Week Ending Sunday, July 15- Angelus Crest

After having fun, but struggling a little bit with my fitness in Mammoth, I knew I had to be patient and keep training, and hopefully things would come around.  After all, it had been just 4 weeks since I started riding again.

After riding 3 days in Mammoth, I took it easy at Del Cerro on Tuesday and had a good road ride on Thursday around PV, though it rained a little.  Neal was there at the ride, and he mentioned he and his club were doing a big ride out at Angelus Crest.  Israel and I agreed this would be great training, so we joined him.

We met Neal and his club out in Duarte and it was a good turnout, with a good 20+ riders ready for a big day.  I brought the Crosscheck, but switched the cross tires to regular road tires.  There was about a 20 mile flatish warm-up through Sierra Madre and Alta Dena before we hit the Angelus Crest Highway and the long 35 mile climb.  The climb started a little steeper at about 8%, but quickly it settled into an easier grade and seemed to stay between 4-6% for the majority of the time.  I felt pretty good, but knew I wasn't as strong as I would've liked to be.  My legs were glad there were no steeper sections, but were feeling good enough to keep spinning along.  We had a long rest stop at Newcomb's Ranch, which is a nice biker stop on the highway.  After lugging up a third water bottle for most of the climb that I  didn't even touch, I decided not to fill all 3 bottles there, which turned out to be a mistake.  There was another 5-6 mile climb after that and it started to get hot.  Here's a pic of Israel, Neal and I near the top.

The descent down HWY 39 was interesting, especially the first several miles, which were unmaintained.  I was glad I had the Crosscheck here, because even with road tires, it seemed stable and the steel seemed to smooth things out.  After awhile, the road was more maintained, then we dropped in next to the San Gabriel reservoir.  I was already out of water and the terrain began to roll a little, requiring more pedaling effort.  I finally made it down, but made a wrong turn into a residential area.  I was hoping to find a drinking fountain there, but no avail.  I made my way out to the river trail and it was only a few miles back to the car.  A really good training ride with just under 90 miles and 9K feet of climbing, and though I  didn't feel awesome, it was a step in the right direction.

Week Ending Sunday, July 8- Mammoth!

On Tuesday, we went to Del Cerro and my main intent was to dust off the Mojo and get used to it again, as I'd be riding it all weekend in Mammoth and I hadn't been on it in some time.  I was really glad I did, as I immediately noticed the positioning was uncomfortable and put pressure on my back.  I moved the seat forward and it definitely helped.  It also just took some time to get used to the 26" wheels, the different geometry, and even the dropper seatpost.  For the ride it turned out to just be Israel and I, and we got a few good laps in.

Mammoth was an opportunity to test ourselves in altitude, but also to have some fun with some awesome trails.  Matt, Israel and I drove up Thursday to meet Charlie, while Susan was arriving late that night.


When we arrived on Thursday, we met Charlie at the campsite.  It was a really nice campground called Coldwater next to a stream and not far from Twin Lakes.  We did a short ride from our campsite into the Mammoth Mountain park to show Israel and Matt around.  We did a steep loose climb from Lake Mary Road called Lakes Trail, did some of Paper Route, then descended a fun trail called Juniper, then headed back to camp.
   
On Friday morning we decided to ride Lower Rock Creek.  Most people ride this trail downhill, some ride up the adjacent road then descend it, but of course we had to climb up it, then head down.  Charlie gave a really good description of the climb.  Steep and loose sections along with some technical rock garden areas to get across in the first half, with the trail smoothing out for the second half.  It was a tough climb, but it was a beautiful trail with varying terrain and surroundings.  I recall there even being an Aspen grove we cut through.  The downhill was awesome.  Unfortunately Susan's hand was hurting so she took the road down while the rest of us had a great descent.  There were a couple of pretty technical rock/boulder gardens.  Charlie was the only one to clean the first one, but he skipped the next one and Israel, Matt and I cleaned that one.  In any case, a great ride and highly recommended if one wants to venture outside the park for a day.


