I have been feeling really good lately though and am stoked to be back to Build, beating myself up and working hard on the bike is painful yet gratifying. I have to appologize in advance for a distinct lack of photos. Between hard training and enjoying the company of great friends we managed to neglect our digital cameras...
Saturday morning we hit up a hard lap at Daley Ranch. It was a really beautiful day with perfect temps and great trail conditions. We were joined by Steph and Dan and I have to say again that it is great having them out there with us! I have been helping Steph with her training and she is making big gains in speed and endurance. It is really cool seeing her tear it up, and on a 30 lbs. AM bike no less! Allison is also doing great and on the climbs that suited her she definitely stayed right on my wheel. Considering that I don't think I have slowed down any, that means she is FAST! After ripping the first lap to shreds Allison and Steph did an organized ride with some other women that was organized by Shalyn Gates. Shalyn has been really tearing things up on the local endurance scene lately, winning the Julian Death March and finishing right behind some of the fast Pro women at Idylwild Spring Challenge, she also finished right behind Allison in both of her 12hrs of Temecula wins last year. While they were tooling about, Dan and I did some more hard climbing and took a few of the faster women for a quick loop on the North side of the park. It was a great day of riding!
After the ride we drove out to Palm Desert and I cooked up a nice dinner on the BBQ. I BBQ'd veggies and then the salmon while Allison and company made a big pot of quinoa inside. YUMM!
GET IN MY BELLY!
Sunday morning we got up a little later and the four of us piled into the Max for a quick drive up to Hurkey Creek. The plan was for Allison and I to do race pace laps while Steph did a bunch of endurance pace stuff in preparation for 12hrs. The weather was once again perfect, the trails were a tad sandy/loose which is fine by me! Unfortunately it appeared others had been struggling a bit as there were many corners that had been blown out by riders that overcooked 'em. The first lap was an endurance paced lap to warm up with Steph and Dan, and Allison snapped a couple of photos...
Sporting the always fashionable Wiens Winery jersey...
On the second lap I rode Allison's wheel. I was hoping that my presence would help her push her own pace. It was a pretty fast lap at around 44 minutes or so. Unfortunately in the process of trying to help her out my communication caused her some frustration, so on lap 3 I decided to run my own race pace lap. I dropped her early on the Keen Camp climb and never looked back turning a sub 43 minute lap. After the hard effort I was pretty tapped out and when Allison said she was going to go easy I thought it sounded pretty good! I think we were in the low 50 minute range but I had waited for a while for her to catch up a few times. When we got back to the truck I took off my jersey and HR strap and downed my portion of our recovery drink before Steph announced she was going out on lap 5 and wanted some company... Of course I cannot refuse some bonus goater! Out we went for lap 5. I took it nice and easy and just rode Steph's wheel. Riding her wheel seemed to do the trick because her 5th lap was her fastest of the day! So stoked that her pacing is that good that she didn't slow down at all and had plenty left in the tank!
After the ride it was back to Palm Desert for another BBQ session. Everybody loves my meat!
I had put in a really hard weekend of work, so I enjoyed a Midas Touch while I was grilling the burgers. That brew is just so perfect! Dinner was great and we are very thankfull for our hosts Susan and Tom for making all of us feel at home! Thanks!
Monday was so relaxing! I think I can let the photos describe the action for me...
Flip...
5 comments:
Good stuff ;) Gotta love the balance! I'm not talking about Dan trying to hop on his raft minus ninja roll, either.
that salmon made me hungry..ope, look at that, it's lunch time!!
ah that salmon looks SO good....
We need to get on the trail with you guys soon!
Balance is for those that can't float! ;)
Slater... you should go to BB this weekend! won't be bringing salmon though. so sorry. :)
Awesome BBQ and riding, how can you not love Hurkey...I cant wait to ride there again. Good job on the hard riding, I think you deserve a little more than one midas touch though!
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