Weekend of riding and flying

So this weekend I had a lot of fun! Saturday, I had to go into work for a while, as it was my duty week to be at the plant. Once that was over, the fun began. I hung around the house with Raine through the middle of the day, wanting to go riding but never could get away from the TV. TBS was playing a 24 marathon, and the back to back to back episodes wouldn't release me! I finally got away early afternoon to go finish my high-performance endorsement and checkout in the plane I'm flying now. We flew down to Eagle Lake and did a few touch and goes, then came back to West Houston for a few more, and Pat called it good. After that, I went up for a sight-seeing flight with a friend who is a partner in Pat's plane. Their plane is in the shop, but his brother was down from South Dakota for the holidays and he wanted to take him up to see the city and the coast. So we flew the I-10 corridor to the other side of town, then down along the coast for a little bit and then back up to West Houston. So I logged a couple hours time for the day. :) It was nice to fly the plane for a while without being worried about doing repeated touch and goes. Back at IWS I did my first night landing in a LOOONG time, but it was a pretty good one.

After church Sunday, Raine, Cotton and I drove up to Hunstville State Park for some riding. We met Dent, Kyle, and Lisa there. Raine had been sick all week and only lasted about 30 minutes before feeling bad enough to call it a day, so I took her back to the truck then took off around the trail backwards to find the others. I met them and finished the lap with them, and then we did another one. I was on my new 29er, and definitely enjoyed it. I'm liking that bike more and more everytime I ride it. It was much smoother through the roots than the rigid singlespeed was at the race!! Hopefully I'll get in another ride tomorrow on New Years Day, or maybe I'll do some more flying. Who knows, I've got the day off and I intend to make the most of it.

Raine Rides again!

I got a pretty good bit of riding in this weekend, really had a good time. It started Sat. morning at the Sugar Cycles shop ride, wheels rolling at 0735. After a flat(Shaun), a wreck(Dent), and riding at the back of the B group taking care of a rider, we finally made it back to the shop 31 miles later. I had to swap the stuff off Kyle's C29ssmaxes I'd been riding back onto my wheels, grab the demo bike for Raine, and then we were supposed to be up and outta there to head to the house for our MTB ride. Well that devolved into taking forever after Kyle offered up a bike that Dent was thinking of buying for him to take out and demo. We had to swap some components, which took forever, so we were over an hour late getting where we needed to be to meet up for the ride. But it all worked out, and we hit the road for Warda, TX to ride at Bluff Creek Ranch.
We all rode a lap together, with Raine back on the dirt for the first time in quite a while. I was really proud of her, she rode very well and impressed the heck outta Dent and I. She really liked the Safire FSR Expert Demo that Kyle let her borrow, she'd never ridden a full-suspension before and said it was way better than her hardtail. After we finished, Dent and I rode a fast lap and really had a blast. They have added a new little section to the trail that involves a new climb and reverses some old stuff, really spices it up a bit. I continue to love my new FSR 29er more and more. The ride is super smooth and the handling and traction are sweet!
Sunday we went out to Memorial Park to do a trail/urban ride. Raine and I met Dent, Katie, and Lisa. The trails were in much better shape than we expected, and we wound up riding just trails. Again, Raine had a great time and did great. Hopefully we can keep her riding regularly and she'll keep improving. She's been pretty focused lately on getting in shape to ride, and has even been sitting on the trainer at night! Hoping to take her to Huntsville this weekend for some more dirt.
Here you can see my bike and Raine's demo side by side. Kinda his and hers. Mine is obviously much larger and rolls on the bigger wheels, but their design and component spec is very similar. It's cool that Specialized puts good effort into their women specific bikes to match the caliber of the rest of their models.

Night Riding Improved

I went out for another night ride last night, it was much better than before. I've been taking my road bike out since I've been staying mostly on the pave, but last night I wanted to try my rigid singlespeed mountain bike. Worlds better. There's something much more confidence inspiring about a 29x2.3 knobby leading the way into the relative unknown of the darkness than a skinny little 700x23. I can't go as fast(probably a good thing at night) pushing the fat tires, but it doesn't really matter how fast I go, it's all about working out at the intensity and duration that I should be at this stage of training. The weather was very nice, temps right around 60 or so. All I wore special was a dry-fit undershirt and my arm warmers(probably could have done without these). I rode for about 2 hours and covered 30 miles. I rode the same route as last time, except I continued on past Eldridge all the way to the Beltway before turning around. I even threw in some dirt and spent a little time at the skate park. :) This is the kind of ride I need to be doing a few times during the week right now to get started with my fitness base. It could be a little longer, but I have to eat dinner and spend time with my wife and sleep sometime.

Night Ride

Went for a night ride last night on the road bike, could only get about 20 miles in. As the temps dropped into the 40's, the extremities started getting cold, and then one of my lights died. That will cause you to start feeling a bit helpless as you start to doubt getting back and wondering how cold you'll be when you get there. I need to start looking into some better lights and better cold weather gear if I hope to keep up my training and night riding through the winter. I know it will pay off, so I have to stay dedicated to it.
Here's the route, nothing too special, but a pretty friendly night route overall. Most was either well lit streets or almost empty bike paths. I did run into a few other riders out and about on the bike paths, though.

New Stumpjumper FSR 29er

Well, after hearing it was coming out, debating endlessly about whether to get it or the hardtail, placing the order, second guessing myself, waiting a couple months, and then second guessing myself again, my new bike finally arrived! The first ride was out at Rocky Hill Ranch, the site of the last TMBRA fall series race. I fell in love immediately. I was already turned-on to the 29" wheels from my MonoCog, but the rest of the bike was awesome, too. The suspension worked flawlessly, with the brain making it a very efficient jack of all trades bike. Going up, the rear end was firm and powerful, as well as soaking up the small bumps to keep traction going to the ground. At speed, the brain opens up and provides a super smooth ride through the roughest conditions. The handling was so natural, and only got better the faster I went. Basically, I love the bike and can't wait to get some more rides and races on it soon!!