Thursday
Friday's the big snow day so far for March, so what better time than to go for a night ride Thursday before the trails get buried. That's what me and Kevin did. Met at the Alameda parking for Green Mountain by 6:30 and we rolled. The front was beginning to creep its way in and the wind was making the air super crispy. Our goal that evening was to go slow/mellow on the flats and downhill and to go like men possessed on the uphills. Uphill intervals. Yup. 'Twas my first time out for 2010 too on my mountain bike. She felt great although my legs weren't used to the higher rpm spinning on the granny. Our first interval was climbing up the fireroad. Felt like crap! The legs were so heavy and I just couldn't get synched with the cadence and my breathing. Almost felt like the bike was becoming a stranger. Finally near the top when I was really pushing it, I became synchronized once more. Kevin wasn't that far off, so when I got to the top, I busted a you-ee, came down and stood out of the saddle chilly-chill, to diffuse out my friend and enemy-hydrogen ions, following Kevin to the cut-off to one of favorite downhills. From there, there was a spur we took to take us back to the main trail to begin lap two. That singletrack portion had some short but steep climbs that put my pistons into lactate hell (yes I'm lactating). I need that though. I need to push my legs to discomfort by pushing it to and sustaining some lactic threshold training. The minute the trail would flatten out, I would come near to a halt then once anything resembling an anticline showed up I'd hit it like no other.
The second lap, the final climb, the winds were beginning to howl so it was good that this was our last lap. I kept it in the middle ring and even though I couldn't spin it in the cadence I wanted on some of the steep stuff, I would sit and power through until I could. The most memorable sight for me was when I was at the top catching my breath, another cyclist with the plush light set up (on bike and on helmet) started to descend and his forward facing halogens coupled with his flashing hot-dot off his seat rails/post made him look like low flying airplane. With the fog, it put the light sources inside an opaque halo and it made for some contrasty, illuminating, otherworldly scenery. Great night ride. My legs were spend and I felt satisfaction for my down time cycling Saturday due to the blizzard like conditions up here in the high country.
Friday
Friday's here and it's snowing like a banshee up at our place, I learn from Melissa when I'm at work. So as soon as my last class is finished I sign myself out and head home to beat the truckers up the canyon before the roads start freezing and they start jackknifing (like they always do in March). Sho' nuff, I didn't even make it two miles up the canyon before traffic completely stops. And, sho' nuff, it's a grip of semis chaining up on our tiny little canyon road snarling up traffic on a Friday afternoon. Once I roll past the bottleneck I'm jonesing for some good beer to enjoy, celebrating the end of the work week, celebrating the beginning of the weekend, celebrating my trade-off so's I can race, celebrating living the high-life, celebrating how hip my family is, celebrating the fact that our new race kits come that also celebrates Halloween...etc. so I pick up a 4-pack of a St.Bernardus sampler. When I'm home our driveway needs some scraping so I drink just a smidge of St. Bernardus Pater 6 before I fireup the ATV to tease my tastebuds of what's to come (don't drink and drive an ATV kids, but relax, even though I'm not a professional I play one on TV). The snow's not being so friendly...
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