2006 Year in Review (Part 2 of 3)

Back from vacation to fill in the year in review part 2. This will simply build on the last post.

To the numbers ...

MAY 06:

71.6 miles
Ascent 8,614 feet
8 rides
DA ratio: 120.3

JUN 06:

96.6 miles
Ascent 12,552 feet
9 rides
DA ratio: 129.9

JUL 06:

175.1 miles
Ascent 22,230 feet
16 rides
DA ratio: 127.0

AUG 06:

153.6 miles
Ascent 20,549 feet
11 rides
DA ratio: 133.8

Highlights from the middle four months of the year (in order of event):

1. Rode the Santa Ana River Trail (SART) for the first time with Mo and about 25 other guys. Was supposed to be all downhill, but had some tough climbs. I hate exposure and this ride flat out scared the crap out of me on some sections.

2. Went to first "mountain bike Bible study" meeting. Was awesome to meet other Christian guys that ride. A bonus that most of them are far better riders than I'll ever be.

3. Even though the ride isn't logged on GeoLadders, I broke my right hand on Dreaded Hill in Whiting. Some jerk came flying down and hit me head on. He was going too fast and his aggressiveness was confirmed when I saw he had shin guards on. Thanks dude for the several months of therapy and the medical bills. I seem to grow more bitter about this as time goes on. Ha.

Fractured hand and dislocated finger:



4. Rode a Whiting lap in near 100 degree weather. It was a hot summer and I did a lot of rides in the heat. With some of the night rides lately, I'd gladly trade summer for winter.

5. Went to Mammoth with Corby, Jeff and Josiah. The trails I did in Mammoth were not that technical for the most part, but man were they fun. When I dream about trails in my head, Mammoth is what it looks like. Have to go again as soon as I can.

6. Got a Garmin Edge 305. This is a highlight because it let me record several "improvised" rides and has allowed me to get good training info. A fantastic purchase.

7. Learned why I should _never_ eat anything with milk in it (even with a pill) before a ride. I did Blackstar-Motorway and had to relieve myself on the side of the trail. I think the bike tube I tried to wipe with is still there last I checked.

8. Saw my first rattlesnake at Peter's Canyon. It scared the crap out of me because it was only 1 foot away from my right foot as the pedal was at its lowest position. I'll never forget that thing hissing and coiled looking right at me.

The middle three months were rough because of the heat and the injury to my hand. With therapy I was able to get my finger to almost bend like a normal pinky finger, but when I looked at it the other day I was bummed to see it's back to being at about 60 degrees. Guess it'll just always be that way.

Totals for the middle four months:

469.9 miles
63,945 feet climbed
44 rides
DA Ratio of 136.1

You can see that even though I rode almost 100 more miles in this time (even taking a month off for a broken hand!), that my DA Ratio was down almost 30 points. That means that even though I was riding more, the trails were easier. What a wimp.

2006 Year in Review (Part 1 of 3)

Figured it would be fun (for me at least) to write up my year in mountain biking. There were a lot of hightlights, so I figured it would be best to break it into three parts. I also plan to go nuts on stats to really help me track my progress through the year.

Part 1 of 3 (January - April)

JAN 06:
73.5 miles
Ascent 11,863 feet
6 rides
DA ratio: 161.4

FEB 06:
115.3 miles
Ascent 19,375 feet
11 rides
DA ratio: 168

MAR 06:
88.8 miles
Ascent 15,378 feet
10 rides
DA ratio: 173.2

APR 06:
104.1 mi
Ascent 16,404 feet
10 rides
DA ratio: 157.6

The DA ratio is distance vs. ascent. Basically a number to indicate how hard a trail is. If the trail is 10 miles, but only 100 feet of elevation gain, then it's pretty easy. If it's only 2 miles, but 1,500 feet of elevation gain, then it's really tough. So you could think of the DA ratio as "how hard the trails were".

