I decided to take some time off from my daily blog, to take vacations and spend some time training which was interuppted due to teh vacations and I just could not get back into the grove of things. I will be writing about my rides at Redd Road. I am going beyond my usual safe rides and riding faster. My goal is to try to map the trails in Redd Road area. An other reason for not adding to the page is I lost my Garmin and I just have no idea where I am going.
Later
Well all that was missing today in this breeze we call wind was the flying cows, but I did not get to come home my usual way due to a turned over truck FILLED with rocks. So it is possible further down the road there were cows levitating. Heard on the radio that the winds were in the ballpark of 65-75 miles per hour. It seemed much more then that. So our Thursday group was cancelled again for the second week in a row. So I did the next best thing TRAINER, rode for a hour which was not the same as riding in the hills. Now that I mentioned the hills where I work I get time to ride instead of lunch, so I was riding a new jeep/tank/or any other military vehicle road it got a little hairy I can swear the road I was riding came right out of the movie these “hills have eyes” which for a fact was filmed in the area. The road was all sand nothing was packed but the good part was it was downhill. Which I did not figure would cause me problems returning but it did. I worked the hardest to get up that 1mile and half hill I was so happy to see/ride to where it was only loose sand not quicksand type. It was a fun day.
For all of you who do not know the expression on my soapbox it means preaching or lecturing about my friend (the donor) who was riding without a helmet yesterday. I did not get a chance to tell you about my new (frame) bike ride. It was fantastic it is a lot lighter then my other (TREK fuel ex 6.5) bike and a shit load lighter then my 4300. I could not stop riding yesterday I was doing great climbing up hill riding Hitt canyon and I was all over the place. Today I did the same I rode up to scenic and down RockShock to Red Rock Road to Blue moon to the Mad cow extension back to RockShock up to Sotol forest to pipeline back to the parking lot. One of my best rides ever. I love my new lighter bike.
Late this afternoon I wanted to go riding because I could not go this morning due to the winds. Not that I can not ride in 40 mile a hour winds its a promise I made to the wife. That promise states if for any reason she asks me to sleep in I must obey by her. She worries about me for the fact that I say up late and get up early everyday (I go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 4am m-f). That is how it has been from as long as I can remember. Since I am getting older and she hears that you need a ton of sleep to be health that is what I do. So today was a sleep in day. So at 4:30 today I went out into the trails in search of calming me down (riding makes David a happier boy). After a hour of riding I noticed something really bad, someone riding without a helmet. I stopped him and asked why he was not riding a helmet. I was told by said person that it was none of my f*ing business and that he was a real man. NOW FOR THE TITLE ABOVE (you see I live on the edge daily) so I grabbed a rock and flung it at his head (a small rock) I said ooops it must of happened when I took off, “I told him” did that man cry like a little baby (real man my ass). If he would of not told me it was none of my f ing business I would of chalked up as him being a DICK and let him live his life out as a veg or in a wheelchair. But I was in a teaching mode and I taught him. You see if you have not ridden the NE it is very technical and you have to be a total fool to ride anywhere without a helmet. The moral of the story wear a helmet or you will be tested by me.
Today by share chance I decided to swing by The Bicycle Company on my way to lunch. I met up with some friends I have not seen in a while and then out of the blue Richie walked out of the back with my new bike. If you have not read about it, its further down the page. But if you are lazy not to scroll let me fill you in. Some time back I was riding in the Northeast trails when I was zipping down RockShock and broke my swing arm and had to walk a good ways back to the parking lot. So since my TREK is still under warranty I was suppose to get a new swing arm. Well when the arm arrived it was the wrong one which is both good and bad. The bad was it would take a while to relocate another one, the good is well they could not find another one at all. You see my bike was an older one that I got at a little deal so finding a swing arm that was pre abp (active brake pivot) was hard to do. To make a short story long I get a new frame and today I got it all back together and in my sweaty big hand ( well I have girly hands, since I was a little girl that is). Tomorrow Saturday I will test it out on the same trails that kicked my bikes arse (ass that is for you non east coasters) Below is the new bike. YEEEEEEEEEEEPIEE!!!!!
Well first off I do not usually drink, drive, and ride a bike all in one night but I did. Someone at work quit today and she just wanted us to pay tribute to her by drinking at the bowling alley which has a bar that starts serving beer at 3pm or 1500 for you military folk. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a sipping man (its like the penny machine if you put a penny in his hand he puts into his mouth which is a bank) put a beer into my hand and it automatically moves to my mouth until it fills my bank up sometimes it takes a minute sometimes its seconds. Usually I can down 3 beers per one someone else downs. So I want everyone to know I LOVE BEER the stronger it is the happier I get. OK I drank 6 Heinies and 6 blue moons in my hour I was saying goodbye. Driving to Redd Road for the Thursday group ride was interesting. The beers did not hit me until I got to the trails. I saw Buddy and Paul returning from their ride they stopped by I told them I need to hit the trails to sober up they informed me the people from the Bicycle Company were not showing up. BOOOHOOO!!! So to get to the bad part DO NOT DRINK AND RIDE thou I did not get hurt but I was freaking out because I just could not tell depth of perception and it messed me up big time.
When I woke up this morning my plan was to keep my word to a friend and meet his friend and take him out for a ride. So when I opened the door it looked like rain. The wind was tearing through my neighborhood. Matter of fact it blew off a giant star that was hanging from my house (wife’s star that is). Since I love to ride in almost all bad weather it did not cross my mind to cancel. The ride was scheduled for 8am but I like to warm up before taking a newbie out. I arrived at 7am got warmed up and returned to the parking lot at the edge of the trails. Well I guess he just did not ride due to last weeks ride or he did not want to risk it. So I decided to ride some more, since I was packing my rain gear. It was an interesting ride first off I was on my TREK 4300 which weights a ton, second off it was raining which just makes mud on top and dry dirt underneath the mud. You see in our little desert (which you can trail for hours before seeing green) the ground is so dry it has to rain for a long time before it soak in. So its raining just enough to warrant me to wear my rain gear and watching my tires getting bogged down with both mud and dirt clogs. Don’t you just love it.
I also met up with some people from South Carolina who told me he thought he was a good mountain biker until he got transferred to El Paso. He said “you have a lot of technical here”. Brother you said it.
I forgot to inform you that I bought “Race across the Sky” and I got it in last week. If you did not go to the movie to see it you have to get the video. It is awesome and worth the price. Here is a trailer.
To order the video go here: Race Across the Sky
Its Thursday and you know what that means. That correct its Group Ride night. This evening it was very interesting I usually do not see may on the trails I ride until I reach “the alter” then everyone seems to meet up or as I like to say “they are coming out of the wood works”. This group ride I saw all types; the two guys who ride at a very slow pace but do not ever stop and rest; a proud dad and his 8 year old learning to ride to improve his BMX skills; a nice gentleman taking a young lady out for her maybe second ride at Redd Road trails, then there were two sights that really made me mad both were riders not wearing helmets. That is just the most stupidest thing I have ever seen a night ride and no head gear. If you happen to know or if you are reading this I always carry an extra pair with me feel free to just ask someone if you can not get one for yourself. Since I brought that up the Mountain bike community is by far the best I have seen in any group. Even during a mountain bike race if for any reason you stop most likely everyone who passes you will ask if you need help or is there anything “I” can do. I want to thank all of you mountain bike riders.
Thank you