First rainbow of the spring. First bike ride of the spring.
Recent Snaps
Curious Beast
Not sure what to make of this beast. It looks well ridden and well loved, and that is the most important thing.
Trek 660 with a carbon fork. 1×9(?) drivetrain. Mountain bike shifter pod. Looks like old brake levers with the cable run under the bar tape.
Spring Dirt
Took off with Wil to Richmond for the first leg of his 200k pre-ride and course check. Met Greg for some dirt climbing. Wes White Hill, East Road and Taft Road in Huntington, then a sloppy ride down Dugway above the Huntington Gorge. Brutal cold headwind coming back north and east. I finished with ~50, steep climbing up Wes White and East Road. Firm dirt to start, sloppy to finish.
Met some folks taking the pets out for a stroll…
Good day out. Tough start, my quads were pretty sore from Friday yoga. After a caffeine break and some warm sun things got better. Blue blue sky and sun today… aside from the wind – perfect.
Saturday Snaps
Pugsley on the tracks and through the tunnel, scraping hardened mud caked fenders…
Spring
Seed starts are sprouting and growing. 360+ of peas, corn, beans, chard, watermelon, perennials, strawberries, and more. They are warm and cozy under artificial sunlight in our basement – as our garden is still under 6-8 inches of dirty frozen snow, with more to come – as we will be under a winter storm warning for Thursday and Friday. 6-12 inches of snow across northern Vermont overnight, more in the mountains. Sigh. The VT Champlain Valley 200k Brevet is April 9!
Spring Dirt
~65 miles with lots of spring dirt on stretches of the Fall Classic route. Frozen dirt in the morning, mud later in the day. ~3k in climbing, much of it in muck, which made for an interesting day. Eye freezing, ice cream headache headwinds pretty much everywhere.
The day started off well with my coffee and hoping for some warm sun, then 10 miles later a wreck on Poor Farm Rd. Crossed up the wheels as best I can figure going over some frozen ruts. Cut up my elbow and knee, didn’t rip the jacket or pants though. Shoulder and hip are sore today. Made my way out to the shoulder of the big mountain and climbed up to Irish Settlement Rd. Wheel stopping mud in some places – still tacky and walkable – but fender and brake clogging. Explored down Nashville and Stage Rd. and had to do a roadside fender cleanout and adjustment to get the rear wheel to turn. I was in the 32×30 quite a bit on the last stretch through West Bolton – fighting both the climb and the wheelsucking mud.
Ended the day @ On The Rise for lunch with the wife and little one who had visited the Vermont Audubon Center sugaring festivities earlier in the day. Blue skies + warm sun (when out of the wind) + and some nice dirt (when it was frozen!) = good day out.
Spring
Easy recovery spin on the first day of Spring. Quiet this morning in the woods – snow melting, some crust to ride, some mashed potatoes, some frozen post holed rattled your teeth out sections of bike path.
Currently we are under a winter weather advisory, with fluffy snow falling outside the home office window. 3-5 inches by tonight. Sigh. While I love the snow, winter fatigue has fully set in, and I’m looking forward to exploring some single track this year, as well as upping my fitness as I take on both organizing and riding our local brevet series this year.
Sunday… dirt?
Its early for regular Sunday Dirt postings – but on the return leg of a fairly flat out and back to the Champlain Islands Wil and I took to some dirt. Smooth, firm, and in great shape. ~80 miles to Hero’s Welcome and back. I’m cooked. Longest ride since last fall.
(click to see the hundreds of bird houses…)
High Water
Got out on the Pugs today to try my ‘normal’ off road morning loop. Snow was mixed from mashed potatoes to hardpack to just a dusting. I was running relatively high pressure @ 10 psi to make decent time on the paved and bike path connecting portions – which meant plenty of hike a bike in the mashed show full of footprints.
I had wanted to connect through the Intervale – but high water covered part of the farm road on my exit. I’d guess there was 30′ of 3′ deep water to cross – not something I was prepared to do… the nearby Winooski was inches from the tops of it’s banks.
d^2