Highlights from the first four months (in order of event):

1. I got to ride my new bike for the first time. After years of using a hard tail Trek 6700, I was able to finally ride a full suspension bike _and_ I got to experience the joy of being able to clip in.

I actually went down the Luge for my first ride on my new bike and because I was initially obsessed with locking and unlocking my shocks (front AND back), I went down the Luge locked out front and back on accident.

2. Finally rode Blackstar-Motorway without bonking. This was a _huge_ deal at the time. I remember riding from the Blackstar gate past Beek's to the next gate on the right of the fire road without getting off the bike. Awesome ride.

3. Went down Joplin for the first time. I haven't tried it since. Some Warrior's Society guy told me and Matt we could do it no problem. I ended up going over the bars and actually hit Matt on his bike causing him to fall as well. 2007 will see me going down Joplin at least twice.

4. Fell on Santiago Oaks/Weir Canyon and planted my face into a bush. It looked like I had herpes because of the scrapes and cuts on my upper lip. I ended up warping my front rotor. Replacing that rotor was just one of _many_ bike repairs this year.

5. I finally rode the Whiting-Live Oak loop without putting a foot down. That kind of accomplishment is trivial now, but at the time it was a big deal.

6. I hiked up Holy Jim with some friends and saw riders training for Vision Quest/Counting Coup. I had never been on the trail and it was impressive watching them climbing Holy Jim. I decided I had to try.

The first time going up found me falling into a small waterfall/creek crossing. One of the worst potential falls I've ever had. I ended up ok only because I was able to put a hand down on a rock in the creek below the dam. Matt had to help me up because half of me was down in the creek and half of me was up on the trail.

I finished the ride to Main Divide, but was freaked out. Rode up Holy Jim a few more times later in the year and I enjoy it now.

7. Tried to ride Harding-Motorway and bonked big time. I remember trying to eat a bagel on Maple Springs to get some energy and my body refused to swallow. I ended up spitting out what I had in my mouth.

I also remember sitting down on the fire road with Matt moaning and groaning. For some reason when you get really tired your body can't stop farting. Good times.

8. Rode up Beek's in the mud. We were trying to do Blackstar-Skyline, but it just didn't work. Worst mud experience I've ever had. Very memorable.

9. Rode with Josiah and some other friends. Reason I mention this is that Josiah had one of the worst falls/crashes of the year. He ended up riding too fast and went flying maybe 10-15 feet off the bike into a bush. Ow.

10. The final highlight is the big group ride to Old Camp. Lots of friends in over their heads and overall an insane adventure. We had tons of mechanicals with the bikes and tons of fatigue. Everyone finished though. It was a ride that should have taken maybe 2 hours and instead took maybe 5. Haha.

Totals for the first four months of the year:

381.7 miles
63,020 feet climbed
37 rides
DA Ratio of 165.1

Rediscovered Love

This morning I rode Whiting (Live Oak) with Ben and Matt. Ben had been scheduling Whiting laps every week a few months ago and then mysteriously stopped scheduling stuff. Turns out he took a dive on Harding and separated his shoulder and is just now getting back to riding again. Bummer, but good to see him back out riding. We software developers have to stick together.

Earlier this year I was Mr. Whiting. I remember at one point riding Whiting 8 times in a row (not 8 laps back to back). It was just so easy to do since it was close to my house. Over time I became sick of the ride though and over the last few months I've barely been on it at all. I usually end up doing Cactus now instead of Live Oak.

Today was nice because it was only one lap and it was on a trail I know _very_ well. The pace wasn't too fast and the trail is in fantastic shape. Almost all of the sand is gone and it makes the ride so much easier to do.

As a side note, I almost puked at the top of Mustard because I got some mild food poisoning last night. Everything came out in the end (if you know what I mean) when I got back home. Weighed myself after and I came in at 166.5. That's low for me.

