Questionable Conditions

Mrs. Bigglesworth questions my taste in beverages.

Last night I did something a little out of character. I actually made a conservative decision about whether trail conditions would allow my Thursday night skills ride to happen. Of course, the decision was influenced as much by work conditions as by trail conditions. Things were very hectic and I spent most of the afternoon wondering if I would even get to leave at 5:00. I did, but I was exhausted.

I knew it had rained some during the night, but I didn't know how much and there were no trail updates on HMBA from anyone whose judgement I trust. It was overcast and windy and it the radar was showing a big blob of rain in the vicinity, so I decided to ride on the road rather than driving to BCSP and having the sky open up as soon as I got there.

Of course, despite the radar image, I got hit with about three rain drops my whole ride, but I found out later that the trails were pretty slick. I'd had a very specific plan about what I wanted to accomplish last night skill-wise and slickness wouldn't have helped it. Basically, I wanted to work on fine tuning some insights that I'd gained during last weekend's ride. I seem to clean most of the Hesitation Point and Walnut trails about 50% of the time, but I wanted to work on doing it a controlled manor, rather that my usual point-and-shoot method.

I'm also hoping to give Schooner Trace another shot sometime soon, but newer trails don't dry very well, so finding the right opportunity is hard. I've made the goal of clearing it before I leave for Pisgah, since I will need all of the skills I can get to make it through that race.

Anyway, last night was kind of a bust training-wise, because I just went out and spun around without doing much. My legs feel rested, so hopefully that will lead to a good performance at the Brown County DINO race on Sunday. I'm still feeling a little ambivalent about having to race at all-out cross country effort. I feel like I will definitely find some mojo on Sunday, but the question is how much, how soon, and for how long.