two and out

April 7 – Headed down to Raystown early in the AM for more stumbling around in the woods. Once the work day was done and we had met up with Bill Blythe, the Sewco hired gun, I jumped on the bike for my first spin on the Raystown circuit. Shuey! Those are going to be some fun trails once they are broken in. The down hills were sweet, but the ups were a slog as the ground was super soft after a winter of frost heaves. There is also a ton of blow downs making the riding a little stop and go. Hopefully I’ll be able to do something about that in a few weeks. 1 and a half hour ride.

April 8- Day two at Raystown, and I figured on trying out the trails that we are replacing, the Old Loggers Path. IF by logger’s path they meant skid road, then yep, they got it. The decent from the trail head to the lake was fun in that teary-eyed fire road sort of way, but getting back out was not so sweet. The fire road on the other side was ok until it turned into a swamp, then a side option I took alternated between muck and steep, with plenty of winter deadfall to turn up the suck factor. Did I mention I was racing sunset too? 1 hour and not much more on the bike.

April 9 – I finished at Raystown at about 6pm and planned to do a night ride, only to get home to an oddly empty carport. There was no Single speed where I had left it and also no Nite Rider light, as it was on the now missing IF. Crap. So not only did I end my streak I also potentially was out a few grand. Double crap.

Epilogue – My IF was recovered by a couple of my shop mates, Andy and Tim, playing the role of bike vigilantes. The bike still had everything on it, including the light. My favorite part of the story was Andy (always Mr. Nice Guy) offered the kid a ride since he wasn't going to be leaving on the bike. Its now April 16^th and I have missed a few days, but I think I am going to try and keep it all rolling into May. We’ll see if I can do something 42 in 45 or something equally silly.