Ride of the Falling Leaves

I almost didn't ride this morning. I'm at that point in the year where it takes A LOT of motivation to ride. My body has pretended that's it's been October 30th since September 11th (the day after Carolina Cup). But.. I did get rolling anyways. The stroll up 12 O'clock Knob was a BEAR... almost turned around, but kept going. It was wet, but at least the fog was clearing up. The temperature was rising, but it felt good. The descent down the Roanoke side was fun, I rode conservatively... a CRV decided my lane was optimal... so we both swerved out of each other's way, and then a cat ran out in front of me.

Got to the bottom, the sun was super bright and blinding as it reflectedoff the still wet road. I didn't go all the way down to 221, I turned around and headed back up. The climb was much better, it's more gradual. I put in some tough efforts mear the top where the grade is more friendly to a congenital flatlander. I made sure I pushed hard and big ringed the last 1/2 mile.

The ride back down the Salem side was as tough as ever, wet pavement, steep sharp turns and leaves falling. Speaking of leaves falling, a gentle breeze was blowing the leaves like an orange October snowfall. Back to the descent, a heating oil truck climbing the mountain decided to hog the entire road.. leaving me with a four foot swath of pavement to manuever through the steepest and sharpest turn of the entire descent. Good stuff... I'm glad my bike has nice brakes, nice tires, and descends like a rocket on rails!