Aqualung

I made it out for a nice little ride today, hitting some of the dirt trails farther from home as I slowly stretch out my ride mileage. I have been trying to pace myself as I continue to recover from the bout with pneumonia. A number of people, including my doctor, warned me about it coming back—something I obviously want to avoid. Careful as I have been, today's ride was the longest since being sick, and right now my lungs are feeling a little tight and congested.

The Fargo has evolved a bit since I first built it as I try to figure out where it fits in my stable. The original intent was to bolt on a bunch of racks and haul stuff—commuting, camping, grocery runs, pulling my son on the trail-a-bike. I purposely used a straight post and short stem for a more upright position. It didn't take long, though, before the racer in me felt that I could get more power with a setback seatpost. A narrower, racier saddle soon followed. Then a longer stem to stretch me out. Before I knew it the bike became my main ride, and . . . now I don't know that I want racks on it. It's just too fun to blast around on; it's like a cyclocross bike on steroids.

Here's how the bike is currently set up:

On this stretch of gravel road, I had a nice tailwind. I pounded along at 24-28 miles per hour. It's so cool to be in the drops on the dirt going that fast. I ALWAYS have thoughts of Paris-Roubaix on this section.

I came upon this poor acorn woodpecker on a dirt road. He flew up as I approached, but could only fly in tight circles before crashing back to earth. When I was close enough, I could see that his neck was messed up. I couldn't really do anything for him. What he needed was a good chiropractor. I briefly thought about putting him out of his misery, but I don't have the stomach for that. Hopefully he got the kinks worked out and is destroying someone's oak tree tomorrow.

The last dirt section was the New York Creek trail, which is always fun:

I was out for almost two hours. I'll know tomorrow when I wake up if I overdid it today. Hopefully I won't need my lungs pumped.

Later.