Sunday, June 28, 2009

Blazing Saddles

Temperatures reached the 100's in the canyon this weekend but that did not allay Tina and I from getting in some intense riding time.  (Our third member Marianne is in her home country of Sweden right now riding bikes around cool, picturesque lakes and taking midnight swims).  Tina and I, however, are battling the heat and the insane star thistle that crowd out the lower half of the Confluence trail.  No problem . . .

Yesterday after a later than planned start (due to a side trip to the bike shop to fix a hole in a tubeless tire and brake pads that were rubbing on a slightly-warped rotor) we climbed up the Clementine hill to the Tunnel trail and landed some new jumps we hadn't tried before.  Exhilarating!  At the bottom of pushing our hardest through the Confluence trail we celebrated with a much deserved cool swim in the river.  We were so hot we actually had the chills . . . ?  Even the breeze generated by riding down hill was like a convection oven.  

Today's riding, even though we shuttled, was harder than the day's before.  We started the morning with a three mile run (yes, we momentarily traded in our wheels for trail shoes) up the Confluence trail for a little cross training and to scout out some new lines.  Then our shuttle driver met us at the bottom to take us to Stonewall, East Side, Tunnel and Confluence.  

It was hot, hot, hot and by the end of the last run we were weak as kittens and riding a little sloppy I must say.  Luckily we started out riding pretty sharply -- although we did leave a little skin on the trail -- me on East Side and Tina on Confluence.  We had to admit, though, we went down with flair and style.  It's all in hanging on until the bitter end while still going down smooth, getting up, dusting yourself off, giving an "I'm OK" shout out to your buddies and then hopping back on the trail.  

At least no equipment trouble today aside from my chain bouncing off and getting wedged after landing a jump.  A little frustrating to deal with in the blazing sun with a full-face helmet on, but we had that fixed in no time.

We ended today's ride with another swim in the river, stinging our fresh scrapes and with a little less juice than the day before.  We were both in need of a large portion of food and more water than we had brought.  We dragged our soaked bodies back to the truck barely uttering a word . . . until we started laughing at our sorry asses.  

Since we're training for the Super D race at Northstar next month it's no time to stay inside just because it's hot!

Until next ride . . . 
kd

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