Tuesday was the first ride with the upgraded parts on the Spearfish, and it felt good. Not sure how much was mental, but the near pound off the wheels and tires sure seemed to make the bike feel quicker on the climbs. After riding a few laps with Israel and Matt, I decided to do a hard lap up Burma. Ended up doing 11:15, beating my old PR by over 30 seconds. Ended up getting a little tight sore in the hips and left low back, so I just did some easy spinning on Thursday.
After Friday's swimming and treatment, I felt good on Saturday. Good thing, because Susan and I had a huge ride ahead: up Harding, across the Main Divide and down Motorway, up Maple Springs to Santiago Peak, then down Upper and Lower Holy Jim and back on the road to where we parked at Cook's Corner.
The ride from Cook's to the start of Harding was about 25 minutes. I wanted to pace myself up Harding to make sure I left enough in the legs for the rest of the day. I felt pretty good though and ended up getting to Four Corners in 1:33, including a 5 minute stretch break. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.
After taking a break and waiting for Susan, we rode across to Motorway. Strava told me this took 34:28. Motorway was fun. Feeling a little more comfortable letting the bike roll on the rocky loose stuff.
The climb up Maple Springs was good, though I started to feel a little fatigued. I didn't look at the time when I started up, so I didn't have any idea how I was doing. I just wanted to keep it steady, and Strava told me I ended up making it up to Four Corners in 1:09. Was thinking about getting some extra credit and riding down to meet Susan, but felt a cramp coming on in the hammies, so decided otherwise. Good choice too, because after stretching, a snack and some endurolytes, I felt much better as we headed up to Santiago Peak. Got up to the peak in 41 minutes, which meant 1:50 ride time from the bottom of Maple Springs. Pretty cool to still have some snow on the trail.
Upper Holy Jim was fun. Most of it was rideable, though there's still that sketchy left turn that I prefer to dismount on. Was also fun to ride lower Holy Jim again, though I felt the legs cramp on that little climb in the very beginning. The creek crossings were not as rideable as they have been, so unless that changes over the next few weeks, that'll slow things down for VQ.
The ride out on Trabuco Creek was super dusty from all the vehicle traffic, but we made it out in good time. The last part was the road ride back to Cook's. Didn't know how this would be, as I had only driven it. After 45 miles and over 8500 feet of climbing, it wasn't pleasant. More climbing than I thought and longer. I think it ended up being 4-5 miles and 6-700 more feet of climbing. Not terrible, but not pleasant at the end of such a long ride.
Here are the ride stats from Strava:
Bike notes: the creaking came back. Still not sure, but I think it's prob the qr. Otherwise, the bike felt great. The Ikons seem to be ideal for VQ. Shock has been discharging oil since the Path fixed the air leak. 4 rides and quite a bit of oil coming out. Still holding air though!
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