Be the windshield.

Windshield...meet bug.

You know the old adage..."sometimes you are the bug, sometimes you are the windshield"?  Yesterday morning I was trying to get ready for a morning ride with my wife and her cronies.  It is a very casual pace, so I often add some extra credit laps to the morning.  I wanted to take the SS out, but I needed to replace the torn front tire and the chain as it was pretty worn.  Neither of those things are too hard, but it seemed like everything was fighting me.  By the time I got it done, I was running late and that ruled out a pre-lap before I met with the Sunday AM Cruisers.  I headed out anyway and got a ways down the road before I found my rear tire to be a tiny bit low...forgot to check it.  Off the bike...out with the pump...etc.

Then, when I did finally get on trail I was just off my line in every corner, so-so on the climbs, and just basically living a bug's life in search of an oncoming piece of curved and tinted safety glass.

Well, that sucked.

So, about 02:00 in the PM, I was enjoying the extra time in the day after the 'Spring Ahead' time change.  I thought about an afternoon nap after the wife and I had made a car run to the local Honey House to grab some of the bee's finest work.  Instead, I suited up and pedaled out again, this time on another bike, the Epic Marathon.

I really like my SS, but the Epic is still the finest ride I have in the garage.  I always love riding that bike.  But when I have to rotate between perhaps 4-5 bikes to get the testing duties done, I never get in-sync with any one bike.  Every time I ride is a lesson in 'getting to know you' all over again and sometimes that sucks.

This time out none of that mattered.  The tired legs did not matter.  The narrow handlebars, different tires...none of that mattered.  The hills gave way one by one as I ignored the pain and when the first loose, blind corner in the singletrack rushed at me, I bent my elbows, leaned forward behind the glass and pitched the bars over, expecting any minute to meet an oncoming insect.  I shredded that trail.

Bug...meet windshield.