Friday, January 11, 2008

a good week...

This week didn't start off well as I tried to recover from a hell-spawned bonk and stomach bug. By Tuesday that was in the past and only good memories remained from the Whetstone Ridge ride. I'm looking forward to getting back on the ridge and riding most of it, minus the hike-a-bikes of course.


Tuesday found me back in the pool after two weeks off due to the holidays. Not that I wanted to stay dry for two weeks but I could not find the time to get there. All the progress I had made in the previous 3 weeks had been lost. It was back to 1000 meters with frequent stops.

I was back into the pool on Wednesday, then I completed a 2 hour transition. In a race I am disappointed if my T1 (swim to bike) transition is over one minute and 45 seconds. This early in the season I shouldn't complain about a slow transition, because in that time I showered, changed, drove home, ate dinner, pumped up the fork and tires, lubed the chain, fed the dogs, changed clothes, mounted the lights, filled a water bottle, played with Parker, and chatted with James while waiting for Jon E to show up. We rode to SSSoS to taste the new trail section recently built by Jon H. Nice and tight through the trees up to the Pine trail, this new trail had a steady climb to a switchback that led to a swooping contour trail with plenty of flow. I found myself overgeared a few times, I need to get back into a mountain bike gear frame of mind. Seems I'm not the only 'crosser having trouble shifting. After this trail section it was across "Sam's Bridge" to the main trail system. We climbed the powerline trail to the top and dropped to the other side making a right turn to head across to the other new trail section. Up through the cedars and down the slick darkside to the bottom of the big hill. I took James' suggestion and went straight up the hill in the deep grass instead of riding over to the road climb. James and I made it to the top and waited for Jon who finally showed carrying his new Niner, uh oh. Maybe he's carrying the bike to train for another mountaineering expedition, Nope. The cause of the walking was an rear derailleur overshift and now the chain was wedged between the cassette and the spokes; it was stuck below the cassette pins ending our ride. James and I descended quickly to get back to my house so I could drive back and pick up Jon who was walking out. As I'm riding on the trail towards the pond, I see a flurry of white and tan four feet from my head but no sound. Wow that has to be the owl I saw a few weeks ago I thought. I roll to a stop and point my headlamp into the trees and there he is, a screech owl. They are a beautiful creature, this was my second time seeing an owl in the SSSoS. I hope to see more of him. James and I rolled to my house and I went back and picked up Jon ending my first Brick of 2008.

Thursday it was back in the pool, feeling a bit stronger. Laps, Laps then more Laps. No new lap lanes to try out, no mechanicals and no wildlife flying 4 feet from my head, just back and forth in the pool.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

good times.....goodtimes....

1:11 PM  

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