Trainer Confessions

Mount Washington Century

Part Time Job

For the first time in over 3 months, I will not be pedaling a single stroke today.   The last time I spent a full 24 hours off the bike was way back in April – what a remarkable stretch of cycling!  It is somewhat ironic that I am getting this forced day of rest due to work (I’m typing this while on a flight to Dallas TX), as my “part-time job” during the Desmarais family vacation in North Conway likely necessitated a day off the bike.  If it weren’t for the flight and then full day of meetings today, odds are that I’d be sorely tempted to hop back on the bike and sacrifice some sorely needed downtime.

You might be wondering what I meant by the “part-time job” comment.  Well, while I was away in New Hampshire for 9 absolutely magnificent days (not marred by even one rain drop during the daylight hours), I spent nearly 27 hours doing manual labor.  Like a low paying job, the work was very repetitive in nature, spinning the same machine (my cranks) over 121,000 times.  And just as a 2^nd job often requires odd hours to work around the schedule of the primary job (my job #1 last week was as the fearless travel agent and tour guide for the Desmarais family), I found myself up most days well before the sun came up.

But…the big difference between what I did last week and an early shift job making the donuts at D&D is the pay-off.  What I experienced last week could not be equated to the paltry minimum wage salary earned at a part-time gig.  With one exception (Cathedral Ledge), I bagged all of my normal hill climbs at least once (Bear Mt and Thorn Mt once each, and Pinkham Notch, Crawford Notch, and Hurricane Mt twice apiece).  I also scored some new-for-me climbs up the full extent of the Kangamangus Hwy, as well as an ascent up the north side (in other words, traveling south) of the steep, twisty, and dirt climb up Jefferson Notch. 

And no employer would offer the benefits provided by the Tin Mountain Conservation volunteers like what I received during the Mount Washington Century this past Saturday!

Mount Washington Century

It was just minutes ago, when the stewardess announced that all electronics needed to be off, that I took the time to read about the charity supported by the Mount Washington Century.  I brought on the flight today some of the reading material that was in my goodie bag handed to me at the sign-in of Saturday’s ride, and I now realize that I rode for a great cause – “To promote an appreciation of the environment in children, adults, and families through hands-on programs in schools, at summer camp, and in the community”.   If I ride again next year (and I will ride it again next year if my vacation week lines up with the date they select for next year’s edition), I’m going to be a bit more earnest in fundraising for the cause.  However, when I signed up for the charity, all I knew of the charity was that it was marketed as “New England’s Most Challenging Century.”

 

I don’t give the ride’s organizers high marks for their marketing.  First off, their “century” was actually 111 miles.  Those extra 11 miles, on top of the 22 miles I added commuting by bike to the start/finish gave me way over a double metric century for the day.  I should be able to tout that I did a double (metric) century, not a measly 100 miler! 

Also, I have to challenge their claim to be the “most challenging” century.  Sure, the climbs up Bear, Pinkham Notch, and Crawford Notch were tough on a near 90-degree day, and the final one-mile climb up Bald Hill Road in Albany was a doozie, especially after already logging 120 miles.  However, how can you give top marks in the challenging category for a ride that had five fully supported and well-staffed break areas stocked with lots of calorie rich goodies throughout the ride?  If you want to call a ride “challenging”, you should tell riders that they ride will conclude with a BBQ serving liver and lima beans, rather than motivating them by highlighting that, in addition to the standard BBQ fair, the event would be capped off with Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (which I sandwiched in between two tasty home baked chocolate chip cookies).  Lastly, for a ride to be truly challenging for me, it would be completed while mounted atop my trainer, up in my office, without any distractions, and not set amidst the White Mountains.  Vistas like what I saw on such a beautiful summer day act as a magnate, nearly pulling me without effort through the course.  You call that challenging?

Joking aside, I have to once again count my lucky stars.  I couldn’t have asked for a better family vacation/hill training camp.  I’ve stocked up on enough family memories to tide me over until our next big get-away (Tucson AZ during February vacation), and I’ve logged enough tough hours in the saddle to hopefully set me up for a great finish to the summer road racing season. 

All that’s needed now is a little bit of “rest” now that I’m back at work!

