Well with the race being postponed from Saturday, my weekend plans were as screwed up as the rest of my week had been. Let's see after last weekend's 4 day festival of fun, I had hoped to get in some more riding during the week. What did I do? Tuesday - I did a patrol ride, Wednesday - I can't remember, Thursday - my Jeep's driver's window had broken, and I was on call, so that messed that day. Friday - I had not planned on riding because there was to have been a race on Saturday. By the time, the race was postponed and the email received, I had already made plans for Friday, so no riding Friday.
So Saturday morning, I slept in. It at least rained some Friday night, so I wasn't too irritated about the postponed race. Once I finally rolled out of bed at 9, I was curious to see what would transpire with my missing paycheck. There hadn't been an update when I went to bed. OH YAY, I could pick up my check between 9 and 2, so pencil that in as something to do. The next two Saturday are planned already, so pencil in some housework and laundry. I wound up cleaning up a bit, running to work and getting my check then back home to clean house. By the time, I got that done, the sun was beginning to shine. I had already noticed that the roads were fairly dry, so I decided to try a road ride. The Tech game wasn't on TV and it sucked anyway, so at halftime of the game I left on skinny tires.
27.5 miles later I returned to my house. I enjoyed my ride immensely, but at times I thought the wind would blow me over. I made my way downtown from home then headed up Mill Mountain. I'm glad I didn't go up the old road as I originally thought I would because the regular road was hard enough. I made it up with some effort and headed out to the parkway. I briefly entertained the thought of climbing Roanoke Mountain, but decided against it since it was getting warmer and the wind was still weird. I headed out the Parkway with no idea really where I wanted to exit. I passed Bandy Road and had plenty of energy, so I thought out exiting at Explore Park. When I got to Explore I still had energy and really didn't want to ride back through downtown to get home, nor did I really want to ride on Rutrough Road. This would mean my exit would be Rt 24. I think I did pretty good especially with the swirling wind.
When I got to Explore Park, this gust of wind literally moved both of my wheels out from under me, I thought I was going to wreck. I fought the bike and kept my balance. As I crossed the Roanoke River, I remembered that I would have to climb to get to Rt 24, so I tried to keep going as best I could. At Rt 24, these two morons on crotchrockets got on the BRP. Both of them revved their bikes really loud as they passed me. I am not impressed by stupidity. So at this point, I began looking for the path that you can take to get off of the BRP. I initally thought I could cut through the park service building's lot, but the gates were locked. I found the path easily just on the other side of the deer crossing sign. I did the proper thing and walked my bike down the path to the road.
Next I would go down Mountainview Rd. There are awesome bike lanes on this fairly recently paved road. I was enjoying the smooth ride when the wind shifted into a headwind. It literally took me from 15mph to 9mph. I promise I didn't change my cadence! It would be awesome if the bike lane was all the way to Washington Ave, but it's not nor is the smooth ribbon of asphalt. The road gets pretty crappy as you get near the older nieghborhoods. Soon I would be at Washington Ave. Another decision to make. How to get home? I could take Wise Ave and all that back to downtown, but again I really didn't want to go back through downtown. I decided to take Washington Ave to the park then take Eastern Ave (not nice houses) over to 13th Street and head home from there. It was a nice decision. Other than the crappy houses on Eastern Ave, the light at 13th Street allows a safe way to get across Rt 460. I just take 13th St to Mason Mill to Hollins Rd to Plantation. Soon enough I was home! My ride was 2 hours and 5 minutes long. I really enjoyed it! I need to do this more often. Just got to figure out where to go and how to link it all together. I need to bug some of my Chicky pals to go along!
This morning (Sunday) I was to meet another Mountain Bike Patrol member to cut some trees off of the trails on Mill Mountain. We spent about an hour and a half moving the trees. We got to talk to Mayor Bowers as he was walking his dog. After we got the trees moved, I rode down the rest of Woodthrush, but wasn't feeling it today, so I ended up bushwhacking to JPFish and riding up the road to get back to my car. As I was riding up the road, I started to get a cramp in my right calf. It just wasn't the day to ride especially with the 27.5 miles from Saturday. It was a bit of a struggle to get back to my car. I made it and headed home. I'm glad we got the work done on the trails today. I'm definitely going to continue riding on Mill Mtn this month, but at least I have 4.5 out of my 5 required hours done for the bike patrol.
Tomorrow, I'm going back to the gym to work with my trainer again. I really won't be able to get into a good routine there until after my next two races are done. Especially since the races are 6 days apart. I'm looking forward to it. Of course, I fully expect that it's going to rain next Sunday now since they moved the race and it really didn't rain all that much here Saturday. HA HA HA HA... :)
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