Just a “few” photos from walking around Land’s End Trail and the Legion of Honor for a couple hours this morning in San Francisco. A beautiful day to be out and about. Hopefully more photos to come of Blue Angels from Fleet Week.
New Belgium kicked off its CX series tonight…and what an ass kicking, fun time! The course was the most technical I have ridden yet, which isn’t saying much since I’ve only ridden a total of 4 different courses. Anyway, there was hardly any grass, lots of tight turns, a super duper long section of deep sand, a steep run-up, lots of up/down, up/down, and tons of loose dirt and gravel. And if the technicality didn’t get ya at some point, the ubiquitous goat heads probably did. I ate dirt, literally, at one point but was lucky enough to make it through the race without becoming victim to a puncture. Chalk up another great time on the CX bike.
Phew, 9.5 hours in 3 days on the mtb. Ouch. Stick a fork in me and put me to bed. Another great day playing in the dirt. And, once again lucky that the shitty weather forecasts were wrong. Lara, JHK, and Heather joined us today - thankfully JHK is broken, Heather is “out of shape”, Lara is, well, a working girl now, and the rest of us were tired so it was more a social, “slow” ride, than anything. We rode mostly service roads, that always seemed to go up, up, up, and definitely took a toll on the legs (yep, I was close to shedding a few tears today), and we ripped some single track (where you might find some of my blood on a rock or two) here and there. Nothing like yesterday’s ride though, which will go down in my books as one of my favorite rides ever. Still, anywhere you go in Winter Park is wicked.
The drive home this afternoon got a little sketch. Heading up Berthoud Pass the snow began falling rapidly and the trucks weren’t out yet to clear the roads. Coming around a bend we came up on cars that were stopped because someone lost control and had to stop, which made other cars lose momentum, including us, making it very hard to get traction to move again. After slipping and sliding before gaining traction and momentum again, we made it up and over the pass, but not without biting a few nails off first.
Haka and Kohi are now crashed out across my lap, snoring loudly. It’s good to be home.
Go back to Thur and I was with Kevin Younger at the Athletic Improvement Center to begin my off season strength/power program. It wasn’t a full-on gym session just yet, but we started with testing to recognize any deficits and deficiencies I have been right and left sides (and I have some serious issues to improve this winter). After just a few reps, I knew that my muscles were going to be screaming at me in the days to come, and, sure enough, I was right. Then, yesterday, I went out on a mtb ride with Georgia (pro rider for Luna Chix and Beijing Olympian) on my new Specialized Epic for 3.5 hours and I was fully exhausted by the end. First, I started the ride sore. Second, I was riding with a pro who kicked my butt. Third, 3.5 hours on the mtb was just about double in length of any mtb ride I had done yet this fall - actually years. Yes, I have been riding my mtb a lot this fall but not needing to “train” per se, I haven’t been doing crazy, long rides, especially on a mtn bike! But, the ride was awesome even though I was struggling to keep up with Georgia. I’d get a quick glimpse of her every now and then when the trail would curve around, but then she would disappear around the next bend just as quickly. Pro roadie lacking in mtb skills, brake checking over every bump in the road, trying to keep up with pro mountain biker - ha. Thankfully she didn’t feel the need to completely smoke me like she easily could have, but instead kept the pace steady but do-able. Now, today, another 3.5 hour mtb ride in Winter Park. I was thinking to myself rolling out the driveway that there was no way in hell I was going to make it through another long, lung-busting mtb ride (it is over 9000 ft here), but the riding here is just incredible, incentive enough to keep my legs churning and burning as we rode over one after another sweet single track. Add to that the amazing scenery - aspens “popping” (to quote every designer out there) in vivid yellows, lining the trails as we wound our way through the mountains - and fresh, cool air and it was a ride of epic proportions. Ok, it was painful, very painful, but absolutely worth every second of pain. Oh, and to make it even more fun I made sure that I hit every mud hole possible. What’s more fun than finishing a mtb ride muddy? Not bloody, but at least muddy. Towards the end though, I was so cooked I couldn’t even make it over a small twig without coming to a complete stop. One of the last trails we hit was this technical (rooty and rocky) climb that normally would not be too difficult, challenging but rideable. However, by this point in the ride there was just no power, no energy, nada, zip, zilch left in the legs to help propel me up and over even an inch. It was quite comical actually, I had to laugh. I’d be riding along, hit this “twig” and bam, I’d stop. Luckily after that it was all downhill to home - a perfect end to a perfect ride.
And beer and pizza were a perfect way to top off a day in paradise.