Back at it...

Well, I got on the bike over the weekend.  Saturday saw a gingerly paced ride in PC up the Armstrong Trail.    I was attempting a couple of things...one, to ride and see how my neck felt and two, to ride the new Pinecone Trail to see where it goes.

I accomplished the first with more than satisfactory results.  My neck, albeit tender, felt ok....and things felt ok after the ride too...but I'm getting ahead of myself.  I started out later in the day than normal and prior to a planned night out (which didn't materialize after Friday nights debacle).  With rain assured but not known when, I started the ride outta the parking lot toward the trail head not really knowing how things were gonna turn out.

I took the climb easy and enjoyed however long I was gonna be riding...coulda been 5 minutes if my neck started flaring up.  I ended up passing each bail out with a feeling like, "I might actually make it".  I did make it to the top of the climb where Armstrong intersects the Mid Mountain...and that's when the rain started in earnest.  I continued on with the idea that I'd be riding down in the trees and wouldn't get too wet but the storm was a bit more strong than I anticipated and, before long, I was riding in a river of water down the centerline of the singletrack all the way down Spiro.  Your Mom isn't even as dirty as I was after the ride.  Pinecone will have to wait.

I limped back to the car (for the first time, I didn't bring beer for apres ride) and swaddled into a blanket for the drive home.  I was actually cold.

Sunday brought better, cooler weather with some sprinkles but in and out of the rain drops, I managed to thoroughly clean my bike and ready it for another possible trail ride.  I got some things out of the way and, with a later dinner planned, got kitted up and out the door for a ride on the Shoreline.  Up Dry Creek and down City Creek was the plan and the plan worked out.  Cooler temps, great trail conditions and pretty much no one on the dirt.  You know the trail is in good shape when you start the ride with a shiny, clean bike and end of the ride pretty much the same.....and easy hour and it felt pretty good too.  It's nice to be back on the bike.

That's it for Monday's installment.

Ciao

Wow..since March, really?

Been  a while faithful readers....I know that you've all been hanging on for some news...any news about what the fuck is up with me.

Nothing.

Riding has been on the back burner whilst I recover from a rather painful nerve pinch in my neck region.  No riding = not so happy Mike.  The good news is that it's been hot as fuck so riding isn't so attractive an option anyway.  I've been hitting the pool instead, mostly with my girls...swim lessons and all.  I've completely forgotten how fun sitting around/in the pool can be when it's 101 deg out.

Still no activity on the dating front.  A beat up 52 year old, twice divorced, with 2 little ones isn't so much a winning ticket I guess.  It is Utah after all and all that's around are really fit, cute 27 years olds that want absolutely nothing to do with a guy like me anywayz or Mormons.  Go figure.  Mormons...they say shit like "acrosst".  Yeah..."acrosst".

I have, though, been watching some pretty cool/fun movies as of late.  Prometheus, Savages, Moonrise Kingdom, Submarine and Lymetown.  Thank you Netflix for some of those.

Ahhhhhh....that's about it.

Ciao.

Long time

I hated to blog over my last post....we all miss Jeff so much.

I'm on a new found kick for my mountain bike over last years road bike embrace.  Dunno why...maybe riding an MTB is just more fun and filled with less "tools".

I've been in a mechanic slot now for about 4 months with some pretty cool people not from around here and pretty psyched about riding the local trails so I've made a decision to ride more single track and less road.  Lately, I've been getting my ass handed to me (more than normal) but it's good, hard riding and that's what I need to keep my mind right.  I'm also back on a single speed.

One of the guys I work with...he and I have a pretty similar viewpoint on a few things cycling so it's always good to throw a leg over our bikes, ride, get thrashed pretty hard and end up drinking a few and telling stories.  A couple of the things we've been talking about lately is the downward spiral, IMHO, of cycling in general and PRO racing in particular.  With all the earpieces, SRM's and the Lance Armstrong phenomena of  putting all your eggs in one basket called the "Tour"...it just seems like bike racing become pretty boring as of late..like the last 10 years of late.

We're both pretty sick of the surgical dispatching, almost to the kilometer, of any and all breakaways by teams that are instructed to go to the front and chase down the escapees.  All this to set up yet another bunch sprint where the guy whose supposed to win wins.  I just think it's bad for the sport, the riders and the spectators.

On another note, I've been pretty happy about my new digs and my ongoing relationship with my daughters.  I couldn't have one without the other so I just need to keep my nose to the grindstone to afford my place.  I've pretty much figured out that, besides work, I have room for one other thing than seeing my girls...that right now is riding my MTB.

OK..that's it for now.