Week Ending Sunday, 2/26

The back is doing better and better.  Took Yoga with Jaclyn at Harmony Yoga on Monday, then rode Del Cerro Tuesday and Thursday.  After 3 weeks straight of long rides on the weekend, decided to do a shorter, fun ride this week.  Rode Malibu Backbone from Corral to Encinal with Susan and had a really nice ride.  Took out the Mojo, which I hadn't ridden in awhile, and it felt great!

There were quite a few hikers on the trail, but it was all good.  No rush!

Meanwhile, I also installed the X9 front shifter, the XTR rear shifter and XT derailleur, the Stan's Crest wheels and Ikon tires onto the Spearfish.  25.8 lbs.  Not bad, but not a 22lb. hardtail either.  We'll see how it rides on Tuesday.

Six weeks till Vision Quest!

Week Ending Sunday, 2/19

After another good Thursday night ride, I went in for massage and adjustment on Friday and was a little concerned as I was feeling soreness in my left side low back and glute area.  Did the best I could with stretching, Ice, jacuzzi on Friday and Saturday, trying to make sure I was ready for a big training ride on Sunday with Susan and Charlie.

Kudos to The Path too.  My rear shock was losing air, so I took a chance and brought it in on Saturday.  Despite the fact they were scheduling service appointments more than a week out, they installed a new seal kit for me on the spot.  Awesome!

We decided to climb Harding to Four Corners, cut across the Main Divide and descend Silverado Motorway, then climb back up Maple Springs to Four Corners, then back down Harding to the car.

Starting up Harding, Charlie and I were talking but soon distanced ourselves from Susan.  I remembered 2 weeks ago when I went a little too hard up Blackstar and ended up struggling up Maple Springs though, so I told Charlie to ride ahead and I was going to slow down to save some energy.  So we were all on our own and I put some tunes on and just tried to keep a solid pace up Harding.  Was really happy that my back seemed to feel fine.  I believe it was an instance where I get sore after an adjustment, but once I get moving, things loosen up.  Approaching Four Corners, it was pretty cool to see some snow on the ground.  I was curious about my pace, as I had done the climb on my Crosscheck before Thanksgiving in 1:27.  When I finally saw Four Corners, I realized I was behind that pace a bit, but that was okay (again, trying to save myself for the Maple Springs climb).  Got there in 1:31, which wasn't bad and best of all, I felt like I still had some gas in the tank.

We headed across the Main Divide to the Motorway, and I still felt pretty good, keeping a steady pace up the couple of steep climbs.  Heading down the Motorway, I'm always a little cautious in the fast, loose rocky stuff plus the crash there from a few years ago and resulting trip to the ER were still in the back of my mind.  Still, the Motorway  was in good shape, so I decided to push it a little bit faster.  The Spearfish felt great, very balanced and stable.  Surprisingly, I kept Charlie in my sights and ended up finishing the descent in 13:26, beating my time from 2 weeks prior by 51 seconds, even though we had to slow down a few times for hikers.

Was really curious to see how I'd feel going up Maple Springs, since I had the big struggle up it 2 weeks prior.  Again, I told Charlie to go on ahead and I settled into a steady pace.  Felt much better than the last time, and just tried to keep it steady through the last part of the pavement and the first mile or two of dirt, which are the steepest parts.  Time seemed to go much faster than last time too, and soon Four Corners came into view.  Made it up in 1:10, which was 10 minutes faster than last time.  Still felt good too, which was a great sign.  It shows how important pacing is!  I could give up 5 minutes on Blackstar by throttling back some and easily make it up and more on Maple Springs and feel better in the process.

Turned out to be a great ride!  Bike did great, rear shock held air.  Rear derailleur was still a little off, so I think I'm going to replace the X9 with a Shimano XT.  Most importantly, body felt great.  7,500 feet of climbing and I felt like I could still do more!

I think we'll do a more moderate fun ride next week.  Will be a good excuse to break out the Mojo.

Got in to Leadville!

Still a little bit in shock, but I guess the third time's the charm!  After two strikes on the lottery, I got into Leadville.  Charlie, Israel, Susan and I did a group entry and we got in!  Oh my, great way to spend my 45th birthday (maybe?).  I better get my saddle choice figured out, cause I'll be spending a lot of time on it this year!  Actually, really excited.  Just need to take care of the back and it should be a great year on the bike.

Week ending Sunday, 2/12/2012

Had a good ride on Thursday at Del Cerro, with Charlie, Israel and Susan making it out.  Sure beats riding solo at night!  Great to get in 90 minutes and 2,500 feet of climbing after work.

This week I finally went and got a General Practitioner and did the full physical.  Dr. Kissel was a really nice guy and besides an uncomfortable exam or two, things went well.  Still need to find out about my blood work though.

Also took Yoga on Thursday with Jodene, got a massage and adjustment on Friday (Roberta and Dr. Kim), then took yoga again on Saturday, a level 1 class at Harmony with Simone.  Was definitely more of a beginner class, but Simone was a good instructor and we did a good amount of flexibility work, just what I needed!

