All Natural

Since returning from Asheville on Monday, this week has been relatively routine.  With TNT training over with for the summer, I am now searching for ways to get in my miles during the week when I would have normally been getting them in with the Team.

Being able to commute home has been a real blessing.  Once I leave the store, I am left with the decision of which route I want to take.  Ultimately there are an endless amounts of ways I could head but I usually stick to one of the main three.  The shortest is 21 miles and the longer of the three is 31 miles.  The route chosen for the day is usually determined by my energy levels and the amount of time I have before I need/want to be home.

Yesterday my legs were feeling quite OK when I left the shop.  The temps were already screaming into the triple digits but I wasn't concerned as I had packed an extra bottle for the trip home.  I decided I was going to take the longer route home and head up the Old Gun climb.  That was until, I started to hear a hissing sound coming from underneath me.

I found a low hanging tree to pull over next to which would provide a few minutes of shade and also a low hanging branch to make into a roadside workstand. A couple minutes in the shade to cool off with the sweat pouring down my face and I was back on the road kinda.  For whatever reason, I didn't have a full CO2 cartridge with me and the one I had only filled the tire up to a little more than halfway so I had to ride very gingerly in hopes of obtaining another flat.  And if I did get another I would at least be closer to whom ever I called to come get me.

A Green Workstand

By closer, I mean on the same side of the river because once I crossed the bridge I had the brilliant idea to climb Old Gun anyway.  My thinking was, if I am going to have to wait for someone to come get me, it would be nice to do it in the shade not the wide open where all I would be doing was baking my potatoes.  The climb went as to be expected and I pointed the bike for home.  A few cuts through neighborhoods I don't normally take got me home in a slightly shorter amount of time and all was well except now I had to correctly fix my tire and start chugging recovery drinks.  More commuting on tap as the ADK 540 is now just 2.5 months away.  Just gotta keep em spinnin!