Friday, June 23, 2017

Sideways on Sidewinder

Binging isn't just for college kids. The middle aged, middle class guy with kids also finds himself binging, though in my case, it is on two wheels. So little extra time during the week can turn in to a binge of miles on a Saturday morning. Example, last week. I got some time on Saturday and headed on on my mountain bike. I packed enough food for 4+ hours and roughly planned a route that we allow me to refill water bottles about half way. I ended up riding out to Lake Hope on as much back road as I could fit. Once I arrived and looked at the time, I figured I had enough time to do a quick loop of some trails before turning around and heading back home. I did not bother to adjust my tire pressure, instead just thought I would take it easy knowing that I had a couple more hours riding ahead of me. About a half mile in, I rolled over a root that was across the trail, a root I have rolled over dozens of times. Except, this time, it pitched me sideways a bit. Now, not only was I moving slowly, so momentum wasn't working for me, I also had new tires with too much pressure. This turned in to a foot dab. Problem, there wasn't any ground under my foot. Some recent rains had eroded some of the trail, leaving a web of tree roots with nothing below them. Parts of me fell through the web leaving me scrapped and bruised. I ended up taking a connector out to the road and heading south.



Maybe I could totally blame the air pressure. But while it was a factor, a bigger part is that I haven't spent a lot of time on the trails this year so my skills are a little rusty. And too few miles on the legs mean they are a little tired on long days.

We salvaged the day with a trip to Athens for some tacos and walking around the green. Uptown is pretty OK during the summer when it isn't focused on college aged bingers.




No comments: