A date with Survivorman

The man with the plan.

Me and Survivorman, the Technical Mastermind, and headed out around 9:30AM today. It was 28F out and the snow was blowing horizontally. I say Technical Mastermind because the man is fearless. He rode down stuff I wouldn’t even think of trying. I was very impressed.

By the time we got up to Horsetooth Park, the snow had stopped.

First, we rode up some secret dirt road that was kinda long and steep.
We dropped into the reservoir area, and did a quick out and back on the flowy section of Blue Sky. I was singing the Xmas song “Let It Snow”, but changing the words to “Let it Flow!”
Today was the first day that I got to take the Rotwild out on actual rocky terrain. It was riding kind of weird at first, really squirrely. Then I realized I had like 12 PSI in my rear tire. Go figure. The rest of the ride, it was AWESOME!!!!! The first thing I noticed is that it takes sharp turns really well. It is really easy to maneuver.
Carney had to add air to his tires too. Actually, he flatted the rear. He had his Ergon BD2 and he had everything he possibly could have needed for the day. He is so hard core that right before he bent down to unzip his backpack he said, “I have bled through a chamois in a 24 hour race.”

…And then we rode another steep road. I think it’s called Radio Tower Rd or something.
It was a bitch of a climb, but we got to rip lots of technical singletrack.

We went up aways…

And then further up….

…and eventually got to Horsetooth Rock. I have to say, I CAN’T believe the amount of trails in the Fort Collins area. I really had no idea… and we didn’t even ride half of them. Good riding here… that is no lie.

Another Survivorman quote…wait for it…. “I want to sleep in there. That would be AWESOME!”

About 4.5 hours into the ride, things started going South. I said to Carney, “Man… around the 5 hour mark, I get kind of loopy and my eyelids droop.” I ate a Larabar and 3 Gus during the ride, but apparently that wasn’t enough. I was in survival mode… again. The gas station was a sight for sore eyes and I refueled with half a Nutty Buddy and half a king size Snickers. After that, I was ready to rock n roll. Might I add that this was 6 hours in…? An old man walked by us (it was still below 30F outside) and said to Carney, “You have her trained well.” I was too little to late to respond, but I would have said, “No. I have HIM trained.” haha I have learned over the past month that if you wait to eat till you are hungry on the bike, it is too late. It is important to constantly fuel on long rides.

No, that is not the current time… that is ride time. By the end of the ride, my bottles and my hair were frozen.

After thawing, Jeff and I had an amazing dinner at one of my favorite Italian places – Carraba’s, the VINO STORE, followed by SuperTarget because I needed to consume about 1/2 a pound of Haribo bears.

Yes. That is a 3lb bag to help me survive riding 5 hours a day next week.

Provided the snow falling from the sky does not accumulate too much, I will spend 3.5 hours in the saddle tomorrow, completing a 26 hour training week.

And I leave you with one last Survivorman quote, words to live by, words to chant as you fall asleep…. I mentioned my fear of mountain lions –
“You must love the tent when you are camping. Do you feel safe there? I don’t really like sleeping in tents. I prefer the ground. Usually you are supposed to sleep in a mummybag so animals and snakes don’t get in your bag. I usually sleep halfway out of the bag on the ground, and I am very comfortable. Me and my brother slept in a teepee till we moved out.”

Update Carney quote: “Lies! They’re all lies!” No sir, I assure you, they are not lies.