9.4mi

And today is the day we celebrate Memorial Day.  While I have thought about my fellow vets, and been reminded of them with all the flags around at half-staff, I did follow recent American doctrine, and shopped a bit.

I finally got a CamelBak, a closeout Cloud Walker at Sports Authority.  They had most of their CamelBaks on sale today, so it seemed a good time to run off and get one.

We also stopped at West County Cycles, where Beck bought me a helmet.  It’s a nice helmet, with plenty of ventilation on top, and plenty of clearance for my iPod headphones.  Pretty cool.

I just had to try the new gear out, so I set up the CamelBak, loaded it with water, and took everything to the trail today for a little ride.  I had designs on riding from Weldon to Augusta (10mi each way), but the heat was a little much, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hang around in that for that long, so it was just to Matson and back — about 4.7mi.

So how did the gear do?  Well, the CamelBak is awesome, with enough storage for keys, iPod, cell phone and other goodies.  And, I only emptied half of the 70oz reservoir across my hour ride — about the right amount.

As for the helmet, I didn’t actually try it out — I kept the helmet on my head, and my head above the ground.  However, I feel pretty comfortable that it’ll protect me if I do end up feet-over-head.