In honor of doing Whiting again and rediscovering a first love, here is a picture of me after my second time doing Whiting (2+ years ago):



Good times.

I <3 Specialized

When I bought my new bike in January I had to buy new shoes to ride with. I ended up spending about $150 for these:



They fit better than any shoes I've ever owned, and I suppose considering the price, they better fit well.

Anyways a few months ago on a trail I snapped the right buckle off. The buckle is actually a ratcheting system that ratchets the strap across my foot. Without the buckle I had to just push the strap into the slot and then live with it.

I went to buy a replacement buckle, but Specialized's website said they were out of stock. I emailed them and they told me to order the buckle through my local dealer (Rock and Road). Rock and Road took my order, but ended up letting it fall through the cracks. Oh well.

I emailed Specialized again and got a pretty instant reply which basically read, "What's your address?" A week later and I ended up getting TWO replacement buckles for free! This is the kind of thing that turns me into a customer for life for a given brand. I'm so stoked to be able to ratchet up my right shoe again.

Saddle Sore

I looked up "saddle sore" online and came away with this definition:

"an irritation or sore on parts of the rider chafed by the saddle"

I think that about describes how I felt Saturday after riding Blackstar-Motorway. I was showering after the ride and noticed a _very_ painful spot in a rather sensitive/private place. I imagine that's what a hemorrhoid must feel like. Thank God it only hurts in the shower and not when I sit down or move around.

Anyways ... this last Saturday (12/16/06) I rode Blackstar-Motorway. I had ridden up to Santiago Peak on Thursday night and still hadn't quite recovered all the way. I've heard other riders describe riding with "dead legs", and I'm starting to understand that feeling more and more.

The ride was scheduled to start at 6:30am at the Maple Springs parking section and then me, Troy, Mark and Matt would ride over to meet some socaltrailriders.org guys.

To the ride ...

Like an idiot I showed up for the ride in a short sleeve jersey and arm warmers only. I thought it was going to be a bright sunny day and I had been tired of over dressing for rides. It reminded me of a paper my friend Casey wrote in high school about me ... "Rain on Ryan". I had earned a reputation in high school for dressing like an idiot for various weather conditions.

Not only did I forget to dress warm, but I forgot to buy new water bottles. I threw away my old bottles because they had become beyond disgusting.

Lucky for me Troy had a long sleeve top that he let me borrow. Thanks a _ton_ Troy. I also was able to stop by Ralph's on the way to the trail to get a water bottle that fit my bike, which I ended up barely using.

We cruised over to meet the STR guys and on the way I knew it was going to be a long, cold ride. It rained a tiny bit and the clouds were heavy on the mountains.

When I saw the STR guys I thought we were going to be in for a long, long ride. Two of the four guys had rigid singlespeed's and I didn't think they looked like very experienced (read: fast) riders. Boy was I wrong. Two of the guys in their group of four were _very_ fast.

Heading up Blackstar I realized my legs were dead. I kept looking down at my gears and realizing that I was _already_ in a very low gear. The resistance was a bit much at times because of fatigue, but it wasn't anything overwhelming.

Mark and I ran into Junior Munoz on the way to the peak and said "hi" briefly. You could tell he just wanted to finish the ride.

We stopped for just a few minutes at Beek's because of the cold and the wind. It's amazing how fast you cool off when you stop riding in the cold. We left right as Jose (last guy up in our group because he was on a rigid 29 SS) was arriving. I am really amazed that Jose finished the ride. I didn't peg him for a stud when I first saw him, but he definitely fits that description after finishing the ride.

The ride from Beek's to the top of the Motorway kind of sucked. I did most of it alone and fell back in the group pretty fast. I rode up everything, but felt kind of crappy on some parts. It was also very cold and for some reason mentally I have become pretty scared of anything downhill. I just don't trust my bike and my brakes. I really need to take care of this.

