If my entire goal this year is to become a better hundred mile racer, I think I'm on the right track. Last week, amid unexpected car repairs after sliding into two curbs while going around a snowy roundabout at low speed, I got in some pretty solid days on the bike. All the trainer rides were capped off this weekend by two very good mountain bike rides. On actual real-life trails that didn't have very much snow on them. There were definitely some bad spots, I had to butt slide down one switchback which was off camber sheet ice, but most everything was good and dry. One might even call it hero dirt since it was a bit more wet than dirt normally is in these parts. Regardless of what you call it, it was a fun day to ride a mountain bike, especially since it was pushing 70 degrees both Saturday and Sunday...
On Saturday I did some race simulation stuff at Apex Park. I've never ridden at Apex before, but I looked at a bunch of maps and figured out that Apex was the best place to put together a 10 - 15 minute loop that I could race on. I figured that I would ride bike paths all the way to Apex (I can do that because of Colorado), do some laps, and ride bike paths home. I did end up doing just that, but it took me near an hour to get to Apex, then I had to climb all the way up to the top where my loop was. It wasn't bad, but it probably wasn't ideal. The laps went well, I couldn't go as fast as possible in some sections because of lingering snow, but I think I put down some good power. I also got a pretty damn good view of the plains, and a sweet techy descent down from where I did my laps.
On another note, I think I have finally dialed in my bike's suspension. Now that I have a working shock pump, I've set my sag correctly and gotten the rebound dialed in (full fast, for what it's worth) the bike feels so good. I also got to see some cool geology on the way back.
CSM Geology Trail
I find fault with this image.
Structure > Fossils
Looking up Lookout.
Sunday's ride was much more adventurous. I was planning on heading up into the mountains and doing the Idaho Springs loop, but the weather report said it was as windy up there as it was down here, which was very windy. The deciding factor was that it was supposed to be 10 - 15 degrees warmer down here. I ended up doing a big trail loop from my place down towards Morrison, I rode damn near five hours, and most of it was on actual singletrack bicycle trails. This was definitely the best Front Range ride I've done yet. I rode, in order, North Table Mountain (where it was super windy at the top), Golden Cliff's Preserve, Windy Saddle (also windy, obviously), Apex, Dakota Ridge (a.k.a Matthews/Winters, picture a longer, more exposed Grave Ridge and you have Dakota. It is probably the single most technical trail on the whole Front Range), Red Rocks, and a bit more North Table Mountain on the way back. I had a really great day, even though Dakota was about as crowded as a shopping mall on a Saturday. I rode solo, listened to music, and was pretty tired by the end of the ride. It was great training for hundred mile races, where I'll be alternating between trails and not-trails. Hopefully more rides like this are in my future. Now for a few pictures.
North Table Mountain.
Golden Cliff's Preserve.
The saddle at Windy Saddle.
Windy Saddle overlook.
The top of Apex.
I guess this place is called the resting tree. Apex Park.
Small overlook on Dakota.
What Dakota actually looks like.
Red Rocks.
Caught this guy on Dakota, rode with him for a bit through Red Rocks.
1 comment:
you are making me wish we lived in CO. another trainer night tonight! woo!
Post a Comment