Same coin / Two sides

That was the weekend.
Big sun, blue sky on Saturday. It was cold(ish), so I went out solo on the CX bike. The aging body was a bit stiff from three days of relative inactively, so it took a minute, or 45 , to get going.
Once I turned into Eastman, things started to come back on line.
Didn't ride hard. No real reason to. Just kind of rolled along, enjoying nature out in LexCo.
Back in through the Powerstation, across Cayce, up through Gervais, and into the 'hood.
2 hours.
No pictures, which irritates me, as I saw THE BUCK. I wanted to get a picture of just how large his hoof prints are, but NOOOOOOOOO! It seems a sticky fingered 3 year old that shares my address got his hands on my camera. Several dozen pictures of the interior of my house later....
Dammit...
That huge buck is going to cream someone out on the lonely dirt road one day/night...

In the afternoon, I finished up the overhaul on the Eriksen. Such a nice bike...

Sunday, the other side of the coin landed up.
Cold. Windy. Cloudy. And?
After I watched the Belgian National CX race...I kitted up, and headed out. Temps were about the same as Saturday, but the lack of sunshine was key. It was not pleasant until the diesel got warmed up.
Same loop as Saturday, but with a bit of effort thrown in for giggles.

No, I didn't de-saturate this shot. It was THAT gray yesterday...
And on the outer section, there's an old house in the woods...

Seriously creepy. This is the point at which the decision was made to ride a little harder. (Shudder) Some Scooby Doo creep factor right there.
Another 2 hours on the CX bike. And it was good...

And speaking of CX, the City of Austin made the decision yesterday to halt the National Championships. Yeah, they CANCELED the races for the day.
Environmental concerns were raised by the "Austin Heritage Tree Foundation" over the grass and dirt/mud being forced away from tree roots on the course. Yeah...really...
What is a "Heritage Tree" you ask? According to the AHTF, it's a tree with a diameter of 24" @ 4' above the ground. By that rationale, no one should be allowed to so much as breathe in Shandon/Rosewood.
Austin has some rain, and some mud, and becomes the Lorax. The Belgian Championships looked like the Ardennes in August of 1914.
Nevermind the folks that traveled from far and wide, including families whose Junior racers didn't get to race. Some stayed to race today, but it will be interesting to see how thin the fields are.
Big shouts go out to those who gave time, lodging, and money to racers who decided to stay.
Shops gave time to build/breakdown bikes for those who stayed. People opened homes, and shared rides.
BikeLaw raised almost $10k to distribute to Junior/u23 racers and families to help defer the extra cost.
Tim Johnson, retired CX racer/Ambassador/All around good egg, hosted a free dinner for Junior/u23 racers.
And even Lance himself stepped up by making phone calls, and trying to mediate an agreement. He also provided lodging for several racers.
And people whinged, and thought him duplicitous for these actions. Dog forbid someone with a little juice try to help out! Proof that people are jaded, and will bitch about anything.
"Oh...I can't carry this brick of gold...it's too heavy...."  Dicks.

It was quite nice to see how the community of cyclists came together to help each other. And not just in Austin. Social media (Twitter) drove a lot of it.

"No Felice, I'm not cold! I'm just not comfortable having 'Little Felice' that close to me!"

Here's the Urban Assault Vehicle. Switching to a rigid Niner fork is all that's needed. And tubular Dugast 29er file treads? Brave choice, but you KNOW they ride like butter.

Embrace the Portland everyone! It's supposed to be gray and rainy until Friday...
WhoooooHoooooo!