Up swing

Two rides on the MTB this week. Great rides at C-wood and Chubb. Could not keep a smile off of my face. Its good to not feel like crap in the saddle. The Dogwood is in fast condition, and so is the CHubb for that matter. It looked like ther was some armoring done. I need to get out there more and hone the trail. I got owned in a few places that require buff skill.

Killing time...buffing trail.

Went out to Greensfelder with my dog (sasha) last night and this morning to buff out some rough spots on the dogwood. There was a downed tree coming out of a corner that was killing flow, and had a serious re-route. This was bugging me big time. When I rode the trail Friday, I thought the log was small enougg to move by hand. It turned out to be a tree, and a saw would be the TECH. All I had was a garden rake, so I moved on to some of the muddy boggy sections. I was able to smooth out some sections, hopefully to promote draining. These were sections battered by horses, and the postholes trap water in them. I was able to buff out two areas. THese areas will help carry speed throug turns. I was running low on light and water for the third, and it was a large area. It still has some work to be done. The lower part of the trail is on the agenda for tonight. THat will take several hours to complete.

This morning, I woke up late, but still got going at 7am out of the parking lot. THis time I was armed with a bow saw. A dull bow Saw. It took 25 solid minitus of sawing to get through this log. It looked dead, but it was not rotted as much as first glance would lead you to believe. The log was across the trail, and was elevated about 9 inches off of the ground. Several logs had been loosly stacked on both sides, but it was shoody work. It looked like many had tried to roll over it, and dragged a chain ring. It was too high for horses to walk over, so I am guessing this was the source of the problem leading to the re-route. I was short on time, so I will need to go back an clean up the logs. I moved them off of the trail, but they need to be placed right so debries does not build up and soak the trail out. I forgot my camera both times, but I feel these actions were justified. I reviewed the IMBA handbook before doing this work.

The trail already has some bomber fast sections, the transitions into and out of these are what needs work. It will rock for the Sep 7th race.

NORBA @ Cape...Etc

This was a good race, the first I have done in a while. I began the race feeling about 80%. The Drag race start really took it out of me, but I kept the pace going. A missed turn put me back to 6th place, and took me about a lap to catch up to 3rd. By the time I started the third lap, I was worked, unable to sustain the high end power. I lost my aggression when Scott P. passed me, and from there on all I cared about was a DNF. That would bruise my confidence more than a bad race. Scott and I traded places a few times in the race, he was rocking a SS in the sport race. Christopher had a bad fork, so bar rowed my bike. Congrats to him for manning up and performing well in his first expert race. Bold move man. The course really caught me off guard. The reports coming in explained it as similar to SIUE, with some (2) climbs. The amount of climbing was pretty brutal. 2 big climbs, with several smaller steeper sections, that had me out of the saddle and in the top of the cassette by the last two laps. Throw in some technical bike handling, and some skinny bermed corner, and you have a tough course. Its the type of course that you really enjoy racing. The locals really had the course dialed.

Probably will take a few weeks off of racing and riding for that matter. My legs are tired, and the motivation is slipping. That is the biggest thing I have going for me, it is what keeps me out of a negative mood. The spread on my HR for the race was out of its normal range 168 avg, and 187 max. it is usually within 10 beats for the performance. Some rest has been recommended, and should be the ticket to get me back in the right frame of mind. I just need to find something to do to keep me busy.

Both days this weekend had me up at 4:30am. Saturday I was the pit boss for Zach and Keeven. They showed up with their A game in KC for RIM. This was a good scene. I enjoyed chatting with team segual, and watching Mesa dominate the 6 hour race. Zach took 3rd overall, Keeven took First overall, on a SS. I got a chance to ride the RIM course. The middle section was brutal. I was familiar with the rest of the course, parts of it were used in the two previous xc races this summer. I went back for more of that flowy stuff. The rim job trail was pretty technical. I cannot imagine riding 7 laps on that stuff. Zach and Matt made it through and still had enough positive energy for the ride home. I slep straight through in the back seat of the war wagon.

Big weekend on Tap.

Next NORBA race in cape garage door on Sunday. I am getting excited, a little anxious about it. I have not put in any intensity since the mishap on the OT. The riding has been spaced out, short, and at least one rest day between rides. I am heading to Landal tomorrow to help out Zach B. and Keeven. They will be waging an assault on the 6 hour race. I might even get to ride some of the trails.

I rode Greensfelder this morning. Dogwood is fast and in good shape, but there are a few areas that disrupt flow. I was owned on the Declue. I bashed both of my shins on a trip over the bars. This put me in a bad mood for the rest of the lap, so it was hard to enjoy the declue after that. Those trails are used hard by horses, and hardly by bikers, so I cant really bitch too much. I need to just shut my mouth, and take a rake and gloves over there to smooth out and armor sections that need attention.

