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Just as I started feeling like myself again, the rain rolled in.

Honestly, taking another week to rest & recoup is probably a good thing. But it left me hungry for some time on the bike.

I've found that the neighborhood horse trails stand up just fine in the rain, so I did a little exploring this week, with the aim of adding more dirt to my loop through Wallnut.

I discovered that the bike path along the creek is open all the way east from the office past Fairway, and that there's a tunnel under Valley Blvd that connects to the Lemon Creek Trail, and finally out to S Lemon Ave.

That opens up a whole new route for days I don't want to do a lot of climbing, which is awesome. And I just love "ally cat" rides that link a series of little-used, non-obvious routes. To me, they're just as interesting as any trail ride.

So, the rain seems to be passing, and I'm feeling great. Where am I at now?

• Weight: I've maintained my weight at 182.2#, so my weight loss efforts will pick up next week right where I left off.
• Training: I've logged about 3:00 of saddle time in the last two weeks, which puts me at roughly 40% of my normal volume. For being sick and getting shut indoors by rain, that's not as terrible as it could be. And I feel reasonably strong. (I always feel terrible after a rest-- I do better after a sharp ride loosens up the legs again.)

So all that puts me in position to get right back on the train again. Here's next week's checklist:

• Hard climb 3 days
• Ride 3+ hrs
• Drop a pound

The forecast calls for cool, dry weather all next week, so I'm looking forward to hero dirt and sore legs.