The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect for a Sunday afternoon foothills ride on the singlespeed. I headed south from the house to Bear Canyon arroyo and climbed up to 365, then headed south toward Montgomery. That section was way too muddy and shouldn't be ridden right now, so I practiced some cyclocross and ran a lot with the bike up to Embudito. From there pavement over to Comanche then picked up the 365 singletrack on over to Copper, to the saddle at the top of the FooMTB trail, then hit the switchback climb going back north and the other nice climb over toward Indian School, and on back north to the casa. A nice 22 mile ride and I'm not sure about the stats, though I know it wasn't too fast. There's enough soft and wet soil in the foothills that you really have to pedal through it so it's good work for the legs, but much nicer than when it's so dry out there that your bike sinks in the sand. Saw a bunch of friendly faces on the trails. Everyone was happy to be out with flecks of mud all over. Ran into old friends and new. There were even a few paragliders coming down off the mountain near Menaul.

Today at lunch, got out on the roadie for a quick spin through the bosque. Ran into Matt coming the other direction about the time I was planning on turning back for the office so joined him for a few miles before I peeled off for the office. Glad he was on his recovery ride cause keeping up with him when he's hammering is too painful to think about. You can read for yourself on his blog the serious miles he puts in. Good to get out. Have to take advantage of every opportunity when we're having our first real winter season in some time.