Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Flower Power

I took the Ellsworth ultra-cross country MTB bike out for another mid-length (77-mile) cruise yesterday, which I must say was nearly a perfect day (temps high 70's) except I had headwinds in 3-directions of travel. Can anyone explain to me how that is possible? Maybe God has a sense of humor watching me or maybe He is just providing me with some additional resistance training (but we all know I don't train because that would be work). Anyway I just put on a smile and rode into the wind happily because it was a great, sunny day and I was happy to be out pedaling.

My ride was on dirt and gravel roads since there is still too much snow on my favorite trails. Some of these "roads" are far beyond rough compared the the smooth trails I ride. How bad can some of these roads be? They are so rough that your butt screams for mercy even on a full-suspension ride, your hands go numb from continuous jarring, you look at your ultra plush front fork often to see if it is even working anymore, your teeth rattle if you don't keep you jaw clinched, you pray you can continue to maintain 20-25mph speeds to help smooth out the ride some, and ultimately these roads fatigue every part of your body to a point of full-body exhaustion which makes you realize what suffering is all about. Good thing these sections are not too long (5-miles or less).

It was great to see the flowers are finally blooming up at the mid-level elevations - still quite late for around here, but they are always an uplifting sight. If fact I think wild flowers have special powers that stimulate and elevate my inner soul...it seems I can never get enough of them.








Hmmm...what's this stuff? I'm still finding many of my routes blocked by snow. I rode and trudged through some and had to back-track out on most. Again very unusual for this to go on so late in the year around here. I have no choice but to be patient and wait for the melting to be done.

No comments: