Good Ride and a Muddy Dog

This afternoon, I let Lorien out to play with the neighbors dog. He was loose and running around outside our fence, so I opted to just let her have some fun and chase him around. I didn't even think of the consequences of said actions. Alas, this is what she looked like when she came inside.

She looks very sorry. Anyways....

Erich and I got out for a sufferfest of a ride (it was a sufferfest for me, but a walk in the park for E). Before we left, I made mention to Erich that Lisa was going to make some brownies for us, his response, "Don't take this the wrong way, but, I love your wife (long pause) in a culinary way" HI-larious! We left from my place with the idea of heading out to East Bend and taking some alternate routes home to get about 40 miles in. Our goal was accomplished with an added bonus...we got to check out some gravel/dirt road action. He is prepping to head to Upstate New York in March for the Tour of the Battenkill which includes lenghty sections of dirt.


Our ride was pretty difficult by the suprising amount of wind we had to contend with. Also, we basically chose every single road we could that had pretty hefty climbs. River Ridge, Beroth, Taylor, Baltimore, Bloomtown, and then again in reverse. These climbs added up to almost 3k feet of climbing in about 38 miles, this plus the wind netted us with an average speed of less than 18mph. Not fast by any means. BUT, it was a ridiculous amount of fun, and to top it off, Lisa's brownies were spectacular! Thanks Erich! Thanks Lis!