When "Last Call" Doesn't Mean "Last Call"...

It's been awhile.  Let's get caught up.

First of all, it's been a lot of fun getting out on the mountain bike since the race season wrapped up for me.  Still go out and pound on the pedals hard, but the goal isn't to maintain or improve race conditioning - it's been because I want to go fast.  That's OK with me.  Ride frequency has dwindled down to just once a weekend, usually for little more than an hour.  Taking more time to relax; get caught up on Top Gear episodes, check in on various college football games, NBA and it's three-ring circus (The Miami Heat) has officially started.  My boys of Manhattan (and your Coaches' pick for Big 12 #1) begin their basketball season tonight with an exhibition game versus Newman College (huh?).  There's two seasons up here in the mountains:  Summer and Winter.  And it's officially Winter now.

Not much biking left to be had this year, methinks...

Two weeks ago, I went for a quick ride up Boneyard and down Redneck Ridge right behind my house, an intermediate-level 7-mile singletrack loop through the pinions, junipers, and western Colorado scrub.  Literally starts a block from my house, and finishes a half-block on the other side.  Sunny, 55F, no wind...absolutely perfect.  Well, aside from bothering the hunters up on the top of the trail...but whatever.  My trail...not theirs.  I wanted to grab one last ride, because the weather was supposed to turn ugly, and I didn't want to miss "last call".  When I pulled back into the garage at the end of the hour quickie, I was completely content with that being my last ride of 2010...because it reminded me why I ride:  FUN.

We had a gnarly snowstorm come through the area this last week, dumping as much as 20" at some of the ski resorts, and pretty much blanketing the rest of the area with several inches of the white stuff.  But that weather moved through, and by the end of the week, it was sunny and back in the 50s during the day again.

So this last weekend, I had a "oh, what the hell" moment.  After a long and stressful day, I hopped on the bike for no particular reason from a spur-of-the-moment decision and rode the Boneyard/Redneck loop again.  Boneyard is mostly on the northern side of the ridge, so snow was still hanging around in some spots, and the rest of the trail was pretty darn muddy.  Been awhile since I went out and really got sloppy.  When I pulled back into the garage at the end of the hour quickie, I was again completely content with that being my last ride of 2010...because it reminded me why I ride:  FUN.

Me and Spidey went and slogged through the mud for a while.

As a side note, I'm now convinced that God enjoys mountain biking.  Every time one of us throws a leg over our trusty steed (or one of our trusty steeds, in my case) and take off up into the hills, amongst the trees, picking lines through rocks and roots and plowing through piles of moondust - God smiles down on us.  It reintroduces perspective.  I've had a number of difficulties recently with various things - congregation at church, co-workers at the office, etc.  But when I walked back into my house that afternoon after getting all muddy and having a blast, my mind was completely serene.  None of that stuff mattered anymore.  Which led me to the epiphany above.

So here we are, the first couple days of November, and it looks like the sun is supposed to stick around and keep things on the nicer side for the rest of the week.  Planning a trip to Fruita for this coming weekend...hopefully it's not "last call".  But if it is, I'm OK with it.  After all...the bar will open again.