It was a Dark and Drizzly Day

Today has been dark, dreary and a very recognizable prelude to winter. It's fine though, we all need some down time, and when the weather is good it is hard to let a day get by without squeezing as much activity out of it as one can. Today there was no cycling as it was spent entirely with The Little Man honing a different aerobic activity, walking. Yes The Little Man perfected walking over the course of a dark, dreary and rainy day.

We really need days like this to take time to think about and to appreciate the simple things. Like the overwhelming joy of fatherhood and the love and security that family and friends provide. I also reflect back to all of the spring, summer and fall mountain bike trips that occurred this past year. In January, Florida presented great weather for the Tour de Felasco, the usual cold and rainy March offered a great warm spell and a quick trip to Dahlonega. April brought nice warm, sunny, dry skies for innaugural Dirt Sweat and Gears 12hr competition, May was spent in Sedona and Flagstaff and you guessed it the weather was great. Every trip to the Ocoee area this summer was met with great weather. Every single day trip to Sewanee, Racoon Mountain, Oak Mountain or Nashville was met with dry, and sunny weather, every single trip this whole year was dry and sunny.

I know we need rain, and I want rain, but I have gotten used to this dry sunny weather and I like it, I like it a lot. But the drought we have been in and are still in has not been good for many in the southeast. As much as I want a mild, dry winter I will pray for a cold wet one, winter that is.

The Old Man and the Sleet

Not only is this Thanksgiving weekend, this is my old amigo Alberto's birthday weekend. In cyclisitc honor of both of these sacred events we decided to head out for a spin around our local trails of Monte Sano. Being that we celebrated Alberto's birthday last night the old man requested an early afternoon start for our off road assault on slippery, rocky leaf covered trails. Even starting at noon thirty was still cold, but not for long as the the rocky, slick climbs soon warmed us up. Before we were done we had sleet mixed with rain falling from the sky. This foray begins our training for the much anticipated Tour de Felasco in Florida. By training I really mean riding around cold and anaerobic so we don't feel so guilty about eating and laying on the couch the rest of the day.

Tour de Felasco, what the hell is that?

The Tour de Felasco is a 50 mile mountain bike eco tour in central Florida. Florida? Mountain biking in Florida? No way Jose. You would be surprised, last year was my first year to participate in this great event and it kicked my baggie shorts wearing ass. There was actually some climbing, which I did not expect being Florida and all. My fitness was about where I expected it to be considering it was January and with "The Little Man" arriving just 3 months earlier I knew I was not in top form. Come to think of it, I can't ever remember being in top form, but that's ok, I like to suffer. And after the first 20 miles of off road, mountain bike bliss in supposed flat as a pancake Florida, suffer is what I did. While dragging my ass very slowly around for 50 miles in in beautiful live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, I had a chance to look at a lot of bikes and noticed quite a few singlespeeds passing me. Late in the ride I hear somone call my name from behind, which surprised me because I was so used to hearing "On Your Left" I thought the person was speaking in toungues. Anyway it turned out it was New Kid, who used to work in a shop back home in Huntsville. He said hello and attempted to begin the normal conversation of how have you been and so on, but I was unable to speak at this point as we had just encountered smore more of the non-flat trail secttions of the flat fitty miler in Florida. Soon he too uttered the familiar phrase "On Your Left" and was to be seen no more until the end of the ride.

The end of the ride which was some 6 hours after the start of the ride could not come quickly enough for me. I had expected the photographers, band, Wifey, The Little Man and various papparazi to greet me about 5 hours after the start but my fitness hampered the whole damn schedule. Wifey and The Little Man were waiting, not really patiently, for me at the finish, New Kid was nice enough to tell them he passed me a while back and that I was still struggling to make the finish. The finish felt good and even got to see and hang out with Tinker Juarez for a while, he was accompanied by his wife and their newest addition to the family as well. Fatherhood was the only thing I had in common with Tinker at the event. My riding style and his riding style are totally different. Think scary fast vs painfully slow.

That was early 2007, as the year progressed I have been able to get some miles in my legs. Going into this winter I am riding more and eating less, hopefully I will not put on too much holiday weight and will hold on to some semblance of shape for the ride in January and will be off to a good start for the 2008 season. At least I will be starting the year off right riding with my good friend Alberto and participating in a fun event in a warmer climate.