Thursday, August 25
an excuse for not going for a ride/riding to the crag/there's always next time
"I'm going to do a multi-pitch climb tonight, so I have to keep my energy" is what I told myself yesterday. In a sense it was true, I didn't want to get half-way up the 6 or 8 pitch climb only to "run out of steam". So I spent another day not riding (which was probably a good option, since I need the rest).
At 5 I went past Eric's house and we rode about 6 minutes to the foot of the cliff, dumped the bikes and shoes, donned the helmets and harnesses and roped up. It's a cool thought really, you ride home from work, grab your gear and you're climbing a multi-pict route just 20 minutes later.
"Did they announce a storm?" I asked as Eric started off, as we could see some clouds forming over a mountain behind us. Sure enough, at the top of pitch 3, the skies were black and looked like that was just the beginning. "next time" was the consensus (rain, despite making things slippery, is not really that much of a hassle on easy climbs. What was more of an issue was the fact that we were climbing a waterfall couloir, which, after some rain, turns into...a waterfall. Who says waterfall also says falling debris, rocks, small animals and so on).
Evidently by the time we had rapped off the route the sky was blue, the sun shining and the storm had bolted up the valley. we hopped back on the bikes and pedalled leisurely and safely back into civilisation, not feeling sorry at all...
"I'm going to do a multi-pitch climb tonight, so I have to keep my energy" is what I told myself yesterday. In a sense it was true, I didn't want to get half-way up the 6 or 8 pitch climb only to "run out of steam". So I spent another day not riding (which was probably a good option, since I need the rest).
At 5 I went past Eric's house and we rode about 6 minutes to the foot of the cliff, dumped the bikes and shoes, donned the helmets and harnesses and roped up. It's a cool thought really, you ride home from work, grab your gear and you're climbing a multi-pict route just 20 minutes later.
"Did they announce a storm?" I asked as Eric started off, as we could see some clouds forming over a mountain behind us. Sure enough, at the top of pitch 3, the skies were black and looked like that was just the beginning. "next time" was the consensus (rain, despite making things slippery, is not really that much of a hassle on easy climbs. What was more of an issue was the fact that we were climbing a waterfall couloir, which, after some rain, turns into...a waterfall. Who says waterfall also says falling debris, rocks, small animals and so on).
Evidently by the time we had rapped off the route the sky was blue, the sun shining and the storm had bolted up the valley. we hopped back on the bikes and pedalled leisurely and safely back into civilisation, not feeling sorry at all...
armchair racing/the story of a feeble mind
As I have a week or so off, I thought I'd catch up on some riding in prep for the-race-I'd-still-like-to-do-but-I-fear-it-may-be-a-bad-idea-due-to-the-lack-of-riding-I've-done-over-summer. I sat down, made a list of rides I wanted to do and thought I'd try to ride everyday...
The following day I thought I'd start to put this into practice, so I headed up to 2 alpes, "planning" to ride high up in the mountains. Evidently "mind-riding" is much easier than sitting on a bike pedalling like crazy to keep up a 10km/h pace up a seemingly never ending hill (which, for the anecdote, is only about a 6th of what I'd need to do in the race...). I got to 2 Alpes (barely!) and headed back down by some bumpy single tracks, swearing to myself that I'd quit sugar, beer, chips and anything else that would make me feel that bad riding uphill... we'll see how long that lasts!
As I have a week or so off, I thought I'd catch up on some riding in prep for the-race-I'd-still-like-to-do-but-I-fear-it-may-be-a-bad-idea-due-to-the-lack-of-riding-I've-done-over-summer. I sat down, made a list of rides I wanted to do and thought I'd try to ride everyday...
The following day I thought I'd start to put this into practice, so I headed up to 2 alpes, "planning" to ride high up in the mountains. Evidently "mind-riding" is much easier than sitting on a bike pedalling like crazy to keep up a 10km/h pace up a seemingly never ending hill (which, for the anecdote, is only about a 6th of what I'd need to do in the race...). I got to 2 Alpes (barely!) and headed back down by some bumpy single tracks, swearing to myself that I'd quit sugar, beer, chips and anything else that would make me feel that bad riding uphill... we'll see how long that lasts!
Thursday, August 4
Just in case you forget/a warning for next time
Dear Dan,
just writing you a wee note to warn you about doing the 110km race you planned to do in September. You just came back from a very tough "I-swear-I'll-never-do-anything-like-this-again" type ride... and it was only 63km...
So remember the feeling of riding uphill on dirt for almost 3 hours? HOw about "hitting the wall" multiple times? Evidently, you nincompoop, you only took about 500kcal and burnt 3500... MORON! So if you don't take heed to this warning and do actually go race, remember to fuel up! Oh and I know what you'll say, that the 4km singletrack downhill made it all worthwhile, yeah, it was pretty sweet...
yours truly,
Weeksi
Dear Dan,
just writing you a wee note to warn you about doing the 110km race you planned to do in September. You just came back from a very tough "I-swear-I'll-never-do-anything-like-this-again" type ride... and it was only 63km...
So remember the feeling of riding uphill on dirt for almost 3 hours? HOw about "hitting the wall" multiple times? Evidently, you nincompoop, you only took about 500kcal and burnt 3500... MORON! So if you don't take heed to this warning and do actually go race, remember to fuel up! Oh and I know what you'll say, that the 4km singletrack downhill made it all worthwhile, yeah, it was pretty sweet...
yours truly,
Weeksi
Labels: mountainbike, mountains, pain, training