Mid-Vacation Check-in

Another Notch on the hill climbing belt

I only have time for a short post today (well, I’m at least starting the post thinking it will be terse, but odds are that I’ll find the time to get wordy).  Odds are that I won’t have any more blogging time until after my vacation/hill-training-camp ends on Sunday and I’m allowed to “rest” on an early Monday AM business flight to Dallas.  It is a family vacation first and foremost, and as usual the time I claim as my own and away from Mrs D and the little ones needs to fit into the early AM hours, or during nap time.  Normally those Dennis D time blocks are sufficient to allow me to cycle and blog, but not this time around.  And I only have myself to blame for that!

You see, when I asked the Coach for my plan for the week, I told him to bring on the pain.  I didn’t give him any time limitations, and I told him to take full advantage of the fact that I’m surrounded by all sorts of hills.  It also is the last week of what will end up being the final three week “build” block of training for 2011, so I fully expected a loaded schedule in the mail.  My expectations were more than exceeded so to speak.  As I glanced at email one final time on Sunday night, I saw that the Coach had me logging 21.5 hours on the bike for the remaining 7 days of vacation, with a heavy dosage of hilly intervals.  And that was on top of the 5.5 hours I had already logged on the first two vacation days.

I had a fitful sleep Sunday night, mostly driven by the anxious spinning of the wheels in my head, trying to figure out how best to squeeze in so many hours on the bike in a way with minimal impact to the family vacation.  I even conjured up the Tetris tune in my head to help place the cycling hours into the right scheduling holes.  Eliminating blogging time ( as well as blog reading time) was the first idea, as well as getting the Mrs to drive to places like Santa’s Village (~50 miles distant from our home base) while I’d meet them there on the bike.  And of course any thoughts of sleeping in late (which for me would be 6 AM) went out the window as well.

Well, I must be “at one with nature” out here in North Conway, because some obnoxiously loud animal read my mind at about 3:55 AM on Monday to give me a very rude wake-up call.  I’m guessing it was a bird that made the rucous, and not these guys (who woke us up on Tuesday morning by ripping the siding off of our house!).

It's hard to see through the screen, but they really are ripping the siding off in an attempt to get in

 

I briefly thought of trying to go back to sleep, but then my anxiety driven plan quickly replaced the loud squawking keeping me from sleeping.  After many cups of coffee, I was off before the sunrise, ready to put a big dent in the week’s hours.  4.5 hours later, I arrived at Santa’s Village, much relieved to see the cheery little ones unloading from the car with Mrs. D.  I was excited to switch gears and focus on the kids, especially knowing then that I’d find a way to get the cycling hours in this week.  But what made my smile even bigger as I changed out of my cycling gear and into my daddy gear was the fact that during my circuitous route to meet up with the girls, I “discovered” a new hill for me, a diamond in the rough. 

I had never ascended Jefferson’s Notch before, not even by car.  I had only vague recollections about the ride having read a blog post some time back (after the ride I searched for it to refresh my memory – lots of good North Conway hill information here), but I really didn’t know what to expect for terrain, duration, or pain. 

I’m not sure where Jefferson’s Notch ranks in the White Mountains difficulty list, but I can safely say that it now rates very high in my all-time list of grueling rides.  Though that rating may be skewed by the lack of sleep, plus the 3.5 hours of hilly intervals that had already battered my legs prior to hitting the Notch.  The only rest I got during the 45 minutes of climbing were the small pavement sections of the road, sprinkled throughout the early stretches where the road made its frequent overpass of a bubbling stream.  The remainder of the climb was all dirt and rocks that were not quite packed down well enough to allow me to stand and mash the gears where the grade inched up over 15 or 20%.  I had to stay seated and steadily crank away, lest my tires spin out on the dirt and I took a tumble.

The picture is blurry as I snapped it from my iPhone while climbing -- can't waste any time to stop for pictures!

 

It wasn’t a very scenic climb; in fact, until the very top, I truly was in a pain “cave”, as trees and leaves entombed, I mean, enclosed the entire view throughout the ride.  It also wasn’t the greatest descent, as I never really could let it rip for fear of losing traction on the dirt switch backs (and given that I only saw one car during my climb, and given that I had no cell reception, I wanted to avoid sitting in a ditch for hours waiting for help while fending off bears).  But for a guy who for some reason loves to inflict pain upon his legs, you can be sure that Jefferson’s Notch will be added to my must-ride climbs when the Desmarais family returns in 2012.

My only rest stop atop Jefferson's Notch

 

Performance Enhancing Drugs

Its all Legal

It's unfortunate that we far too frequently hear how some the big names in cycling are caught doping and/or engaging in some other illegal performance enhancer.  It wasn't until this week though that I realized that probably all of the top cyclists are taking advantage of a very legal performance enhancing drug -- scenic mountain roads.

