Day 13: Interstate Tour 2018
Let's go muddin'.
It was a good ride.
It wasn't a great ride. No, that would have been if I had been able to go balls-out through the entire track at a brisk clip. Though rated as a "beginning" track, the Potato Creek State Park mountain bike trail is 7.7 miles of sheer awesome from start to finish. One of the most enjoyable, fun, scenic and breathtaking adventures that I've ever had the pleasure of taking, though this morning was all about taking it sloooow.
The constant rains of the past week had taken a break and, aided by some gusty winds, the ground had begun to return to something that didn't resemble quicksand. Still, as this is a restored Indiana wetland, there's usually some areas of muck that you'll encounter.
But the lickety-split fan curves and downhill runs, with their crazily-sloped descents and runs that constantly shifted your center of gravity, were all a little slickery, so I rode the brake in softer substrate, only letting it go full out if the canopy of magnificent trees had shielded the path from the unrelenting precipitation. There were plenty of two-wheeled rocket moments in between the timid coasting and feeling the wheels begin to slide out from under me in thicker-than-expected goo. It made for a cautiously energetic workout and my Fitbit agreed.
After more admin work and a quick recording for The Improv Files called "Potato Creek Ride", I headed for Folkcraft Instruments in Woodburn, Indiana, where the Tuesday night dulcimer club had no idea that I was coming.
Richard Ash knew, of course. I had asked about stopping by for some dulcimer work and the timing of my stop just happened to coincide with the meeting of the Tuesday night dulcimer club in the Folkcraft building. The instrument work would take place in the morning, so it was a nice way to end the day, sitting and jamming with a really fine group of players who do very interesting things with their songs. I've never heard a group improvise and deviate and try new stuff as this one, so kudos to Richard for fostering the kind of environment that encourages exploration!
Some computer maintenance afterwards, some rendering, some work on The Dulcimerica Project, pre-production on episode 394, still trudging through my e-mail box. I'm thinking it's time to play hard again (and get great footage.)