When I got to the Motorway I was pretty much done mentally and physically. The ride Thursday was a fast pace and the 20+ miles up to that point had taken the rest of what I had. It wasn't the worst I've ever felt on a ride (not even close actually), but it wasn't the best.

Matt and I decided not to wait for Jose this time. It was just too cold and windy and who knew how long it was going to take him considering he probably walked up a bunch of hills. Mark decided to ride to four corners instead of going down the Motorway. I'm not sure if it was because he was afraid of the Motorway or if it was because he wanted to train/climb more. Maybe both.

Going down the Motorway sucked. I didn't fall, but mentally I was defeated before I even started. I rode the brakes pretty hard and realized that the weaker you are physically, the worse the descent is going to be no matter what trail you are on. I'm hoping the trip down Holy Jim for Counting Coup won't be as bad as Saturday's trip down the Motorway was.

I'm glad I'm getting in the miles training wise, but I've been losing the mental battle for going down things like the Motorway and Holy Jim. We'll see how things shape up later.

One last interesting stat for the ride ...

Time from Maple Springs parking lot to Santiago Peak _and_ back: 2:53
Time from Maple Springs parking lot to top of Motorway: 2:52

What the heck? The same amount of time. Fascinating.

Middle Ring!

Since no one really reads my blog I figured it would be ok to get excited over a recent accomplishment. Won't feel like bragging or anything if it's just me and my journal.

A few years ago when I first started riding I decided to start going on longer rides. At the time riding my bike to Santiago Peak was a pretty daunting task. The first time I did it, it must have taken something like 6 hours (total time, not just ride time) and I remember it was a struggle.

Since that first time up I've been to the peak many times. It's stopped being a "tough ride" mentally and instead is more of a chore. Actually lately it has lapsed from a long ride to a medium ride.

Lately I've been wanting to push myself a bit more because I've started to realize I can actually push and recover pretty fast. All this leads me to the ride last night ...

Matt had suggested we do Maple Springs to Modjeska, which actually turned into Maple Springs to Santiago Peak. Not a tough ride really, but for a night ride, it's a little longer than I would like.

The riding group consisted of me, Matt, Andrew, Clay and Doug. I had met both Clay and Doug once before, but couldn't remember them that well. Sorry guys. Ha.

We started at a fairly quick pace up the pavement on Maple Springs and I realized I was doing ok in the middle ring. I hadn't set any goals for riding for the night, but the longer I went the more I started to think I'd like to ride all the way to four corners in the middle ring. I mean why not at least try, right?

Made it to four corners in record time for me. I think it was around 1:15. All middle ring. At this point I was feeling a little tired, but also excited. It didn't take too much mental prodding to force myself to stick with the middle ring to the peak.

Long story short, I made it to the peak in the middle ring (2:03 for the time). I found myself several times trying to shift down and being stuck. I had to just gut it out during those times. It really wasn't all that bad, but I did notice it put more of a strain on my legs than I was used to. Also I got that feeling in my quads where the lactic acid (I think that's what it is at least?) is gushing all over.

We didn't wait long at the peak to turn around and get back home. I get really homesick on night rides. Usually I go straight from work to the ride and I'm one of those guys that needs some alone time every day to re-charge.

As a sidenote I also tried braking less on the way down and that went well for about half of the descent. I need to buckle down mentally and get over my fear of going too fast and crashing.

Also a funny part coming down from Modjeska ... my light wasn't on tight enough and it swung backwards so that the light was directly into my eyes. Not only could I not see the trail, but I couldn't see *anything* because the light was shining right into my eyes. Scary feeling trying to stop in the dark like that ... especially on that part of the trail.

Hopefully rides like this will help with Counting Coup. ;O

Three steps back, four steps forward

So last night was a small night ride with Doug, Chris and Jerry. Really nothing to report other than the fact that I didn't realize I could ride around Tijeras Creek at night. This is going to open up a lot of night riding for me this winter I think. Also I finally went through "the gate" near Chiquita Ridge. I had seen this gate locked many times and figured that meant I couldn't ride back there. Guess I was wrong.