I'm not talking about the obvious benefit derived from training in the mountains, but nearly a week now into my family vacation out West, I won't deny that roads like this offer clear advantages to those who are lucky enough to train in places like this.  Just the other day my route included a hill that had me climbing for a full hour, non-stop.  I turned around on my out-and-back ride having already logged 27 miles, but from what I've been told, I could have kept on climbing for perhaps another 45 minutes.  I was tempted to take advantage of full offering of Kolob Terrace Road (in Virgin, Utah) given that I won't see anything remotely like it back in CT.  But I reminded myself that I was on a family vacation, and not a training excursion, so I left those final few miles for the pros out on the roads.

The Route

According to MayMyRide, the portion of Kolob Terrace Rd I covered ranks amongst some of the TdF hills.

  

A State of Zen
There's more to those mountains though than just a great way to crank up the resistance on your rides.  What I've noticed in the past five days is that the enormity of the dramatic vistas looming above me as I climb seems to have a drug-like affect upon me.  I know my body is suffering and my legs in particular are teetering on the edge of revolt.  However, once my brain starts processing the images of the snow capped mountains ahead, my body must start producing some chemicals that seem to blunt the feeling of pain.  I have to imagine that the body must do something similar in response to pain killers or other classes of drugs that allow you to ignore the incoming sensations.

If I had attempted the same work-out say up on the trainer, or even out on my normal routes in CT, I'd surely be fighting the urge to pull over and call it quits.  But here, under the influence of the drugs offered up at Zion National Park, I'm cranking out Watt after Watt in a blissful state of Zen.  Hopefully you can get a contact high by taking a look at a few of the pictures I snapped on my way back down.  Don't worry -- it's legal.

Near the base of Kolob Terrace Rd.  Just a hint of snow on the peak in the center.

I hit 52 mph near this turn on the way down, but on the way up I was holding steady at around 9 mph.

 

I saw more deer (12) than cars (5) on my climb, as this empty parking lot can attest to.

The world looks a little different after climbing 4000 ft up.

Even if I had more time to complete the ascent, snow covered roads likely would have turned me back any ways.

Views clase to where I stopped

My poor rental CAAD 9 is probably getting more miles than it's used to getting in a week

I say "bring on the intervals" if this is what awaits me!

 

Spin City

Worth Every Penny

I really haven't adjusted to the time zone difference since arriving in Las Vegas in the wee hours of Sunday morning, so that meant I was up and ready to go well before sun up on Tuesday.  It was our last day in Vegas before heading to the north and east to Zion National Park, so even though I had already logged two laps around Red Rock canyon just 12 hours earlier, my appetite for the challenging yet panoramic course had not yet been satisfied.  It was cold (though not as cold as it was back at home) and dark, but I quietly clipped my headlight on my helmet and snuck out of the resort before the girls awoke so that I could  get two more doses of what the red rocks could throw my way.

It was a steady thirty minute slog up a modest hill to get to the park entrance.  When I arrived at the park's 6 AM pre-dawn opening, I was greeted by a unreasonably peppy toll worker.  He told me that he had been expecting me as he had spotted my headlight a good ten minutes or so before my arrival.  He then went on to try to "up-sell" the park fee to get me to pay $30 for a year long pass, as opposed to the $3 day long fee assessed to cyclists and walkers.  While I declined the offer, despite the cheery delivery in which it was presented to me, I quite honestly would have paid quite a bit more than what amounted to the price of a 24 oz soda purchased that the airport two days earlier. 

Even if I had shelled out the full $30, I still might argue that I got more than my money's worth over the course of the four laps I did over two days.

Perfect Drug

I know some would argue that using iPhone earbuds somehow amounts to sacrilege against the beauty of mother nature, but lately I've succumbed to using them to give me a little extra juice while doing intervals.  I'm sure others would say that I'm missing out the glories of the outdoors by focusing on the Watts and not totally soaking up the panoramic vistas at a more leisurely pace.  However, given that I was the only cyclist spinning out on the road, while virtually everyone else in Sin City was still sleeping off the effects of the previous night's debauchery, I'd like to think that I still was taking advantage of the great outdoors more than about 99.999% than anyone else on Tuesday AM.

