These Boots weren't made for walking

But that's just what I had to do.

I haven't posted a story in awhile, I've been so busy it's crazy. We have a Baby Girl on the way and I've been tied up with everything that includes. But.. On to the story.

Being so busy I haven't been able to ride nearly as much as I should be and in turn I'm still much fatter then I'd like to be at this part of the season. But I've been determined here as of late to get out there and get my riding on.

Yesterday I wanted to get out on the Mtn Bike and since we had no other plans it was a go. I went for a walk with the wife before hand then started to tune up the gears. Took a little bit as they were being extra annoying. They'd shift down perfectly but would grind on the mid gears going back up. Ajust one way one gear was fine .. adjust it the other and another would be but in conjunction they were still grinding a bit. A tweak here an F bomb there and WA LA! smooth shifting.

So I packed up my gear, loaded up the bike and headed for Loch Raven. The ride should be sooooo much better then the last. A couple of weeks I went for a ride at LR and it was 105 with about 80% humidity. I close to dead in there .. it was so hurtful. But this time it was low 90's and lower humidity and it started off pretty well. I'm not going to say I was riding strong but felt much better then last time. Right as I crossed the stream and was head left into the tech single track I rode past three guys. I nodded to them as I rode up and said whats up guys and was about to pass them by when I saw one of them give me a crazy look. I did a double take and I was surprised that I knew him haha. Patrick use to work at the bike shop I went to and I haven't seen him in probably 4 years now that I think about it. We BS'd for a little bit and someone else rolled down the trail and they stopped and also knew him haha. So I said good to see him and rolled on, as I was riding away I then thought damn I should have gotten his new number. But maybe I'll see him out there again.

So I'm off and riding. I ride my normal route. Doube in to the stream, over the stream then head left into the single track. Follow it down along the water and cut back up the double track and make a right on to the single headed up to mid. Snake down to Sams and on to the climb up to Provident. It's a long way it seems, well the fatter I am the longer it seems haha. You do get a couple of good sections and two small streams that test you a little bit but then it's the grind up to Provident road.

I made it up to Prov and took a little breather before heading into the speed loop. It's just a small loop with some log piles and is a pretty fun run. I'm about a quarter of a way into the loop and BLAMO! I'm just riding a normal section at a normal speed and then my legs are spinning at light speed. Damn, the chain popped. I get off and walk over to a log to have a look and yup, the SRAM quick link shattered. It couldnt have done it when I was climbing now could it! Haha It let me make it all the way to the top of Prov and to pretty much the farthest point from my car. But no biggy right? I'll just fix the chain with one of the master links in my camelbak. Well I would have if they were in there. A few weeks ago I cleaned the camelbak and it looks like those links didn't make their way back into their pouch because they most certainly were not in my bag.

So trudge my way out of the loop and think to myself .. road or trail? Which will be the easiest path back to the car. The road seems the first choice but I was thinking there is a good bit of downhill in the trail on the way back and that means a half broken ride through the trail will at least give me some fun. So off I went. And let me say, riding without a chain is an odd feeling, or maybe it is just me. I'm use to the resistance the chain gives and if I lean too far one way I'll use some pedal power to right me. I didn't have that option and soon found it unnerved me quite a bit haha. Maybe it was also that I didn't want to touch the brakes, the more brakes I used meant the more walking that would follow.

At first I was a bit annoyed at the chain and at extra links for not being where they were supposed to be (not me, the links knew what they did). But I though hell could be a lot worse, I could be busted up or a cracked frame or wheel and it would be 100% walk back to the car. So with that in mind I moved on, sometimes walking, sometimes riding or a combo of both. The only thing that sucked were my Sidi's. There were not made for an extended hike and that's what they got. I really do like my new shoes but I'll have to say my old faithful Nikes were pretty comfortable to walk in and when I did look at the bottom of the Sidi's the cleats were taking a beating.

I stuck to the double track for the way back, no sense going into the single track for a walk. The double track also runs right through the middle of the woods (which is why I usually call it mid track.. duh) and is quite lumpy. So I'd walk up and zoom down trying to tuck as much as I could to get the most out of my not walking time. Up and down, up and down .. I kind of felt like a DH rider, just without a ski lift. But while out on my hike I did find a sweet section of the double track that someone had built up into numerous jumps (well at least built up humps). I don't usually ride the double so it was a bit of a surprise and was quite unexpected. I was blasting down the section trying not to touch the brakes and I was flying! I was getting a ton a air, not so high but long and it was a blast. So I did at least get something out of my hike.

I was almost out of the trail and someone finally asked me if I needed any help. A friend and I have been talking about peoples attitude as of late. The last few years it seems that people have gotten more and more rude. People road by be without a word, I'm sure a person pushing up hill looks normal but pushing on the flat? Eventually someone finally did ask and that was cool, too bad it was so close to the end and I figured it didn't even make sense so I just walked it out.

All in all it could have been worse. Sidi's might be some awesome cycling shoes (though not as aweseome as my fifteen year Nikes - RIP) but they are most certainly the worst hiking shoes I've ever worn.

Ahoy, A Three Hour Tour..

Friday night my wife and I decided that we were going to go for a walk. I recommended that we could hike around Loch Raven and then stop at Red Robin for burgers after we were done. It was looking a little shakey thoughout the day, with the return of the humidity the likelyhood of thunder showers has also returned. The day was going from blue skies to Black clouds and back all day long. But thankfully as the day was going along the clouds started to clear up. So we decided to go for it.

