Cow Poop, Hunters and Fall Rides

I managed to get out on two rides this weekend.  Nothing epic.  No crashes.  No trash talking with Lance Armstrong.  Not even another rider to ride me off their wheel.

Just two nice jaunts on the cx bike I slowly put together, and finished up a couple of weeks ago.

This past week I convinced myself that I wasn't going to be able to get a pair of mountain bike shoes off of the random chance flea market that is EBay, and, I didn't want to wait for a shipment from England, so, I headed down to Gears, my LBS.

Actually it was a pretty good experience 'cause I got Scott helping me out.  At first he seemed to think I was an experienced rider, but a casual, "I suck" and a "I can't afford that" quickly told him that carbon was not in my future.

This weekend was the first time in ages I've ridden out in the country, and the first time ever that I rode off-road, even if it was just for 15 minutes or so.

My wife happened to be going for a run at the same time as I was heading out so she captured the pictures of my tentative steps to riding on knobby tires and grass.

  

I learned that cow pastures do in fact have cow poop in them and that they're minor obstacles to be avoided.  Either they're too hard, or too soft.

 

I then headed out on the rest of my ride down the back roads of Lanark County.  Please pay special attention to the Briko sunglasses from 1992 and the Sugoi "Big Bear Loppet" cycling jacket from the same era.  My two favorite pieces of gear.

Along the way, actually on my slightly longer Sunday ride, I encountered some hunters, who were clearly up to no good. They were parked, dressed day-glow orange, along the side of the road, and eyed me warily as I approached.  At that moment it struck me that my coughing and irregular pedaling had perhaps sounded like a rutting deer as I rounded the corner.

They were still there as I came back 30 minutes later, waiting, perhaps for a cyclist with a more expensive bike to come along.

Fortunately I was not shot, nor run over, despite my mother's reassurances that I would become a trophy on a redneck's wall, dressed as I was in my dark garb and not the locally popular orange hue

Comments

[T]

How was the bike?

[Rob]

The bike is pretty good overall. I need to tweak the rear derailleur a bit to fix up the shifting, and I was noticing the old wheels a bit. With a slightly longer stem itll be perfect. In many ways I prefer it to my road bike, especially the shifters.

I need to work on jumping back on the bike. My couple tries were a disaster.