And the weatherman is a...

Annie made, what turned out to be, a wise decision on Saturday.  Maybe it was optimism taking over but the warm sunny weekend I was expecting turned into a foot freezing ride on Saturday.  Annie bowed out opting for the comfort and warmth of the couch as I loaded my bike onto my car.  Already I knew it was going to be a cold one but figured by the time I got to the trail (shooting for noonish) things would be PERFECT.

Not so much.
I wanted to get in a solid ride where I could push myself, not necessarily with break-neck speeds, but no meandering or stopping, in preparation for next month.  I decided to try a new spot as I already knew Wompatuck was littered with trees and debris and I really didn't want to have to be constantly climbing over downed trees on this ride.  I choose Whitney and Thayer woods, which is adjacent to Wompatuck so I'm not sure why I thought these trails would be clear when Wompatuck isn't...  I'd never ridden there before so maybe it was the allure of hitting a new trail?

gravelly trails...

The ride went ok...  the trails weren't that interesting as any singletrack was off limits to bikes.  I didn't know this going in because the maps at the trailhead (it was nice maps were available) didn't mark any trails as being off limits to bikes.  So my ride was restricted mostly to gravel covered doubletrack.  There were snippets of fun riding, and two hills that were a bit of a grind, but no challenging singletrack to be had.

 As for not stopping...  I had to briefly stop here or there as I unexpectedly came upon "no bike" trails and had to renegotiate the route I had laid out for myself... so that was annoying.  I did come across some equestrians and I had to hang back for a little bit, they were pleasant so I didn't mind all that much.  They had a little shetland sheepdog with them that may have thought I was another rider as it seemed to try to coral me and catch me up to the horses.




BUT, at least I got out and got some dirt on the HiFi's tires.  It handled BEAUTIFULLY (on what I had to ride).  Climbing was no problem: minimal (if any) bobbing, and it just bombed down the decents.  It leaned over nimbly on turns and sat right back up coming out of them.  Just thinking I wanted to turn seemed to be enough to make the bike do what I wanted.  It is a super responsive bike.  And to think, it is lighter than my hardtail!

This was about the only nice "tight and twisty" section

Notice the dirt on the tires!!  So proud... except not all of that was dirt.  That's one of my grips about equestrians, and some dog walkers actually.  

In the end, I was happy to be out on rideable trails.  By the time I got home my feet were still thawing and I was dying for a sandwich from "the sandwich maker" while Annie was holding out hope for her Mountaineers as the seconds ticked by in their loss to Kentucky... she has Kentucky going all the way so it was a bitter-sweet game for her.

Dodgeball update  - Undefeated in the preliminaries Friday.  Arm was dead afterwards.  Went to the Championship Monday and lost a close one... we got a trophy!!  I'm lobbying to treat it like the Stanley Cup and have it travel from room to room spending a week with each teacher.  And arm is dead, again.