How Stella lost her groove

Decided on taking a solo ride out at Monty Bell this morning. Just a good head clearing, easy paced ride in the woods. I once again haven't ridden as much as I'd like in preparation for this last Snake Creek Gap race so I thought I'd spin around a while today. My first thought was to ride for as long as I could and try to keep the
(This is kind of how I felt all morning...in a haze)
stops few but then I realized how close Snake really was. I realized that if I hit it hard today, I'd probably be the most sore on Saturday....hmmm ok new plan... fun ride in the woods.

Everything started out great. The temperature was just a tiny bit chilly since it was 9am. The trail was in remarkable shape, I mean really. For the rain and snow we got last week, and having just been closed for 3 days, the trail was almost too dry. This gets me to where I started looking for my groove. After a warm up on the back blue route I started in on the race loop and into the green. I was feeling good, made the switchback up to Tommy's revenge and then made the climb afterwards. But somewhere in the next mile I lost my groove, my flow and possibly my mojo. Everything now felt overly deliberate. I washed out in a couple of dry, pine needle corners and started losing my cornering nerve. I was all over the brakes, weight wasn't feeling like where it should be over the bike. Everything felt wrong. I started thinking about how to corner better and the talks I had with J5 at Cottonmill last week. I started counter-leaning, counter-stearing... ok now everything felt weird. Maybe it was just a bad mojo day... but hey, I was in the woods riding my bike, it was nice out, I was healthy and I had no mechanical problems.

I finished up the race loop and headed back to the truck. KRS1 (Keith) has loaned me a pair of Specialized shoes to try out. My SIDIs are showin' some serious wear so I'm about to be in the market for a new pair. I've had issues with my SIDIs being a little too short and narrow once my feet swell a bit so Keith loaned me this pair. Said he loved the comfort but they made his feet fall asleep. So I finally picked up a new set of cleats to throw on them from good ole Fred @ Harpeth and brought to on my ride today. I hit the trail and immediately had to stop and readjust the cleat position. After finally getting it good enough, I went back into the trail for a trip around the Red perimeter trail. Shoes felt weird from the get go, but mainly just in a: I took off my well worn shoes and put on someone elses kind of way. They are the same size (46) as my SIDIs but are noticeably longer, but actually I think narrower, or the same width. The fabric isn't the faux leather of the SIDIs and they didn't have the give in them after a few miles that the SIDIs have. Overall they felt ok, but not earth shattering. I definitely noticed they are thicker around the ankle and were rubbing on my crank arms, no biggie if they are comfy. After the 3 mile loop I gotta say my first impressions aren't great. Not sure if they are the shoe for me. I'll give them some more time but it's not looking good. Inserts felt uncomfortable under the balls of my feet and hmmm it seemed my left toes were a bit numb after the short 3 mile ride. Atleast I did snap a cool photo of them mid-ride.


Yazoo Tap room tonight... thinking I'll drive in and bring the wife. I'm gonna rest up for Snake and probably turn in early tonight. May spin around the neighborhood tomorrow for a short while before heading out. I'm looking forward to another great time in Dalton!!