It's Monday morning. By the time we got back & done with dinner & shower & such, it was 11:00 and I didn't have it in my to sit down and write this. I'll recap real quick.
Woke up in the Ascutney Airbnb at 6am. Made coffee, mulled around briefly, then Alex was up to make pancakes. Ate pancakes, cleaned up, packed, and we were out the door by 7:45, just off the stated goal from yesterday of 7:30.
Didn't sleep as much as the night before. My jaw was hurting just a bit more. And I had a headache that was nagging me, and my bag with my allergy meds had disappeared from the previous day. Not a great start. I pounded it with coffee but that didn't seem to help.
Got to Thunder by 7:30 and pulled in behind
@Robin. Said hellos and such, then took a while getting ready as the sun made its presence known. It was going to be a hot day today.
There was a college DH event, maybe some ECCC thing? So the place was pretty mobbed. I am not well-versed in this, so the wait was far greater than anything I have ever experienced, which made it really hard for me to get in a groove today. I was also on the Scalpel, which is not the right bike for this place. I had mounted a new rear tire on the RIP last week. But like literally everything to do with that POS bike, it didn't work and the brand new Stans valve was leaking. I am so done with that bike, and shit not working. Everything I do with it is like, forgive the analogy, pulling teeth. So I brought Ted instead.
Wrong choice. Did I mention this bike has a bald rear tire and no brakes left? It works for 99% of New Jersey. And at Ascutney, it wasn't perfect but it was fine. Today it wasn't ideal. See the headache comment above. I had deliberated renting a bike. But it seemed like too much effort so I skipped it. In hindsight, I should have rented.
We did 7 runs in all, stopping after #3 for lunch at the lodge, where I ate a veggie burger which tastes yummy. I felt better for 1 run after that, but shortly after fell into my half-assed riding style of the day. I think on run #6 things clicked a bit more after I slowly went ass over tea kettle on Harold's Ramis (whatever it's called) and just got pissed at the bike and started riding it like I DGAF if it broke in half. I just slammed it into everything, regardless of what that anything was.
Thunder was a learning experience on myself yesterday. I was lazy in many regards in the paragraphs above. And my skill/experience/fitness was not able to cover that yesterday and I paid for it by not having as good a time as I could have. I'm glad we went, because this is an itch we've been meaning to scratch for 2 years. But now I know the next time I do this, I need to be better prepared.
Also, not to be totally downplayes was that my jaw pain was back for most of the day and I had a lingering headache from waking up to going to bed. Fall allergies I suppose.
Then we hopped in the car, stopped at a coffee shop where I got "chocolate bread" which is a Massachusetts euphemism for "cake made in a bread pan" and drove back to NJ with a stop in NY to get our car at Alex & Mark's.
We love these weekends, and this one was no different.
@2Julianas and
@MurderBort are always great companions and this is another great trip in the books with them. I look forward to their future purchase of a suburban with a tow trailer, so we can bring 8 bikes and a maid/butler with us. I also look forward to the next trip we have planned, the long Thanksgiving weekend with them out in Pittsburgh. That should be fun. And I'll make sure my bikes work properly. Well, unless it snows, in which case we will be bringing skis & snowshoes.
Ok, the bell is ringing. Tea & oatmeal are done. Time to start the Monday.
Mark got bumped to another lift this cycle, so it's just the 3 of us here.