On Saturday, Charlie did his own thing early so he could ride with the family afterward.  Susan also decided to ride a combo of road and mellower trails due to her hand.  Israel, Matt and I set off to do a fairly big ride in the park.  The plan was to try and ride to the top.  We parked at the Village and started up Uptown, which was a very nice climb.  I wasn't used to riding consecutive days though--let alone three days in a row--and my legs were making this very apparent.  We heard from Charlie that the park officials told him not to climb all the way to the top due to too much traffic coming down from the Gondola.  We continued up with the idea of finding an alternate route across.  We caught Beach Cruiser and thought we could then catch Bearing Straits across the mountain, then catch some fun single diamond DH and climb some more blue trails.  The problem was, we couldn't find the entrance to Bearing Straits.  It looked pretty clear on the map, but after circling around for awhile and doing an extra fire road climb, we finally ended up back at the same place and realized Bearing Straits is a one-way trail that ended where we were looking for an entrance--hence, no sign.  At this point we were a little frustrated and decided to head up Off the Top (where Charlie was told not to ride), but not climb the whole thing, just enough until we could cut across Gravy Train.  Well, we climbed up to the junction of Gravy Train and saw a couple of fast looking guys in spandex who told us we really should just climb up Off the Top all the way up.  They assured us there was ample visibility, so we could just pull over if people were descending.  We all liked the idea of climbing to the top, so we went for it.  By this time, my legs were feeling pretty fried, but fortunately my back seemed to be doing okay with the consecutive days, so I soldiered on.  Israel was feeling good, so he pulled way ahead, and I also let Matt pass me and he started to gap me as well.  About this time, I saw a family up ahead descending down the trail.  Turned out, it was the Gilmores.  I just think it's so cool Charlie can ride with his wife and kids at the bike park!  I said hello for a brief moment, then continued up the climb.  We were above the tree line and could see the huge switchbacks ahead of us.  I had trouble pedaling anything that required above minimal power, but luckily the climb was pretty tame.  I did walk a few concrete switchbacks.  Soon enough (or not!) I reached the top and met up with Israel and Matt.

Time for some fun descending!  The plan was to take Skid Marks (single diamond) to Bridge the Gap (blue) then down Follow Me (single diamond) all the way to Canyon Lodge.  Somehow though we missed Follow Me and found ourselves on Bullet (double black!).  Some of it was challenging in a fun way, but there were a few sections that just seemed impossible to us.  When we had the chance, we cut across Big Ring, then finished the descent with Shotgun (single diamond).  Overall, the descent was super fun.  I brought along the GoPro and got some pretty cool footage.  Here are the ride stats:

Week Ending Sunday, July 1

After Sundays ride, I started to feel more hopeful but still wish I had more time to train.  Less than 7 weeks until Leadville!

On Tuesday, I met Charlie, Israel and Matt at Del Cerro.  Charlie brought his new Tallboy, which I had a chance to ride for a lap.  It definitely felt more plush, especially the fork.  I think the seat was positioned a little further back than my Spearfish, and it put a little strain on my back, but I'm sure that can be adjusted.  In any case, a sweet ride for certain.  We ended up doing more than 2 hours of ride time and nearly 3500 ft. of climbing, which was good for a Tuesday.

It turns out a friend was in town and wanted to get together on Thursday night, so I had to skip the PV road ride and wait for the weekend.

Saturday was a busy day with my nephew's birthday party and a pub crawl planned in the afternoon, so Israel, Susan, Matt and I got an early start with the goal of a good four hour ride.  We went to Santa Monica and decided to do a ride similar to what Israel and I did a few weeks earlier.

We started up Westridge, and I still wanted to pace myself and keep it fairly moderate, but push a little bit harder than I had been.  Israel and I stayed together and Matt was close behind.  We then went across and down Sullivan Ridge to the boy scout camp gate and climbed back up to the top of Sullivan Canyon.  We descended the canyon and it was really fun.  Some of the side singletrack trails connect together well, and the main canyon is in good shape, with some good opportunities for jumps and drops.  Climbing back up was good too, as Israel and I kept a pretty good pace.  We made it over to Hectic and dropped in there.  It's always amazing how many hikers like to come up Hectic.  Luckily, my timing was good this time and people were able to pull to the side as I descended and I was able to clean the whole run.  It just shows the Spearfish is a pretty capable descender.  The last climb out of Caballero Canyon is always tough, but again, I felt pretty good.  Even when I got gassed I was able to recover.  We ended up climbing back up to the start of Broken Arrow (car trail) then back to Sullivan Ridge.  I wanted to get 4 hours of ride time in so we descended Sullivan Ridge down to the big tree, then climbed back up to Sullivan Canyon for a last descent.  I had to get to my nephew's birthday party, so I bombed down and stayed mostly on the main trail.  I made it to the car and the ride time was right at 4 hours.  Felt good!  Israel and Susan stayed to do a little extra, but I found out later that Susan crashed on Sullivan Canyon and hurt her hand.  Hopefully she'll be okay for Mammoth next week.


After the fairly big ride Saturday, then the pub crawl and a few too many beers, it took me all day to rally on Sunday.  I finally got off the couch, ran a few errands, then decided to go for an early evening road ride on the Crosscheck.  I was hoping to get about 3 hours in with some steady climbing.  Didn't quite get 3 in, but almost.  Turned out to be a great afternoon for a ride.  Was overcast for much of it, but good temperature.  Here's a pic along the rugged coast of PV:

Here's the ride info.  First time all year that I rode on both Saturday and Sunday.  We'll see how the back holds up!

Week Ending Sunday, June 24

After suffering a bit on the Sunday ride, I was at least glad my back seemed to be holding up.  Did yoga on Monday and it felt great.  Rode Del Cerro on Tuesday with Charlie, Israel and Matt and felt okay.  I still got a little tired towards the end, even though we weren't going very hard.  I skipped Thursday's ride and instead Israel and I planned a fairly big ride on Friday am.  We decided to do Blackstar Motorway then head up Maple Springs.  Matt decided to join for the Blackstar Motorway part, his first time on it.

The way my rides were going, I was a little worried about doing this ride.  The Main Divide can put the hurt on you if you're not in shape, which I knew I wasn't.  I knew I had to do my best to pace myself and leave some energy for Maple Springs.  Plus, the forecast was for mid to high 80s and I don't do very well in the heat.

We parked at Maple Springs, did the 6 mile fast pavement ride over to Blackstar and started to head up.  I hadn't ridden Blackstar since VQ and it was quite soft and sandy.  Still, I felt decent and kept my HR a little lower than the previous rides.  Israel pulled ahead and I hung back a little with Matt.  We made it to the golf ball in 1:13 which wasn't too bad.  Really impressive for Matt, esp considering how little he rides compared to the rest of us.  The ride over to the Main Divide was pretty tough.  I always consider Blackstar Motorway a true test of where my fitness is: the steady climb up Blackstar and the steep relentless climbs on the Main Divide.  I don't think I passed.  I tried my best to pace myself up the steep climbs and avoid spiking my HR, but I just wasn't in the kind of shape to do so.  Still, I did okay and made it over to the Motorway without feeling too bad.

Headed down the Motorway, which was fun, then refueled at the car.  Matt took off, and Israel and I headed up Maple Springs.  It started to get warm, but I felt okay at first.  Still, knowing I wasn't at my best I told Israel that if he got ahead we could regroup at Four Corners.  That last mile or so of the pavement when it gets steep is where I started to suffer.  Israel was riding strong and gapped me here and I figured I just needed to get past the steep first mile or so of the dirt, then I should be okay up to Four Corners.  Was I wrong!  I suffered really bad at this point.  In hindsight, was definitely experiencing some mild heat exhaustion brought on because I was out of shape.  My HR wouldn't come down below 180 and I felt really fatigued all over.  I had to stop several times but at least wanted to make it to Four Corners.  Up near the top Israel came down and met me.  I told him later that if it was much farther from the top when he met me, I might have just headed down.  I did tough it out and made it up to Four Corners in 1:38, almost 30 minutes slower than my VQ split.  A very humbling experience and now I was truly concerned for Leadville, which was only 7 weeks away!

