Stuff and Stuff

Hey! Last night the weather was beautiful and we were feeling lazy, so we rode over to Powhite where the trails drain well. They were dry as a bone! Nice. The ride started out the way most spring rides do, with both of us whining about our legs hurting. The first twenty minutes always suck - it hurts a lot and it's hard and you wonder why you didn't pick a sport like bowling, where you can play and drink beer at the same time. But, as almost always happens, as soon as we both warmed up we started feeling good and enjoying ourselves.

Kenny had a flat (in which the entire valve of his tube sheared off. Dude, how does that even happen?) and after he fixed it we ran into a couple of guys who'd never ridden there before and were a little lost. I love that about Powhite park - it's not directional and there are no maps or arrows. It's so small that you can't really get lost for long, but it does help to know the good trails to take for a flowing fun ride. Kenny told them to follow us and we had a nice little mini-group ride. They were appreciative of the tour and it felt so nice to relax and not be under any pressure to train. Just riding for fun! So much better.

That's it. No great stories, just a relaxed after-work ride. I did finally upload photos from our downtown ride a few weeks ago. certain parts of the downtown trails empty out at Tredegar and on Belle island, so that's where I took photos.

Here's Tredegar Iron Works:



And what it used to look like:



Here's me looking serious for no reason:


Very pretty view from Tredegar down to the James River:



Some of the group:

Weird new rock formations on Belle Isle:

Cool, huh? This used to be a rather sketchy downhill run, but they rerouted the trail and filled it in with all these big rocks. The best thing about this hill is that Kenny found a photo of what it used to look like from the top way back in the day (by day, I mean 1865):

Same hill! Belle Isle has been, among other things, an Indian fishing village, a Colonial-era race track, and a Civil War prison camp. It's a strange little place.

Sorry, kids.

I'm here! Still alive! I just took a break and it ended up being a lot longer than I thought. I have been riding, but not a lot, as the weather has not been cooperating. God, could it rain more? No really, COULD IT?

I did recently make the decision to not bother with racing until fall, if at all. I've just got too many other things pulling for my attention and I need biking to be a relaxing thing, not another source of stress. As for rides, its mostly been the usual local stuff and I've really enjoyed the last few rides I did. The weight lifting program I'm doing has helped a lot with general strength, though my endurance has suffered over the winter.

I have photos in my camera from a group ride I did a few weeks ago but I've been so busy with craft show stuff that I haven't uploaded them yet. However, Travis was cool enough to take some pictures:

Jay and Kenny both got flats right here:



Headed up the hill from Buttermilk North:



Me at the back trying to catch the pack:

Blah Blah Blah

I just couldn't keep that embarrassing whine-fest as my top entry anymore. It's too pathetic. Wahhh, I had a bad ride! My toes were cold! Time to move on. I skipped last weekend because I had other projects going on but I felt a twinge of guilt about it because it was fairly warm-ish and sunny. Oh, well. Then, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the weather totally slapped me in the face with spring-like temperatures about which I could do nothing. Desk-job-blocked.

This Sunday I think I might go out for a short ride, perhaps solo, just to get my mojo back. There's a group organizing to go back to the park where we rode two weeks ago but I'm not quite ready to have my spirit broken again, so I think I'll pass.

In the meantime, I've decided to do something about the extra bits of pudge I've been carrying around and I went and bought myself this:



It's good stuff. I want to have muscle and this is the way to do it - lift heavy and stop dicking around with all those tiny muscle exercises, Barbie weights and endless cardio. I'm still doing cardio, just focusing more on intervals and less on reading the latest Britney Spears saga whilst dreamily ellipticalling my legs in a lazy fashion. I'm also jacking up my diet with more protein and fiber and less, you know, crap. Less crap is really key, apparently.

So that's where I am now. Probably when the weather gets warmer and the days stay light longer I'll focus more on the cycling, but for now I'm working towards muscle and lots of it.

Not My Proudest Moment.

I rode yesterday and I don't really feel like writing about it but I guess I will. I'll just start by saying it sucked. Or, rather, I sucked.

It was a group ride out at a park where we don't get to go very often so I was actually looking forward to it. I haven't ridden my bike in a few weeks and thought it might be fun. So, see, my attitude started out okay, I swear.

We arrived and it was much colder than it felt when we left. The sun was out but it was not warm. At all. I really don't do well in the cold which is why I avoid winter riding, but I really had missed being on my bike so I put on a bunch of layers and decided to go for it.

I knew I was in trouble when we hit the first climb. I asked my legs to dig deep and got nothing back. Static. Crickets. Bad. The first loop we did was an easy one, just to warm up, and I was already floundering. I rallied a bit towards the end of the loop and started feeling a bit better, but my legs still felt pretty leaden.

We headed for a more advance long loop of singletrack and I fell to the back of the pack because I was afraid of holding back the faster riders. I got dropped again and again and again. They'd wait up for me, I'd catch up, and then off they went and I was still struggling. I should really never get all the way in the back because without the push-pull of the pack I have no chance in hell of keeping up.

About five miles in I got a second wind and rode with a couple of other people for a bit, but then it was back to Dropsville. I remember looking up and seeing the back of the rider ahead of me completely disappear from sight and got really depressed. So much of this is mental and riding alone for miles and miles when you are chasing a group is so draining. It's different from a solo ride where your time is your own. When you get dropped you never forget that the group is up there...somewhere, and the longer it takes you to catch up when they stop to rest, the shorter your rest time will be.

So miles of slogging through winter-sad trails, with nose running, toes numb, legs cramping is not my idea of a good time. I was probably a pain in the ass but I was mostly frustrated with how quickly I've lost any cycling fitness and how hard I'm going to have to work this spring to get it back. Damn. Hell.

