Lab tests

First off before the previous days adventures I must clear things up just a little. The wedding in the land of Oz is not Shannon's and mine. We are going to a wedding as spectators. After a few text and a few more emails I realized that it could be a little misleading. I won't run off out of the country to get married and I promise to do it in the off season so those fellow cyclists can all enjoy the social side of things.

So now that life is all in check for the moment, it was one of those days that I swapped the work truck for the bike for the morning. After the newly repaired cross bike I felt confident enough in it to head back into the hills of Tay and Oro. There will be no chain issues now, I hope. A nice warm up in the not to cold conditions as I made the turn onto Vasey line for the first of many climbs. How many climbs, well the hopes were to hit up as many long steady climbs as possible. I'm the first to say that I'm not much of a climber, I manage to bullshit my way up them, I never really enjoy them, until today.

It wasn't even that cold but after a couple days of mild sunny weather the body has already adjusted, I was finding my body mainly my feet were not having a great time and fighting to stay warm. They were fine on the climbs with a slightly elevated heart rate. Blood flow equals warm body, on the flats things continued to remain cozy and warm. Then came the backside of those wonderful hills. Coasting is my favorite thing in the world, I feel I'm very good at it, I love to do it any chance I can. Unless I'm cold, I hate it. Windchill, low heart rate, etc etc meant cold. Every time I just started feeling cozy and warm I had a downhill to deal with. I played with the options, go down very quickly with a higher windchill and freeze or ride the brakes and go down slowly with a low heart rate and freeze. I kept motoring along, sometimes smiling (uphill) sometimes grumpy( downhill). The hours added up along with the vertical feet.

This was a ride that had no real set direction or route, I've never altered a ride as much as I did yesterday. I was searching for climbs, I was turning down dead end roads just to catch a good hill. This type of plan lead me down a random road off Vasey line. The crescent happened to have a good rise halfway around, as I'm pedaling with my head down, it was near the end of the ride, I caught out the corner of my eye some motion. A glance back over the shoulder, it's a dog, a black lab to be specific and he is looking at me like I'm going to bd his new best friend or a midday snack. Timing was right as I hit the flats, I accelerated, he accelerated. Same speed. On came the downhill, with out it I may have been a new chew toy. A glance back and the lab was still in chase. I have to admit I was impressed with the speed the dog was capable of. A hard left turn and I was back on Vasey line heading for home.

The day thrills were not over yet as I turned onto the 9th line for the last run toward home. As I begin to cool down near the end of the concession on a slight downhill grade yet again a black blob of movement catches my attention, yet again it's a black lab. I'm starting to pick up the pace, so is the dog. Will I need my sprinting legs? Do I have sprinting legs? It's February, I'm going to be eaten. Yet again the lab impressed me with it's speed, I was saved by modern technology and the invisible electric fence in the yard. I think there was at least one shock given. I live to ride another day.

4 hours, 3500 feet of climbing, pretty much jammed in every hill in the grid north of the 400. I had the option of just riding up and down beside the ski hill but that would have made me miserable. I survived, the bike survived to play another day.