Back in the saddle

Managed to get in a couple more rides this week, after the Headwind Ride on Monday.

Tuesday I wanted to get in a few more road miles, but wasn't feeling up to the epic mileage (not really) being talked about for the Tuesday Swill Ride, so I decided to stop in Vienna on the way home from work and catch the W&OD into Falls Church and meet up with the SwillRiders for a "special guest appearance". I got to their launch point about 30 minutes early and hung around. Eventually the SwillRiders arrived and we hung out and BS'd for a bit before I headed back towards Vienna as they headed off towards DC. I put in about another 13-14 miles on that ride.

Wednesday, DT put together a MORE ride on his little piece of the Difficult Run/Colts Neck/Lake Fairfax/CCT trail. This loop is becoming the "where to ride if you don't feel like riding Wakefield/Accotink again" loop. The group of 9 of us (quickly reduced to 8 due to one guy not feeling comfortable with the trail's difficulty level) took off from the Reston Ice rink, made our way to Rt 7, then continued on the CCT until we ended up at the W&OD for a spin back to the cars. I think the total distance of the ride is around 7 miles, but I'm not sure. I was on the SS, so I didn't have a bike computer ticking off the miles as we went.

It was a great ride, and I was surprised to not feel 100% dead at the end. It's been a long long time since I've done a real, live mountain bike ride on the dirt. I think the last few rides I've done on the SS have been snow rides. And those were few and far between.

Sunday there's anoter ride planned that I hope I can make. It's the Old Crew ride at Gambrill State Park in MD. (I keep picturing it in my head like the old-guy baseball game that's played every year by former MLB guys, where all the old-fart, grey-haired, retired players come out and play a game at half-speed), but we're not that bad...yet ;). A bunch of us who frequently used to ride together (until life got in the way) are getting together for a really, really, really slow ride (at least I'm hoping it's slow!) at Gambrill. It will be good to see all of the old-skoolers again (minus Bob, who now lives a couple of states away in Atlanta, GA). I gotta get the FS out and tune her up a bit before tackling the rocky terrain of the park. I just hope life doesn't go getting in the way of my attending this one.