Tick tick tick.

The Big Bear 24 Hour Race is less than two weeks away. I started “training” for it about a week and half ago. I pulled the road bike down from her vertical home hooked to the garage ceiling and hanging against the wall. I ran a towel along the tubes, paid the drivetrain some attention, and topped off the tires. I love the easiness of a road bicycle. I checked my road shoes for spiders as they haven’t seen my foot in about two months and I really hate spiders. Clipped in and off. The thing I love about road bikes is not only are they almost maintenance free, but the amount of power you’re able to put to the wheel compared to a mountain bike is incredible. The thing I hate about road bikes is that this feeling of over-whelming strength lasts about half a mile. Then you realize riding your 15, 16, 17, 18, whatever lb carbon fiber road bicycle is a terrible exercise in masochism. It doesn’t matter how light your wheels are, what groupo your riding, or what your frame is made out of: Road riding is hard, road racing is hell.

So I’ve been logging miles. Long, hard, fast miles that made my legs hurt so bad it was difficult to sleep at first. Other than Sunday, I haven’t been on a dirt bike in two weeks. That’s what we’re calling them now, dirt bikes. Well, at least for today.

Sunday I woke up and got ready to meet the team for a training ride at Bavington. This, amazingly, was to be my first time there after sleeping through the time trial race they held last year. What better way to experience it than to try and keep up with Dr. Don and Scotty Root? The entire team made it down and we pushed off. The first 8 miles were fast. Like real fast. Fast enough that I wasn’t sure I could keep this pace for another 20 miles. Thankfully things calmed down just a little and I was set for the rest of the trip. I felt really strong considering I rode 70 miles on the road the day before. We dropped a few gallons of water to fill up bottles when we hit. That was a lifesaver as I finished the ride with nothing left to drink. We hung out afterwards and enjoyed a few adult beverages while telling stories about injuries and losing wheels. It was nice to be back on the dirt bike. Don snapped this picture of me getting ready to pull out.