Long, hot and steamy...

No, it's not what you are thinking...dirty minds...
Saturday, most of our little downtown group went to the mountains for some sort of masochistic ritual. Honestly, I really wouldn't mind going up there to ride for 4 or 5 hours...I just don't have the 12-14 hours in my day to devote to the trip.
Anyway, I got on the cross rig and went out across the river and hit up some trails. SCE&G, with the money from my ballooning power bills, built a little nature preserve and cut some nice singletrack through the woods. It was supposed to be a loop, but I must have lost the trail somewhere because it came to a stop in a big pond o'bullfrogs about 2 miles in. The signs on the trail warning of snakes and alligators were confidence inspiring as well!
I turned and headed out, being harrassed by the biggest mosquitoes known to man. I hit the dirt service road for about 30 out and 30 back. I got home with a bit over 2 hours on the bike, a few bug bites and plenty of dirt.
Sunday, TVH, Casey (sans a sleeping, lazy Rob...bum) and I went out into Calhoun County for a 4+ hour, hot, humid, borderline deathmarch of a ride. It started out all fine and well, then the sun got high in the sky. We did 176 down to 21, across to 6 and back over to 176...THEN, like the brainiacs we are, decided to add on a bit extra and did the Gaston loop. No sooner did we get off the main road, I flatted. Oh the joys of $15 latex tubes and carbon wheels....! Thanks to TVH and Casey for the save. My spare was bad, TVH's was bad, so it fell to C to get us home. Thankfully, there were no more punctures, as the H.O. would have had to come out on a rescue mission...and she just LOVES doing that...
I got home with just shy of 125km and 4:30 on the bike. It was miserably hot for the last 90 minutes of the ride. I got home and the mercury was touching 98 degrees with a 104 heat index...just brutal. I <3 me a cold shower...
Overall, it was a really good weekend of riding. I feel better on the bike. My legs are getting better. The back is holding steady (thanks to the several hundred sit-ups I do a week) and I'm enjoying being on the bike.
Oh, and Casey is going to the OTC for development camp...less than a year on the bike and gone to Colorado Springs...! We'll be able to say that we knew her when...
She learned about town and county limit signs yesterday, so hopefully she'll take it to camp with her.

Out 'til Tuesday...