I was dragging and exhausted for the last mile (I think we did fifteen miles?) and Kenny came to scoop me up and lead the way back to the car. I was too tired and frustrated to do anything but climb off and sit dejectedly in the car while Kenny put my bike on the rack. Sitting there completely rung out and embarrassed, I cried. I have very firm rules about there not being any crying in mountain biking, but yesterday was what it was. I guess you have to have a bad ride now and then so you appreciate the good ones? I'll try and remember that.

PS. On the way home Kenny stopped and bought doughnuts and that helped A LOT towards improving my mood.

OKAY, FINE.

HI. WHAT IS HAPPENING. I know, I am slack, but sometimes a girl needs a break from the old blog ball-and-chain. I have been riding but not very much. I was hoping for a great deal of riding over the Christmas break but that didn't happen because it literally rained every other day and around here you get a stick in your spokes for riding wet trails. Besides, who wants to clean a muddy bike? Not me (or my husband.)

So, yeah, there have been a few rides, but nothing to brag about. I went out by myself on Thanksgiving day and endo'ed over a log, this log:




like, ten minutes after I got there. I landed with the palm of my hand firmly on a very knotty root which hurt A LOT. I contemplated calling for a ride home because gripping the handlebar wasn't really a fabulous option, but instead I stood in the woods and swore a lot until it stopped throbbing so much. I had a really Technicolor bruise to show for it. It hurt for weeks afterwards. Nice.

So, there have been a few other rides since then, but today I'll just tell you about the one we did last weekend. A friend of a friend of a friend has some land out in the country and he did what any crazy person would do - he built a six-mile loop of single track. NICE. A bunch of us were invited to help break it in last Sunday, so off we went. The weather was unseasonably warm which was a nice plus.

The trails were of the "rolling" variety and you know what that means - OW. It means it never ever lets up. That six mile loop was hard work, all of it. There was one great section of big dirt lumps (I think it was originally used for dirt bikes) but other than that, I worked and worked and worked some more. There was no coasting, no rest, just legs and gears. The ground was spongy and power-sucking, which made it all the harder. I hadn't a chance in hell of keeping up with the fast group but really, who cares about speed in January? Not me. Which is good because I'm fresh out, kids.

I had a great time, though. We did two laps and I rode with some nice women and men and it was so much fun to ride somewhere unfamiliar and new. And by new, I mean the trails were NEW. There were no defined lines so you really had to negotiate every inch of it on your own and hope for the best.

My friend Billy was kind enough to take some pictures for me since I forgot my camera (thanks!)

Group shot:



I look thrilled about this action shot:



This was the BEST. This sign was at the bottom of a hill right where the trail took a hard left:



And the thrill of finishing a good ride:

Neglected.

It's been a month since I updated but it's hard to update a bike blog when you haven't been riding your bike. The past month has been a flurry of craft shows and stomach virus fun, so there has been no riding unless spinning class counts and I don't think it does.

HOWEVER, this past week featured a couple of unseasonably ridiculously gorgeous short-sleeve weather days, so I did a couple of solo rides. On Wednesday I took myself out to ride most of the big loop (skipping a section I don't feel comfortable riding alone) and, because I knew it was going to be a casual slow ride, I also took my camera. This is less exciting than it seems because I couldn't take any action shots, just pictures of the trail and whatnot. I rode for a couple of hours at a steady pace, just having fun and not pushing myself too hard. Sadly, my photo skills are not good enough to really capture how ridiculously balmy and beautiful it was that day, but hopefully you'll get an idea from my little travelogue below:

Where It's At.

Hi, I know. It's gonna be a bit slower around her for a while because my riding schedule has narrowed to one ride a week, if I'm lucky. Sadly, with an 8:30-5pm work schedule I don't have enough daylight coming or going to ride during the week, and night riding does not appeal. Don't even try to convince me because I don't care. The woods at night is no place for me.

That leaves Sunday and the occasional Saturday to ride, which is okay. I'm ready to slow down on the outdoor cycling and focus on other things, like weight lifting and spinning. Assuming I don't have conflicts, here's my current schedule:

Monday: yoga class w/ super-excellent and hilarious instructor. (I think I have a girl crush on her.)

Tuesday: 20 minute cardio warm-up, 1 hour of free weights

Wednesday: spinning class

Thursday: 20 minute cardio warm-up, 1 hour of free weights

Friday: off

Saturday: spinning class and weight lifting class (or mountain bike ride)

Sunday: mountain bike ride (weather permitting)

I don't always achieve all of it and Saturdays are hard because of craft shows and whatnot, but on the whole it's been working so far. My gym is great for the classes but the weight rooms sucks ass. Sure, it's big, but it's also dark and poorly laid out. I also hate the staring eyes of the weight room guys who seem to think I'm either an interloper or their own personal entertainment. Gross.

To remedy this I've started going to the very swanky (and free) gym on campus. For some reason college guys don't intimidate me at all. I consider them beneath notice and just march in and do my thing. It helps, too, that the weights room is big and light and well-designed. I went on Tuesday night and while I was lifting there was a cardio dance class going on in the glassed-in studio. It was all hip rolling and jazz hands and I could barely drag my eyes away from the horror of it. Dance classes are my hell and I'm impressed by anyone who willingly submits to such outlandish torture.

ANYWAY, i did ride last Sunday, all by myself. Everyone else was busy or feeling under the weather but it was a GORGEOUS day so I took myself over to Powhite and rode for an hour, mostly through some stunningly gross spiderwebs. It was fun though - I don't get to ride alone very often and I like that I can ride whatever pace i feel like and stop whenever I want. I am perfectly happy in my own company that way.