I need to apologize for such an odd day for a post. I wanted to let the world know about my ride at Fort Custer on Thursday evening and this is the first chance I have had to spill my thoughts....
Thursday the weather was awesome. I left work and headed right to Fort Custer. I had decided earlier in the day to try the MMBA group ride that heads out every Thursday. I took off on a lap by myself before the group ride. I headed out for my red to blue to red loop. It comes out to just over 12 miles. I head down the blue loop because there are two decent climbs added in and about 3 miles or so of extra dirt. The plan was to ride 30 miles to complete a 'Dirty Thirty' ride. As I rode back into the trailhead after the first loop I started to see people from the MMBA ride. I refilled my bottles and talked to a few of my new friends. After talking to them for a while I got the itch to ride solo for my remaining 18 miles. I don't know why, but I like riding solo right now. I am still progressing and getting faster, and I don't ever let anyone down when I am by myself. One of the guys made a very good point....he said "you won't get any faster unless you ride with faster people". I understand that concept, but I feel bad when people have to wait for me. I am getting faster, but not even fast enough to hang with the slow group. They drop me, then when I catch up after they stop for a rest....they take off again.....leaving me in alone anyway. So, I took off alone for 18 miles to suffer in agony by myself.
The second loop was interesting. I rode 18 miles without touching a foot down. Cleared the switchback on the green. Cleared the nasty rooty climb, and anything else the trail had for me. I was glad to be riding by myself because I got really tired over the last 5 miles. I reached my goal of 30 miles, but I lost a lot of time on the second lap because....well....I am slow and overweight. Overall I managed to keep my pace well above the average I carried last year. I know where I stand and what I need to do.
Wildlife.......and an interesting offer?
I did see some different wildlife on my ride. I saw some deer, a live chipmunk, a dead chipmunk (which appeared to be murdered by an unsuspecting mountain biker), a raccoon, and a duck. The interesting offer made me laugh for about 15 minutes. It was very unassuming, and I know I took it the wrong way....but it made it WAY funnier. Towards the end of my ride I turned to head back to the end of the red loop for distance. This portion of the trail is called 'Crazy Beaver'. The story is that a beaver built a dam in a lake....with no river present....hence...Crazy Beaver. As I was entering this section of trail I noticed a guy and what I assumed to be his wife or girlfriend stopped at the turn off. As I approached the guy smiles and says "Crazy Beaver?" with a slight amount of excitement in his voice. He was also pointing to my right, which was the way I would be turning......and precisely where his female companion was standing. So, my question was this "was he offering me a ride on the trail.....or describing something else?" I can't help smiling right now thinking about it....and wondering just how far in the gutter my mind is......
....maybe this was one of those 'you had to be there' moments.......
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