What do frustrations, wrong-ways, and cacti have in common?
My weekend. After a horrible week at work toppled with sickness and cramps daily, I really needed my weekend. I’ve had a tough time getting back into exercise after Old Pueblo, as these 24 hour races still kinda get me for a bit afterwards. Luke dropped my 29’er off at the shop for me to come in sometime and clean it after the rains at Old Pueblo, but with 2 jobs currently and my sluggish phase and getting sick – that wasn’t going to happen.
So luckily I still have my other bike. Not feeling like road riding, I opted to force myself to go mountain biking somewhere. I decided Horsetooth valley, with the objective of either cruising the valley (yea, right – too boring), Blue Sky, or practice some steeps by going up the trails instead of going up Towers. I had to force-feed myself something, as this time of the month the idea of food is just so….ugh. But I would need the energy. “Food = energy.” I even had to tell myself that on the trail to get me to eat something more.
So Soderburg trailhead. Headed out, then ended up on Towers, and happened to keep going up for a while. So I opted to turn at Stout – the first turnoff. Followed that over to Loggers. Practiced some downhill sections several times, realizing the concept that to become a master at something requires 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, i.e. a 24-hour race doesn’t count for 24 hours of practice. So since I was alone and wasn’t ready to be climbing Towers thought I would practice technical sections. Fun stuff.
(Continue Reading)