On Saturday, I decided to do a recovery ride and took the Crosscheck to the beach and headed north to Playa Del Rey.  It felt really good to spin the legs at a steady, but moderate pace.

On Sunday, I wasn't sure how I would feel but decided to go to Santa Monica and do a similar ride to what Israel and I did the week prior.  I parked at Amalfi and headed up Sullivan Ridge.  It took awhile to warm up, and some guy on a singlespeed dropped me right away, but I still felt decent and kept my heart rate in the mid to high 160s.  A definite improvement.  I got to the top and decided to go straight to Hectic, wanting to do the climb out of Cabellero Canyon while it was still cool.  My HR spiked up a bit on this climb, but I was encouraged that it recovered quickly.  And what a difference a week makes!  On the fireroad climb back up towards Sullivan Ridge a week ago, I was in granny gear and couldn't get my HR to drop below 180.  On this day, I was in the big chain ring as I should be, comfortably in the 150s and 160s and probably going 7mph vs 4.  I went down Sullivan Canyon, climbed back up and still felt good.  Got to the top and decided to go do the car trail.  Felt equally good on the return, which was really encouraging.  Finished the ride and was really happy.  I knew I still wasn't primed for Leadville, but it sure looked significantly better than just 48 hours earlier.

On a side note, I was over at my sisters house and she wanted to get rid of what was my first mountain bike: a 1991 Trek 950 I sold her about 10 years ago that she probably only rode a handful of times.  A true classic and my latest project!  I immediately removed the huge bar ends, the big comfort seat and kickstand and put some new rubber on it.  Next I need to work on the drivetrain, but that may take a little time.  I think I need to install new cables and housing and see if I can get the shifters working right.  It's a 7 speed, so the parts I have lying around won't work.  To be continued, but here's a pic so far:

Week ending Sunday, June 17

After the big Maple Springs ride, I was a little concerned about my fitness, but then realized it was perfectly normal to have lost some fitness after relative inactivity for the past month.  Still though, the back injury certainly put me behind schedule for Leadville.  I thought hard about how to ramp up the miles and take care of my back at the same time.

I decided to join the Thursday night road ride and brought the Crosscheck.  It turned out to be Dave, a new friend he met on his Saturday ride, and Israel, who was riding his old Trek mountain bike.  Interesting looking group for sure.  Dave's friend was pretty strong, and we did a pretty good pace up the first climb and took turns on the way over to the switchbacks.  Israel took some turns too, which was impressive since he was on a mountain bike!  I got more tired than I expected and again my heart rate was up pretty high.  I remembered from before that I estimated my anaerobic threshold HR to be somewhere around 170.  It exceeded that on most of this ride.  Still, it was fun to be out riding on a Thursday night in beautiful Palos Verdes.

After a much needed massage and adjustment on Friday, Israel and I went to Santa Monica on Saturday and did a pretty big one: we rode up Westridge, down Sullivan Canyon and back up, down Sullivan Ridge and back up, then down Hectic, up Caballero Canyon, then down the car trail, and back down Sullivan Canyon.

Sullivan Canyon was really fun and so was Hectic.  It was climbing out of Caballero where I started to feel really tired.  Again, tried to keep it nice and steady, but my heart rate reached the mid to high 180s!  In hindsight, I think it was a combination of the heat and being out of shape.  Doing the fireroad climb back to the car trail afterward seemed to take forever, and my HR would not come down from the high 170s and low 180s even though I was in granny gear going much slower than usual.  Did the car trail and really suffered on that same climb on the way back to Sullivan Canyon.  Still, was a good ride and hopefully just at the beginning stages of getting my fitness back.

