A funny thing happened on my way to Hardware Ranch. I was riding toward Blacksmith Fork Canyon on Hollow Road when I startled a robin who was deeply engrossed in something I'm sure it thought was fascinating in the middle of the road. That by itself wasn't the funny part. Nor was it particularly funny when the robin leaped from the road in a rather startled fashion. The funny part came when it realized what exactly had caused it so much excitement. It was so upset that it started chittering wildly at me. I'm sure if I could understand the speech of birds I would have heard enough obscenities and references to my genealogy to make even me blush.

So, I startled a bird, that reacted in a not completely unexpected way, so far. Nothing really funny yet. The funny part came when the robin really got himself (I'm assuming here, I've no idea how to tell the difference) so worked up that he decided to dive bomb my helmet, three times in a row! The entire time he was screaming at me. After I ducked under his assault the third time he relented and settled for following me, flying from tree to tree to make sure I was really retreating. That was the funny part :)

Today was my first ride on my new bike. Yesterday I finally caved in and bought a "real" road bike. For the last couple of months I've been making due with my mountain bike equipped with slicks, along with some cycling shorts to help reduce the saddle soreness. Even with my new gear I was always left behind in group rides. Now I'm hoping I at least have a chance to keep up.

The bike I settled on is the '05 Raleigh Super Course. I got a good discount because it's last year's model, but it's fairly well equipped with Shimano shifters and derailuers. It's as much of a sweet ride as I could afford, well probably a bit more than I should have afforded.

Anyway, for my ride today I started from home, went about one mile to the rendevous point where there were supposed to be two other guys from work, but I was the only one who showed up. I finally gave up waiting and took off by myself. From there I rode 21 miles to Hardware Ranch, gaining roughly 1000 feet in elevation. For those of you familiar with the area you know that almost every morning has a stiff breeze flowing out of the canyon, then somewhere around 10:00 am, the wind switches directions and goes into the canyon. Sooo, yeah, I get headwinds both ways. I guess that's what I get for starting so early. :)

Anyway, 3 hours and 43 miles after starting I made it home, tired and hot. I'm hoping that these rides help get me in shape well enough so I can survive the MS 150 this year. I will only be doing the first 75 mile day, but that's still nearly twice as far as I've ever been in a single day. I hope it doesn't kill me!