Looking back to warmer weather…

Much of our time last summer was spent away. More often than not, I’d find myself saying, “another weekend away from the house to ride bikes.” It’s really not something to complain about. I love riding- whether we were packed up for a long weekend in Bar Harbor, exploring new trails in Sedona, AZ, or taking long road rides around New London. Since January, when training became our top priority, Jeff and I traveled to (and rode around) some amazing places.

This particular weekend in July was the Cannondale demo at Millstone Hill in VT. Millstone is an awe inspiring area of land, clustered with piles of granite and flooded quarries. Evidence of the granite mining is everywhere as riders zip through the woods along well-developed single track (occasionaly getting a glimpse of the intense blue and green pools of quarry water).

We’ve ridden here many times and know the trails fairly well. This time, however, was a party. Cannondale was there with demo bikes. The demo truck was huge- carrying about 50 new 2013 mountain bikes. They had 29er Scapels, Flash 29ers (my personal favorite), the new Trigger, Jekyls, and the ladies Lexi.

Fun times!

That first night in VT we picked out a campsite, set up the tent, and settle into our sleeping bags. There’s plenty of space for Jeff, Ryder, and me in my monstrous 8 person tent. I love that tent.

“What the heck was that?!” I nudged Jeff, not realizing in my sleepy state that he was already well aware of the noise.

In the not so distant woods we heard the screetching of, what sounded like, a monster. It was a shreek, or a cry… maybe a barking?! Whatever it is, it sounded really displeased that we had pitched our tent in it’s space.

I shut my eyes, feeling safe in the hugeness of the circus tent and fell back to sleep, hoping whatever it was would move along and not eat us. The next day, with input from other people and a Google search, we solved the mystery; we had heard a fisher cat!

Not ‘the’ fisher cat, but it’s what we heard!

The weekend was full of fun and festivities: riding with friends, taking a quick pedal on a tandem mountain bike (after my Whiteface incident it only seemed appropriate), and a little chill time with friends.

Just down the road from the Millstone Touring Center is a great little antique mall. Jeff isn’t a big fan of antiquing… so while he was out for a mellow ride with Ryder, I made a quick trip to peruse by myself.

To my surprise, Jeff walked in while I was in the back room. This is great, I thought to myself, he’s changed his mind and come shopping with me!  

… So why does he look so distraught?

ouch!

Ugh. A little fumble on a long narrow bridge- that’s why.

We made our way to the emergency room just down the street. It looked bad, but a quick relocation and some tape did the trick.

Just another adventure.