So after all these miles and all that climbing I decided that if I had any legs left at all I would give myself a little test. I told Allison on the way to the trailhead that if I felt okay I was going to drop the hammer and see how fast I could get to Cocktail Rock.
Luke took off out front and led through the lower switchbacks. We were pushing a decent pace, but not really setting the trail on fire. I stayed right on his wheel. We both cleaned all the lower switchbacks and when Luke missed one higher up, it was the right hander right after the difficult rocky left, I passed him and took the lead. At this point I felt pretty good so I set a tough pace. Luke was pretty close so I didn't let up at all when the trail flattened out a bit. I had a little run in near Cocktail Rock with some guys that were descending. I was climbing way too fast and out of control, causing a collision with the lead rider. *rolls eyes*
So when I arrived at Cocktail Rock the Garmin read 58 minutes. Not too shabby methinks. Luke was of course right behind me but said that I had set a blistering pace and that he had worked really hard to stay with me. If that is true, then I am stoked. Luke is a pretty dominant Expert level XC racer in his age group!
After the sprint to Cocktail, we continued around our figure 8 loop (including Viejo Tie/Chiquito) and then descended from Cocktail back to the cars.
It was a great ride and I was stoked to see Jeff Sims on the trail! Our little group was whole again as we were joined by Dan and Steph.
I really enjoyed today's ride. Next week I hope to keep up with my training and continue to eat well. I really feel pretty good lately. I am going to have to throw a Rim Nordic race on the calendar to test our fitness levels!
Luke took off out front and led through the lower switchbacks. We were pushing a decent pace, but not really setting the trail on fire. I stayed right on his wheel. We both cleaned all the lower switchbacks and when Luke missed one higher up, it was the right hander right after the difficult rocky left, I passed him and took the lead. At this point I felt pretty good so I set a tough pace. Luke was pretty close so I didn't let up at all when the trail flattened out a bit. I had a little run in near Cocktail Rock with some guys that were descending. I was climbing way too fast and out of control, causing a collision with the lead rider. *rolls eyes*
So when I arrived at Cocktail Rock the Garmin read 58 minutes. Not too shabby methinks. Luke was of course right behind me but said that I had set a blistering pace and that he had worked really hard to stay with me. If that is true, then I am stoked. Luke is a pretty dominant Expert level XC racer in his age group!
After the sprint to Cocktail, we continued around our figure 8 loop (including Viejo Tie/Chiquito) and then descended from Cocktail back to the cars.
It was a great ride and I was stoked to see Jeff Sims on the trail! Our little group was whole again as we were joined by Dan and Steph.
I really enjoyed today's ride. Next week I hope to keep up with my training and continue to eat well. I really feel pretty good lately. I am going to have to throw a Rim Nordic race on the calendar to test our fitness levels!
3 comments:
We were happy to be along for the ride yesterday...always great to be out with the Mannimals :) The bracelets are awesome! I'll never forget the HTFU day on Main Divide!
gotta get some pics on the thinger dood!
I need to fix the links... they were broken recently. Maybe I will get around to it after we get back from vacation...
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