We planned to pick up Diana and rally to the trailhead at Dauset, meeting John and Kat for a little two wheeled celebration of Georgia's mild climate. It's nice to live in a state where you know there will be at least one day a month of perfect riding weather, even in the dark months of winter. It's January but I was out today in shorts and a jersey, perfectly happy.
Our big plans almost got canceled due to a family tragedy, of sorts. My Mom's dog passed away, and we almost had to cancel the ride to offer familial support. Things didn't work out that way today, but I'm sure our support will be needed in the future. That sort of thing is never easy.
In the end, we left a little later than the rest of the gang and caught up with them on the trails, returing us to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress. Carrie was excited about the day and hoping for a good Dauset experience. Everytime we go up there, Carrie seems to have a bad day. She has been getting better steadily, but Dauset tends to throw more mileage at her than she's ready for, and manages to do it on a bad day. Everyone that rides knows all about bad days, they strike for no reason at all and can be very frustrating. After her glorious success at a first road ride, Carrie started out feeling confident about having a good ride this time.
We caught up with Kat and Diana at the pavilion and then conquered Fern Gully, part of Sandy Creek, The Huff n Puff Extension, and Brownlee. Carrie headed back to the pavillion then, and Kat, Diana and I rode some more. In the end, Carrie covered a solid 5 miles, riding some sketchy stuff and vicious hills, and had a good time doing it. I clocked about 7 miles and had a good time as well, despite some gunbo-thick mud in the low spots on the extension. One of the muddy spots looked so inviting that Carrie decided to stop for a quick mudbath, but continued refreshed with no ill effects.
A lot of what we rode today was on the race course for the 12 hour. I think that I'm in a little better shape than I was then. The climbs seemed easier today, in no small part because they weren't half way through a 10 mile lap, but still..... I think I'm still seeing an improvement, which is encouraging. I've managed to lose those 5 Christmas Cookie pounds, and I'm establishing a new weight goal. By the end of the summer, I'll be down to 220 pounds. That's 20 lbs away, and I think it's attainable, but I suspect it will be a slower process this time. I don't think I want to weigh less than that.
At least, I don't think that NOW.
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