On second thought, I was in fact indulging in my own form of debauchery.  It must have been more than just a coincidence that the first song up once I pushed away from the toll house was "The Perfect Drug" by NIN.  I have no problems if you want to call me crazy, but despite pushing the limits of my Lactate Threshold for the 20 minutes or so it took to ascend to the height of the loop road, I experienced something akin to a drug like euphoria (Well, to be honest, I'm guessing that is what a drug induced euphoric feeling must be like -- you'd need to ask the some of the people who were sleeping one off to confirm).

As I neared the top of the loop for the 2nd time, I entered a switchback that had me circumnavigate what seemed like a half of the outer edge of a bowl.  My legs were searing from the acid buildup, yet I know if anyone else had been on the road at the time, they surely would have been scratching their heads, wondering why the crazy cyclist had such an evil looking smile on his face. 

The reason for my insanity was a magical sensory overload.  I entered the switchback just as Led Zepplin slowed things down on Dazed and Confused, and my vision narrowly focused on the moon hanging over the snow capped peaks.  Then, as the guitar solo started to pick up (in a way that always reminds me of how it must have felt as ancient pagans attempted to conjur the gods during a wild dance), four deer bounded into view and then ascended off to my right, up the hill with grace that I had never associated with an animal before.  Finally, as I finished the turn, the brilliant sunshine came around the corner, nearly blinding me.  It was if Jimmy Page had incinerated his guitar during the final moments of the solo, and somehow Steve Job's genius had provided an iPhone option to convert the fire-like sounds into a visual image. 

Unfortunately for you, I think my clumsy word selection fails to remote capture that feeling I had out there on the roads of Vegas.  But, because I've tasted the sweat drug-like combination of great views, hard rocking music, and awe inspiring view, I'm sure I'll be lured into repeat doses for the Utah portion of our vacation, so perhaps I'll have another crack (pun intended) at finding the right words to get closer to the feeling of euphoria.

The moon looks a lot smaller when viewed through an iPhone.  Apologies for the poor photo quality as only learned that the batteries were dead on my real camera when I pulled it out of my jacket.

The only person to beat me to the height of Red Rock Canyon 

How ironic that on such a crisp clear day I only had a fuzzy camera

Turkeys and Mountains and Bears, oh my!

A Rude Awakening

Prior to today, most of my rides this vacation were flawed in some way.  A beautiful pre-dawn trek was interrupted by an urgent bathroom call where last autumn's fallen leaves had to serve as toilet paper; a really strong effort heading south on Rt 16 past Mt Washington was spoiled when I got back to our house and realized my new laptop doesn't recognize my PowerTap, so I'm still unable to confirm a suspected 20 Minute Power Personal Record; and then there was a 44 mile death march return from Santa's Village where I faced head-winds so strong on the way back that I actually was forced to pedal hard going down the 17% grade on Crawford Notch just to crack 20 mph!

So, when I awoke just before dawn today to head out for a bit of exploring & intervals, I was hoping that the route I had picked had some sort of adventure and challenge that would help assure I'd leave my vacation with at least one memorable ride.  However, I didn't think that the ride would serve up its first memory just under a half mile from my start. 

I had two coffees prior to heading out, but I was still something less than fully awake as I made the second turn just a half mile from home.  Fortunately though enough caffeine had made it into my bloodstream to generate sufficient awareness and reaction time to jam on my breaks and screech to a halt to avoid the big brown bear that stared at me just 50 feet down the road!  Apparently bears are pretty frightened by early AM encounters with men dressed in gaudy Lycra because by the time I had the camera out, the bear had quickly scampered away into the forest.

Now that I was fully awake, and already feeling somewhat satisfied in my goal to score a memorable ride, my pace quickened as I made my way towards Thorn Mountain.  According to the Northeast Hill Climb Central site, the climb gains just about 1,000 ft over just 2.47 miles at an average grade of 8.42%.  But it wasn't long before I had to forcefully apply my brakes once again, but for something a bit less scary.  I grabbed my camera as quickly as possible, but I was proven too slow for the 2nd time as a pair of wild turkey and even their two small chicks (is that what you call a baby turkey?) crossed the road and into the woods faster than I could snap the lens.

This time I didn't want to put the camera away without snapping anything, so I focused in on something a little more my speed.

