So, ole Dallas wanted to meet at Legend Mtb Park this afternoon for an "easy" ride. Uh huh. When will I learn. He learned from the best - LJ. :)
Met him there a little after 2pm, put my pedals on one of his mtb's and off we go. Now, remember....I haven't ridden a mtb in probably a year, I was riding an unfamiliar bike (though it doesn't matter since I hadn't ridden in so long), and....this park is NOT easy/beginner friendly.
Off we go....I do ok until we reach the first big downhill...we stop at the top and he tells me that he's going to go down it the way (line) he wants me to go. Uh huh. I try. But on the way down, left foot unclipped, I grab a handful of front brake. Uh Oh. I didn't hit the ground but the bike did. :) Walk the rest of that mess. In fact, I walked quite a bit due to lack of confidence/losing my momentum on the uphills. Some how or another I bang my left knee on the handlebars on an uphill and will have a nice bruise from that too. I do so-so until............the big roots.
The big roots in a slight right hand/straight/downhill (very slight downhill) section. Not enough speed to carry me through and yep...I go down. On the drive side, on my right side. OMG. That hurt. A few choice, but somewhat lady-like words were said, repeatedly. Hurt. Ouch. 2 huge goose-eggs popped up on my leg just above my knee. While laying there on the ground, I could feel my leg twitching in pain. Finally, I managed to get untangled from the bike and walk around a bit. I told Dallas that I hope we are about done with this, but he says he has no idea how to get out of there....every time he comes over to ride that park, he gets lost. /roll eyes/ I tell him that the road is just "over there" and that's where I'm going. We exit the trails and head back to the car.
Ankle and the meaty part of my right thumb hurt the worst right now. A bit of ice should help out.
So.....will I go mtb'ing with Dallas again? Yep. BUT....we will have to enjoy the Harris Lake trails a few times to let me build my confidence/skills up before I will go back to Legened.
Damn....now my butt is sore from yesterday's 74mi ride and my right knee/ankle/thumb area/left knee is sore. It will be interesting to see how I feel in the morning. Planned on a road ride at lunch tomorrow. Know what? That road ride will happen....HTFU. :)
I've been doing the cx races lately, but decided after last weeks race that I may not do all of those in the Fall series due to race/gas costs. At $23 registration fee and $30-60 on gas (depends on driving distance to race), it's just getting a little more expensive to do. Sure, it's fun, but I'm not going to win any races and will most likely always place in the 12-20 spots....so, I'm going to save my $$ for my Epic Ride next year.
That being said, it was to be a nice day today, albiet a bit windy and I mentioned to Martin that I would come out and ride with the "Irregulars". He had a 70mi route planned and I didn't see any reason why I couldn't do that. Uh-huh. I must have forgotten that I hadn't ridden that kind of distance in a couple months. My eyes were definitely bigger than my legs. Or my butt.
I'll just make it short 'n sweet for right now, but will come back when I'm not so damn tired to complete the write up....I'll leave you with the ending............
Just gonna leave it at, I rode an extra 4mi because the guys dropped my butt like a red hot coal once we turned onto Ghoston...I knew they would, as I'm now a slug when it comes to climbing, but I really thought they'd wait on me at the next turn. Guess I thought wrong. I got to the next turn and the guys were no where to be found. OK. I waited around for a couple minutes, trying to remember which way to go - left or right. I just couldn't remember, so I went left. Wrong. Rode about 2mi in the wrong direction, realized this didn't look familiar and turned around. Back on the route to BJP and I didn't think I would EVER get back to my car. Very tired.
Finally made it back, about 15min behind the guys. That's all for now...I have a couple pictures to upload too.
Stats:
74mi
4:56hr
No NCCX #3 race in Boone for me on Sunday. A bout of EIA even before I could warm up. The ride from my car down to registration and back up to my car invoked the EIA. That's ok....it seemed like an awfully hard course, given the rain and mud. I would've done the race had I been able to breathe.
This week will be spin classes on Tuesday/Thursday at Inside-Out Sports and a cross ride on Wednesday from IOS to Umstead. Gonna check about getting an 11-28 instead of the 12-25 currently on teh bike. Dallas thinks this will be a tremendous help with the climbing and I'm tending to agree. Up next is 2 races this weekend - Charlotte and Salisbury. Guess I'm in for both after I get the cassette changed out....damn, I suck at cx racing. Oh well, it is pretty fun!
Not much else going on right now....major ride announcement coming in the near future though.....no, don't ask. I'll let the followers know when it's time, but until then...just guess. :)
