In Rhythm (Accotink/CCT)

Anyone who has competed in sports, played an instrument, gave a presentation, or most other acts of concentration have felt what the phrase "being in rhythm" means.  It's when the subconscious drives the outcome and the conscious takes a back seat.  In biking, for me that means forgetting your cadence and speed, forgetting how far I need to go, forgetting about the bike and imagining you are flying through the woods, and being eerily aware of everything around you.

I reached this state during the second lap of my ride this evening.around Accotink.  I was aware of the deer, the trail bends, the leaves falling, and the rider coming at me from around a tight turn.  Unfortunately, he wasn't in the same state ... BONK!  OOOF!  Fortunately, the BONK was his bike hitting the tree to avoid me, and the OOOF was him one-upping the bike's impact on the tree.  Yea buddy, how about taking the turn a little wider next time?

It was a good ride, 2 hrs 16 min's for 34.8 miles.  The first loop was 1hr 7min's, second was 1hr 9min's.  It's getting dark pretty early nowadays, so thankfully I brought the light.  If I had not had the light, that would have been a very interesting ride through the path out to Pickett Road.  It was dead dark back there.

This was a good training run for jumping forward to Nov 20 or 27. Those are the weekends I'm thinking about  riding the 184 mile C&O Canal (now in 2 days).  4.5 hours for 70 miles, plus another 1hr 15 min's totaling about 6+ hours of riding time each day.

Life is more interesting with goals and challenges.

Posted in: bike