Mountain ride at Hashawha - 16 miles

From a purely physical standpoint, I am feeling fantastic these days. I believe I've finally gained some semblance of one who is in-shape. My body is nowhere near race-shape, but it's at least in-shape. I'm slowly building a base mileage on which I can soon start tossing some sprint & interval training. My slow-twich muscles are growing stronger and stronger and soon I'll get those fast-twichers up to speed! I realized all of this today while riding at Hashawha. A hill that usually has my dogs barkin' (quads burning!) felt like nothing at all today. I zipped up it and really enjoyed chug-a-lugging up its grade. I'm setting my sights on a couple of mountain bike races this summer and thoughts of rejoining my old racing team enter my mind more and more frequently the more I run and ride. Hell, yesterday I ran 4 miles and felt fine afterwords. My friend Damien is racing this April 1st at the 4th annual Dragon's Tail Race and I'm incredibly jealous. That's a pretty brutal race... 40 miles of hurt/joy, depending on how you look at it. I see a 50/50 blend. I wish him luck!

Today I took the Cannondale over to Hashawha and cranked out 16 miles. I love riding a nice mix of singletrack, open fields & gravel roads. I just kept motoring, on and on, but, like they say, sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses. I stopped. I smelled. But there were no roses. Only the stench of watery cow manure which farmers enjoy slinging about their fields. I'm told there is some value added in this fertilization tactic, though the only value I see is the guarantee of no visitors knocking on your door. “Harold, get back in the car, you're letting the stank in! Let's try again another day!”