Catching Up Since the Whiskey Off Road

Much has happened since the Whiskey Off Road, but unfortunately not much on the bike.  After taking a couple of planned easy weeks, I ended up with back spasms again.

It's difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, but there were a number of possible factors.  I played golf for the first time in 2 years, though I only got in 3 holes before separating some ribs on a tee shot.  I did go to the range the week prior, and also hit about 30 or 40 balls to warm up before the round started though.  We also had a sub instructor in Yoga, and though class was fun, we tried some unusual poses that may have contributed.  The following day, I woke up slightly stiff.  I felt it as soon as I tried to get out of bed, and again when it was difficult to put on my socks.  I had acupuncture done that day at noon, and by the afternoon, the back was quite a bit more stiff.  I actually still rode Del Cerro that night, but felt back tightness the whole time.  Not surprisingly, I woke up stiff and sore.  It still felt less severe than in the past though, but as the days went on it actually got worse.  Looking back, the last time I hurt my back it felt a little worse initially, but I was only off the bike less than 2 weeks.

This time it took three weeks.  Started with massage and adjustments, then light stretching, then some stationary bike and I finally was able to get back on the bike.  Was going to ride that Thursday night, but just didn't feel ready so I waited until that Sunday.  I ended up riding Maple Springs to Motorway with Susan, and it felt so good to be out there!  Predictably, my legs felt good early on because they were well rested.  My heart and lungs, however were a different story.  I decided to wear a HR monitor for the first time in years.  I recall that my heart rate runs pretty high even when I'm in shape, but I was surprised to see it jump up to the high 170s when the pavement got steeper.  I tried to settle down and make sure to pace myself, but my heart rate hovered in the high 170s and low 180s the whole time to 4 corners!  Still, I felt pretty good, and made it up in 1:17, so not too bad.  We went up to the first set of towers, then headed back down and across to Motorway.  That steep climb on the way over really hurt! Here I am taking a break next to my old bike, the Merlin Works I sold to Susan.  Such a beautiful bike! I miss it, but the Spearfish is a better bike for me.

Finished the ride and felt tired, but happy.  Did a bigger ride than I should have for sure, but the back felt good.

Whiskey Off Road 50

After a seven hour drive, got into Prescott (pronounced 'Press-kit') and checked in at the Springhill Suites, which was an ideal place to stay.  Only a few minutes walk to the race/expo, so really close to ride over on race morning.  I walked over to pick up my race packet and check things out. It seemed like a really cool atmosphere.

Was able to check out some of the Pro Fat Tire crit, which was pretty cool too.  Afterwards, I went exploring to find dinner and ended up at the Prescott Brewing Company.  Sat up at the bar and ended up talking to a nice guy from Phoenix who was doing the 25 proof.  Probably should have eaten a little healthier, but I couldn't resist the BBQ pulled pork sandwich.  Yum!

And of course, a nice porter to go with it.

The bartender was nice enough to let me sample some other beers, but right before I ordered another pint, I remembered I was doing a 50 mile mountain bike race the next day in altitude and heat and switched to water.

Went to the pre-race meeting (where the race director made the course sound very intimidating) then got back to the room, got all my gear ready, then called it a night.

Work up early on race morning and went to the lobby to get some coffee and oatmeal, then headed back to the room to get ready.  Was a little worried that it would be cold standing around at the start.  Weather.com said it would be 49 degrees at start time (7:30).  Didn't want to bring a jacket that I would have to carry for the rest of the day either, so I settled on a vest and light arm covers.  I got to the start around 7:15 and ended up pretty far back (probably in the rear 10-15%).  Maybe it was all the bodies, but it felt pretty warm and I ended up stowing the vest even before the race started and was fine.

The start was fun.  Countdown, gunshot, and the mass of riders (close to 600) were off through the streets of Prescott escorted by motorcycle.  While still on the streets, I saw Willie, then Ben and Mykta of team Troupe.  As we began to climb, I decided to try to inch my way up little by little and started to feel the altitude.    Because I heard about a logjam up at the singletrack, I wanted to get past as many slower people I could, but without putting out too much effort.

