Ridin' and Raccoons

Hopefully everyone got out a few times over the last few days. I took Thursday and Friday off and coupled with today's ride I got in a few days of quality MTB time. It was just way too windy to hit the road. I've already spent quite a few days being blown backwards on pavement this season, and I really needed to hit some trails to see where I stand in terms of racing fitness.  As it turns out I'm not so sure I'm standing at all. Maybe it's more like leaning up against something and faking it while convincing myself I'm still remotely fast... it's sort of like Wesley in The Princess Bride lying in repose, unable to move, bluffing Prince Humperdink into believing he's still strong enough to dispatch him with ease. Or something like that.

There's plenty of power/strength available but unfortunately the motor can't run hot for too long. I'm working on it though, and with any luck I won't be the slowest schmuck at the KOB TT.   Today's ride at F Gilbert Hills SF was ridiculously good. The weather was downright perfect, and I managed to clean a few really nasty technical sections I rarely pull off all in the same ride. Thursday's ride at the same locale involved 2 hours of drizzle while today's ride featured 45 deg. temps and bright blue skies. Perfect.  

You may be wondering about the raccoon. No, he's not Robbie and Margaret's pal from the Fez. This guy was sleeping by my garbage cans late on Friday afternoon. He scared the crap out of me when I took out the trash, and I had my camera around so I snapped this pic. As it turned out that was the last time I'd see him alive.. A few hours later I was upstairs on the PC when the room lit up bright blue, and I heard what sounded like the world's largest bug zapper outside the window. Yep, that's right, old Sparky touched something that didn't agree with him and that was that.  I was bummed out a little, any animal smart enough to make it in the city (especially with all the coyotes around) didn't deserve to go out like that. Yes folks, these are exciting times here on Jenkins St..