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.

West Virginians are thirsty.

When signing up at the Big Bear race a few weeks ago, they gave out some really nice pint glasses. I was pretty surprised as I thought those were only for the big boys racing in the endurance type of events. Side note- I've determined that the type of racer has a direct correlation to their personal alcohol consumption. See Jason, Rich, and Buddy. All endurance "racers", all drinkers, all the kind of guys I would probably end up hanging out with at a large camp fire. Anyways, after finishing third, I was awarded with this gem:

Sweet.  I was really really excited.  I ran up and claimed my wonderfully handmade mug and was greeted with another surprise inside; a season pass to the trails.  Apparently you have to pay a few bucks to ride there. Kinda neat as it helps with the trail upkeep.  I think it's a good idea, but probably only cause I don't have to pay it now.  Had I not won the pass, I would probably call shenanigans on the whole thing.  This is probably the second best thing that they could have put in the mug.  Edit- This is probably the second best thing they could have put in the mug legally. As soon as I got home this guy was filled with red seedless grapes, the absolute best thing to put in a mug, let alone a sweet handmade one.

Laurel Mountain

Sunday morning and out the door at 7am. I was meeting Dr. Don, Aaron, and Wayne at Laurel Mountain to get a loop in at a place I don’t ride often enough. We’re pedaling by 9:10 and I can tell within the first 3 miles it’s going to be a long day. I don’t know the area well enough to name trails or even to describe to the loop we took, but I will link to the ride profile on motionbased at the bottom of the page. I’ve been to Laurel Mountain once before and this time I wised up and brought a bike with front suspension. The pace was just above my comfort level, which was nice at first, but would eventually begin to wear me out. The thing about Laurel Mountain, for me, is the number of long flat spans. I simply don’t have the sustained power to keep up with someone like Don on those efforts. About halfway through the ride, Wayne said it was turning into a ride of attrition. I think that summed it up quite nicely. Aaron got four flat tires, which was pretty amazing and was down to the group’s last tube and CO2. The last flat came with about 7 miles left and it was kind of a blessing as it let me stretch out a bit and rehydrate myself. I was feeling pretty stiff and cramped up and the opportunity to drink half a bottle of water made the last leg a lot more enjoyable.

Looking back on it, usually my aerobic capacity is straining before my legs give out. This was not the case this weekend. My lungs felt good, but my legs were stiff and heavy. I didn’t sleep enough the night before so maybe that had something to do with it. Laurel Mountain is tough on me. It’s not the rocks; it’s not the climbing up from Linn Run State Park. Like I mentioned before, those long wide-open efforts really destroy me. I notice the same thing on a road bike in that it’s very difficult for me to pull anyone for a long period of time.

I have a plan for this though. We'll talk about that later; it's rather exciting.