The post topic deals with my recent attempts to try new things on the bike. I've been trying to get out of the saddle more lately and trying to ride in bigger gears. I'm trying to stay in the middle ring as much as possible and when a small hill comes up, I try to get out of the saddle and get a nice fluid motion going to get to the top. It's interesting to try and I'm hoping I can get better at shifting in the front as my bike doesn't handle that as well as shifting in the back.

The second area I've been trying to grow in is my downhill abilities. I want to be able to ride more confidently and that means taking more risks and learning how to ride smarter going downhill. I need to increase my comfort level descending.

Lately that has taken the form of braking less. Seems simple, but from everything I read about braking and being safe going downhill, less reliance on the brakes is actually better. The idea is that you should brake in bursts in safe spots to control speed and then open up on other sections. I'm still trying to ween myself off dragging the brakes on every descent. It's not easy because I don't fully trust my own abilities or my bike.

I'm looking to start doing some training on the bike regarding handling only. Instead of relying on 20-30 mile rides to increase my ability, I'm thinking of spending some time in a small park just practicing turning and skidding and random skills. That should help to increase confidence as well.

I want to be less embarrassed when I go on rides with better riders by not walking the bike as much and being able to handle more technical sections.

Let's hope I can stay out of the ER. Haha.

No falls, no balls

My uncle was the first person to ever take me down a real singletrack. He told me to go faster than I wanted to down it and to just go for it. After going down I was pretty scared and he gave me the wise saying ... "no falls, no balls".

I've been riding really conservatively for a while now and as a result haven't had any bad falls. Just a few situations where I run off the bike or whatever.

Recently I've been wanting to be a bit more aggressive on the downhill. I understand that I need to improve my downhill skills, and so that means taking more risks. Can't go through life playing it safe.

With that in mind ...

This Saturday I had two rides scheduled. The first was the normal Saturday ride with Troy, Mark, Andrew and Matt. Nothing too special about this ride. I had been wanting to do Tijeras Creek to Cougar Pass for quite some time because it was worth 84 points and in my mind I didn't think it would be that tough to do.

There were only a few memorable things from the first ride. Mark missed a steep climb and walked back down and did it the second time. Way to go! Ha. I realized I had a bent rear derailleur which sucked. We also did some singletrack adjacent to West Ridge that I had never done before. That was kind of cool.

After the first ride I was a little tired and both Matt and I had some non-trivial bike problems. We went to Rock and Road Cyclery and we both got SUPER lucky that they fixed our bikes on the spot.

We ate at Diedrich's Coffee and then headed over to meet Corby and Joe Westa for our second ride. It was Corby's birthday and he wanted to do a big ride. I don't think he knew what he was in for when he suggested "Ironman".

The pace was slow enough to where Matt and I could rest and not burn out. We both ran out of water, but we didn't really need it. I was _really_ impressed with both Corby and Joe. They both rode up a lot more than I thought they would and they both rode down a lot of stuff I didn't think they would try.

I tried to clear the one climb coming back from Weir Canyon where the dirt is very loose and the angle is very steep. I tried three times, but was only able to get up 75% of it before having to walk the rest. Next time I'll keep doing it until I get it. I actually fell into Corby on the second attempt and jacked my right knee up a little.

So back to the topic of the post ...

We started going down Chutes and I wanted to ride as much as I could. I wanted to push myself. My front brake had been making horrible noises, so I didn't trust it that much, but I figured it would last until the end of the ride.

I ended up having a pretty bad crash near the end of Chutes. I was coming down a steep loose section and needed to make a tight right turn. I missed it. I ended up landing on my right side and rolled down the hill a little. I ended up getting away with only a few scrapes and bruises, which I think is pretty good. My sunglasses got destroyed and my right brake lever got the top part of it snapped off. Otherwise no damage.

