the second half and take the fireroad to Songbird. Songbird is a nice trail when it's dry, but if it's wet like today it's a PITA. The mud just sucks you in and it feels like you're doing twice as much work. None the less I was having a ball. It's been a long time since I rode Songbird. I had to put my foot down in the water on the crossing near the log, but since I have these excellent shoes, my feet stayed dry and warm. I stopped at the rocks to take a few pictures. On the zoomy, downhill I pretty much just took my time and enjoyed being out. I was afraid to push the bike too fast with the slick trails and the questionnable fork.

After finishing up Songbird, I didn't think it was a good idea to try Arrowhead with the trail conditions, my crappy endurance and the bike troubles, so I took Little Bell and Schoolhouse back to the fireroad. I ended up stopping near the picnic table on Schoolhouse and putting air into my shock. I guess that's what I'll have to do for now. I need to take it to the shop soon and let them deal with it yet again. I'm glad I can singlehandedly keep them in business.

I really enjoyed the beautiful day today. I love the Cove, I love my bike despite it's issues and I really love my new shoes! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas - I'm going to go enjoy the rest of it, so I can go back to work tomorrow! BYE!