Its freaking cold out here.

Winter has returned. So much for the beautiful photos of riding in the snow while wearing t-shirts and shorts. It is back to being really cold again. Last night I am glad I had the leg warmers because it was definitely leg warmer weather.

The ride was fantastic. The folks that we had on the casual night ride were great. We took it easy at the beginning and just rolled through the creek trail, letting ourselves warm up a bit. We did a nice little stomp up the power lines trail, and then the fun really began. Since this is one of the last rides on the race course before IMBA re-designs it all, I thought we'd do as much of it as we could. We hit each of the leafs of the trail. After starting off kind-of flat in my pre-ride, I was somewhat surprised to have any power at all on the climbs. I heated up the legs and lungs slowly and let them decide how the ride would go. They seemed to enjoy being abused, so I turned it up a little.... and a little more.

I'm not talking about flying or anything. I don't do that shit. I'm not a fast rider, and I probably never will be again. But for me, the ride went pretty darn well. I stomped up some hills in the race course and got myself pretty much out of breath.

After a swoop throught he IMBA section, we went for a few laps in the bowls. It was GREAT to ride the creek crossings and log stacks again. It wasn't cold enough to freeze the brakes solid like it has been in the last few months. That made for much more fun. Wes was GOD on the logs. He launced over a log that was over 3 feet tall without batting an eyelash. When he finished, he said it didn't really count since he'd half clipped out of his pedal. Bwahhahahahaha. That counts as far as I'm concerned. He didn't dab... just clipped out half way.

The climbs in the bowls were great. By this time the group had pared down a bit and a few of us wanted to go a little fast... kind of impromptu, short intervals. Chris was sweeping and he knows the trails very well. I didn't have to worry about leaving anyone behind. We stopped at the top of each climb. That allowed J, Wes and I to speed up a bit on the tight sections. It is fun as heck to launch the SS through that stuff. There's nothing to that bike, so it flies through the turns and accelerates well. Even a dolt like me can feel it pushing to go faster. It felt great.

The coolest thing about last night was the return of two riders that had been off for a while. I don't get to ride with Wes much... even when he's on the bike. He's usually with the much faster group and as you've read above, has some serious bike handling skills. He's flying over logs and I'm watching in amazement. He'd been off for 4 months and was hanging with our group to get back into it a bit.

Dom also came back last night. He's been sick for ages and isn't really fond of the cold at all. He had a rough night. I give him tons of props for just being there. He was obviously hurting in every imaginable way, but he stuck it out for almost 90 minutes. He gave it all he had. His fitness will come back. I just don't want him to get discouraged. He'll get everything running again. He's got the skills. He just needs to get his legs back under him.

Funny thing was Dom ragging on Santa Cruz for sending their prodcution of some of their frames overseas.... To asia of all places. We were laughing like crazy that an asian guy was ragging on asian production. He's a "buy American" kinda guy. Good laugh.

It is a blues day in the IPOD. Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Blues Traveller, even a little Lyle Lovett, though he's a little more country. I need some Dwight Yokum some time soon. It sure beats the sound of BADGER BADGER BADGER.

Have a great night. I'm going to try to get to bed early so that I'm ready for tomorrow's ride. It should be a fun one and one in which we work pretty hard.

Pete