Congratulations are in order for my dad. He summited the Grand Teton yesterday, in a single push with a local Friend/bar tender at the Knotty Pine. Car to car took them about 16 and 1/2 hours! That is including an hour nap in the meadows, about 4.5 miles from the car. I spoke with him at 10:30 Tues night, he was getting ready to sleep for an hour, and then pick up Adam, and go to the trail head. They probably started around midnight, were up to the lowere saddle(11,200') by 4am, and about 12,000' at sunrise. That is where the business end of the climbing starts. They took the under hill ridge up to the east face. Looks like rock climbing up to 5.6 to the east face, then low angle scrambling, and snow to the summit block. I think they were able to traverse around the snow for the most part. The top picture is a picture of the grand from the south west aspect, taken from he summit of the middle Teuton. I am not certain, but the rout goes up the ridge to the right of the purple line. A worthy objective, on a noble mountain. NICE WORK!!

Healing

Three days of healing, not recovery under my belt. I am kicking around getting back on the bike toinght, but have not made up my mind. The sorness is still with me, but not as bad as it was monday and Tuesday. The weather looks insane for the weekend. That means opitons abound for biking. MTB or Road will be the question, not weather or not it is going to rain on me.

Trying to put down the big numbers

I wanted a big ride for Sunday. Christopher and I headed down to DD and 32 parking lot early, despite the threat of rain. While kitting up, we commented on the temp. It felt like it was about 70 degrees. We kicked around a few ideas, but decided on the middlefork, with the intention of riding gravel roads back. CP has posted about completing this in the past. I wrote the directions down on a piece of paper. The trail was in super shape. Fast, fast, fast. We were doing about an 8MPH average, and covering some ground. I didn't notice the heat until we were very close to the end of the trail. I could feel the power draining, and some twitching in my legs. Not a good sign, my response was to increase my fluid, and I took two enduralite pills. We were at the last gravel road before HWY J and I asked to shut it down and head back. We were about 2 miles from J, but I was concerned about water. The cramping set in hard soon after. We stopped at a house, and were lucky enuogh to get cold water with ice. We also checked our position, and made sure we were on track. I put some electrolytes in my cold water, and felt pretty good. I was on a stedy fueling program, GU, hammer bar, shot blocks, and heed with sustained energy, and some endurilights in my camelback. Soon after we started in, we hit a gravel hill that was several times longer than Matson hill. I had powered down significantly, and was walking the bike up the hill. I had to stop twice and sit down. The leg cramps were pretty significant, and were spreading to my chest. I was not in my right mind, and was telling Christopher to go get the car. Problem was, we did not know where we were so to speak. We moved on to hwy 49 and then on to the next county road, about 2 miles. At the bottom of a huge hill there was a T intersection. That was not in our directions. The moment I stopped pedaling, my legs locked up soo bad, I could not get off of my bike. Christopher suggested I lay in the creek, which I did for about 20 min. He scoped a house down the road about 1/2 mile, so I finally got off my ass and hobbled down there. For the second time, we met some very nice people that offered to drive us back to the car. There was absolutely no way I could ride/walk back. I was completely spent. We got the tour of Iron county as we drove to the car, bikes in the back of the truck. Even with cold water at Steve's house, and more at the car, the cramping was worse, and had moved to my whole body, hands, feet, chin, arms and abs. Luckily Christopher knows how to drive a stick, as I was in no conditions to drive. The next hour had me pouring sweat, elevated heart rate, and no appetite. A Gatorade really started to turn things around, but I am still in full recovery mode. I feel lucky that it turned out this way, as it could have been much worse. Had we been in the woods when this happened, the outcome would have been different.

After some research, I think it was heat exhaustion, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance. That combo was enough to put me on my back, and break my will in half. I have never been so depleted of energy and motivation. It will take several days to pull through this one.

Looking back, I was in the saddle about 12 hours this week, the most this year for a week. The only other time I have completely shut down like this was last summer, on the middlefork, and on a week that was over 12 hours. Too much riding, too much heat, too much hubures. On a positive note, we did figure out how to connect gravel roads to the middlefork. The trail really is a gem. The decents are smoking fast, with lots of pedaling, and carving corners. The hills are not steep, but there are quite alot. Probably not the best choice for temps in the high 90's. This loop is best for mid oct or spring. The elevation gain on the trail is 4000+, that is huge for missouri. This trail rivals anything I have everdone. My biggest mistake was under estimating its power.

KEEP RIDING

Thurs.

I would have thought for sure that the short track race was going to be canceled. I made up my mind befor I went to work yesterday. I took the road bike and fully commited to riding in Jeffco with Zach B. To my surprise, the race was on, even with 1/2 inch of rain, but I stayed commited. Our ride began at 141 and 44. I have been exploring Jeffco bit by bit for the last month. I get up to High Ridge, and go down Antire hill. That hill is really fun to decend, but commands respect. Zach B. and I had a few near misses at the top of the hill. He had a Dullie breathing down our necks when we were picking up speed. Then out of no where, Fido jumps out from under a fence and through the weeds. He almost got a specialized MONDO to the rib cage. On the first big corner, I cam in super hot. Zach got off into some of the loose gravel on the side, but was able to keep it up right. Nice work. I witnessed some great bike handeling,and was glade we could continue. Up Jim Weber, and up ereka high ridge to Byrness mill. The heat was cranked, but we moved on to new ground for me. I had a rout in mind that went up a road called FRANKS. Wow, that mammer jammer is long and steep. It keeps coming at you. it was about 30 miles of riding in 2 hours. not bad. around 2000 of vertical acent.