Couple fast rides

Last thursday I hit up the Thursday night Bike World ride again. I was kind of afraid of being out of shape. We went out for only 36 but it was fairly quick. I was glad I went cause it was a nice route they went on. Over to Nevada, then south a bit, then west, and then came back up to east lincoln way. For a couple portions I was thinking of just dropping off. But at that point there weren't too many of us. There was a guy that dropped off our small group, so we picked him up. We were going 23-24 average, during the pulls I was gettin pretty beat. I really tried to focus on opening my lungs up. It helped a little, tried the drops, etc... I bet the main thing is to get your mind off the pain, cause it can probably handle a lot more than you think:) How's that for masochistic thoughts on a Sunday?

Then last night Em and I went out for a gravel ride out to the Heart of Iowa trail. It it weren't for my idiocy we would have had a longer ride. I was way off with my directions. We finally got going by 6:15. We got to Cambridge by 7:15. It was one of the more interesting gravel road rides I had. The twist and turns of the roads we took out were a nice change from the usual grid gravel ridin. Then we got on the trail for just a bit and turned around to get back before sunset. Thanks for the ride Emily.

I'll probably try to get out to Seven oaks this week to see how the trail looks, and if possible, ride it a bit. This'll depend on the weather. I'll post the day I'm heading out. I'm hoping Wednesday.

I've been going through some really big changes with my thesis work. I'm going to be taking the next week to decide on 1 of 2 directions to take. I've got one that would be a computer graphic technique to more intuitively manipulate NURBS curves in a concept design application. That would be uber difficult, involve a lot of the research I've already done, and I'd be working with a group in the VRAC for it. Then I've got a simpler set of options that I could do with for my professor. This would be related to my research assistantship, so I could sort of "double dip" with my time, getting paid for work that helps me with my thesis. The first choice would be a better career choice, but would hinder my biking time. They both would be applicable to different areas of the biking industry:)