T-giving Weekend

The wife and kid headed to visit with family and I stayed behind to help with the rescheduled AVLCX race at REEB Ranch. 

Without having people running around the house, distracting me and getting in the way, I decided it was a good time to patch and paint the kitchen.  We painted it 11yrs ago when we moved in, and it has had some wear and tear.  I also decided to stain the kitchen cabinets to add to the freshness. 

What should have taken a day or two, turned into 3 days of work.  The staining was tedious, but bearable.  The painting alone would have been fine.  But, I decided to get creative and picked out a color that was way too bright.  I finished it and went to bed hoping that it would make more sense in the morning.  Up at 7am and off to HD to get the proper color and start over.  I was able to get one coat on before heading out to the races and then got the final coat on later that night when I got home. 

 Race day went well and AVLCX pulled off another stellar season of local homegrown grassroots racing.  Its cool to see people driving from hours away to participate in these races.

 Sunday finally rolled around.  With my project gone bad turned good complete, I had all day to play.  My legs aren't quite ready to go all day yet but I needed to get at least 3 hrs in.  

I parked at Rice Pinnacle and headed out towards Bent Creek gap.  Pavement- Lake Trail- and eventually Explorer Loop to Bent Creek Gap rd.  Up and over the ridge, Specner Gap- Spencer Creek- Never Ending Rd- Fletcher Crk- Lower Trace (out and back)- Wash Creek Rd- back over the ridge- Sidehill, Campground Connector- Hardtimes- back to RP. 

27 miles and I felt like I could keep going.  Common sense and the rain told me to pack it up for the day.  Its good to see my endurance coming back and the consistent riding paying off.   I'll be starting my more focused training soon,  looking forward to getting some "snap" back into my legs!

Shout out to the assorted friends I saw along the way.  Its cool to know that on any given weekend, I will most likely cross paths with a friend or two, out in the middle of nowhere!