Is This A Logo??

Is This A Logo??

Friday 4 December 2015

Planning a head??

So, being the dedicated athlete that I am, this past weekend I took 4 days off to head down to Windsor to visit Matty Tee whom I haven't seen for far too long.  And, much to my surprise, when I walked through his door he was there, but so was KT!!!  She flew in from Manitoba (she lives in a small farm town), just to visit Matty Tee and PappyRiot!!!



I haven't seen her in longer than far-too-long....so I am serious when I say I was very surprised.  In fact, they shouldn't do that to such an old guy!!  Especially considering there isn't much of an inheritance...


Being the dedicated athlete that I am, I didn't bring a bike.  However, at CoachRob's urging I did take running shoes...and the best of intentions to get a couple of runs in.  And I did....sort of...  One of the runs turned into more of a walk along the Detroit River trail path with KT (while Matty slept in)...



There are some strange artsy structures along the trail...



Then we saw these guys swimming across the river, and KT turned them back saying "Sorry, Canada is not taking any more refugeese..."


While this trip may not have been great for the physical (I may have put on a pound or 15...okay maybe not that bad), it was sure good for the heart.  We spent much of our time hanging out at Matty Tee's haunts, and visiting his friends (he has a boat load of friends, some might even say a barrel house full!!!).  I learned I can no longer keep up to a twenty something (who earns a living in the music industry) lifestyle.



Anyways, it was too soon time to get back to real life.  After all this is a MTB blog isn't it??  Guess I'm just trying to keep up to kid pics MTBers tend to post on Facebonk.  At least no cat pics so far right??





Ooops...someone said cat pics.  Actually that is KT and Felix....and yes Felix is full of a variety of facial expressions...

Anyways, back to MTB.  This was going on while I was gone...



Yup...the guys taunting me..

So upon getting back the training plan called for an endurance trail ride.  The trails were mint for the fatboy!




And managed to sneak up on these guys....




Not sure how I managed to get so close without scaring them.  Could be the quietness of the fatboy, or just my natural native stalking skills...(Lois is not a big fan of my stalking...).  They weren't bothered by my superdy-duperdy orange jacket either.

Anyways, next day was a 100km CX ride that Giant joined me on.  He couldn't join me for the fatbike ride because his fatbike is still broken from his crash.  However, Giant is growing back his sorcerer's costume, I think, so his mojo should soon be back.  Actually he kicked the stuffing out of me on our CX ride!  I struggled to keep up, and I didn't know why?  Did I lose that much fitness over the Windsor weekend??  I didn't think so because I had a great fatboy ride the previous day...but maybe the fatbike ride left me depleted??  (The fatbike does really beat you up!  Because of the amazing traction you want to rip everything at warp 10, and climb every impossible looking hill....because it can, as long as you can keep the pedals moving.  While you are riding it, it feels like a XC race bike...but the extra weight has you feeling like you completed an intense leg/back/shoulder workout for days after.  It is an awesome training tool!!)

Anyways, I couldn't figure out what was slowing me down on the CX ride (we hit gravel, rail trail, and pavement)....until I got home.  And I noticed, I had barely 10 lbs of pressure in my back tire.  Not really sure how I didn't notice it on the ride....too busy trying to keep Giant in sight I guess.  Actually, I have been struggling to keep this worn back tire in business for some time now.  It was obviously time for it to go...so it was off to the shop for new tape, stans, and tire.  Thank you BicycleWorks!!  I will be ready for you next time Giant, no more using your sorcery on me!  I better be careful...Giant could be a serbian hit-man....kinda like this guy...




So, CoachRob also has me doing some trail running as adaptive training in the 'off' season...which at first I detested...but after a half dozen runs, I'm almost getting into it.  (Plus the whip hurts if I don't follow the plan, and unfortunately this is not CoachRob's hired muscle...)




Actually, there are literally trails right outside my door that are 'hiking-only' trails, and as such I never really see them.  So I have been running them....and they really are awesome trails...







They would be so much fun on a mountain bike...but you know I never break rules...

Royal Botanical Gardens also has trails just feet from my doorstep...but their trails are all non-challenging doubletrack...and they could fill a novel with their rules which include no MTB...



I have also been trying to plan out some of next years races.  Yes, I have registered for the P2A!  If you haven't yet you best do it soon!  Space is limited and going fast unless you want to end up in one of the later waves.

Registration is also open for the 24 Hr Summer Solstice...which I planned on soloing again...but then I stumbled across this...

http://24hoursoflight.ca/

Now doesn't that look like fun???  No lights!!  But so far away...could take some planning...maybe ride some prairie/badlands trails along the way??

Then Blaze threw this at me...

http://golden24.ca/

A 24 hour race in the rockies!!  That looks like fun too. Choices!!  Then I noticed they are on consecutive weekends!!  Would it be possible to do both??

There is planning in progress (I recently acquired a camper trailer designed for exactly this type of thing!!).  Anyone willing to take two weeks off this summer and join me??

Or do I need my head examined??



This is also on my bucket list...for very soon...

http://singletrack6.com/

And Giant is challenging me to join him for the Gaspe races in 2016...

So....lot's of options to consider...where will it end up??

I know what is a definite plan for this weekend...another fatbike ride and firepit for the group!!  Even EnglishJim says he will make it!

Stay posted!!
(Wow....this was a long one!  Sorry...)



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