Gear down

One of the first things my father taught me when I was learning to drive off-road was to gear down. He said,"you can rarely go to slow, and the last thing you want to do is kill the engine because you're in too big of a gear. If you kill the engine you'll stop, even lose ground, or slide off the trail, and maybe even end up stuck. So, gear down and take your time." Not race advice, but sound point A to point B training strategy.

Well, that's all well and good, as long as you have enough gears. Today, I didn't have enough gears. I haven't been on the bike in four weeks (vacation in SE Asia, followed by a forced vacation thanks to something I brought back with me), and today I got back in the saddle. I took the cross bike out and its been raining for days. Some of the trails here in Skeggs are covered in a peanut butter mud. Its sticky when you don't want it to be and slick the rest of the time. Today, this mud was actually my savior. About the time I realized my ride was about to turn into a single speed grind- the mud got so slippery it essentially gave me a few more gears. I could just sit and spin in my 38-25. Sure, I wasn't going anywhere, but I wasn't killing my engine. It may have been ruining my fuel efficiency, but after four weeks off the bike you better believe I have a full tank with some junk in the trunk that will probably burn pretty hot too and for quite some time. 

If felt good to get on the bike. Three days ago in the depth of my illness I thought taking a dump was exercise.