Goats and frost heaves

The weather was much more ride friendly today, so I took a ride up to Plymouth to pick up the gloves I forgot there last week. This is one of my typical spring rides. It follows the Winnepausaukee river from Tilton almost all the way up to Plymouth, on mostly back roads. Unfortunately, the back roads in NH have potholes in them that rival foxholes from WWI. They are deep. I got my gloves and headed back, and whem I am about 5 miles away from home, I see a furry black thing running towards me as I ride past. I thought it was a dog so I started to sprint, but as it got a lot closer, I heard it bleet. Or baahh, whatever it is that goats do. So, I stopped because the goat was in the middle of the road. I had no idea where it lived (there were several houses that it could have belonged to) So I brought it out of the road and made sure it was safe.
Fun in NH

He made it home safe.

Monday run day

Quick run with the dogs today.  Good run, about an hour, but nothing too exciting. The big news is that it is official, we are moving back to Vermont for good in two months.  I am pretty happy.  Back to school, good new job, and we get to live in a SICK area for biking.  This is a trail system that I can ride to, out my front door.  And the best part is that it is a two hour, mostly single track ride to get there. (my title pic is from that trail) You could get there more quickly, but what is fun of that?

Anyway, I am excited to go home.  Yup, home.  It should be good. 

Crouched over my handlebars in the fetal position, with my hands stuffed up my shirt

That was how I ended my ride outside today. I thought I would get in a quick ride before brunch, then ride after some shopping and call it a day. Unfortunately, like Wheels says it is a tough time of year to ride. I was alright on the way out with the wind, but once I turned and the wind was head on, my hands got cold. Real cold. So, I stopped to warm them up, by sticking them up my shirt. They got a bit warmer (which stung, kind of bad) so that the cars that went by definitely had some interesting thoughts about bikers. Once they were warmed up, I soldiered on. Then I got cold again, warmed my hands again, and continued. Of course, it happened again, and this time when I stopped, I got really cold. I struggled to pull my phone out of my jacket pocket with my deformed popsicle hands, then popped it out of the plastic bag, and dialed Aliza with my frosty nubs. Yup, I called the sag wagon. I couldn't grip the handle bars, and the braking was not up to par, as I like to be able to stop before colliding with inanimate objects.
I guess threes days of fifty degrees and sun made me soft. Friday's ride was excellent, found a new, low traffic route in Concord that made me feel like a hero. Nice, rolling hills with newish pavement. I will have to go back when my hands can hold things again.

Riding with the boys

Today's ride was a bit of a rest, but it was pretty cool because it was my first ride with the Tilton bike team.  I don't coach road biking, but I ride a lot after school, and it is fun to ride with the kids.  

Tilton's bike history is minimal, although Tom Coupe, who just placed first and second in the two races at NCCC last weekend, is our most successful alumnus.  The road team has just recently been resurrected, and I was able to start the first Mountain bike team last fall.  

We played dab.  It is fun. 

So, for today's ride I got to head out with the fast kids.  And they were impressive.  I thought I had been training well, getting on the rollers early and often.  I led them out, and they were right on my heels.  It wasn't until we hit the hills that they started to fall apart (and make me feel a little less old)  Then, at the end of the ride, I realized that neither of them brought water.  Or food.  If only they thought about riding as much as they thought about Xbox.  They would be scary.  

It is always fun to ride with kids.  It took me a while to discover biking and enjoy it, so it always gives me hope when young guys get the bug.  

Really? Come on.

Well, my wife and I have come to discover that nothing is easy in the world of education.  In these uncertain times we really like having jobs, and we like have jobs that allow us to keep our house, save some money, and get some really cool toys (MY BIKE!)  

Unfortunately, in an effort to better our situation, we decided to look for schools closer to home, or in an area that was more our cup of tea (somewhere we don't get forced of the roads when we ride or run, somewhere there are more than just the two of us who like to do things outdoors, somewhere that isn't where we currently are)  But, during our search, the economy had to fail, our current school wants us to commit (quickly, I might add) and the schools that have offered jobs haven't been able to come up with two jobs, or they are dragging their heels to commit.  

I guess all the uncertainty and hoping for something better have put us in foul moods.  Even though today was a gorgeous day, and I was able to run and then get in a two hour ride, and have dinner with friends from HOME, we are still at home, pissed off that neither one of us knows what to do.  

Maybe I will just put a poll on facebook and have the interweb people decide.  

Monday, Monday.

Yesterday was a waste of a day, and today was a little bit better. Got a sort of, kind of Job offer that might take us back to the Green Mountain state indefinitely. Plus, more money and the chance to go back to school are also bonuses. Thinking about it, it could give me a lot more time to train, and ride, which is the only real reason to train. I mean, what other point is there? I like to run every now and then, swimming is good to do when you don't want to drown, but there is nothing (in summer) that is as exhilirating as riding. In the woods, maybe with a friend or two, and everything is clicking. I hope that I get to ride more. That would be alright.

Today was running, 1 hour with 7 hill sprints mixed in. Fun. The bike shoes should get here on Wednesday, just in time to go for a nice long ride. Maybe up to Waterville valley. I haven't been there in a while.

I think my first race will be up in VT for Flower Power. Good, fun, local race. Hopefully I will get some pics.

Back in the saddle.

So, 10 days in Europe, (lots of fun, lots of cities, and some great memories with some very interesting kids) Then a truncated break, with about 20 hours of what resembled exercise, two job interviews and about 15 hours of driving. And the best parts, I forgot bike shoes and pedals in Vermont, so the two bikes I brought back are pretty much useless. Hopefully UPS will get the shoes here quickly, or I might have to run........

What a week

One of the benefits of working where I do is that I get to take kids out into the Wilderness, and make them do things they wouldn't normally do.  Participation is not compulsory, so there are small groups (two in this case) which makes it interesting.  This trip was up to Mt. Washington.  The forecast for Wednesday (our hiking day) the day before our hike was "wind gusts up to  25 miles per hour, wind chill of -15 and sunny all day.  Sounds good.  When we got to the visitor center, the forecast had changed a bit.  (gusts up to 75 mph, wind chill of -45 increasing clouds after noon)  Not so good. 

Nick, our gracious guide, checks the weather forecast.  

We set out anyway, hoping for a summit, but excited just to be out in some "adverse conditions" and playing on the snow with pointy things in our hands and on our feet.  The kids really enjoyed practicing self arrest technique, as I was hoping beyond hope that they would not have to employ that practice on the hike.  

We headed up into winds increasing from a dull, overhead roar, to full on, rig up the sails and hang on gusts that we had to lean into in order to stay upright.  One of the students was from Brazil, and He was rather excited to be experiencing something so new and gnarly.  

Here he is leaning into wind as he hikes up     

       We made it to the summit of Lion's Head, a small knob about three quarters of the way up to the summit.  The wind was howling, and the kids were fading, so decided to turn around.  The kids had a great time, even if they didn't start talking until we were down below treeline and headed back to the car.        I even found the time to ride the rollers for an hour when we got home, and today I was able to ride outside for an hour and 45 minutes.  I have to get everything in now before I leave for Yurp on Saturday.