Sunrise in North Conway

Thorn Mountain

I knew that Thorn Mountain would put me deep beyond my lactate threshold, so at such an early hour I wanted to make sure I got a decent warm-up in before making the ascent.  I had assumed that the 9 mile ride to the mountain was going to be good enough to get the legs all fired up, but man did I underestimate how good of a warm-up was in store for me.  My route to Thorn Mountain required me to pass over Thorn Hill.  How hard can a hill be, especially compared to the mountain I intended to climb?

Thorn Hill is just shorter, not harder than Thorn Mountain

Overall Thorn Mountain wasn't all that memorable.  Don't get me wrong -- it was pretty darn tough; my breathing would have scared off any bears or turkeys well before I could have caught a glimpse of them.  However, there was no stretch of the road steep enough where I yearned for a lower gear as my 39X25 was plenty good enough for me.  It also lacked any memorable views that I could ferret out.  The shot below was the best that I could find while spinning around the mountain top roads.  But I'm not complaining -- at that point any additional excitement would have been just a cherry to add atop the ice-cream sundae that was this morning's ride. 

View Larger Map

Hill Training Camp (aka Family Vacation)

Destination -- North Conway

In just two weeks now I line up for three straight weekends of big races for me.  All of them favor hill climbers, and the first two have truly monstrous hills -- East Hawley Rd for the Tour of the Hilltowns, and Devil's Kitchen on Stage 3 of the Tour of the Catskills.  I'm not one to just wing it and roll the dice when it comes to the things that are important to me, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that I've been planning and preparing for these suffer-fests for a while. 

Well, I've now reached the start of the last ten days of the real training efforts before I begin to taper and focus, so I had to come up with a capstone to pull together the overall plan.  Something that would give me that extra edge over the competition in a few weeks.  Something like, well,.... a family vacation?

The Plan

North Conway has been the ideal Desmarais family vacation destination spot for the last few years, and I have to imagine that fact won't change for many years to come.  Its a more than manageable drive, has two reasonably priced and not too crowded kids theme parks nearby, includes a wide variety of scenic family hiking trails and other outdoor activities, has numerous shopping outlets for Mrs. D, and....tons of challenging roads to ride!  We didn't plan the North Conway vacation specifically to further my race training plans, however, the timing and location of the trip offer an ideal opportunity for me to finish my preparation. 

I took a look at the hill browser at Northeastcycling to get some of the key stats for the two monster hills I'm getting the legs and lungs ready for, and then I started to look around at some of the NH climbs nearby North Conway.  There's nothing comparable to these hills within a reasonable riding distance from my house in CT, but I easily found four climbs within a short distance of where we're vacationing, and I imagine that there are even more if I were to extend my ride just a bit further.

	Vertical Gain (ft)	Cum Gain (ft)	Distance (Miles)	Avg Grade
East Hawley Rd	1,260	1,288	3.81	6.26%
Devil's Kitchen	1,628	1,654	4.76	6.48%
Hurricane Mt East	1,307	1,406	4.27	5.81%
Hurricane Mt West	1,190	1,245	3.64	6.19%
Bear Notch North	1,116	1,160	4.99	4.24%
Cathedral Ledge	609	628	1.72	6.72%

It looks like if I want to practice my pacing for either EH or the DK ascents, I could use either the east or west approach up Hurricane Mt.  If I want to get in a day of longish sustained Lactate Threshold riding, I need only take a 30 minute spin over to Bear Notch's north ascent.  Then, when I'm ready to really to make my legs feel as though they've been put through a meat grinder (which is how I expect to fell in the steepest pitches of DK), I barely have to ride 5 minutes to do intervals at Cathedral Ledge.

I'm feeling pretty content now about my training plan during the vacation that starts in just under a day, but there's just one question mark remaining.  We're also packing Mrs D's bike, as well as "the train", so, should I be penciling in a family hill suffer-fest ride as well?  If so, my legs will need a vacation once we return back to CT!

Easing my Sedona Withdrawals

Going Cold Turkey

It really was tough getting on the plane to head home from Sedona.  I hope to never know the hell someone goes through when they try to detox from a drug addiction, however, I felt as though I got mild taste of what it might be like on that flight back.  I really got hooked on mountain biking while in Arizona, so I had to come up with a plan to ease myself back into reality here in CT -- a biking reality built around equal parts on the trainer and on the road.

