Ah weekends...

I'm proposing that since the economy is in the crapper that we immediately institute the two-day, paid-for-40 hour workweek. I had way too much fun playing this weekend. I can confirm though without a doubt that it either needs to be winter with hardpack trails or it needs to warm up and dry up the thawed out mess. This yo-yo weather is messing up all sorts of stuff!

I went geocaching Saturday for the first time in forever. A friend of mine and I drove down to Bristol, VA to hang out with some more buddies. Along the way, Tim and I found some new mountain bike trails. I was excited. He, of course grunted - remember he likes skinny tires. Anyway, they look promising as somewhere to go and try. Currently, they are a muddy mess like everywhere else. The trails are in Radford off of I-81, Exit 105. I'll have to add them to my list of places to ride when it dries up. Montvale is at the top of the list though. You can find a Radford trail map here: Radford Mountain Bike Trails.

Speaking of mud, I hope the trails at the Cove aren't getting too much traffic. I talked to a guy today who say the lower trails were in terrible shape last weekend. I also read on MTBR that the new part of Gauntlet and middle of Trough were a mess. I didn't even entertain the thought of going out there today. Instead, I elected to just go for a road ride. I ended up riding just 19 miles, but it was hard enough with the wind to do that. I also challenged myself to ride up Camilla to get to Sylvan Rd. I made it to the light pole just past the Mayor's house. Guess I'll continue to try this periodically to see what progress I make. I ended up having a nice conversation with a fellow trying to find the trailheads. Afterwards, I just walked to the stopsign before remounting the bike. I was able to climb the rest of Sylvan though. A lot of it in the middle chain ring. Progress!

I really didn't have a set route today - I debated on where I wanted to go from the time I left my house. I need to sit down and scribble out some routes then put them on mapmyride. I started a new blog to share rides/routes starting in North Roanoke, and hopefully can get some of this on line by spring. I also had a thought while riding near Mill Mountain about how to share "loops" up there with other riders who aren't as familiar with the territory. Annnd I spied something else I want to check out sometime soon. Next Saturday sounds like an idea. HMMMMMMM.

Meanwhile, here's a new addition to the Lick Run Greenway at 10th St. Crossing lights...