Preview

Bring the good bar wrap and the gloves, or the moleskin. I rode the course for this Sunday's race. Hard. I didn't go hard, I just went. Awkward transitions, rough riding, as the rain falls outside I can only hope it eases me into the fall. As the development eats up more and more of our little(r) nordic center, the course evolves. It'll be a cross race, just a bit rougher than years past.

Last and always

Sort of a pop-quiz. Show up, sweat, ride hard, repeat. Bike and body are ready. Bike practice shows the cracks, nothing too bad, just early and easy. More days to come, more work to be done.

Smell Autumn

I smell it only in the morning. It's there and burns off by the lunch effort.

Number 1

Number 1 needed a little swim to clean up after a morning run.

Clean

I cheated this summer, concerns about a bad knee and new enjoyment of gears had the single as second choice to the Paragon. I am happy to go back to the right way of doing things for 2009. Yesterday was a healthy dose of the proper approach to trails. Good distance, great climbing and lots of time turning one the gear I had. My right thumb made me realise the error I have made. I was reaching for gear mostly on the descents to go faster, the climbs not so much. Good work. Happy to be tired the day after. Trying to cruise with the double-bangers is a give-take, they give me time on the climbs 32:17 climbs only so slow and I let them take time on the descents, rolling rigid gives me a cleaner view of the trail.

Spinal

It seems if I ride more than 2 hours one day I sleep better that night, less than that and at 5.30 I'm up with the bears. No complaints, it's just the way the system works. Yesterday I was running late to get home on the path and i saw section of spinal column, and for some stupid reason I didn't take a picture of it. Today it was gone. That would have gone well with the leg from last fall.

Pig Iron

Sounding off, the first shots of the fall are about to be fired, a slow build to new groups in December. Take it steady it will be here before you know it. The best season is on and building, bite in the air, 30 degrees and frosty a.m. work. Pig Iron today, probably 30 pounds of it. On the way in great, try and resist, you can't falter and there's only more to come. Always more work, just time it right and make it count. Pushing through the rough days on foot, not always wheels.

42:12

The two fat guys who passed me on the path coming down from copper gave me a condescending smile. I was adjusting my iPod and the pathletes got a bit of time, they were moving pretty fast , probably 53:11/12, I was on the cross bike in the 42:12, it was perfect, I worked to get within 150 feet of them and stayed there the whole second half. It was great work, random intervals. The wind flowing through the trees made the work harder and legs stronger. I didn't see the marmots or the beavers but the more work I do the less animals I see. I too am a pathlete, reluctantly.

On

Ready to pop, it's all in line. My season is here. Little bits of dirt and road add up to make fall the best time of year. Link up the sections, perfect the transitions.

My bike doesn't need a warm shelter, sometimes I wonder if it does, it likes it just fine in the shed and the warmth is on a different scale than what I need. Fall is here, chilly mornings take longer to fade into warm days, it's on, the season begins with little bits of gold on the trees along the singletrack, ready for the work, falling together.