The days of cold mornings is gone! We’re into warm days and nights in the sixties now, which makes for great sleeping weather and biking weather.

I did another 30 mile ride yesterday and I was glad that I went in the morning. The afternoon would have been too warm for it. I was also very glad for the camelbak that I bought to ride with- being able to take small sips of water while I ride helps in the long haul. I want to try out some of the energy gels that are out there though; toward the end of the rides I run low on energy and I think they would help.

A quick lawn mower update; I’m really liking the Troy-bilt. It comes with a bagger but also includes the side discharge chute, which my old mower didn’t. Changing over from one to the other is really easy and this way I can use the bagger on the lawns around the house and switch to the side discharge for mowing the longer grass. I have to admit too that I’m really glad for the electric start also!

Just a quick note on the lawn mower situation. I went and bought a new lawn mower day before yesterday. It’s a luxury model compared to what I had, but the Briggs and Stratton engine is the exact same model so the old one will stay around for parts.

I got the Troy-Bilt® 6.75 HP 21″ Cut Rear Wheel Self-Propelled Mower from Lowes with electric start. All I was looking for was horsepower and rear wheel drive and the only thing that appealed to me and my budget was the electric start model. Who am I to complain? LOL! Anyway, I didn’t have time to finish up the lawn yesterday because of other projects, but hopefully the grass will dry out by the afternoon (wicked t-storms last night) and I can try it out.

Well, day before yesterday I took a ride down the parkway.

I went South past Hwy 58 and just kept on going all the way to Groundhog Mountain before I turned around. I did a total of 30 miles and averaged around 13.8 miles per hour. Pretty good considering I hadn’t had the chance to ride for 5 days or so!

As soon as I hit the road I could tell there was a difference; my legs were immediately up to the task and I was taking hills in 19th gear and my legs felt like they could keep going forever. Tells me a lot about the recovery cycle and how I need to be training. Yesterday, I took a short 7.5 mile ride to 58 and back and pushed as hard as I could. Today I am not riding at all and tomorrow I’ll do the 30 mile loop again to see how it goes.

Man, that fishing trip was good, but it really threw me off of my schedule a bit. I need to get out and ride today, it’s been about a week now because I’ve been trying to catch up here at Meadowood and have had some issues with equipment.

My lawnmower broke down Sunday and I didn’t get it fixed until Monday. Then, when I had half of the lawn done, I hit a hidden stump and bent the crank. Now, I’m out a lawn mower until I replace the crank and I have to go to Lowes today to pick up another one. Can’t really complain, the mower I had is about 4 years old and it has definitely earned its keep, but still I don’t want to spend money I don’t need to. Beside that, I kind of liked the old mower. *SIGH*

Anyway, I have a mower picked out that is a bit more beefy for the massive job of mowing here and I can use the other one for touch up and odds and ends work when I rebuild it. We’ll go pick it up this afternoon and get the mowing done tomorrow.

Odd stuff to write about I guess, but that’s what is going on at Meadowood today.

I’d rather be fishing!

My birthday was on the 12th of May (mark your calendar for next year! ) and Kristin gave me the most awesome present. She told me that it was going to arrive a week after my birthday but that it was the best present ever.

So I waited, impatiently, but I waited and wondered what in the world it could possibly be. On Thursday around 4:00 pm she said ‘Oh look, your present is here!’ while we were sitting in the living room and I looked out the bay window to see my buddy Dave from Maryland standing there looking in the window.

I hadn’t seen Dave for about a year and a half and was definitely surprised to say the least. I was even more surprised when Kristin told me that she had arranged for a day of fishing with Greasy Creek Outfitters on the New River! Thats www.greasycreekoutfitters.com, by the way- you should check them out if you are coming to the area.

We went out Saturday and hit the water with Forest who was our guide and floated on a custom fishing raft for 8 hours fishing, lying and concocting more lies to tell. Forest is a Pro-fisherman that was happy to teach us the finer points of angling along the way, giving us instructions as to where to cast the lure. Thankfully, he was also very patient as bass angling is not casual or easy- you have to place your casts in the right spot and cast often to get the fish. Unfortunately, the spawn has just ended which leaves the fish to tired to strike, but we caught three each in spite of it and had a great time. Mike Smith owns Greasy Creek and he is another fine fisherman who is very involved in the environmental health of our streams and rivers here in Virginia.

Because Forest and Mike are intent on making sure that the New River maintains its title as a small mouthed bass mecca for anglers, you can only catch and release with them. As a matter of fact, Forest carried back some discarded fishing line we came across to make sure that the only thing left behind is a ripple on the water. I thought that was pretty cool.

Forest comes highly recommended by yours truly; he was a good sport when I gave him some light-hearted ribbing and he can dish it out too. I will definitely be heading out with Mike and Forest in the future- I want to learn more about angling and I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than lazily floating down the beautiful New River.