A Journey Through the Mind

Limestone Canyon:



I had a lot going through my head on the ride last night in Limestone Canyon and figured I'd write down some thoughts. We'll go from start to finish - a journey through ... THE MIND!

First some context. I had actually been in Limestone once before. I was poaching with some friends and I think I've already written about that ride. It is still remembered as the "ride of shame" in my mind. So I had some idea of what the area was like before starting the ride last night.

Unfortunately only Matt and Mike showed up, so out of about 24 riders, I knew only two. One cool note is that the guy that parked next to me in the staging area had the exact same singlespeed as me. Well, almost the same. He had a fork with suspension and was running 34-19 (I run 34-20), but otherwise the same. Team Kona! Haha.

The ride started out easy with a slow ride up a paved road. Matt and I were out in front and I was trying to evaluate how good the other riders were. It was an odd group that looked like it had a lot of good guy riders in it. I single out the guys because the group actually had 5-6 girl riders which is really rare for docent led rides. In fact this might have been the only guided ride I've been on with girls.

Eventually we reached a turn where a fire road started off the left side of the pavement. We'd be on this fire road for quite some time.

It was still daylight when we started the first climb and I could see I was going to be challenged on the SS. I slowly made my way to the front of the group after starting in the middle because while people started to gear down I started to stand and hammer. It might look like I'm attacking or racing, but the reality is that if I want to ride (and not walk), then I _have_ to stand and attack.

I ended up settling down after the initial part of the climb and talked with my Kona brother for a while until we reached the top of the first climb. My heart rate had gone through the roof, but I felt ok once I got to the top. There were only one or two really steep sections and plenty of flatter spots to rest on after pushing hard to clear a climb.

I will say that this climb induced something rare in me. Right before I started the first climb my heart rate shot up in anticipation. I didn't know the climb and I realized that by going to the front all the other riders would be watching. All that to say I got a little nervous and it made my heart rate go up. I wanted to clear everything and not have to walk in front of other riders. This theme continued throughout the night.

Anyways, back to the end of the first climb ...

From that point we waited a very long time (20-25 minutes?) for the rest of the group to finish the climb and then for the head docent lady to talk to a guy that had started late and rode up to join our group. (Thanks guy. You were late and came out anyways.)

The docents said that two major climbs were coming up from that spot. They called the first one the "Pseudo Wall" and the second one "The Wall". Great. I had visions of the real "Wall" on Main Divide right before Horsetheif and began to get a bit worried.

The first climb was nothing. It took some energy and a little push here or there, but it wasn't anything to write home about. The lead group was able to pull out ahead at this point and I was left a little behind. I just can't keep up on the flats or the downhill.

The second climb was murder. I really think this was the hardest climb I've ever cleared on my SS. Second place is this steep climb on the Coto Valley Loop. I'm trying to think of how best to describe how difficult it was for me and I settled with a machinegun analogy.

So imagine my legs, arms and body are a machinegun firing bullets. Right before the steep section I try to gather momentum and I attack. I get my legs pumping as fast as they can go and pushing as hard as they can to try and carry some speed into the climb.

My body starts out like a machinegun ... *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* *POP* ... very fast bursts one after another.

Then I start getting into the climb and things start to slow down. *POP* *POP* ... *POP* *POP* ... *POP* *POP* ...

I start to realize that my quick and short breaths are not supplying my body with enough oxygen. My muscles need more than I can take in.

*POP* ... *POP* *POP* ... *POP* ...

I can feel my legs moving slower and slower. My legs and arms are burning. I can literally feel my body slowing down - and not just due to the stress. It feels like I'm underwater or in slow motion. Every pedal motion takes everything I can give.

*POP* ... ... ... *POP* ... ... ...

I'm running out of bullets. Eventually I reached a spot where I could sit and spin a bit, but I was spent. When I caught up to the lead group resting on a flat section I couldn't stop sucking in air. My heart rate went to 198bpm and my body was furiously trying to take in enough air to keep my muscles happy.

I had to rub out the cramps from my biceps and I can't ever remember putting so much stress on my upper body during a climb.

We ended up waiting quite a while for everyone to catch up after "The Wall" and then continued quickly to a singletrack that dropped us into a canyon. The singletrack had a few rocks and some very small drops, but nothing I couldn't handle - even on the rigid fork.

I was pretty mad though because some guy was riding right behind me most of the way down and I hate it when people ride my tail on a descent. It was funny though because at some point I lost him and he backed off. It seems I was able to ride it faster than he was even on a rigid fork. Haha.

The singletrack pretty much killed the ride for about 30 minutes. It seemed like an eternity as we waited for everyone to finish riding down it. I really hate rides like that when you cool completely down and start to go into recovery mode while you wait for other riders to catch up.

From that spot I don't remember much. We rode up a little, down a little and stopped at "The Sinks" to look at the Grand Canyon of Orange County. It was cool. I'm sure it's 100 times better in the day.

Eventually we made it to the top of the last real climb and were ready to start the singletrack home. I was happy about that because my upper body was hurting and I was starting to lose energy on the climbs. It was a funny trend all night though ... 5-6 people go out ahead of me on a downhill or a flat and then I pass all of them on a climb.

I made Matt follow me on the singletrack out because I didn't want someone I didn't know pressuring me from behind. If I'm going to get it from behind I want it to be someone I know. Hahahahaha.

Anyways, Matt and I had done this singletrack before and it was much like I remember it. Tons of fun and very flowy. Not a lot of loose rock and nothing steep or technical. It takes you along a ridge so that you can look down on Santiago Canyon Road and runs for maybe 3-4 miles.

There was one spot though that the docents warned us about. They told the group that everyone should walk it and no one should attempt to ride it. I remembered this section from the last ride I had done on this trail. Last time I walked it in the day on a full suspension bike.

The entire time I was waiting to come up to this daunting technical section. Finally I came up to something a bit steeper and thought, "Ok this is it. Time to walk." Then I looked down at the bottom and saw the two riders that were ahead of us waiting at the bottom. I thought, "Oh this can't be it then. They rode it. I'm sure they'd wait for other riders to warn them. Obviously they rode down this, so I have to do it."

Well I made it, but it wasn't pretty. I was skidding down and holding on for dear life. Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but with the V-brakes and a rigid fork ... it makes for an adventure on steep, technical trails.

When we got to the bottom the two guys ahead of us seemed to be impressed. As it turns out that was the technical section everyone was supposed to walk. SWEET. One of the two guys said he walked it, so I think only three people all night rode it. Me, Matt and this other guy on an Intense.

We waited at the bottom and watched people walk down it and one or two guys try to ride down. I will say that Mike would have had no problem riding down it except that one of his grips on his handlebars came _OFF_ during the descent causing him to eat it.

Once the majority of the group had hiked down we continued on back to the parking lot.

Overall it was a good ride, but it was punishing. The climbing took a lot, a lot, a lot out of me and mentally I got a little worried going down the one tech section. But still it felt good to get out and stand up to the challenge.

I was happy to ride up all the climbs (except for one short very loose rocky section that I ran my bike up) and ride down all the descents. I would say I cleared 99% of the climbing and 100% of the downhill. Also I almost hit my goal of 10mph with an average speed of 9.7mph.

I will say though that I could have down without the lecture at the beginning of the ride about how there had been a ton of very recent mountain lion activity in the canyon. The pictures of the lions in the canyon that were passed around by the docent didn't help either. Ha.