Smell My Picture

Two sweet weekends in a row--i'll take it. We got to spend Saturday with my parents who drove up Friday afternoon and it was great to spend some time with them although brief. Just hung out and showed them Rutland (lol not much to see), took them on a tour of some of the massive 100-200+ year old churches around here, drove by the Wal-Mart plaza, ect. They took us out to a local restaurant called Roots for dinner which was top notch. Seasonal menu, local ingredients, and it's located in a really neat old brick building too. Their artwork was pretty cool as well. Both Chelsea and my mom always have bigger eyes then stomachs, so I used the opportunity to really pack away some reserves for my spin today.

A while back I was lucky enough to cross paths with a local ride guru who knows about all the sweet rides around; both dirt and road. He was nice enough to show me a few routes. When he asked what I wanted I replied something along the lines of "I need something scenic but soul crushing, a churn and burn suffer fest." After today's ride I know why he was chuckling as he was laying out this route...it was such a beautiful ride through the mountains, but man did it burn and boy did he deliver. The first mountain on the chart is just one across the street from my house that I do reps on, and I probably could have left it out of this particular route until a little later in the season.

After about 6ish miles of steady  climbing I realized i'd been a little overzealous at the base and found myself in that dazed state of oxygen deprivation where you're better off just staying on the bike and spinning then stopping, so I spun it out for a while and let myself recover when out of no where I noticed I had a guy drafting me haha. I guess he had been there for a while, but I had no clue. It was cool by me, but man are we both lucky I didn't slam on the brakes like a newbie roadie. It totally wigs me out to be so close to another rider going so fast, something completely foreign to mountain bikers. We chatted a bit and then parted ways at a fork in the road.

I wish you could smell my picture. This morning was one of those mornings that it really was nice to get out and ride. One of those euphoric, "this is why I ride" mornings. As I weaved through the mountains with almost no cars buzzing me at all, it was just cold enough that the cabins scattered throughout the landscape had their fireplaces lit, but warm enough that  the whole way I could smell that beautiful musty scent of the earth thawing-that spring-time wilderness aroma that gives me goose bumps every time. Much of the route followed a creek that was rumbling so awesomely I could hear it over my tunes, and I eventually muted the tunes in exchange for some good old fashioned nature music. I wish there were more days in the week because lately everywhere I ride turns out to be amazing, and these mountains are going to make me Vermont Strong (license plate slogan) for sure. So stoked to be in such an amazing area.