A mish mash of gut bombs, that guy, and riding

I'm getting lackadaisical about writing in my blog. Damn, I've gotten good rides in, decent things to talk about, and occasionally some free time to write, but the motivation has been lacking to put keyboard to screen. Shoot, I even spent a bunch of money on new gear. I think maybe losing my money clip last week kind of shot my enthusiasm in the ass partially. Its just a pain to have to work about replacing everything. To date, I think I'm about 80% whole in getting things put back in place that were lost. In any case I digress.

We hit another work day at Summerset last weekend. All told there were 30+ of us out there which was awesome to see. I kinda sorta volunteered to lead a crew through the Riverside trail doing clearing and cleaning. All was well until we got to a couple areas that none of us were sure where the trail went so we lost a few minutes tracking the correct line down and then getting it cleared. We made it through all but roughly 1/4 mile that includes some new routing that will need to be dialed in the last work day. Other than that, it was wide open and flowy. Fast isn't quite the word as it definitely needs some burn in and is suffering from various sand deposits that rob your forward momentum. After we broke for lunch it was time to roll the full course. I was a bit apprehensive considering Fuller and I's last time rolling through seemed pretty damn tough. All in all, it went much better with all the work that has been done and I cleared all but a couple of the climbs without much problem. It'll be a good workout for sure come race day.

Tuesday I had TNWC on the brain and while I was out replacing some items from my money clip, I opted to hit Panchero's for lunch. All in all, the burrito was damn tasty, but the shell was definitely undercooked per my definitely. Nothing like having to peel the burrito shell off your teeth while eating. A couple hours later as I was thinking more and more about riding my bike, I began to realize the burrito had indeed become a gut bomb. Uggh, it just was sitting in there like a rock that refused to move. For the most part I ignored it and got on with the ride. I made it north of Ankeny again as the pack was mostly just cruising until a truck cut us off and we pretty much all hammered our brakes. As soon as that happened, the pack fired up and took off. I couldn't get my legs to make any response and was out the back just like that. I kept my head together and rode hard the rest of the way home and felt like I got a worthwhile ride in, but I still need to figure out how to dig deeper when I need it.

Wednesday signalled the return to dirt in the form of the Taco Ride. I somehow found myself designated as the ride leader which is ok by me, but meant that I should at least feel some sense of responsibility for getting everyone through the lap and back home. We had a new guy named Matt that was in town from Indianapolis show up so I definitely wanted to make sure he didn't get lost as we wound our way through. I found myself in a new position as we worked through Denman's. Lou and I were cruising along, at a decent pace but not killing it, and I suddenly found myself being "that guy". The guy I used to always be chasing. The guy that was off the front and seemingly just having it on cruise control. Don't get me wrong, I've still got plenty of, "those guys" to chase Pete, Lou, Squirrel, Kyle, etc, etc, but it was interesting changing perspective for a bit. We looped Denmans, Squirrels next, had a beer break courtesy of Sammy at the firepit, rolled Rhythm, Hillside, Rollercoaster, and then a reverse lap of Denmans before calling it good enough. Some beers, stories, and tacos later, we split out of Gif's and called it a night.

I'm finally getting to a happier place at work. The looming deadlines and schedules that have hung like thousand pound weights are beginning to be passed and lifted one at a time. One more small push to the end of the month and things will be done on this project and I'll be onto the next big thing. Its nice knowing that things are wrapping up at least on one project.

Home life is also shining more and more. Our daughter turns 3 years old in a few short days. Its hard to believe. I never knew you could love something so much and at the same time, sometimes in the same instant, be totally driven insane by it. Yup, sounds like love to me. I can't wait to see how much she grows in the next year. Most days, its hard to believe she's only 3.

I'm focused right now on next weekend's Bone Bender 6 hour race in Missouri. Beyond the nervousness of having never ridden the course and seeing that the course map shows 1200 feet of climbing per 11 mile lap, I'm actually relatively calm about it. I'm just planning to go, put in a good solid effort and see where things shake out. I'm mostly interesting in seeing if I can find some things that work to keep me going for that many hours in a row. I've got some plans to take a few additional nutrition choices with me that I hope to try. My long term goal is to make a passable effort for the Boone 24 hour race as part of a 2 man team.