Sooo... here we are, another week another post in the Cycling community, we'll just have to keep going and hopefully, eventually more people will start to share they're stories and pictures about their awesome rides and posts like these will outnumber the Strava2Hive automated posts.

So with sharing pictures, I have an issue... when sometimes is truly worthy of taking a picture from when I'm not on normal road so I can just stop next to the road to take a picture, like I did when I crossed this bridge for example...

But when I'm off-road I am WAY too busy concentrating on the terrain and to not crash against a tree or in the water. 🤣
I have a couple of spots on my last ride that were picture worthy but I guess if something truly is epic... you're just too busy with it 😋 so just enjoy the moment!

By the way, do you see the bird flying over in the reflection in the water? I didn't see it when I took the picture! 😄

Yesterday, like almost every Sunday I had another ride. It was still pretty cold with 3 to 5 degrees but at least the sun was shining so that's something! When I saw the weather forecast on Saturday I decided I would go to the MTB Trail in Beesd, the closest and the largest from where I live. I did explore a small part of it by accident but now I bought the permit for this year so it was time to start exploring the legal way.

To be honest I didn't had high expectations since it's only a relatively small forest surrounded by meadows but right from the start it was full focus up and down and left and right, a lot of fun - for now you just have to believe me on my word with the lack of pictures... there was a cycling event going on when I was there, 300 to 400 participants were crossing the MTB trail that was part of their route, I noticed all these reflective arrows that are different from the regular international mountainbike logo signs in different colors, telling me where I should go to so I knew something was going on...

Because this was the first time I was riding this route, and because I was distracted by the event and exactly where the trail would split up there was a guy in a reflective vest I asked about the event and after the little talk I just chose a direction without looking on my Garmin - it off course was the wrong route.

source

The part in the middle, close to the railroad is meant to be ridden twice and I now know where to go the next time I'm there. 😄

MTB Trails are so much more intense than my road rides, a full body workout instead of lower body only with a much higher heart rate as well so although this is the most fun, I definitely can't do this every cycling day. According to my Garmin I needed 66 hours to recover. 😅

I've made a number in my head, it's 100.... kilometers... I want to cycle every week so on average this means I have to be riding 50+ on every ride. When I'm able to do this for the entire year I should be able to reach 4000 kilometers at least because there will undoubtedly will be situations where I can't cycle as much, we'll see... that 5000 yearly @friendlymoose had as a goal sounds really tempting! 😇

Cycling Sunday Chit-Chat

This week is easy, only ONE question for us to talk about - hmmm... she kinda tricked us a bit there with only one number but three questions hidden in one sentence. 😝

What goes through your mind when you’re cycling? What’s the craziest idea you’ve ever had while pedaling? Did you actually put it into practice… go on, tell us!

This is so different for road rides or MTB trails and therefore I like both of them, my road rides are mainly there to be the less intensive trainings and to train in heartrate zone 2, and usually my mind just wanders off and random thoughts appear, it's great for relaxing!

I am blessed with a happy life, good health for me and my loved ones and without major problems so I don't have to ponder on things like this, and to be really honest I don't have a clue what I'm thinking in the 2.5 hours on every ride, it's much like dreaming I guess - when you wake up you can tell what you dreamed about but an hour later it's gone!

My thoughts while on the trails are focused with scanning the terrain in front of me, with a groan every now and then on some tough situations and a nervous giggle when my front tire lost its grip for a moment to find it half a second later again, living the moment.

Cycling Stats so far...

Because of the snow I'm a bit behind schedule right off the bat, this year so far I'm at 208 kilometers and 2737 in total since I started cycling in May last year, when I extrapolate 400km each month I will end up at 4000+ in total year to date, or from May to May - well you know what I mean. 🙂

What's your count so far for this year?

That's it for this week, when you're a cyclist yourself please join in on this weekly blogging challenge!