2009.01.12 First Bike Ride of the Year.
January 16th, 2009
Almost 2 solid weeks into the year and I had not ridden my bike (recreationally) even once. Last year, at least I got out on New Year’s Day. (Though in my defense, I was not in town and with my bikes on NYD).
So I got out for a little spin on the twelfth. Finally. I didn’t have in mind a route, but I was somewhat limited in time. Being that I get done with work at 3:30 (conveniently) and it’s not dark until 5:30 or 6, I figured I could play for a while. I did. I rode sections that (to my knowledge) do not have names yet, and on to what I call “The Junkyard.”
Beavers clearly got a hold on a few trees out in this area beside the “lake” (barely a lake, but bigger than what I call a pond). It’s pretty cool seeing their work. But then, beavers, why cut a tree and leave it? I guess they’ll get around to it. Wonder why they cut 1-2 feet up off the ground, too. I put my hand in one of these for scale. Beavers are determined little creatures. I wouldn’t care to chew through a tree, thank you very much.
It was pretty uneventful. It was very fun, though. It helped me realize how out of shape I have gotten — something that needs to be fixed post haste. A secondary goal for the “first ride” was to get some good in-the-woods pictures of my bike. Which I did:
That’s a 2005 Scott Scale 10 (frame)… Technically the “10″ specifies the build as well, but in this case, I built the bike from ground up. So it’s a “10″ in a sense, but in reality, not really. Having said that, the parts I chose are at least as good as stock Scott Scale 10′s. 
I have only about 100 miles on the bike as of now, and I love it. I have been through bikes, and never got comfortable, but this is not the case with the Scale. It’s just right.
One of my goals after a pitiful performance last year (about 2500 total miles) was to do something like a Century a month. The goal was never too specific, or set in stone, or anything. And these early months of the year, an organized century might be hard to find (but we’re close enough to Florida…) Even so, training would prohibit that.
So I’ll hope to make it up later in the year. Let’s say average a century a month. Any takers (even for the trips?)? I would merely ask for help in planning.
Sidenote: I’m still getting worked out how I want to display pictures and whatnot. This is not exactly how I want it. We’ll see. And I just noted that the rss displays the images differently than the site. Will work on.
Filed under: Canon SD870, Photography, design, mountain biking