......keep those doggies rolling

Time to catch up. I’ve had a few busy days followed by some tired evenings. I’ve been lucky enough to have some flexibility in my work schedule the past couple weeks so that I could get a couple extra days off this week. Erin’s parents, who also happen to be Haley’s babysitter during the week, have gone vacationing to the OBX this week. So I’ve been watching The Little Woman the past two days. We’ve been having a great time. I also knew that I’d get a little time to finally get out and spend some good quality time with my road sled.

Sunday I rode down to my sisters for an awesome grilling fest. I spent a lot of time climbing. I did the Lewisberry Rd climb, Bull Rd, and Crone Rd during that ride which by the finish I ended up with 4682ft of climbing in 45.5 miles. Now keep in mind, the way my GPS calculates elevation gained is sorta misleading. I could do a 40 mile ride that had a 1% grade from start to finish, which essentially is flat as anything, but I’d still have elevation gained. At any rate, there were some big climbs along with lots of little rollers all throughout. The weather was very nice for a hard ride like this. Mid-60’s. Crone Rd is a ball-buster. The grilled chicken was yummy.

Monday Haley and I drove down to LM to hang with my Ma. She watched TLW while I ventured towards old riding haunts in The Pigeon Hills. Why are they called that anyway? 42.5 miles and 3677ft of gain. High Rock Rd just north of Hangover was the highlight of this ride. I helped my Ma dig up an old cluster of ornamental grass and measured some stuff for a little work I’m going to do in a few weeks. Then we headed home just in time to meet the Wifey after work for some pizza.

Today me and TLW hung out more. We spent some quality bonding time. Around 2pm I drove her in to hang with her mother for the final 2hrs of work. I wasn’t planning on that but either Erin really missed her or she doesn’t trust me watching her for an ENTIRE day. Either way, I got another good ride in. this time only 37miles but, holy shit, this one spanked me. 4888ft of elevation gain. Steigerwalt Hollow, Sheepbridge Rd, Bremer, Lewisberry Rd (again, love it!), Copenhaver Rd (hardest climb I’ve ever done), followed by Andersontown, and Bull back in. Copenhaver started with a steep pitch followed by a small drop and then kicked in for ¾ mile at anywhere from 10%-23.5%. A good stretch of that was in the mid to high teens. The road itself was beat to hell as well. Combine that with 88 degrees and after only 20miles I was shellacked. The rest of this ride was folly. I was getting bombed by the wind today too. No fun. More pizza tonight. Then we took TLW for a ride in her luxury B.O.B. stroller sled. She loved it.

So, if you count the ride I did before work Saturday I’ve ridden 150 miles in 4 days. I’m on a little training camp of sorts.

One more day off tomorrow. Auntie Em will be home sometime around lunch. She left for Hawaii the day Haley was born and exactly 20 weeks later she’ll finally meet her. That’ll be fun. Maybe another ride if the weather holds. Maybe a flat one this time.

Time for the best show on tele. House.

Goodnightnow!