I parked on Providence and we started our hike on the speed loop but as we made our way around I figured we'd head toward the Dam. I haven't riden in that area in years, probably 8 to be exact. When we first started going to Loch Raven that was all we use to ride but as we moved over to Seminary as we liked that loop a lot better and it stuck. Too bad we haven't been back for so long as I had forgotten about some of the really good sections that are over there. We trudged down to the Dam area and it looks so different. In 2005 they repaired and upgraded the Dam. They also changed the parking area right by it and the surrounding land. It looks familiar but different. We left the trail and walked over to the Dam to check out the view and the water levels. The water is still riding pretty high from the Spring rains but it wasn't pouring over. After the quick servey we headed back into the trail and I asked " You want to turn right and head back to the car or go left?" "I'm pretty sure it turns up ahead and leads us back toward the car." Angela said whatever was fine with her, so, left it is. I wanted to see the old trails and figured I'd be able to get us back to the car without too much trouble.

We head left and then the trail as I remembered turned right. I forgot the awesome tech section that was down there. A few burms and a few rises that snake you through a pretty fun section. It then crosses some streams and curves up and around the mountain. Off we go and we are having a good time checking out the trail, deer and nature in general. We start to talk about what we are going to get at Red Robin after the walk. Are we going to get some of those tastey Onion Rings? I'm thinking no, I'm trying to be good and keep my diet going strong. It was a fun walk that was also a good workout. The trail is gradual but is quite a long climb that leads you up to a grassy area.

Sidetrack --> Numerous years ago at this very spot my friend Jason had a low sugar moment as he climbed up this section and once he got to the top he flopped down on his butt where he devoured all the food he brought with him and looked about terrible as I've ever seen someone on a bike. I really thought I was going to be carrying him out of the woods (NO MAN LEFT BEHIND!) He had lost all his color and was swerveing all over the trail on the way up. It was all I could do to coax him up the hill before he colapsed. He's hyper glucemic and crashed hard. Thankfully after 20 mins he was ok and could ride on! Though every first ride of the season that story comes up to haunt him.<--- End Sidetrack

Normally we turned left and up the trails that way, but for some reason I wanted to get a little exploring on and went right. I have never been right but figured it had to tie into the other trails once we got over the mountain. As we started to walk up the mountain Angela started to hear Thunder, I heard it but was trying to ignore it. That was working until the wind really picked up and the Thunder was getting louder and closer. Oh boy, I was getting a little worried now. I really didn't know exactly where we were or how long it was going to take us to get back to familar territory. The answer was a LONG time and we never actually got to where I wanted to get. By this point I was a sweaty mess and we laughed I was going to have to stop and buy a shirt. Before leaving the car I asked if we should bring the water bottle. I didn't feel like carrying the damn thing but wow I'm so glad I did. It was hot and we had been treking now for quite some time. Thankfully on this occasion smarts beat out lazy!

So up and up and up we go. I can tell Angela is getting a little nervous, I let on I really didn't know where we were and that was a mistake. The expedition (as this was becoming) leader always need to be in command of the situation (even when he's not). I wasn't too worried as LR is surrounded by roads that will get us back to the car so no matter which direction you walk you will leave the woods. We come out of the trail by a house and honey farm. What the? I have no idea where this is, so we head for the building. Come to find out it's Sherwood Farms (a Park just outside of LR). Good news, I know where we are and know how to get back to the car. Bad news, we are no where near the car. Well we aren't really too far from the car as the Crow Flies, but we aren't Crows and can't fly so it's going to be out and around.

We caught up to a guy walking somewhere and asked him which way is closest to LR. He says he doesn't know, he's only been here a week. Haha.. nevermind. "That way to Cromwell Bridge Road?", yeah right down that road. So down the road we go. Once we get to Cromwell I check the location on the Iphone and it appears it'll be closer heading right for Cowpens Road then turning right on to Providence Road where we parked. So we head right and notice that Cromwell doesn't really have much of a shoulder or grass to it. We'll be walking on the side of the road. I ride this road on my Road Bike all the time and never pay it much attention. But Angela isn't too pleased with walking down the road. I try to calm her down saying it's not too far to the school and we can cut across the field. It's not working too well and she starts to get a bit upset "we need to call someone to pick us up". "I'm not calling someone to pick us up!" by the time someone would get up there we could be at the car. At this point we were about 3 or 4 miles from the car.

Angela went from a good mood to a rant, then back to a joking mood. She aid she was just joking but it didn't seem too fun to me. She made a comment about not wanting to be Lance as we climbed up Cowpens. It annoyed me and I shot back with "It's not that hard, come on". Which she took poorly. So there we were; annoyed, tired and hungry. So what better to break the mood? If you guess animal poop you win a prize! We walked into a cloud of STANK, it was terrible. It was so bad it almost made Angela barf right there on the side of the road. On the other side of the road were what I could only guess were actuall "Cowpens". Funny, is that why this roads called Cowpens? If so, bravo .. well named. At that I couldn't help but start to laugh. Poop is always funny no matter the situation.

As the mood had lightened and we now turned on Providence Road we started to enjoy the walk a little more. We checked out the houses as we walked down the road. Providence Road is a high dollar area and there are some super nice houses up in that area. We marveled at some, laughed at others and envyed quite a few. If only we were big money. But finally we were within sight of the Focus. Yay. As we are making the final leg of the journey Angela starts laughing and tells me that she can't get the Gilligan's Island theme out of her head. Sweet, that's exactly what I thought I'd call this entry! haha 3 Hours later we return to the car.

I looked down at myself, I was a mess. I looked over and said "I'm going to have to pick up a shirt for sure. And we are SO getting Onion RINGS!"