I think I’m starting to recover from all of the crazy work stuff that’s been going on lately. We had another rough change control last week that kept me at work until almost 11pm. But the weekend was pretty mello and I’m starting to get myself back to reality.
I rode my first singletrack of the season on Saturday. Nick and I spent the day at the shop, hanging out with Mike and John and after closing we all headed to ILRA. I’ve finally got my titus dialed-in and it rides like a dream. I’ve been paying more attention when I ride and have been able to use my fork lock-out to help me on hills. WOW, does that make a difference! I certainly lack power on the hills, but I did really well on the flats – often going up to the Big ring and picking up the pace. The downhill and twisty stuff came right back, as if I’d been doing it all winter.
Sunday was a little different. Sherpa met Nick and I for some riding at Stony Creek. We did a normal lap (pines section, 3 hills, snake, roller coaster). Most times when I ride Stony, its with a group, and there’s almost always a stop after the pines, to re-group and chit-chat. As we were going through the Pines, I told Sherpa and Nick (who were riding behind me) that I wasn’t going to stop after the pines. So, when we hit the doubletrack, we kept going – I sent Mike and Nick ahead because it was all uphill for awhile, and I met them at the top of mount Sheldon. I struggled with the Snake, but I’m trying to work on consistency… trying to keep my cadence even and my heart rate steady… I made it to the top pretty quickly, but had to drop the bike and walk around a little to catch my breath when I got there. The roller coaster was tough, but the momentum on that trail is just fantastic! I don’t think I’ve ridden another trail that I can benefit from momentum as much as you can in the rollercoaster at Stony. The ‘back nine’ section was really fun and swoopy!
Sherpa said he was suprised when I suggested we do another run through the pines, up the snake and down the doubletrack back around to the gate and out. He said he was ready to be done when we finished the first lap around. But, we ventured on. We didn’t do the snake a second time, but we did the pines, 3 big hills and doubletrack around to the gate. I’d guess we rode ~13 miles …
Early dinner at the Mills, coffee at Barnes and Noble, cyclism on OLN, Soprano’s and Big Love finished off the evening. Pretty good weekend overall!
