This morning, it was a not-flat ride on the trails: 20 miles with 3100’ of climbing.
Most of the climbing was done in the first 12 miles.
It was cool for most of the ride at around -4C / 25F, but it warmed up to nearly 0C near the end. Traction was great on the frozen ground, with a bit of snow only at the highest elevation of the ride.
This frozen ground also meant the bike stayed clean, which was nice.
I stayed local, riding around my local river valley. I think the farthest point from home was perhaps 6 miles.
I drive the road through the small valley – Sihltalstrasse – every morning driving my son to school, making for a not-terrible commute.
Sights during the ride were, as they normally are, also not terrible.
The following pic is from a spot I often take a picture. It’s about an hour after sunrise and it felt colder than -4C, and probably was.
It was a good day in the saddle.
As for run pics, here are two from Thursday morning’s short 3.75mi run. I’m easing back into running after a short reset due to a calf injury (which could’ve been prevented from strength training and stretching/rolling). The first pic is from 5:40a; it’s about -6C / 21F under a recently full moon.
This second pic is from about a dozen minutes later. While the bridge pic above is from one of my favorite local spots for a pic while on the bike, below is my favorite picture spot while running. The undulating loop around this large pond is about 1200m, making for a great place to do “track” work.
Not far from this spot, off to the right beyond the small ridge, less than a half mile, is a “track” of fine sawdust (fine enough I’ve seen barefoot runners in the summer) set in the woods. It’s largely flat and with some slight turns through the woods to keep it from being a boring oval. I don’t use that track, but I suspect it’s about or perhaps slightly more than 400m.
Good times. Only 5 more months here…
