Weekend Fun

After the long night on Wednesday, and getting medicine on Thursday for Jubal's ear infection, Friday turned into a chill, hang out around the house day.  That was fine with me, because I was with my kid.  Still, I have trouble sitting still, so we got creative and started to clean out the shed and build some shelves.  Fortunately, Jubal did not want to go to the hardware store to get wood for the shelves, so we scrapped that plan.

Next, I dug out some webbing that I have kept since my boating days and stung it between two trees.  I have wanted to set up a slack line for a long time, but we never had trees that were strong enough.  Now we do, so here we are.  Slack lining is supposed to be great for building core strength and balance.  If I  could simply stand on the line, I'll be happy.  

 After a few minutes I was tired so I hung up a hammock.  That seems like a reasonable thing to do when one is tired.  Some chill hammock time ensued, until I got restless, then I went back to the slack line, and repeated this vicious cycle,  all in a chill manner.

Saturday rolled around, and I rolled out.  The wife and kid chose to chill some more, and I went for  a ride.   After looking out my window at 7:30am on Sat,  I was not sure I was going to ride.  There were dark gray, stormy clouds blowing around.  But by 8am, with the 20 plus mph winds blowing, they moved on.  I was glad I was mtn biking.  The wind was insane.  Riding down the parkway, I repeatedly heard deadfall slamming into the forest floor.

This spring has been so vibrantly green.  It is amazing.  Below, is inside the NC Arboretum, at the bottom of Hard Times Rd.  Next up is a 15 minutes climb up.  I am finally starting to really feel consistent strength again.  I'm starting to be able to keep a steady, more powerful pace up the long climbs without being totally blown up at the top.  (of course, all I have to do is ride with someone else and realize that I am not really going that fast). 

It was another great ride, that I didn't want to end. Down the parkway and around Bent Creek.  It is not the most technical place in the world, but it is close and allows me to get in a longer ride, and still be home to be a good daddy and husband.

As I rolled down Hickory Top to Five Points, I was greeted by piles of logs and logging machinery.  I'm not sure yet how I feel about this:

 I didn't stay long, I didn't want to ruin a great ride by pondering something that I couldn't change right here, right now.  I took off down Ingles Field (giving right of way to people climbing),  hitting every wall ride I could find.  My Siren 55 SL has given me confidence over the past year.  It handles really well, so well in fact that I had to remind myself at one point today, that I really need to pay attention to the trail....

Today was the first long ride with my new Sidi's.  I won them in an essay contest back in February.  I didn't want to start using them before the Big Frog, so I pulled them out.
First Impressions:  Out of the box, they look and feel really nice.   I wanted white, didn't want black, so I went with blue.  ( they offered blue or black).  They look really cool.  I put them on and felt that a ratchet, dial and velcro strap was  a little bit overkill. But halfway through the ride, when one foot was slipping a little bit, I reached down and turned the dial one click, and the problem was solved.  Hmm, maybe not overkill after all.  The shoe is comfortable, and fits like a glove.  It was cool today, so I'm waiting to see if they stay cool in the heat,  that is a huge issue for me.  And, as I was concerned about, I would not complain if I had a pair of road Sidi's!!!

 Have a great day!!