Back in the Saddle

not to steal the Aerosmith song title but it was awesome to get back in the saddle and get the fat tires back on dirt!  woohoo!

The knee is healing and still feels a little unstable at times but I have been forcing myself to get on the trainer in order to loosen things up and get some blood flowing into the area...of course the resistance knobby on the trainer goes up and I can't help but try to ride hard and see how the knee holds up. 

The mental barrier was Saturday.  Erin and I decided to ride the CDT from Burton Park to Basin Creek and then link that up to Herman Gulch and back down to the new singletrack that joins back up to Janney Road in the Thompson Park area...It is great riding and you drop about 2,000 ft throughout the duration of the ride:

There is still some healthy climbing through the ride as you end up gaining around 2,500 ft throughout the 20 miles but it is just big fun!

I wrapped the knee up in order to try and stabilize it a little and thought it prudent to take the geared bike out so I could gear down and spin easily through some of the steeper sections.  It was a little stiff and tender but generally held up pretty well throughout the ride.

You could see snow (a fair amount of it too) in the Highlands and all the bigger peaks were snow capped.  It was interesting to see how much snow had dropped lately but the reality was that it was going to pretty much all melt away over the weekend.  There is always something really special about riding on a blue-bird day with snow-capped peaks. 
The CDT was in great shape - there were some new trees down but the trail was in good shape given all the recent moisture...nice and tacky!

and the beat goes on.....

The wifer was happy to have new tires on and between the tacky surfaces, new rubber, and new to her singletrack, it looked like she was having fun.
I took the new didgie cam and tested out the optical zoom:

Our old didgie cam passed on to greener pastures during our vacation in/around the Tetons.  Fortunately it waited until the last day to go belly up but we took the opportunity to buy another cheapie didgie with a little better optical zoom.  I refuse to spend a lot of $ on a camera that is going to be used for riding and sitting in a jersey pocket getting all foggy from the moisture.  It is amazing how much these little cameras have improved in the last couple of years...the better optical zoom and image stabilization being the 2 big improvements on lower priced units...pretty cool for the consumer!

Sunday was another banner day weather wise and I took full advantage of it by staying indoors and watching some NFL...I was a little paranoid about getting back on the bike and doing too much too soon on the knee...so I stayed indoors and spun on the trainer for about 1 hr 15 mins...I did not push too hard (other than a few times to see what the knee would do) and all in all it was a good mental barrier to bust through.  The knee does not feel 100% and still feels a little unstable but as long as it does not regress then all is good in the hoodie hood hood!
There don't appear to be any lingering effects from this weekend's rides so in my mind it means I should be able to get back out today after work and ride...captain.....ride....on that mystery ship...