Shaping up after Christmas

My Honey came into town for the holidays and stayed for about 2 weeks. Since we don't get to see a lot of each other while she's trying to sell the house in Kansas, I got on the bike only once during her visit. I was afraid that it would take at least 2 weeks to get back to my early December condition. Mind you, my early December condition wasn't all that great, but I was riding 5 days a week and getting in about 40 miles of trail.

My first day on the bike was an O-dark-early Thunderbird Park ride, my usual weekday loop. It didn't bode well, and I was thinking it would be a tough weekend.

Saturday, I rode the North Mtn Preserve, covering about 7 1/2 miles. Started at the visitors Center and rode northwest. I tried a couple of trails that petered out near a church, then worked my way back around toward the southwest ti the area around the T100 7th Ave trailhead. On the way back east, I found a trail leading southeast to overlook 7th St. That trail tied into a paved road that appears to be used for hiking. From there, I backtracked and made it back to the visitors center just as the rain started.

On Sunday, I rode out of Dreamy Draw and put in about 8 miles on trails between there and Tatum. On one trail that follows a hillside north of T100 and somewhere around 40th St, I came across the work of some rock fairies. A pile of rocks, about 5-10 pounds each was stacked on the trail next to a boulder and partially blocking the trail. It would have been easy to hop over, but I stopped and removed them. It was obvious that the rocks didn't end up there from erosion, too many of the same size in one spot and not enough anywhere nearby. I'd heard that the rock fairies leave their marks on that trail, but hadn't seen the result before.

In all, I was relieved that I didn't suck as bad as I expected, but Tinker Juarez still has no need to worry about me.