Remembering why I love this...

Over the weekend, I got to spend some time out in the woods riding some dry, dusty dirt around the Tri-State. I started out early Saturday morning with a ride at Hueston Woods State Park. I got to the trailhead, geared up, and took off like a bat out of hell. Quickly, I was wondering why exactly?!? This is NOT training! I slowed my pace down, stopped, looked around a little, took some pictures, and thoroughly enjoyed the trail system. With all the training I've been doing lately for the upcoming cyclocross season, I almost forgot why I love cycling in the first place.

Time to time I think everyone who gets into a serious race mode with a season approaching, needs to get out and ride for the love of riding. Remember why you love doing this so much. Shut down your "Strava KOM mentality" and just go enjoy the scenery. I rediscovered the fun of riding a real mountain bike trail while at HW. As fellow Rogue member Butch Farrell said about Hueston Woods last year during the race, "Who put this mountain bike trail in the middle of a mountain bike race?!?". Lots of fall line trail, overgrown "red" trails that haven't been ridden in a while, and TONS of co-webs were part of my morning at HW. I finished up the ride by throwing on my Camelbak and riding the Main Loop on my mountain bike. There are some pretty testing climbs in that Main Loop but the scenery around me was fantastic and made me forget about my legs that were screaming at me.

Day two of my riding weekend found me out at Muscatatuk Park in North Vernon, Indiana with Trek member, Matt Cunningham. We started out from the trailhead and quickly realized that neither of us had any clue where we were going. I vaguely remembered the trail from riding there 2-3 years ago. HMBA has done amazing things to that trail since my last visit. The trail, as HW was, was dry and dusty but nice and flowy. If you haven't been to Muscatatuk in a while, I highly recommend you get out there soon!

We finished up at Muscatatuk and drove back east on Route 50 to Versailles State Park. The parking lot was surprisingly empty for a Sunday afternoon but we still ran into a bunch of folks we knew out on the trail. Matt and I had a blast riding around what has became my favorite trail system in recent years. We got to the top of Grandview, took a quick break and continued through the system. Again, spiders must move quickly because we got a face full of cobwebs out on Center Loop. This was no more that 3 minutes after passing some guys going the opposite direction!

So long blog short, I had an amazing time reconnecting with my mountain bike and trail this past weekend. I urge everyone to get out on their favporite bike, turn off the Strava thoughts, and just go have fun. I've recently been getting into a funk with all the training exercises, practices, and intervals on the trainer in the basement. This weekend has re-energized me and I look forward to doing this again soon!