Salvaged the weekend

Coming out of last week, I thought I might have a tough time feeling at home on a bike this weekend. Fortunately, a commute home and 2 hour "warmup" ride with my buddy Matt seemed to get my body back into the swing of things for Saturday morning.

Saturday was a fun ride with the whole crew out to Elbow Falls and back. Dallas proved his might by laying down huge watts on the flats, it must be the Frosted Flakes and chocolate milk before bed. Devin certainly should be wearing a green jersey out on the road with his sprint performances this year, out of a strong field of probably 20-30 he took honours into Bragg. Then, just to rub it in, pulls out a soggy piece of pizza out of his pocket and starts chowing down. I'll hang up my bike for good when I'm still first one off the back, when he switches to Wildcat Strong in his bottle cages.

Got some good tempo riding in on the way out to the Elbow Falls pass, Dallas pulled out the big hammer and just rode people off his wheel till it was only him. I did my best to stay with the group I was in, but I have a really hard time doing so on the steep climb portions, and eventually got off the back. We regrouped for the final climb, and Ed Roddy and I coaxed each other to the top faster than either of us likely would have managed alone. It's always great having a partner to climb with.

All in it was a 150k day, and I ate very little while out on the road. I did lose energy eventually, but considering how last week went I'm happy.

Sunday I switched over to the mountain bike, really the first ride of the season. Shawn Bunnin and I made tracks at Nose Hill, I had decided early on that we weren't going home till I had 10 solid climbs in. He waited till about climb 4 or 5 before pulling out his extra horsepower, which really helped my maximal training. Of course I'd need 15% more to actually stick with him, but I'm one of those riders where having the carrot out front really, really helps.

Later in the day, after my legs were totally fried and felt like jello, I had the bright idea to take my singlespeed up to Nose Hill with Tori. One particular climb ended up being absolutely to the limit of my ability... I was mustering all the strength I could just to keep the gear ticking over. And that one was a full 5 minute climb, one of the longest ones I've found up there.

Time to relax!