We hit the dirt, and not too long after came upon the big logjam and came to a screeching halt.  It probably took about 10 minutes to get 150 yards, but I was entertained by the couple of guys who just had to snake their way through the rest of us who were stopped, and by the gal who decided to drop her shorts and take a leak right in front of about 50 guys.

I finally cleared this major logjam, but it was still slow going through singletrack climbing sections.  There were a few tough sections, but it was still crowded enough where if anything semi technical came up, there was no choice but to walk because of all the people walking on the trail.  Even on the downhill sections, I was going quite a bit slower than I would have liked.  I recall the downhill being fast and flowy with a few technical areas, but all very rideable.  Would have been fun to have clear trail in front during this part.

The next section opened up to a fireroad that had multiple short little ups.  It was nice to finally be able to dictate my own pace.  I then came across aid station #1, which meant I was 15 miles in with the descent into Skull Valley ahead.  I had enough water, so I passed the aid station and started heading down.  Then I remembered I was going to eat something at the aid station, so I pulled out a Clif Bar and struggled to get it open and eat it while descending.  The first part of the descent was pretty fast, but the rest didn't seem very steep and there was actually a little climbing.  At least this meant the climb back up wasn't going to be too bad.  I got to the bottom of Skull Valley and the route took us into town and aid station #2 and the turn around was in a church parking lot.  I took this opportunity to drink some Heed, use the outhouse, reapply some sunscreen, fill up my hydration pack, then headed back up.

As I started to climb Skull Valley, I thought it would be really nice here to have my iPod.  I decided to pass the time by seeing how many people I could pass on the climb to the aid station.  I was feeling pretty good at this point and the tally started adding up.    About 8 miles into the climb, things started to get steeper and I felt like I was starting to slow down, but I was still passing people, so that made me feel better.  I saw Ben from Troupe and he was the 63rd person I passed on the climb.  Right around that same time, a guy on a Seven hardtail passed me.  Unbelievably, he was the only one on that whole climb. That only meant that I really should have started closer up to the front.  Got to the aid station and the tally was 66 - 1, net 65.

I skipped the aid station again even though I was feeling kinda crappy at this point, but I figured I would just keep moving.  I was a bit dismayed to see that the route continued to climb.  I ended up riding with a couple of singlespeeders at this point and remembered thinking how nice it was to have my little gears.  It turns out the last couple of miles before the aid station and about 3 miles after were the hardest part of the climb.  At this point I was really tired and began to feel cramping come on.  And I wasn't even to 'Cramp Hill' yet!  First my inner thighs (weird how those always seem to be the first), then hamstrings and quads.  I stopped to pop a few more Endurolytes, took a few big swigs of water, then just tried to continue to pedal easy.    There was some fun singletrack, then I started up a steep twisty loose climb.  This had to be Cramp Hill.  Before I even got to it, I had resigned myself to walking it based on how I felt, but I figured I would at least see how it went.  Surprisingly, I cleared it, passing a couple of people as I did.  After this was probably the must fun part of the course, rolling, twisty singleltrack and some pretty deep creek crossings.  It was still some work though, and I was pretty beat.  I started to look at the mileage and think about the race director saying you finally know you're about done when you hit the pavement.

The pavement came, and as I was fighting some shifting issues in my largest gears, a group of about 5-6 riders came whizzing by.  I figured I'd go ahead and jump in this pack and ride with them to the finish.  It was mostly downhill and very fast, but this group was really trying to hammer home, so it was still painful.  Kinda reminded me of the feeling at Vision Quest when you hit Trabuco Wash and have that slight downhill to the finish.  Moving fast, but still pedaling hard to finish strong.  The group was still intact and we wound through town, sped down the last hill to the big left turn and the finish.  It was really cool to finish in town with people lined up and cheering.  This of course is not me, it's Geoff Kabush, who won the pro race.

The Garmin said 4:25, but I forgot til later that it was set on moving time, so my official time was 4:34.  Now off to the beer garden and Whiskey Row!