New post new time

I started this blog as a training log. It's several rides behind. More than several. To many. The stories of cold, wet, and now frozen conditions. Ya, I was still going out. Doing the hours. It takes hours to keep an old body going. There is so much more I could write about. Maybe it's time to write. Then this is, a training log. And I train on my own, for the most part. Although, there is some new news. The local small shop asked me to start riding with them. I also got in contact with the regional website that lets me post when I am riding. Make the rides an organized thing. Bring more riders out during the hard times. Road riders. This is a tough time of year for some to keep the faith to the road. I'll reach out and see what happens. I'll let you know how that goes. For now there is a lot of new adventures on the Island.
In one of the last few rides it was cold and wet, 38 deg. I had on every piece of riding gear I owned. I even had 2 pair of gloves. One neoprene under a pair of hollowfill 2, water proof. My hands get cold. My hands looked like a little kid over dressed by their Mom to go out in the snow. I was glad for the warm hands. Plus I had on my real good rain jacket. I was water proof from the out side. The sweat, made a kind of rain from the inside. What a day. The cars and trucks thought I was nuts to be out. Hey, it's what you got to do, to say your prayers. Do the time and get the miles. So just as a reminder, as I was climbing the first of many climbs, French Hill, a friend showed me what it was really like. A deer ran right in front of me at full speed crossing the road. I would not even of had time to slow down. The deer never looked. Man they should make the deer take lessons or something. He sure looked wet and cold. It's hunting season to and they hunt deer on the Island. Fear drives them. The deer was 3 feet in front of my wheel going up a long climb. I was going slow, thankfully. That's what saved me from going down like a rock and getting stomped by a deer in full fear flight. Just a moment in a 3 1/2 hour ride.
Wet roads, moss, splattered banana slugs, tree parts, glass, and rocks. Just the everyday stuff was what was left for the next 3 hours. The sweat inside was just a little less than the rain outside. The sweat was warmer, for awhile. Towards the end of the ride the sweat was on the cold side to. The up hills were great, I did many of the hills twice. Though the price was the down hill. I was ice at the bottom. That's Island riding. Up and down, nothing else. There is one long shallow down hill to Langley and then a shorter steeper uphill coming back on Bayview. It's a good finishing road. Everything else is just up and down. I'm getting a lot better at climbing for a big guy, 205lbs. I'm still working to get under 200lbs. Seems like it's taking a long time. At my age of 75 I need to move a little faster on the weight. What, I have like, forever! Today's a ride day. I'll work on it.
I love the rides around here. Some are real tough. Most are just hard. I work at staying in the good zone. Keeping out of the red zone. So my winter training is a bit slower than my spring training. Cold weather just slows me down. Is that a sign of age? I hope so. The plan is to keep building strengh, not break down. Get stronger and have more power for this spring. It's 36 degrees out as I write. It's 8:15 AM. Thanksgiving is behind me. I bet the roads will have a few true believers out. There is a lot of frost out. I'm waiting till noon to go out. It's dry though! I hope all who are on the roads today find them, clean, dry,fast and safe. One more thing, it was, what looked like a full moon on a low tide last night. It's not great but it's the best my technology could do.