The remainder of October and most of November 2019 was a disappointment as far as riding went. I was busy with work and didn't have much time to ride. What rides I did manage were solo. It seemed nobody wanted to do our group rides anymore. I found myself out there alone most weeks until the time change ended the group riding season. The pride of the group has almost completely ruined this local fun ride. Everybody wants to ride with the front, but they want the pace to conform to their fitness. Dropped riders complain about and badmouth the faster riders. Slower people get dropped and end up riding alone as nobody will wait for anyone else to form a chase group. Because of all this drama, riders across the speed spectrum stopped coming. A second ride started up in a flatter part of town and many of the riders started to go there, or just stopped group riding altogether. I miss the old days of the Wednesday night ride at Exit 1. We hammered each other, but always regrouped. It was a great workout for the fast guys and helped the slower riders get better because they had more time with the group. I have tried and tried to do it this way on our Tuesday ride, but just can't seem to get anyone to give it a try.
Dina managed to get a few days off work at one point in late October. We put in a couple of longer days on the road. On the first ride I took her to Ashland City and introduced her to some real climbs. I found her breaking point on a steep hill where she had to get off and walk at one point. She was not happy with me! We had to cross a main highway that was being paved right as we returned to the car. Somehow my chain got wadded up as we shot across the soft pavement. It instantly snapped the derailleur hanger. Good thing we were within sight of the car.
We took in the All American 400 at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, the first time I had been able to go to this race in years. They do two late model races for the 400, bringing in top drivers from all over the country. It was a really fun day and beautiful weather. I love that track and hope they can keep it open long into the future.
Training wasn't great leading into the Tennessee State Cyclocross Championships at Cross the Harpeth. I had this one circled on the calendar as I always ride well at Harpeth and was excited for the State Championship to be held there, but I just didn't get to prep the way I wanted to this year. It felt very similar to the lead-in to CX Nationals in Louisville last year. I didn't get to do a single cross race before Harpeth rolled around. The mountain bike is usually my choice here, but it was a no-brainer this year considering I hadn't been on my cross bike at all.
I wasn't on good form at all, but I still had a decent race, which really irks me even more because I know that I could contend for the win if I had been able to do my training. We had a solid group of 13 riders that started the Pro/1/2/3. The pace was crazy high the first lap. I was in the middle of the group after the start. The group quickly split just about 1/4 of the way through the first lap. Six riders got a gap. I was behind the split by a few spots. I couldn't have gone with the move anyway. Those front guys just had too much speed for me. I rode my steady pace and salvaged the best finish I could. I ended up 7th, which effectively was the best of the rest behind the front group.
We closed out November with more farm expansion. We started offering seeds pulled from our own veggies this year. I started harvesting seeds to save us money and breed in the characteristics we want for each variety. I have no idea if anyone will want to buy any of our extras, but I will be putting them out there this winter and into the spring. Shannon also tried out a new jelly. A neighbor gave us a few mint plants earlier this year and Shannon used them to make Mint Jelly. I don't care for mint in anything, but the jelly is actually pretty good. And it's green!
The year ended with me finally getting back to steady training at the end of November and the entire month of December. I also got in the weight room and started working on just being a better athlete in general. Our annual Thanksgiving training camp was a bit of a dud. None of the family wanted to join this year. Thankfully, Shannon got outside with me at some point most of the days to give me some company. The third day was heavy rain. I wasn't very motivated to get out there, but ended up having a great time. The leaves protected the trail. I got slick conditions without any trail damage or coating my bike in mud. It was perfect!
I finally got a smart trainer! Shannon upgraded me to a direct-drive Tacx smart trainer for Christmas. I hate riding indoors, but a smart trainer is a game-changer. I was immediately having a blast with the real-world videos provided by Tacx, and quickly had a Zwift membership. Of course, I was racing after just two days on the new toy and having a great timed despite getting aboslutely destroyed. I am already getting in better workouts than I have ever had on the trainer before. I am pumped to be on this thing for the rest of the off-season. It is so cool to be able to finally see my power output and get to work on my FTP.
We ended the year with some night riding to visit the Christmas light displays around Pleasant View. We did this last year and it was so fun we want to make it an annual thing. Shannon joined me for a chilly, but fun ride to get the season's festivities fully underway.
We headed up to Indiana to visit Shannon's side of the family for Christmas. I got to work with Shannon on Christmas Eve and even got done early enough to ride my way north toward Indiana. I made it 60 miles up to Hopkinsville before she picked me up and we drove into the night to reach Elkhart.
I only got in one ride while we were in Indiana, but it was a great one on Christmas Day. The weather was cold, but sunny. I found a few gravel roads to explore in the middle of the ride. On the way back, I saw a temporary service road that had been constructed across the farm fields to allow for trucks to drive over the soft fields to replace power line stands. The plastic road was just too good to pass up. I hopped on and ended riding a couple of miles through some random farm bumping my way over to the next paved road. It was an oddly fun ride to wrap up 2019.
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