Monday, October 30, 2006

Weekend of riding

Got out on the bike a bit this weekend, and both days were in some very interesting weather.

A1, JJ and I had planned to ride on Saturday morning. We had planned to go real early and try to beat out the strom that was slated to roll in. JJ was on weatherman duty and called on Friday night to say don't worry about going early as we were going to get wet no matter what. This pushed back the planned start time to 8:30am. Originally we had planned to do a couple of hours that would take us to the top of Cranmore and eventually down Redtail, but with major rain in the forcast we chose to ride trails that can handle wet weather riding.

Saturday morning came and it was downright miserable conditions. I called A1 and he opted to be smart and stay in. So I headed up to meet JJ and we launched ourselved into Davis. JJ had a new Reba Race on the Mono 29'r and once the trail went downhill he was gone. So much for being able to keep up with him on the descents!

We headed out and did a good hour long route with some epic water crossings. It was cold and neither of us seemed to have much pep in our legs. We dragged ourselves out of the woods and JJ headed to the warmth of his house and headed down to Pine Tree to get in a bit more riding. I figured I was finally warmed up mine as well take advantage of it! Did just one lap and then started to loose feeling in my hands, so I headed back to the house to dry off. Pretty much layed low the rest of the day and the girls and I just sacked out and watched way too much TV.

Sunday rolled around and K descided to skip the cross race, so I was flying solo. I tossed the Belugas in the car for a potential post race hike and ski at Wildcat, loaded up both the Surly and the Kona on the car and headed up. The wind was nuking and it was raining and about 39 to 42 degrees out- perfect!

As I got up into Pinkham it switched from rain to snow and temps dropped just a touch to about 38. Got to GGTOC and there was blue ski for one minute then major snow the next- back and forth for the next couple of hours. My hat goes off to the beginner field as they all went out and braved the elements- and when Eli gave them the option of coming off a lap early they said no and kept on trucking- that was cool to see. Our race was up next and we were all hudled in the alcove not wanting to go out. I opted for warmth and had on thermal tights and a fleece jacket, hat and warm gloves. I chose to race on the Kona, so I was enjoying gears- but there are some shifting issues that need to be addressed. I found that I was able to hang with the big boys for a bit but once I got gapped the major wind made it tough to be out on my own. About half way through my back started to bother me and I slowed considerably. On the last lap Marc and I were battling a bit, I put in an effort going downhill into the second set of barriers and then proceeded to run into the barrier full speed and smash the inside of my right thigh on the back of my saddle. All I can say is it did hurt a lot and it still hurts a lot! Needless to say I was not moving very well after that- spending more time walking then riding and Marc caught, passed, and never looked back- oh well. DFL for me! Needless to say I wasn't up for hiking Wildcat after the race.

All this means I drove in today as my leg still really hurts. I hope I can work it out and get feeling good for Porky Gulch this weekend!

November is almost here!

DEA

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