Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. I already had plans to hit up a night ride sponsored by the Trailblazers, and led by Chris, but I couldn't pass up the day.... I figured something "easy" would be nice, so I hit up Sherman Branch.
My garmins told me that the average temp for my ride was 75.4. 75.4 in January. Yeah, I don't miss the northeast. Sherman Branch is a fun trail. It has three sections, that I guess you can pick and choose from to string together your ride, but I look at it as one giant loop - so nothing gets left out. I wanted an "easy" ride, but that isn't to say that Sherman is a boring easy trail. It is a fun trail for sure. But it is a super singlespeed friendly trail - so no big climbs or super technical sections. It's a fun, fast, bermy, flowy trail.
Somehow, on my "easy" ride I managed to get my PR - even with a stop to clear a fallen tree across the trail. (Maybe my fitness is getting better) It wasn't a big tree, but the angle it lay across the trail (on a fast section) made it more difficult to cross... and seeing how people tend to complain about challenges on the trail I figured I'd just get it off to the side. But that was ok by me, made the ride feel a little more like a January ride up north.... without the snow, and bitter coldness, and constant stopping to repeat similar trail clearings this time of year.
After the ride I had to run to the grocery store, get back home, eat something and hustle over to North Meck for the night ride. I wasn't sure how bad traffic would be to get out there, but it ended up not being too bad. There was a pretty good group for the ride, probably close to ten riders. This was my first night ride in a long time, and my first group ride in a long time, and my very first group night ride... wow, that was a hand full (you know, cause I was typing and not actually telling you). Anyway, the pace on the first lap was just about right. Chris called it a social ride, and it was. Good pace - you were able to chat while you rode, stops to regroup, chat some more. At the end of the loop there was again time for some chatting and then planning on what next. Who wanted more, and to what degree? For the second lap we hit the trail in reverse and broke up into two groups. A fast group and a more social paced group. I went off with the fast group, which was fun, but interesting - since that was my first time hitting it in reverse.
It was a great ride, and something I'm going to try to make a regular in the rotation. It was also great to hang out with Chris a bit more out there, and talk with his wife - who offered up the Diva's services to help get Annie back out on the trails. Oh yeah, the temp for the night ride? 66. Yup.
Today though... a big rainy, windy mess. I guess that's ok since it's time to kick my own ass on the trainer.
We don't just bike you. We bike-bike you.
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