The rittenhouse trail is a 5 mile run that cuts through west Newark. It travels along the muddy banks of the Christiana River. In my early days it was a staple of my weekly riding. The mixture of soils, lack of climbing, and always evolving trails constantly challenge any rider that wants to hone their technical skills. Now a days the trail has some scary bridges, some good logs too. The one rule of rittenhouse is that the trail will never be the same 2 times you ride it. If you think you know a quick short cut line, it might work once, but next time it might land your ass in the river.

Tonight, I rode with Todd, Fuzz and Slick Rick. My fitness was still awful but I was happy to be riding. I had new lights, and the snow on the trail made an already challenging rittenhouse that much tougher. Our lights reflected brightly off the snow covered trails. It was so quite in the woods you would be hard pressed to convince anyone that the entire time we were just feet from someone’s backyard, or some schools driveway, or some industrial park. Truly the joy of a trail through a town.

Years past I spent countless nights chasing Todd and Fuzzy. Trying with every bit of my soul to not get dropped by those guys. Tonight, if not for their kindness, I would have been left to my own in the woods. It was de ja vu as I tried in vain to keep up with the group. Todd and Fuzzy were dicing it up a little, each taking turns leading while the other would nip at the current leaders back wheel. Slick Rick acted as my wing man. He kept a watchful eye on me to make sure that I wasn’t crashing or hurting myself. That Slick Rick is a good man. Todd had a chant of “it don’t matter it’s fecal matter!” going as we rode through a suspect area. We thought for a second that area didn’t smell as bad in the cold, but we quickly changed our minds. Lets say no one wants to stop and rest at that section of the trail.

Stupid me, I kinda jacked myself up last night riding rollers. Yeah, I know I’m a jackass, riding rollers, but sometimes the desire to ride out weights common sense. Anyway, my road bike set up is much longer the my mountain bike or my cross bike, and much more bent over. It was the first time I rode my road bike since September , so I definitely irritated my back a little. Knowing that I was a little jacked up tonight, I rode extra tentative, and walked a lot of sections I’m sure I could have cleaned. Truth be told, I was being careful. The woods were bright, and quite and wonderful tonight. At the main lot, I decided to slip back to Todd’s house and call it a night, Fuzzy, Todd and Slick Rick continued on to Iron Hill for a quick loop. I got back to the toaster and felt exuberant, triumphant. It was a good night for sure.

Quick Up Dates:

Got to see my family tonight that was cool. Craig was at a meeting in Philly, and slipped down for the night. Good to see everyone. Me, Tim, Craig and Bry sat around the table talking smack for a couple of hours. That was cool.

Saw Lost in Translation. That was cool movie very enjoyable. Slow but enjoyable. I did finish off Napoleon Dynamite. Many folks said that I should at least watch the ending, So I did. It still sucked. I will say that the short film that the entire movie was based on was much better, and even made me laugh. That’s it, it should have stayed a short film.

Slick Rick is gonna help me set up my road bike more “Fred” style so that the position is exactly the same as my cross bike. Fuck you don’t laugh, it’s either that or I go with a recumbent. Please shoot me if I have to do that. I gotta make sure I am sitting more up right and that the positions between my bikes are very consistent. Basic goal is to have my bikes be as common in position as I can…

Saw the doctor and it spurred more appointments with more doctors and they still don’t really know what the hell is wrong with me. Good news is I am riding.

Respect
Marc