40 Days to 40

A friend took it upon himself to point out to me a few days ago that there were 43 days remaining before I turn 40. Yep, with a friend like that who needs a proctologist, right? But I digress. Tomorrow marks 40 days to 40. I'm not really sure how to take it all in. I'm not worried about the getting older part because I'm gracefully becoming more and more like a Robert Duvall character every day, so that in itself is pretty cool. The embarking on another new decade of life though has me taking a look at where I'm at, where I've been, where I'm heading, and where I should be. And that, is the scary part.

So Sunday was the first day off in months where I had absolutely nothing I had to do and the weather was going to cooperate: mid-50's and sunny. Boom. Words passed via digital text and soon a group of 10 or so of us were out on the trails at Monkey Bell. Aside from my home trails and some short urban trails near work, I hadn't ridden in the woods since the state championship race at MB months ago. It's been even longer for JD and he was beside himself with excitement. We could barely keep up with him over the course of 23 miles.

A friend is looking at getting a new bike and a Moots tops his list, so I let him ride my MX RSL slider  while I rode my 26" wheeled Rigormootis slider. I'd forgotten how fast and nimble the smaller wheels feel in tight twisty singletrack. It took me about a mile to readjust to the smaller wheels and it was all smiles and laughs from then on out. The leaves were taking several riders out around the turns, but the smaller wheels had no issues. I did rear-wheel fishtail like a dirt bike around one steep uphill and nearly took pumptrack Jim down and several high speed drifts took place by us all. It was a riot.

I've forgotten how fun floating around deep leaf and pine needle covered turns could be. PTJ and I were having a blast pushing the limits of the little wheels (PTJ rocks a Moots Gristle) and whooping it up. After a loop and one busted rear derailleur, we headed out to the parking lot. Several folks were ready to get going, others were looking for food, and I was looking to get a bit more trail. So the group whittled down to just Bryan heading out for some solo time on the MX RSL and PTJ, JD, and I taking on the lesser ridden more technical trails to finish out the day. That is until we decided it was too nice a day to not use all available daylight and retired back to PTJ's house for some pumptrack, more singletrack, beer, and watching the sun set off the overlook. That's how to spend day 42 to 40.

In style news, I happen to be lucky enough to get to test out a pair of Club Ride Half Rack cycling knickers. Out of all their options, the half rack were the fit I liked best. They stretch like my old Hypnotic design knicks that allow the use of knee warmers beneath without bunching at the knee, but have the more flattering (less man-pri) cut of my non-stretching Endura Humvees. My first riding experience with them was Sunday and midway through the ride Patrico asked me how I was liking them. I told him I had totally forgotten I was wearing knicks. They disappeared. No snagging on water bottles or cages, rubbing the rear tire when behind the saddle, no strangling my knees or sliding off the butt/snagging on the saddle. These quickly are becoming the go-to pant.

40 more days to 40.  I wonder tomorrow will have in store.