September 9th (Morning)

For a minute this morning, I thought I was going to get a sunny ride to work. Amazing how much more light it is when the sun peaks through the clouds! However, even though the cloud cover is light and I am assuming it will dissipate pretty quickly this morning, I didn’t get any sun during my ride… Oh well!

I met up with the female commuter again just at the trailhead coming out of Juniper (first met up with her on July 30th). This time I rode with her ‘till Rose Hill where she went up the road and I went straight. Apparently she says she goes up and then across and then down through Peterson’s Creek into downtown. She says she tries to at least “make a ride out of it” rather than just going straight there. I always am unsure as to what to do when I catch people like this. Do I ride with them? Do I keep going? Am I being rude, or a show off, to just say “Hi” and blast by them? Anyways, it only added maybe a couple of minutes to my ride so no big deal.

The trails were in great shape with the rain yesterday and last night. The sand pockets were firmer and easier to ride through. I didn’t make the one down-and-up dip in the single-track like I did yesterday, though… I also didn’t make the west bank out of the creek! In fact, it was a pitiful effort, as I completely screwed up my line going through the creek and bounced over a few rocks which sent me totally wrong up the bank… I really need to concentrate on the right line on this bank. Miss it by a couple of inches, and it makes the difference between a good effort (and possible a successful one) and a pitiful, hide-my-face-in-shame effort!

I did notice my heart rate was close to the max a couple of times today, and I didn’t feel as good on the hills. This afternoon I won’t be riding home, as ACS is having a golf game/dinner/meeting from 11am to 9pm! Yikes! So, that should be a blast (the golf part, the meeting I’m sure will be whatever…). I hope to maybe come back up her after the meeting to pick up the bike so I can ride in the morning, but if not I’ll leave the bike at work and probably take a bus in the morning.