Saturday, October 31, 2009

Back on the Road

On Saturday I went for a 3-3.5 hour ride that was, believe it or not, my first ride on the road since September 4. That means I went nearly two months without riding my road bike, which I think is longer than I've gone in at least four years.

Of course, that's not to say I haven't been riding. It's just that after I turned in my team bike, I didn't feel like reassembling my Ridley, so instead I've been riding my mountain bike. With a few exceptions back in September (notably, the Park City Point to Point, where I received the thrashing of a lifetime), I've been riding almost exclusively on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail during the week, and venturing on to Mueller Park (by way of North Canyon) on the weekends.

The primary result of all my time on the dirt (besides the fact that I could probably ride the BST blindfolded by now) is that I've achieved a level of marginal competence on the mountain bike. I've still got a long way to go, as I was reminded on a recent trip to California to ride with my brother and some friends, but I'm looking forward to spending more time on the singletrack next summer and breaking eight hours at the Point to Point next fall.

For the past two years, the start of November has meant the start of my training for the next season. This year, however, I have no desire to train. So instead I'm just going to ride, at least until the snow falls. Then, maybe I'll ski. Or maybe I won't. But I'll find something to do, and now that I'm back in the saddle I thought I should rejoin the blogosphere, too. So check back if you'd like. I can't promise that this blog will interesting, but I can promise that it will be here.