Rear View '19 - Summer

After getting lost on the Solstice 100, I had this meal at the Loma Tap.

 Hello Readers! Once again I am doing the annual retrospective on what went down over the year of 2019. This post will focus on Summer. Previous posts have covered the other seasons, with one to come,  for a total of four, one each week of December on Thursdays.

Summer: The year wasn't going well in regard to riding since Spring was so wet and cool. I was way behind on miles and training was not up to snuff. The Solstice 100 saw a day where it got hot and humid, and of course, that made things really hard on me. I ended up off course and found my way back to Loma, Nebraska where I had quite the experience in the tap there helping prepare my own lunch!

Well, while that was fun it was another DNF to add to the piles of DNF's that had been experienced before this one. Getting to finish lines was becoming a rarity in my riding, and it was wearing on me. But Summer was finally getting together, and heat and humidity were the name of the game. I managed to get some rides in, but I was not getting the miles in that I wanted to either. Part of the problem was stress related to work. The "end" of the shop's life was nigh, and how management was handling affairs was causing me, and other employees a lot of trouble. Let's just say "denial" was the strategy being employed which many of us at the shop could see right through.

The next big event on the horizon was the Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational. After two successful years of Tama County dirt road tours I decided to roll a route in Powesheik County and it was brutal. I knew it was going to be a big day of rollers and hot weather was sure to play a part in things, but thunderstorms? Yes, we got rained on, and we barely escaped lightning which hounded us for a few hours. Still, it was fun to ride with so many great folks.

Then it was only a few short weeks until Gravel Worlds. I had good intentions, but the day went South on me. No big surprise there, the whole year was a big DNF as far as events went for me. A gut issue got me this time. Oh well!

From the 2019 GTDRI

From Gravel Worlds 2019.

After Gravel Worlds I did not have any riding plans. I just got out to help clear my head from the work related nonsense which was going on, saved my money for leaner times, and took in as much as I could whenever I did get out. The late summer riding was awesome. No events to "get ready for", nothing to prove. I needed every mile I got this past late Summer and into Fall.

The single speed version of the Orange Crush is a blast to ride.

I got this new Sully Guitars Raven model which I have been enjoying a lot.

On the "Six String Side" I got a new guitar after many, many years, and I am really enjoying it. It is a Sully Guitars Raven model from the Conspiracy Series. It plays so well, and I was pleasantly surprised by that and the sound, which, obviously, has to be there. This was, at least, one bright spot in the Summer for me.

Next: Fall and the close of this year's "Rear View" posts.