You Smell Like Awesome

When you spend 2 hours in the woods, on a mountain bike, in the rain, there is no way to escape it... you are going to smell pretty weird when you are done. Not many people will actually confront you when you stink, but a lot of us can count on our mother's to do just that.  I have a wonderful mother, with the best heart of anyone I know. I stopped by there on my way home from the trails, to say hello and to see my little niece who was visiting for the weekend. I don't remember just how she worded it, but I'm sure it was you stink, or you don't smell very good at all, but she got the point across that I stunk. Outwardly I agreed with her, she was totally right, but inside I was saying "yeah, I smell like awesome!" How could I smell like anything else? It felt so good to be out there today, with the rain in our face and mud splattering up with every turn. I'm finally feeling more confident on the bike and handling the turns and roots. It was my first solid 16 miles, and the entire time the 5 year old inside me was whooping and leaping up and down yelling "this is awesome!" So I might smell, but at least it is the smell of awesome.

We did have one tiny little obstacle mid-way through our ride. We hit the pavement for a detour of about 100 yards, and wouldn't you know, Rich gets a flat. Neither of us had changed a Mountain Bike flat before, so that was a solid 12 minutes of me taking stupid pictures and Rich dumping all the contents of his seat bag out into the dirt. To his credit, he changed it very quickly and efficiently. It was the valve and his Co2 cartridge that gave us some issues. When his cartridge failed us we went to the little hand pump which acted less than awesome, and we finally ended up with one of my Co2 cartridges doing the job. Yeah, it was amateur hour, but it all worked out in the end.  The rain was coming down harder as we brought our awesome ride to an end. Side note: I want to take this moment to tell all of you how much I love my Subaru, it is a bikers dream. Open it up, muddy mountain bike slides right in, nothing needs to be taken off or adjusted, followed by dirty shoes, helmet and bag. My car can take all of my toys no problem. I love it as much as anyone could love a car, plus it too smells like awesome.

My next ride, hopefully, will be with new clip-less pedals and MTB shoes. They are on their way, an early christmas present. Thanks Santa!

Now it is time for more food, hot beverages and of course football. Who doesn't love a good hard workout on Sunday mornings so you can spend the rest of the day being lazy and snacking?

One more side note: I just spoke to my mother, and what did she want to know? She asked if I  had cleaned myself up? No mom, I'm just not ready to wash the smell of awesome off yet.

No I showered I swear. I promise mom!