Overall I'm actually glad to have taken a dive. It had been a while since I had got my "bell rung" and it made me feel like I could crash and fall and still be ok. I think in the end it's going to give me more confidence on the bike knowing that I can eat it and still get up and be ok. Not every crash has to be a disaster.

No falls ... no balls.

Control Controlled Me

Ok so "Control" is finally over. What a blessing. "Control" is a game on GeoLadders and as of right now I don't feel like writing about how it works. The idea though is that you're on a team, you're playing against other teams and so the more you ride the better your team does. That's all that's important.

The other interesting fact that will help this post make sense is that every ride has a point value associated with it. This reflects how long and how hard the ride is. More or less at least.

Results for our team:

1. Jerry, 986 points
2. Ryan, 594 points
3. Mt. Dew, 566 points
4. Doug, 349 points
5. Magnus Optimus, 115 points

So I rode the "second most" for our team. I ended up trying to do "long" and "extra long" rides because that was our team strategy. It only ended up burning me out.

Personal stats for the two week game:

Miles: 177.1
Elevation Gain: 29,105 feet
Time on Bike: 22+ hours
Total Rides: 9

*sigh* I am excited to get back to riding when I feel like it and not when guilt tells me I need to ride.

Full Moon Fever

Tom Petty reference there. That's right.

So every now and then I go on a ride and when I think back on it I think to myself, "Man that was stupid". I end up coming out on top (no crashes), but I end up feeling like I pushed my limits a little too far. I'm all for growing and getting better, but sometimes I imagine I just got lucky with a ride that I shouldn't have done.

This sums up my feelings on last night.

Yesterday was the last day of the "Control" game and it looked like our second place team was in position to take over first. All we needed was to go nuts and do a lot of riding. Fair enough.

I got called out and so I knew I needed to throw something big up on the board. I picked Harding, but when I talked to Matt, he convinced me to do Blackstar-Motorway instead.

A quick history about me and Blackstar-Motorway ... first two attempts at it were terrible. I fell apart physically and mentally. Third time was earlier this year and it was awesome. I've just recently started to feel like this ride isn't a big deal. The idea of doing it at night though adds some of the fear factor back in.

Preparation for the ride was done in haste. It was a last minute decision and it wasn't easy to make considering I was tired and wanted to just stay home and eat and watch tv.

To the ride ...

Matt and I got to the meeting spot on time and we both agreed we'd ride as fast as we could and take a minimal amount of breaks so we could get home at a decent time. Matt told me he had only charged his light for an hour, so we agreed to split time on the lights. Mine was fully charged, but just to be safe we'd go one light on, one off for the duration of the trail.

It was windy out, but not very cold, which was a nice change. As it turned out, there were no clouds in the sky and we had a full moon. We were able to ride 80% of the way to Beek's on moonlight alone. That was a pretty cool feeling.

The fireroad in between Beek's and the Motorway is pretty much a blur. My legs were definitely giving out on the last few climbs. I always forget how steep and loose some of those climbs are. Man I hate them.

We stopped at the start of the Motorway to do a quick head check. It's kind of a tradition to stop and make sure we're ready to go down. You can't go down the Motorway with your head turned off.

The ride down was uneventful except for one fall. I was coming down about halfway through the Motorway (really rocky and loose section) when I tried to cross a rut to get a better line. I failed. Ha. I came off the bike ok and just stumbled into a bush. No big deal.

I had several close calls though. The Motorway has a lot of loose rock spots and by the time the trail was done I had lost almost all my confidence mentally as well as physically. I think the combination of being in the dark and being tired added up to some "not so great" feelings.

We made it though. Total ride time was about 3 hours and 20 minutes, which is 10 minutes off the pace of my personal best. Not bad considering how I was feeling and how slow I was going down in the dark.

Some guy bonking on Blackstar-Motorway:

Harding is Hard ...

