Watershed

I try to take my quickbeam out on the trails once in a while. I putter along at my own pace, and I manage to ride some terrain that most people would be hesitant to take a cross bike on. I think to myself, "Self, this mountian biking with a road bike stuff ain't so hard."

Then I go out with a group and embarass myself.

At least thats what happened last night up in the 'Shed. I went out with the crew for Markie's farewell ride in the shed. And, once again, I got schooled. I rode great, for me, and was left entirely in the dust. No make that mud. It poured rain for about 20 minutes just as we arrived at the parking lot. Wonderful, wet rocks and logs. Off we went. Stuff I could ride ok at my pace when dry was harder when seen through the tunnel vision of hypoxia, and there was plenty of stuff I wouldn't even try when dry, so I found myself walking some big chunks. The group was nice enough to wait at trail intersections, but I was really holding them back. Since it was an out and back next to the road, I bailed at the overlook and took the road back. The group cut their return time in half. In the dark. Sigh.

At least everything ended up OK, with a few brews amongst friends at Brewer's Alley.

There has got to be a way of improving the returns on the limited time I have for riding, but which will still keep things reasonably fun. Hard work is OK, excessive pain will kill the spark. Number one would be to spend more time up in the shed pushing the pace on those oh so delightful babyheads.

What else? Limited time, limited fitness, all the excess weight you want. What would you do?