one or two passable extravagancies

You are in the grip of an obsession. How do you want to handle that? There are some ways it can not be a disaster. Chief among them? Riding that bike, the one that has all the parts on it right now and is in working order.

In this corner, I got back in the saddle on the cross/street bike (again, on account of how the rear wheel which is in the process of breaking has not fully broken...so it is not imperative that I fix it right this minute). Walked out the door and rode a blend of street and dirt to that one sweeping right hander into which a bushy and annoying oak limb has been intruding. For a couple years this branch has been pushing. Used to be, you would have to duck down to handlebar level and lean out over the washy, off-cambered downhill to avoid it and I was tired of that. Enough to finally remember and bring a tool to fix the situation. I used the small pull saw. Were you to ride that trail today, you wouldn't even notice work had been done and that is the sad mark of the PRO trail maintenance. It is slightly melancholy because there is nothing to show for all that effort. There is the improved ride, though.

Ripping downhill, with short bursts of steep climbing. Knee brace did some work.

I popped out onto some more street. I had stashed the saw in the woods so it was lots of unencumbered road climbing to those false summits, one after the other. I was not able to find the singletracks we have been speculating are over there. I was able to roll right offa that perfectly smooth and pitched asphalt downhill and onto the bumpy and steep dirt road which led in turn to the triceps hammering combination of trails down again. Street to home. That street/cross bike is such a fun ride. It's hardly a compromise anywhere! So fast. So thrilling.

I do enjoy riding from my door. I recognize that I am fortunate in living close enough to the trails that I can have that option, but I also figure it's a choice I make. We got lots of folks in the shop asking about "bicycle racks", and I start asking what they want to carry- only to find they are asking about "car racks for bicycles". That's a let down. I say, "if you have the opportunity, you should ride from your door", but what I mean is "you're probably blowing it." Sniff, if you must- but are you sniffing because you are lazy and uninspired or because you really do live more than a half hour's ride from the Goods? And I'm not talking about road trips, I'm talking about your local.


P.S. A gal came into the shop today and clued me in to a dirt road offa that other steeeeep climb that goes a place we want to go, with connections to other places. It falls to __ to hunt down those of the possible connections that are not only rideable, but enjoyable...because some of this terrain around here is too steep and rough to be fun.