... on your butt. Man I swear I'm getting sick of this climb. It really takes a toll on my backside. After the first hour or so I have to constantly stand up on the bike and stretch and move around to keep my body from cramping really bad.

Anyways to the background for the ride ...

This Saturday I did Harding to Upper Holy Jim, which is kind of a short title for the ride. It really should be called "O'Neill to Cook's Corner to Harding to Santiago Peak to Upper Holy Jim to Holy Jim to Trabuco Creek to Car". That would make more sense.

Mark Whaley had scheduled the ride and I knew it had been on his "wish list" for quite some time. Matt and I had already done the ride a few months prior so I wasn't as excited as I could have been. The good news though is that having done the trail already, I had a lot of confidence that I could do it without falling apart.

I showed up to ride a little after 6:30AM and saw that I'd be riding with Matt, Mark, Troy, Andrew and John. I had been on one ride prior with John, but I didn't remember him all that well. Apparently John is in training for La Ruta and Vision Quest. All I can say is GOOD LUCK! Haha.

On to the ride ...

Right out of the gates I noticed my heart rate monitor was reporting my heart at 230+ bpm. That was pretty far off, but I thought it was interesting to note. Haha.

We rode through O'Neill and when we got to the singletrack section near the microwave tower I was shocked to see that it had been bulldozed and graded. What was once a beautiful singletrack was now an ugly fire road type thing. It was still steep and fairly loose.

We then cruised over to the start of Harding with ease. Right before getting to Harding I noticed my front wheel was moving all over the place. I would turn to the left and it would respond very quickly and the only word I can think of to describe it is "squirrely". If that's even a word. Anyways the idea was that the bike felt like I was riding on ice and I didn't like it and couldn't figure out what was going on.

Fast forward to the top of Harding. I arrived fourth in our group and I will admit I felt a little tired. I just didn't have a ton in the tank for the ride to begin with and Harding always takes something out of me. Maybe I need to fix my position on the bike. We ended up waiting at the top of Harding for Andrew for a little bit. Andrew wasn't feeling the best after being off the bike for a few weeks. Hope he feels better soon.

After Harding we zipped over to the singletrack hike-a-bike section right after Joplin. Matt and I decided to part ways with the rest of our group at this point. We had already experienced that section of trail and didn't want to go through it again. Plus by going to the peak, I could GPS the ride and get "control" of a route. I could go on and on about what this exactly means, but it would make an already long post too much to handle.

We met four downhill guys on the way to the peak and I talked to one of them for a bit. He said he mostly rides Aliso Woods and when I asked about Telonics and Stair Steps, he replied that both were "pretty easy". I was shocked. According to this guy speed is all you need to master downhill stuff. Whatever dude. It felt good to put him away a few minutes after that conversation. He might dominate me going down, but I dominate him going up. Ha.

Matt and I then rode down to meet our group before hitting Upper Holy Jim. By this time I had figured out why my bike was feeling like it was on ice. I had pumped up my tires too much. Normally I run low 30's for the PSI in both tires and for some strange reason I decided to inflate them to low to mid 40's before this ride. I won't make that mistake again. I took some air out and then we hit Upper Holy Jim.

Last time I did this section I remember walking maybe 50% of it. Possibly even more. This time I'm glad to say I rode 90% of it. I was more confident and went for a few sections that I had walked prior. Growing requires risks, so I figured I'd take a few small ones. Plus it helped to ride the right trail at the end. The last time Matt and I had gone straight at a section where we should have gone left.

Going down regular Holy Jim was pretty uneventful. I ended up making only 5 out of 17 switchbacks at the bottom. Shameful really. I'm learning on some parts of Holy Jim that speed is key. I don't want to slow down too much and then end up loosing control of the bike. I'd rather power through sections and get them over with. Riding with confidence is key. That and "look where you want to go".

Our group passed what seemed like 100 hikers on Holy Jim and thank God there were no accidents.

