Training Log Archive: PGIn the 1 days ending Jul 21, 2017:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||
| |||||||
| Fr |
Friday Jul 21, 2017 #
10 AM
biking - dark blue bike 2:45:52 28.42 mi (5:50 / mi) +2480ft 5:23 / mi
ahr:128 max:158 weight:135.5lbs
One of those times as you're heading down a woods road that continues to deteriorate and you think, I sure hope this doesn't turn into an out-and-back.
But it does.
----------
A quite varied ride, and certainly more varied than intended. The plan, as it often is, was to ride some places I hadn't been. Certainly accomplished that.
The first dozen miles were paved with a bit of up, and I put out a good effort, thinking, I may ride with Phil tomorrow so it's best if I trash myself today, don't want to run the risk of keeping up with him tomorrow and dealing a major blow to his self-esteem. I think I accomplished that, quads were definitely taking some abuse.
Then some dirt road up to the high point of the route, then some more dirt road, getting rough now but still manageable. And then I came to what appeared to be a dead end.
An old woods road lay straight ahead, a rather scruffy one. I checked my mileage, checked my directions, nope, not supposed to turn here, so on I went. Before long I was seriously debating turning around when I unluckily happened to spot bike tire tracks in some mud. The road must go through, I thought, and continued on. Didn't occur to me that they had done an out-and-back too.
Onward. More rocks, branches, fallen trees, some mud. The "road" turned downhill, pretty soon closer to a wet gully than a road. Along the way I dropped through a patch of nettles, first time I've been stung by them on a bike. And at some point I noticed I was going roughly north. That's not good, supposed to be going south.
About then it became clear even to my idiot mind that I had gone far enough. I'd been hiking the bike a bunch already, now a bunch more of that back up the last hill I'd come down. And eventually back to the dead end.
And started back up the dirt road I'd arrived on, and there in about 100 yards was an overgrown road (looked like two footpaths with foot-high grass in the middle), heading in the right direction. What the hell, took it. And it wasn't long before it was obvious this was the right way.
The rest of the way was more down than up. I did skip a planned add-on with a good hill, figuring enough was enough. Time to head off to get some chocolate milk and look for green herons. :-)
Really have to wonder about my decision making when things aren't as I expect them.
But it does.
----------
A quite varied ride, and certainly more varied than intended. The plan, as it often is, was to ride some places I hadn't been. Certainly accomplished that.
The first dozen miles were paved with a bit of up, and I put out a good effort, thinking, I may ride with Phil tomorrow so it's best if I trash myself today, don't want to run the risk of keeping up with him tomorrow and dealing a major blow to his self-esteem. I think I accomplished that, quads were definitely taking some abuse.
Then some dirt road up to the high point of the route, then some more dirt road, getting rough now but still manageable. And then I came to what appeared to be a dead end.
An old woods road lay straight ahead, a rather scruffy one. I checked my mileage, checked my directions, nope, not supposed to turn here, so on I went. Before long I was seriously debating turning around when I unluckily happened to spot bike tire tracks in some mud. The road must go through, I thought, and continued on. Didn't occur to me that they had done an out-and-back too.
Onward. More rocks, branches, fallen trees, some mud. The "road" turned downhill, pretty soon closer to a wet gully than a road. Along the way I dropped through a patch of nettles, first time I've been stung by them on a bike. And at some point I noticed I was going roughly north. That's not good, supposed to be going south.
About then it became clear even to my idiot mind that I had gone far enough. I'd been hiking the bike a bunch already, now a bunch more of that back up the last hill I'd come down. And eventually back to the dead end.
And started back up the dirt road I'd arrived on, and there in about 100 yards was an overgrown road (looked like two footpaths with foot-high grass in the middle), heading in the right direction. What the hell, took it. And it wasn't long before it was obvious this was the right way.
The rest of the way was more down than up. I did skip a planned add-on with a good hill, figuring enough was enough. Time to head off to get some chocolate milk and look for green herons. :-)
Really have to wonder about my decision making when things aren't as I expect them.