My first dose of reality came on Sunday.  It was awfully windy and a tad bit cold, plus, my cross bike was still at the shop so I didn't want to take my Cannondale out onto the semi-sloppy/muddy roads.  (The cross bike was at the shop because I decided to wimp out and get a smaller gear to make it easier for me to pull "the train" when the weather warms up.)  Instead, I logged about 90 minutes on the trainer.  At first I was dreading hopping back on there, and I found some silly meaningless house chores that really didn't need to be done in an attempt to avoid the time in my office.  Eventually I ran out of stuff to do, so I forced myself back to do my time.  Given that it was a Sunday and I was still technically on vacation, I didn't log on to work and instead opened up a Hulu session.  I quickly forgot that I was on the trainer and enjoyed 4+ episodes of the Daily Show.  I hopped off the bike and started to believe that Sedona memories won't cause my body to revolt each time I hit the trainer.

My next attempt to kick the MTB biking habit was to logon to BikeReg and reaffirm my commitment to my 2010 racing schedule by signing up for two of my more important races -- the Killington Stage Race and the Quabbin Road Race ($201 to sign up for both!).  While I was on bikereg I started to poke around though for the first time at the "off road" section, but I quickly shut the computer down before the temptation got too great.

The last dose of reality came on Monday.  With my Trek Cross bike back, and with Mrs D and the girls now away at the cape (enjoying yet a few more days of vacation while I go back to work on Tuesday), I had a free pass to go out and explore the roads of CT.  It was a little cold, and there was no jaw dropping scenery to compel me to stop and snap photos like in AZ (this time my bladder was the only thing to compel me to stop), however, I have to say that the ride wasn't half bad.  It took a few miles for the bike to feel comfortable again, but I ended the ride with enough evidence to say that I can still live my life as a roadie.  But...

Relapse

It turns out that my plans to go cold turkey lasted less than 48 hours.  While I was at the LBS, the owner, like any good drug dealer, sensed that I was weak and having a hard time kicking my habit, and he walked me over to the MTB selection (OK, I guess I asked him to walk me over there, so perhaps comparing him to a drug dealer was a bit too harsh.)  As he walked me through the differences between the various Trek EX models, I felt my wallet getting lighter -- I really had no way to say "no" to him.  I drove home to talk about the budget with Mrs D, who without a second of hesitation said "of course" because she knew how much I'd make use of it.  (Its a good thing she did say yes, otherwise plan B would have been set into motion -- I'd have to fake a burglary and then try to hawk her jewelry to feed my addiction). 

I'm going to wait a little longer to make the purchase to do a little more research, but does anyone have anything good/bad to say about the Trek MTB bikes?

 

Adios, Sedona

The Early Bird Gets... Darkness

Friday was our last full day on vaca in Sedona, and our plan was to pack up and head to Phoenix in the afternoon in preparation for the early Saturday AM departure back to CT.  I could have used this as an excuse just to rest, especially given how tired I was with Thursday's ride still taking its toll on my weary bones.  However, I felt as though I just barely scratched the surface of what Sedona had to offer, and I had yet to see the views at sunrise, so, I set the alarm for some ungodly hour (well, at least for someone who is supposed to be on vacation), downed a LOT of coffee, and then hit the trails one last time.

Turns out that Sedona does not observe Daylight Saving Time.  I had figured that the sunrise would be roughly the same time as what I'd see in CT, but it turns out I started my ride nearly an hour before the sun breached the mountains.  It was still nearly pitch black by the time I got to the trail head, and within 200 yards I lost the trail.  Fortunately for me I dumped out on a dirt road, so I was able to spin around without too much concern of where I was going and by 7 AM the first glimmers of sunlight gave me enough line of sight to hit the trail again.

First glimmers of sunlight 

Feels like skiing 

Riding through the Dry Creek trails brought back skiing memories for me.   One of the reasons I now ride is because I had to pursue other forms of exercise now that skiing and snowboarding eradicated large swaths of cartilage from my left knee.  Its been years now since I've skied or gone boarding, but with each snowstorm I get lost in the memories of the adrenaline rush I used to experience out on the slopes. 

Today's ride was the first time I felt some of those sensations in a long, long time.  While going up hill was a bit more strenuous than taking a ski lift up the hill (OK, MUCH more strenuous), the descents in Dry Creek were fast and curvy with bumps galore.  It almost felt as if I was once again bounding through the moguls up in Northern New England.  Well, at least until I encountered this stream (not too many streams on a ski slope).  I only had one pair of shoes with me in my luggage, so I figured that this as a good place to turn around.

I Don't Want to Leave!

