Bring on Spring

Wow, the weather has been amazing lately.  I got in 2 solid rides this weekend, no where near where I need to be but its a start.  School has been pretty busy, only 4 weeks of classes left; it's pretty crazy... I have some sad news, I got my braces on this past week.  My teeth don't really hurt, its mostly my gums but I'm sure I'll get used to it before long.  I never thought I would be getting braces on at the ripe young age of 20, considering I had them in elementary and middle school, hmm...  Oh well.

So biking this week: I didn't get out during the actual week due to school work and play offs for flickerball.  Side note: Flickerball is an intramural sport here at school.  It is much like Ultimate Frisbee, but you use a football rather than a Frisbee.  Each squad has a team, so 40 teams overall, and right now my team has made the Final 4.  One more game until the Championship, but we'll see if that happens...

Back on track, biking.  So, I was super busy this week with school, briefings, appointments, labs, and flickerball, and didn't get out on the trails until Friday.  However, come Friday and Saturday I got some good rides in, along with two rides on the Falcon Trail last weekend that I didn't write about, oops.  This past Friday, I rode the falcon trail quicker than I ever had, about an hour and 30 minutes, and still had some energy at the end.  Comparing that with my hour and 45 minutes of a few months ago finishing completely exhausted, I'd say my weeks of conditioning down at the Gym did help quite a bit.

Yesterday I started on the Falcon Trail, then detoured back and around through Jacks Valley.  A very weird route, but I wanted to mix it up.  From there, I rode next to the train tracks until I reached the stadium, then jumped back on the Falcon trail to finish my 20 mile ride.  I downloaded an app called Map My Ride that marks my distance traveled, time, elevation and all of those sort of things.  This is the link that shows my map with all of that schnazz.  After 2 hours and 20 minutes, I climbed a total of 1,158 feet; not too shabby.

Now that the days are getting longer, I'll have more chances to ride in the afternoons after school.  Also, I'm starting to look for some bike lights to allow me to ride past sundown.  I will actually need a lot of night practice as more than half of the 24 hour race is in the dark...

I leave you with a picture of what the sun can do to your arm after just two hours, even if you're wearing gloves. Take care everyone.

Matt