Lost in Transition

What a week! There are a lot of moving parts right now with regards to Pisgah Area SORBA, and though I'm not officially official or anything, it's been time to dive right in and get some stuff going. The current president, Karen, has been very gracious in including me right off the bat -- together we've made some pretty significant gains in clearing up some longstanding challenges, though there is still plenty of work to go.

Beginning the transition has been eating up a significant portion of my after-work hours, though there's still been time to squeeze in a few rides. Last Thursday's Sycamore ride was pretty nasty, what with a torrential downpour that hit us at the stables and continued all the way to Pressley Gap, and me with just a Small Block 8 on the rear. It was my first time back in Pisgah in a month, and though it was just  Maxwell > Black, I could tell I was rusty and desperately in need of some singletrack therapy.

That finally happened on Saturday, after I dusted off the Spearfish (literally -- it was still dusty and dirty from the BURN!) and finally got back out for a real Pisgah ride. All the giddiness of mid-May, when I cleaned Black, was gone, and instead I found myself slip-sliding the rocks and roots of 1206 > Laurel > Pilot > SMR > Squirrel > Laurel Creek > 5015 > 1206 in the most humid and slick conditions I've been out in, in a while. And it was good -- thanks to Suspension Experts' work on my fjork, I managed to save a bad line choice at the very end of the Humvee section, though I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes as my rear end hung out there in mid-air and lowers compressed, jamming the rubber o-ring against the crown ...

We had some quality family time in honor of Daniel's first Father's Day as well -- yard work and shopping on Saturday and root beer "floaties" on Sunday. Though Sunday's ride was pretty fantastic, I will admit more than a few pangs of guilt as I drove to Fisherman's -- with all the after-hours meetings, emails, etc., it's getting more difficult emotionally to also get out on the weekends and be away from the family. It's a balancing act -- the PAS stuff is pretty important, and will have long-lasting implications -- and Kim is super-supportive, but still, it can be tough sometimes. Especially when I know this is what's waiting for me when I get home!

Try explaining a "float" to a 3-year-old who has "floaties" for the pool!

This week is shaping up to be a hot one, capped with some bachelor time and more hours in Pisgah than I know what to do with -- first trail work, then riding, then more trail work, then more riding. But then again, summer starts in another couple of days, and I probably wouldn't have it any other way, would I?