Weighed in this morning,and the scale smiled at me and said '192.' Good, looks like my weight isnt going through the peaks and valleys of my world of weight control and the weight is consistently coming down. I have 3 more weeks until I need to stabilize so I figure I should be able to cleanly hit low 180's by the time I need to fuel properly again and not be cutting weight. Excellent. Last nights ride was cherry as well. Tom, Scott, and Jay DeJesus showed up for some quality time on SML and we rode what I call 'the big loop.' Basically think stinger-bones-Kahuna-Lugbuster-Ono-Goat-Witch-Mohican-Shark-Rim-Slalom-Birch-Deer Path. I tried my race wheels and tires for the first time this year and see what pressures are working for me. I started with 40psi, and seeing that I had 2 flats, I guess that is a little low. Traction was great, though, because the only thing that stopped my march up lungbuster was a flat that I got somewhere bombing down kahuna. I guess Ill try 45psi next time out and see how it goes. I also got air in my brake lines when I changed that flat because I lost about 90% of my braking after that...oh well, brakes only slow you down anyway. We rode on really enjoying being out there, watching the sun set over the ridge right where the lower ridge comes into South Mountain ridge, challenging ourselves with a climb up Witch, and getting 'secrets' from Jay on how to improve our riding. There was a point in there that was really cool for me- Jay acknowledged me as a rider. He decided to get behind Scott and Tom to give them tips, but left me behind. In that small action I felt like he was saying 'I dont need to worry about you' and knew I would be doing the right things. I dont know if it was intentional, hell, I dont know if he even meant that, but in my little world that is how it felt and it felt pretty damn good. He even used me as a 'rabbit' when helping Scott with some climbing technique....even though I completely overshot the next turn because of a lack of brakes ;)
It was a good night.
Ride fast, take chances-
/Dan