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.