On Sunday, my training partner Susan wanted to do a good 5 hour ride.  After discussing various options, we decided to do a combination of Sullivan Canyon and Will Rogers Backbone.  I figured mixing in Hectic, Sullivan Ridge and Eagle Rock should get us close.  Turned out to be only 4.5 hours, but it was good steady climbing and I kept my pace very moderate, which felt good.  35 miles and 5,800ft of climbing was still a good training ride.  Backbone was still somewhat overgrown, but better than it had been.  A ton of people were out on the trails though.  It always amazes me to see the little kids and dogs on the Hectic trail.

The Spearfish was creaking pretty good when I applied any decent amount of torque on the pedals.  I think it's my rear qr skewer.  We'll see.  Also confirmed the Monarch rear shock loses pressure after rides.  Was 105 at the start, and 80 when I finished. Will have to see what my friends at The Path have to say.

My back continues to improve, but is still not anywhere near 100%.  Just have to keep at it.  Yoga 1-2x/week, stretching daily, massage and chiro, swimming and acupuncture.  Hope to step up to a third ride during the week sometime soon.  We'll see.

This week we should find out about Leadville!

VQ Training Starts in Earnest- Superbowl Sunday

The back was feeling good enough to try a big training ride, so my friend Charlie and I decided to start with Blackstar Motorway, then see how we felt about going up Maple Springs.  I invited my friends Israel and Andy, and a number of Charlie's Troupe teammates also showed up.  There were 11 of us in all.

The plan was for me to hang back on Blackstar and keep the pace moderate so I had enough energy to do some extra credit going up Maple Springs later.  I hadn't really gone on anything longer than a 3 hour ride in a long time, so being conservative was a good idea, especially with the recent back issues.

Well that plan went out the window pretty quickly as my friend Andy (on his all mountain bike) decided to take off with the fast folks.  I still hung back a little, but after the climb started on Blackstar, I soon found myself in limbo between the 4 fast guys who took off, and a slower group.  Gradually I caught Andy, and as I approached Beek's Place, I caught up to Pavel, another Troupe guy.  Going through Beek's, Charlie and Jeff (the really fast guys) were coming back down to do some extra credit.  It turned out I was only 5 minutes behind, and I made it to the golf ball in a personal best (I think)1:03 from the gate (Strava had me at 59 minutes from the gate to the Main Divide).

Going hard to the golf ball cost me on the Main Divide, but I made it over to the top of Motorway in 2:05 ride time from the gate (2:09 from the car).  I think that was probably a personal best as well.

Everyone else but Charlie and I decided to call it a day and go catch the Superbowl, so we started up Maple Springs.  The way my legs felt, I would have been happy to make it up the 3-4 miles to where the dirt starts, but I kept trudging along and made it up to the Main Divide.  After I took a quick snack break, Charlie came down from the first set of towers and we headed back down.

Strava had me at 40.2 miles and 7200ft of climbing, 4:27 ride time, 5:30 overall.

Catching Up to Present Day

After hurting my back just after Christmas, it's been a slow and steady road back.  I wasn't totally off my feet this time, but it's been taking longer than I thought to get back anywhere near 100%.  The worst thing is sitting all day at work.  I've been stretching every day, getting massage, Chiro, and even tried acupuncture.  Thanks to my friends at Whole Health Clinic!

As things started to feel a little better, I started doing Yoga again, and have built back up to riding twice a week: Thursday nights after work, and Sundays.  I've also tried a little swimming, and think that'll help to loosen up my tight hips (one of the causes of my back issues).

My Rides

Here are my babies.  First is my all-around fun bike, my Ibis Mojo

For my endurance training and events, I got this Salsa Spearfish in November

And when I want to get the singlespeed thing on, I have a Voodoo Zaka

Intro

Decided to keep a blog to track my various MTB adventures.  I love mountain biking and I typically enter a few endurance events each year to challenge myself, but I have no illusions of being any type of competitive racer.  I just like to ride a lot.

2011 started with a back injury and pulling out of Vision Quest, but I decided to focus on riding for fun and had a great year.  Trips to Hurkey Creek, Gooseberry Mesa, a Rim Tours trip to Bryce Zion (Virgin Rim Trail and Thunder Mountain) and the Kernville Fat Tire Fest were highlights.

Here's a video of Thunder Mountain

Without training for any events, I still ended up logging 125 rides for over 2300 miles and 360K ft of elevation gain, mostly on the mountain bike.  Towards the end of the year, I was getting the urge to do some events again, so I did the November 12 Hours of Temecula on a 2-person team with my friend and training partner Susan Gibson, which was fun, but got real wet and messy and was stopped after about 8 hours.

Unfortunately, I ended the year injuring my back again, though this time not as bad.  Was off the bike for 2 weeks and have been ramping back up slowly. doing everything I can to get the back healthy so I can ride.  I'm still optimistic about a good 2012, and I'm already signed up for Vision Quest, the Whiskey Off Road 50, and the Leadville 100 lottery.  I'll find out if I get into Leadville in a couple of weeks.