Today was the delightful trails of Cumberland. Smooth and light speed at the start blasting through twisty path on the forest, the big gravel climb, the steep rough drop, some headwind gravel to wear you out, the second climb finish what's left, and some singletrack at the edge of town. We took off a half hour late due to some bus problem into a cool morning standing around, but great for racing.
Felt good most of the morning, easy to be efficient on that first singletrack. Rode a bit with Katie Curtis, Kate and Alana. Once we exited the singletrack, tagged onto some Norwegians who pulled me along into the wind, then turned to face the big gravel climb. Tried to limit the backwards progress my new bulk and lack of power incite - got on to German Thomas' from Whitehorse wheel and he just ticked along like a metronome. Great help on the one hour suffer or however long it took, I didn't comprehend the clock. No real problems on the rough descent, love that stuff. Lots of those smooth exposed rock rollovers, people always want to brake at the bottom and endo from the crook of the exit to faceplant for whatever reason. Saw one girl flip and wind herself off some drop, didn't look/sound pleasant.
A little group found me for the "flat" transfer across the valley floor and I just pulled along and burnt a bunch of matches (any I had left after the big climb). Good interval.
Started cramping on the last climb, so just spun it out slow. Probably not enough non-sugary stuff. Said hi to Alana as she passed, Dave Crewe and Shawn, Thomas, and everyone else who blazed by as I powered on with an output of between 18 and 23 Watts.
Just let the last sections of singletrack roll, man that's nice at the end.
No idea how everyone did, but Pat and Andy were showered and had their bikes showroom clean. Mical and Jeff were smiley. Katie Curtis dropped me like a bad habit to go chase her competitor. Alana was bloody but happy (shin area).
Pat Doyle showed me where to get a giant shwarma after, so I scarfed one of those down and headed to the massage table where I pretty much passed out on a massage session that every inch of me needed.
Massage therapist: what's sore?
Erik: basically everywhere.
My body cooperates, but I'm not sure how much it likes the captain these days. I think miscellaneous nutrients and chemicals are needed, as I'm gorging on beans, some vinegar dressing stuff, and Swedish meatballs... uhh... these are predictable race cravings for this guy. Anyway, I'm enjoying riding harder for the first three hours and nursing it in. If I steady paced it all day I'd be in more crowded trails, and pedaling hard just feels so good.
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