Batsto

                                                      photo: Bryan Hitch

"Good friends make great training partners!"  Kelly Cline

Batsto, is a 25+ miles of twist, turns, corners, bends, left, 360, right, twist and turns.

I'd never ridden out there, yet, despite that I've know that it is a destination, about and hour from Philly,

out on the edge of the pine barons, that stays dry, when all else is damp.  The sandy soil seems to hook up, you don't sink in, or plod along.   Attention is always on, keen lines, and in the mind, how wide your bars are.  Easy to clip a sapling tree.

We  went to ride, the mountain bike, to train for cyclocross nationals 2018,  Kelly, Lisa and I. 

the Time went by often with long quite stretches of riding; following or leading or riding 2nd wheel.

I learned better how to look through the rider in front of me, for the line.  How to drive the front wheel, tracing it to the outside arch, and that the back wheel followed tighter but clean on the inside. 

and how far to bend the bike, and center my body weight, and just a bit of show boating, unclipping and hanging out the leg on the inside, to swoop fast and loose. 

I do look forward going back to train on the cross bike there,  really to learn and memorize how Chicanes hook up.   

  

Kelly is right, about training friendship, none of us were out for KOM's, and I sure had nothing to prove.  At this point in life, being old is grand, and having good friends to ride with,  and that watch out for you, and that you lead them in the right direction,  that's what matters.   At this time of the season we're all pretty much on the same page.   Thinking and dreaming about having a great race at Nationals.  Just needing to get some riding in. 

and my goal, I know it's a pretty common one, with the people I ride with, and getting there the best we can, it's pretty fun.

Cheers to Nationals!  dlowe