2006 Year in Review (Part 3 of 3)

Finally the last post for 2006. I have some serious catching up to do with posts, so I'm going to try and make this last post brief. It's going to be tough though because this was the busiest of the three parts of 2006 for me.

Numeros ...

SEP 06:

125 miles
Ascent 20,693 feet
9 rides
DA Ratio: 165.5

OCT 06:

185.4 miles
Ascent 29,539 feet
12 rides
DA Ratio: 159.3

NOV 06:

275.4 miles
Ascent 42,678 feet
17 rides
DA Ratio: 155

DEC 06:

211.5 miles
Ascent 33,775 feet
10 rides
DA Ratio: 159.7

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

1. Finally rode down Trabuco for the first time. It was on my list of trails to do since everyone in Orange County seemed to have done it. Good ride.

2. Met Troy (ThinkFast), Mark and Andrew (Winger) and started doing group rides with them almost every Saturday. A great group to ride with.

3. Hit 200 beats per minute going up Big Red in Peter's Canyon. I think that's the highest I've ever gotten my heart rate. I felt _horrible_ after getting to the top. Was a good lesson in how heart rate relates to stamina and overall strength.

4. Rode Upper Holy Jim twice. First time I walked maybe 75% of it, and the second time I walked only about 10% if not less. It actually has some really nice parts to it. I need to up my confidence around exposure.

5. Had my first night ride on Halloween up Harding. It was very cold and a long, lonely ride. A very different experience riding at night.

6. Rode Motorway (2x), which has to be my hardest ride to date still. The second time down the Motorway I thought my hands were going to fall off. I remember going to brake and my fingers stopped working. Scary feeling knowing you can't get the energy to brake.

7. Rode _up_ Trabuco even though I felt sick from ice cream the night before. I learned my lesson after this ride.

8. Finally rode the Fullerton Loop - and at night! Was a nice tour from Mike (MF Titan). The list of trails I want to do just keeps getting shorter and shorter.

9. Rode down The Luge at night. This is kind of a right of passage for every Orange County mountain biker. Glad to get it done. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

10. Got a monthly and weekly medal on GeoLadders. This is a big deal considering both medals were against roughly 700 other riders. I got top 10 for the month and top 5 for the week. Probably the last medals I'll ever get.

11. Rode Blackstar-Motorway ... at night. Enough said.

12. The last highlight was doing the 50 mile ride for Project Rwanda. Really this was the perfect way to end a very memorable year of riding. I rode with a lot of friends and had a great time even though I ran out of gas.

Picture of me climbing Harding (around mile 8 of 50):



Totals for the last four months:

797.3 miles
126,685 feet climbed
48 rides
DA Ratio of 158.9

One more 2006 post and then that's it. Ha.