I got my singletrack fix on Saturday, and I didn’t want to drive an hour to ride Sunday so I took the next best option. Steep mountain roads! I was very surprised that there wasn’t more snow. I decided to ride my hard tail with the fatty 2.4s. I could actually feel each knob make contact with the pavement… so the added super resistance was almost like riding a trail.
I was definitely feeling tired from the training block, but it was such an amazing day. Last weekend, I was sick in bed so this was a huge improvement! It was colder than the last two spoiling 60F days. I loaded my Ergon BC2 with clothing for the cold canyon descents and water.
The ride involved part of Sunshine Canyon, Magnolia Road to the top, up Peak to Peak Highway to Ward, down Lefthand, and up Lee Hill for one final kick in the pants. I rode until the sun went down… a solid 5 hours. I was wishing I had more daylight so I could keep going! I couldn’t get enough!
I was surprised to find that the roads, even at 8000-9000′ weren’t snow covered. I could have gotten away with my road bike on the ride.
Elk
Ride elevation profile.
Another plus of the big fat tires as far as workout is concerned is that you don’t get “spun out” on the downhill so you can keep pedaling, keep the heart rate up, and stay a little more warm.
I really love the long solo missions into the mountains. I guess that bids well for CTR – that I love to go on adventures alone. I wanted to stay up there overnight, but I think it would be a little….cold!
I’ve also been hitting up the gym for some core and upper body weight training 2-3 times a week. Mountain biking is a lot more physically demanding than road riding, and I always lose a little bit of strength in my arms, chest, and shoulders over the winter that I gain simply from riding trail. Yoga definitely helps too. I’m trying to come into the 2011 season with a strong body, not just strong legs. My weight workouts are designed to mimic the motion of using bar ends, climbs that require upper body leverage, or navigating technical sections of trail.
A funny thing happened yesterday. My only pet is my beta fish, named Alpha. I’ve had him for several months. Yesterday I looked in his fish bowl and noticed he was gone. “What the….?” I thought maybe my housemate was playing a joke on me and hid the fish somewhere else. I didn’t see him floating upside down, and I didn’t see him sitting on the bottom of the bowl. For a brief moment, I thought he somehow got out but immediately dismissed that idea. When my housemate(Brad) got home I said, “ummm…have you seen the fish?” Brad examined the bowl and said, “There he is! He’s dead.” Alpha was in the lip of the bowl in the bottom, underneath the marbles. For whatever reason, I bumped the bowl and it appeared that the fish moved. I did it again and he was still moving and alive. Somehow the retard dug under the marbles and got stuck!!! I got him unstuck and he spent the rest of the evening moving, but not moving very fast. I was expecting fishy to take a trip down the toilet this morning, but it looks as if he might pull through!
If you’re interested, the latest issue of XXC Mag came out today. Issue #10. I have a piece on the Claro Brasil Ride in there.
Winter has returned. There was freezing rain earlier this morning, iced over roads, and it’ll be snowing the next couple of days. It looks like the trainer will be my friend once again. Where is my long underwear?