I ended up riding about 2 miles more than last time (because we went to the peak instead of hiking around it) and added a few hundred feet to the climb. With all that I still managed to finish almost 10 minutes faster than the previous ride. Awesome!

Summary for November

The only reason I'm writing a summary for November is that it just might be the toughest month of riding I've ever done. I got a monthly ladder medal for it (9 out of 10) and it was not easy to get. I can't believe how competitive people get.

Anyways some interesting points from the month ...

Miles: 259.8
Elevation Gain: 40,543 feet
Time on the Bike: 33+ hours (this doesn't include breaks on the rides)

The longest route for the month was Motorway (2x) at 41.5 miles. This is the closest ride I've had to the Counting Coup and it was a tough ride for sure.

I did quite a few night rides and the last one for the month was _freezing_. My face turned numb at the end of it.

All in all a good month. I lost 2-3 pounds and I definitely feel like taking a break.

Proof:

Pushing Hard

A couple times every month some of the guys on GeoLadders have a Bible study ride. I've been going to these rides for a while now and last night (11/30/06) we had planned to do Beek's and then have dinner after. This ride was important for me because I wanted to cement a monthly medal and I needed every point I could get.

Anyways the list of guys that were coming came to: Doug, Chris, Matt, Andrew, Jerry and me. I was expecting bitter cold and I was not disappointed. When we got to the parking area it was cold, but not bad, but by the time we finished it was in the 30's.

Doug, Andrew, Matt and I all parked at the same spot and we waited until 6PM for Chris and Jerry to arrive. Since we had waited 30 minutes we figured that was enough and left without them. It was funny because we rode down maybe 100 yards on Blackstar before seeing their cars on the side of the road. Oops.

To the ride ...

Knowing that Chris and Jerry got a head start caused Doug to say "We should catch them." Now this is a funny sentence. If you were to start me and Jerry at the same spot and say "GO!", Jerry would drop me in a second. I'm nowhere near as fast as Jerry. Same with Chris. Both guys are head and shoulders above where I'm at when it comes to climbing. Even funnier is that Doug is just plain beyond my ability. So the idea that I could "catch" Jerry and Chris with Doug was just plain stupid in my mind. Despite all that, I decided to give it a shot. Ha.

Doug was setting the pace and I figured that if we couldn't catch them, I'd at least like to shoot for under 1 hour gate to gate. My prior record was 1:10 gate to gate and I almost puked when I did that.

The first 2-3 miles I noticed my heart rate was flirting with disaster. I was hovering between high 170's and low 180's. I was also in a high gear because I was trying to keep up with Doug.

Eventually he got tired of hanging back with me and took off. I was thankful in a sense because I knew I couldn't maintain the pace for the entire ride up (8 miles).

Long story short, we did end up catching Jerry and Chris. Not really sure how that happened, but we did it. In fact Matt caught Doug and I and Andrew wasn't far behind. I remember during one short climb feeling the lactic acid gushing inside my legs. At least that's what I thought it was. Interesting feeling.

I ended up slowly the pace a bit to hang and talk with Chris, but I didn't lose all that much time by hanging with him. I had been pushing hard and I didn't want to blow up before the big ride Saturday.

Final time from gate to gate was 1:03. Pretty good! I actually felt ok at the top too. Didn't need to puke and my legs had recovered from pushing really hard earlier in the ride.

On the way back I was a little nervous because I had forgotten the mount for my light and I had zip-tied it to the handlebars. It wasn't on super tight, but it was perfect for the descent.

I ended up getting a flat on my rear wheel about a mile from the finish. That sucked. I could feel the bike fish tail a bit and sure enough it was done. Not just flat, but totally gone. I hope my rim didn't get banged up too.

Overall it was a good ride. That's the hardest I've pushed on a ride in a long time. I was shocked to see that I could push so hard for so long without falling apart. Might have to start doing that more often.