Hartshorne & Huber: A Bike Ride
Continuing with the theme of "Let's ride outside," I decided last night that I was going to hit the Double H combo this morning. I'd take off when the kids took the taxi (D) to school, ride for 2 hours, then see where the day left me. I sent
@rottin' a text asking him for a loop and he drew me this:
The drive down here is really a haul, in total it took me an hour to get there. If this park were 4 miles away from the house like CR is, I would probably ride there all the time. But as it's so far away, I get down here every year or 4, depending on the decade. Actually, Strava says I have ridden here 3 times ever. 2007, 2016, and today. I guess I need to get out of the house more.
It was cold this morning, colder than it's been but once I got rolling it was a non-issue.
You will note the map above does not outline how to ride Huber and in what direction. When I asked Brian what to do there he said something like, "Ride it all, it's 5 miles." So I went blindly across the way and headed into the woods, in the process passing a guy on a unicycle. At some point some dude was coming out of the woods and I asked if he knew the place. He said yes so I asked if I could follow him. He said sure, and his name is Tom.
Fast forward 2 hours and I did the rest of the ride with Tom, who it turns out knows Mandell & Ross Anderson, and knows
@Mitch only by his Strava name. He's a H2/Allaire regular but often rides off hours, like today. He was free all day so he gave me a full tour, doing all of what Brian sent me and then some, since I told him I wouldn't be back this year. I guess maybe I should come back more often? IDK, it was fun. But like I said, really far away.
Loop here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/2282241907/overview
Conditions today were perfect, and when I say perfect I mean it may be about as perfect as dirt gets anywhere in the world. The place is really a lot of fun and would be a total destination if it weren't for the sporadic hell-climbs that litter the park. I think D would love it here, but you'll be cruising along and a really shitty, washed out climb will punch you in the face. It's nothing impossible but it certainly breaks up the flow a bit. Having said that, I may try to get her out there this year, especially if Brian invites us over for a ride and a BBQ one day. No pressure.
Tom was a great tour guide as he took the thinking out of the equation for me. It's always good not to have to look at the map when you're out there.
After the ride I took a cruise over to
Rook Coffee, which is a place that
@Santapez recommended. Turns out there are a few locations down here. I had a 1:00 conference call so I decided to hit this place up, grab a bite to eat, get some coffee, work a little bit, then drive home during the conference call. As it turns out...
1. No espresso
2. No place to sit
3. Almost nothing to eat
The coffee was fine, if not a tad light for my tastes. It was supposed to be a pour-over but it took them 30 seconds to make it. I'm happy to see places like this popping up, as it gives you much better choices than Starbucks or DD for coffee. But I probably won't go out of my way to stop here again because it's not somewhere I can get work done. I took my backpack with me, as I figured I might be out until it was time to get the kids. Instead, I drove home and took the call at home.
I grabbed a coffee for the road.
Zwift
I still rode Zwift 9+ hours last week, out of a total of 16 on the week. As such, it was somewhat imperative to ride my bike somewhere other than the basement. I can't say enough good things about the smart trainer and Zwift. In the last year I have probably done 300 hours inside and it's why I'm able to just walk out the door and drop 60 miles on a Sunday then ride a double Monday and then a double Tuesday and then drill 2 hours Wednesday and then ride 20 miles at H2 this morning.
But I'm tired. I felt every ounce of those 205 pounds going up those goddamn hills today.
Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to sway anyone who isn't into it. I mean that's not really my intention. Just clarifying that it's really just hard to keep doing 2-3 hours a day inside for 3 months straight.
