That was a good one

So good.

The Mountain Bicycling thing.

There's something to riding with fast people. You ALWAYS feel slow. Esp riding with fast people on trails they know REALLY well.

Hard to appreciate until you ride the same trails with people who have never see it before who aren't as skilled or as good as the normal crew, okay that's not true, there were tons of skills but the group was big enough that most people weren't at the level of the normal crew...

Got a chance to appreciate the dirt church crew by riding with a huge JRA cycles crew. We'd gotten back to the cars, Syl and Steve were done, Burke was going to head back in with me and then this huge parade of folks rolled in, none wearing orange. Dudes this is fucking Rhode Island - you gotta wear your fucking orange - or so I've been told.

On the tail end of that was Dirtwire himself. Motherfucking Thom Parsons.

I headed over - not intending to join, but well... burke caught up and we all chatted - esp since we're both friends with B-Mac and Heather was there...  Bikes are fun.

it was different riding with this huge group, pace was WAY chiller than following fast freddie and syl and steve. was also fun riding features more slowly and better.

Syl mentioned last week how he learned more from riding with the slow group in the woods when he started because the pace let him relax and hit the lines more slowly and learn more than going balls out and not having time to think, only react.

Am i any good? I'm not terrible, i'm getting better. and sure the mid-fat bike is kind of an easy button but fuck it - i'll take the weight penalty for a bike that fits really well and it isn't like I'm gonna win a hilly race anyway.

My turning is getting better, the bike feels more an extension, conscious moves are now becoming instinctive. I still couldn't find my way out of Big River alone. Proved that yesterday.

in the end I wound up with over 20 miles (strava says less but the 510 has proven to under-report by 10% or more in those woods) and the first two hours blazing fast and fun (i was slowest pretty much most of the time) and then the next two hours just chill and fun and chatty and rolling stuff.

Fun to hang out with Thom and B-Mac on mountain bikes. CX is cool but man i love me some mtb riding.

Would love to figure out more than just a weekend thing. But even that is awesome. esp since I can pare it with trips to trader joes, and golden market and do some of the weekly stuff at the hugest of the 3 WF. Gotta drive to those, might as well do some mt biking.

New wheel hasn't broken, i'm def digging the reduced engagement with the 54 teeth, i can see how the next level would be even better. Tire pressure - getting close to dialing it in but man it is tough with the gauge to get it the same everytime.

I went with the Elite bottles instead of the camel back ones, downside was i didn't have enough water to join the big group on their whole ride, nor any food. Or tools, or a phone (it died in the parking lot and I said fuck it - and left it in the car). But the van started at the lot to leave and at the chinese market (the same fucking mushrooms are $3/# there vs $6/# at Shaws and WF - and they have that Korean cabbage and great ginger and noodles).

Had a nice recovery tailwind this morning - weather is awesome - or was - probably dark now. A good monday.
Esp since one of the grad students i've been working with on the big scope (problems last week - but fixed them) brought me a Knead donut. So good.

damnit - looks like  headwind home, oh well... it looks pretty light... oh and it is f'n toasty warm still 50 out there...  CRAY ZEEE

time to pedal -

staying positive, moving forward, amor fati

heddwch
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