Warm, Fall Afternoon Ride

The landscape is starting to look more fall-ish.  The colors aren't spectacular this year, but they are at that pleasing point of some leaves lacking chlorophyll and others still having it.  The sky was overcast today.  It was warm for fall - highs in the mid 70s.  If we have to give up summer for fall, I'll take this.

Today was my first ride on my Trek Domane since PBP.  It took a few weeks for it to get home from France.  Although it arrived right before my October brevet, I opted not to ride it then because I hadn't taken in on a test ride since it got home.  I was going to ride it once or twice since then, but it still needed a Wahoo mount put back on it.  Robert took care of that in time for me to take out the Trek today.  It was like buttah.

I was up for a longish ride and selected a route that would take me to Eatonton, about 50 miles total.  I headed south toward Hillsboro.

Yesterday I drove through Hillsboro and saw a great Halloween display at the Ben Hen School, which now is Hillsboro's civic center.  Today I rode an extra mile to get a photo.  You can't really tell here, but there are orange lights all over the logs - totally cute.

I backtracked a short distance to Fullerton-Phillips Road.  This is a great paved road that has little traffic.  A few miles later, a deer crossed my path about 18 inches from my front wheel!  It all happened so fast.  I heard some rustling in the woods to my right.  I had just picked up significant speed on a downhill.  A young buck darted in front of me.  Our eyes locked.  He practically tumbled across the road.  Neither of us intended such a close encounter.

A little more than halfway into my ride, Robert passed me.  He had ridden the route backwards, planning to turn around and join me when we met on the route.  I had in uptick in average speed for the rest of my ride as I drafted him.

Robert asked my how my Trek felt.  I told him it was so smooth!  He said no wonder - it was only my second ride on it since the super-duper tune-up before PBP.  I guffawed.

As we headed back toward Monticello on Glades Road, we passed a hunter on the side of the road.  He was applying camouflage paint to his face, using the side-view mirror of his truck.  Robert and I greeted him as we rode by.  Then, Robert commented that he didn't understand why the guy was using face paint for deer hunting.  (Firearm season for deer hunting opened last weekend.)  Face painting is more common for turkey hunting in the spring.  Also, this guy had a bright orange vest, which seemed to negate face paint.  Oh, well.  Robert said it was one of those things that doesn't do anything but is part of the tradition, like guys shaving their legs for cycling.  It made me think of congealed salad at Thanksgiving dinner.

Name something that doesn't do anything but is part of the tradition.

When we got home, I had ridden just over 53 miles.  Robert was at 49.9 miles.  He refused to ride his bicycle around our driveway for a lap or two to make it turn over to 50 miles.  However, he said I could ride his bike for him.  So, of course I did.  I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight knowing we left him at 49.9 miles.

The Dark Side

I've gone to the dark side.  Robert convinced me to get a mountain bike.  We picked it up at Bike Tech in Macon last Friday.  I took it for its first spin on Sunday afternoon in the Oconee National Forest in south Jasper County, where Robert has been working on the trails.  It is so beautiful there.

Some of the trails go right along the Ocmulgee River.  Last Saturday we got the first rain in over a month.  We sure did need it!  It probably even improved the trails where we rode on Sunday, making the few sandy sections more ridable.  Unfortunately, we also got a close-up view of Big Sandy Creek dumping a load of sediment into the Ocmulgee River.

We humans aren't very good land managers.

For now, I'm just getting used to how the bike feels.  The turning feels different from a road bike.  A lot of times I feel like I'm about to fall.  I have to let it go where it wants and not fight it.  I can take turns a lot more slowly than on my road bike.  Robert says he had the same sensations when he first started, but they go away.

My technical skills at the moment extend to going over roots that are about 5 cm high.  On Sunday I rode very non-aggressively, walking across creeks, up and down steep embankments, etc.  Overall, I had a good time, but I did get a little frustrated toward the end of the ride.  Robert encouraged me to keep at it, and it will get a lot more fun.  My intuition tells me he's right.

Isn't it handy that there's already a podium right near the river? :)

SEGA 5K (a.k.a. I'm a Cyclist, Not a Runner)

Running has never been as enjoyable or come as easily to me as cycling.  I ran cross country and track (1-mile and 2-mile events) in high school, intuitively knowing even then that I'm better at endurance sports than skill sports.  Back then I didn't know anyone who was into cycling for fitness or competition, and so running it was.

In recent years I have run only enough to manage a couple of 5Ks in the fall, the Southeastern Greyhound Adoption (SEGA) 5K in October and the Deer Dash, held in my hometown in November.  Typically, I start training in August, running once a week through the Deer Dash.  Then, with relief I give up running again until the next year.

Because of PBP, I didn't start my running training until September this year.  Maybe I needed that extra month of training in August.  Maybe my focus on endurance cycling for PBP has made it harder to reactivate my running muscles.  Maybe I'm just getting older.  Maybe all three.  Whatever the reason, I wasn't at my usual level of running fitness going into the SEGA 5K yesterday.

Even so, it was worth it.  One of my great loves besides cycling is my greyhounds.  This is why I run.  Or attempt to run.

Fleetwood, me, and Allie

The SEGA 5K is the biggest fundraiser of the year for our group's greyhound adoption program.  It's such a fun event.  A lot of greyhound club members bring their hounds to the race to cheer on the humans.  They greyhounds don't run; after all, they are retired.  Each human runner is paired with one of the greyhounds at the race, making them "running mates."  This is also a reference to part of the greyhound training process at the racetrack.  When a young greyhound is beginning its training, it is paired with an older greyhound who helps teach the youngster the ropes.  The greyhound running mates at the SEGA 5K is one of the most popular features of the race.

I always take my greyhounds to be running mates.  A volunteer holds them for me while I run.  At least, that's the usual procedure.  It didn't happen that way yesterday.  My buttocks ligament had already been sore from getting back into running the last few weeks.  Before the 5K started, I got tangled up in Allie and Fleetwood's leashes and really pulled it.  So, I made a last-minute decision to walk the 5K and take Allie and Fleetwood with me.  We enjoyed the beautiful morning.

Fleetwood pulled hard on his leash to start.  He wanted to run!  Especially when a wiener dog passed him.  I told him we both had to let our ego go because we were just walking this one.  Even so, I think Fleetwood got a complex from being beat by the wiener dog.

After about a mile, Allie and Fleetwood started slowing down.  I stopped so each could get a cup of water at the halfway turnaround point.  We kept going.  I was having to pull on their leashes a bit.  They were tired, but the exercise was probably good for them.  I simply slowed my pace to accommodate them.

I hope I never finish a 5K that slowly again, but I still had a lot of fun.  Besides, the whole point was to support the greyhounds.  From that standpoint, it was a smashing success!

When I got home, I decided to go for a bicycle ride.  I definitely made the right call in not running after I pulled my buttocks ligament, but I still wanted a decent workout for the day.  (Walking 5K didn't even get my heart rate up.)  I rode some dirt roads.  I could feel a little tightness to start, but I think the cycling actually helped.

While I was riding, I remembered that someone at the 5K recommended taking aspirin or Tylenol.  I found some aspirin when I got home.  I don't take medicines unless I absolutely have to - to the point that I forget that sometimes a simple painkiller is appropriate and effective.  A short time later, probably thanks to both the ride and the aspirin, I felt pretty much back to normal.  I'll still give it a few days before I run again, though.  Gotta get ready for the Deer Dash now!

By the way, unlike in cycling, I don't think a picture has ever been taken of me smiling while running.

Definitive proof that running is barbaric.