What a golf ball can do...

I regularly hit golf balls in my back yard, into a practice net designed to contain them ... or so it's supposed to. A few months ago I was hitting with my driver and I wacked one and then heard the trees in the back by the fence making noise like a golf ball was flying through them ... I never saw that ball again, nor did I hear it land. I repaired the hole in the net, but it happened again a week later and I decided that I could no longer hit my driver into the net ..  having a golf ball leave the yard like that is tooo scary!

Forward to today: I have the practice net in front of the wooden fence to serve as a stop for any balls that go through the net. I have sense made several repairs to the net. The dent left by a golf ball hit from a 3 iron leaves dimples on the fence that you can feel. Today, I found out a ball hit by my driver will do to the fence after it goes through the net ... break it. (My swing speed said the driver was swung at 115 mph, which is my normal driver speed.) So, I'm now thinking that the fence is not a good back stop and will hit shorter irons until I figure out another solution to keep balls in the back yard. I also have "Birdy Balls", which I've broken, but not the professional line of them. And I'll hit foam balls too. They're fun to hit, but can go over the fence's too; but they're not breaking anything.

On the Trails Again...

I have been casually looking for a used mountain bike (MTB) for several years now, something with at a minimum front suspension. The Diamondback Accent that I've been riding is a 7 speed x3, no suspension with standard brakes. My thoughts have been for a Cannondale Lefty. Why? I have a Cannondale R5000 road bike that I bought used that has served me well for years and thousands of miles through multiple states and from what I've read, the Lefty is a solid suspension (and strange with just a single shock tube up front). As is a pattern in my life, after waiting and waiting, three weeks ago I bought a used Cannondale RZ120 Lefty ... nice!! Thank you God - you always provide!

Cannondale RZ 120 Lefty

I've ridden it twice on the trails now and WOW, what a difference! Spots on the trail that would beat me up and rattle my brain before; now are just ridden over ... so smooth - I kind of feel like a little boy on Christmas morning when I ride it. To describe what it's like: it's taller, it rolls better, the brakes work better, it's smooth, it's fast, ... it feels like I'm cheating when I ride it compared to what my previous bike was like! I am very thankful.

That being said, I still need to get used to it: the front end is a little light on steep climbs so I'm having to focus to try to keep it on the trail and pointed in the right direction. I expect to make some updates as I start spending more time on the trails and get used to this nice MTB. I will post "Numbers" as in the past in future updates.

It's nice to be on the trails again. My RZ may not be new, but it's about 5 steps up from my last MTB. Now I need to work on getting my skills and fitness up.