Randonee!

So, I had a couple of choices for riding today. One, was to drive almost three hours to race 8 miles in the Moody Park race, another was to ride in Pinnacle Bike Shop's dirt randonee, a 40+ mile fun-fest mixing it up on dirt roads and pavement. Hmmm.... not much of a choice. Especially with all this rain we've had. Every once in a while I DO try to do the right thing when it comes to preserving the trails we ride, and giving them a day or two to dry out, I think, was the right thing to do.



Fortunately, Jamie was there too, so I was not alone, a sheep among wolves.

As you know, I am NOT a roadie, and with a significant majority of this ride being on the road, "roadie" rules were in effect. I understand the need to warn other riders of road hazards, but Jesus Christ, just pay attention people. I'd like to send out a blanket statement, to all roadies, for all road rides: THIS IS NEW ENGLAND, OUR ROADS ARE CRAP AND FULL OF POT HOLES, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND ADAPT. All day "pot hole!" "Hole." "Hole." "Hole." I spent more time trying to point and yell than I did pedaling. Now, I understand that major obstacles need to be called out (cars, horses, etc), but every pothole? Again, I'm a mountain biker, and I'm not accustomed to yelling "roots, rocks, tree, dip, rocks, mud, dirt," all ride long. I also know that I'm an asshole, so that's probably part of my problem too.

Aside from calling out every patch of rough road, we did some riding, and it was fun. There was a good group and a perfect pace. I even staged a couple of ill-timed attacks, because that's the way I roll. Jamie was trying, so valiantly trying, to impart some road strategery in to me, but I was pretty much clueless. One pearl of wisdom he tried to share was that I should try to do things that would help the strongest rider on the team get to the front, but I said that Glen wasn't there, so I was even more confused.

I'm embarrassed to say that I love this kind of riding--mixing it up with road and off-road, and it's this love of this type of riding that makes me want to keep a bike with gears. However, there was a guy on today's ride that killed it on a Specialized SS 'cross bike. As the kids say, "mad props" to you.