Road Rides, Trail Rides and Likely Lull

The last week has been a trying one for us compulsive riders. I managed to grab an hour on the road bike Thursday evening. It was OK, and though it was 28 degrees, almost all of the snow and ice had melted off of the trail.

By Thursday evening, only a couple of spots of the frozen stuff remained on the River Trail.

Saturday was much nicer, as when I woke up at 6, it was already almost 40, plenty warm enough to get me out the door to join the CARVE ride out east. If you have never made this ride, do not confuse it with the summertime pain fests. The pace is a social 18-20 MPH (mostly!) and the mood is congenial. It's a great ride to get a little winter mileage without suffering too much due to your winter conditioning.

This brown trout, caught a couple of weeks ago in our Heber Springs back yard, has absolutely nothing to do with this article. The only connection is that I left my pocket camera in my waist pack after fishing Saturday afternoon so I have no photos from the Saturday ride.

Back to Camp Robinson on Sunday

It was a nasty looking day, but with four days of business meetings coming up, I needed to get outside. It turned out to be a very nice ride. There were quite a few folks out enjoying the great trail conditions and there has been some progress made on reclaiming some favorite trails. The trail fairies have been at work connecting remaining portions of Ten Bridges and Yucca, so that if you head out Ten Bridges from the end of Airport, you can make a loop that brings you back to the Christmas Tree site via Yucca. If you look for the yellow ribbons, you can pick your way from there over to Christmas Tree and make your way to Dogwood, Merlins, etc., etc.  I really expected sloppy conditions, especially on Can O Corn and Dead Elvis, but the trail conditions are really good right now.

The above-mentioned meetings will leave me off the bike and probably media-deprived for a few days. I've got a lot of post material backed up, but, unfortunately. JBar Cycling doesn't contribute anything to the household accounts, so the day job still gets priority!