I like riding!

It seems like forever since I've ridden!!  It hasn't, but the frequency with which I have been riding certainly has taken a nose dive with good old New England weather playing it's game.

My "training room" is yet to be set up.  I was hoping to have everything set to go out and get my trainer and whatnot by now... As you may, or may not, recall the condition was I fix the hole in our ceiling.  I got drywall, all the fixins and on Friday (between rounds of MW3) I attempted to get that hole gone!!  Well, the builders for some strange reason figured that a ceiling is a great place to store - DIRT!!  Yeah, when we opened up the ceiling dirt came down.  Dirt, as in from a yard... how that comes into play when when is rehabbing a building i have no idea.....  but it's there.  And I guess with the gaping hole there is a bunch of sagging going on around the hole, so when I got the drywall cut and in place it was no longer flush with the rest of the ceiling...  ugh!!  I've decided to let this one go and we'll get someone in here that knows what they are doing instead of my systematically removing the entire ceiling due to sure fire mistakes.

Which also means the HiFi hasn't gotten it's tune up, nor a fancy smooth rear tire.  It's starting to scream for a tune up - with creaking and chain slippage... I certainly put the HiFi through it's paces in it's first season.  I really enjoy this bike.  I think it will continue to be my go to bike on rides and epics for a long time to come...  even with the addition of other sweet rides (which are sure to follow - at some point).

Yesterday I got the chance to get out for a ride.  The question was, where to ride?  Answering this question gets tricky this time of year, with leaves, and downed trees/limbs - conditions can be hit or miss.  I decided to take a gamble and headed out to Mill Pond Conservation Area in Burlington.  I had ridden there once and remembered some sweet singletrack opportunities.  For the most part trails were "clear."  They were drowning in leaves, which left me playing detective as I tried to find the way in some spots.  As I noted from my first ride, the trails there need more traffic.  There is some really sweet technical stuff, nice berms, and I found some great slick rock fun this time.  At times the trails get tight, so it isn't a place to speed.  But the various opportunities available keep things interesting.  I'd need to explore more to really figure out how much mileage is there, but it seems like a decent enough place to ride and I think one could link all the trails together for a sweet ride.

I did bring the Drift, so I'll have a video together for Media Friday.  Oh, and I wore some Sock Guy socks again, and they are sweet - especially when misjudging the amount of water on trail and ending up with both feet submerged...  But they feel great, offer super breathability and have nifty sweat wicking powers.  I did receive my questionable red bibs in the mail the other day, but have yet to try them on... so we shall see if I'll be showing off the goods next year or not.  As Charlie politely pointed out, may not have been the wisest of color choices.

I decided to shrink the image here... this isn't a porn site after all!!

One last lesson of the day.  If you are craving a beer post ride and you can't wait until you get home, reach for that gatorade in your water bottle that's been in your car for, let's say, two weeks.  Straight up alcohol!!  One of the grossest thing I've ever experienced (right up there with drinking someone's spit cup thinking it is your Guinness...)