I had a hard time leaving Sedona after Friday's ride.  It wasn't the feeling that some people get at the end of a vacation where they dread the alarm call on a Monday morning bringing them back to work and back to reality.  I'm not one to get all mushy with emotions (people often confuse me with a robot when it comes to emotions), but there was something inside of me that felt as if there was a magnet pulling harder and harder with each mile away from the red rocks of Sedona.  I really felt sad as we progressed towards Phoenix.

I told Mrs D today without an ounce of exaggeration that I'd call in my two week's notice tomorrow morning if she agreed to move out here.  Perhaps I said that knowing deep down inside that she would likely never say "yes" (she's really big into family and it would be too tough for her to be so far from them), but I really think I'd give up life in New England in heartbeat to put down roots in Sedona. 

Man, its gonna be hard to spin on the trainer next week and not think about MTB biking with views like this!

 

Skull and Crossbones

Last day

I'm up early again today on vacation, but for the first time I relied upon the alarm rather than the time-zone differences to get me out of bed before the sun rises.  Today is our last day in Sedona (we are staying a night in Phoenix to cut down on the time before our early flight tomorrow), so I wanted to get one last ride in and catch some of what will be spectacular views of the red rocks during sunrise.

I had to set the alarm today because my body is telling me that I could use another 8 hrs of sleep.  I've put in nearly 9 hrs of MTB riding thus far, on top of another 5 or 6 hrs of family hikes into the mountains.  I've never mountain biked in my life before this week, so I'm using and abusing muscles in ways that they're not accustomed to.  Plus, this was supposed to be a rest week for me.  I not only set the alarm early enough to see the sunrise, but I set it with ample time set aside to down many cups of coffee (#3 is now in progress).

No more town cruiser

While my body took a beating during yesterday's 3 1/4 hr ride, it probably could have been worse.  You see, on my b-day a few days ago, my wife surprised me with three different MTB trail maps of the area (why I needed three is not clear, so if you are in need of one, I have extras!).  I was looking at the map on my off day (Wednesday) and my confidence in my bike handling skills went a few notches up.  I saw that a few of the trails I had done earlier in the week were rated a difficulty of 7 or higher on a scale of 1-10, and one stretch was so bad it even was labeled with a Skull and Crossbones warning. 

I was now somewhat impressed with my first forays into off-roading, even more so considering that I had used a bike the LBS declared to be "best used to cruise the town" and not something they'd advise to hit the trails of Sedona.  Knowing that I was going to hit a few more difficult trails over the final two days of riding (and at least one more skull and bone section), I decided to ease the wear and tear on my body (as well as to avoid any further abuse to the cruiser bike I had been borrowing) and I rented a true mountain bike with dual suspension.

Here comes a mountain biker

It was a picture perfect day for my entire ride on Thursday (see a few pix below), and having digested the three trail maps I received for my b-day, I picked out some challenging trails -- Teacup, Soldier's pass, Jordan's trail, & Jim Thompson trail.  I don't know if I've ever stopped while riding my road bike to snap a photo (and I sure as heck have never done that on the trainer!), but I had to stop a half a dozen times yesterday to take in the views.  Part of me wonders though if the photo-op stop was just an excuse to take a break to give me time to recover.

The first really beautiful day of the week also meant that I had company out with me on the trails for the first time.  I saw only two other bikers but at least at least 2 dozen hikers along the way.  Perhaps people's moods were inspired by the weather and the scenery, or perhaps people are just nicer around here.  Each time I approached someone on the trail (with maybe just two exceptions), they stepped aside, let me pass, and offered some sort of happy greeting.  One person even paid me an unexpected compliment (though she didn't realize it I'm sure).  As I approached, she turned to her companion and said "Watch out -- here comes a mountain biker".  After only four days of trail riding, I've become good enough to fool people into thinking this roadie was a bonafied mountain biker!

Well, maybe four days isn't enough to have earned my MTB stripes, and maybe I should spend a little less time absorbing compliments from random people.  As I passed one lady at the top of a hill, she shook her head and said "you're a brave man for going down that hill."  Rather than taking a moment to reflect on her comment and question the logic in going forward, I just said "thanks" and barreled down the hill.  Her comment would have been more accurate if she had replaced "brave" with "stupid", as I caught my front wheel on a root during the descent.  The root immediately stopped my bike, but momentum kept me going over the handle bars and down another 10 feet lower on the hill. 

I ended up with a few bruises and cuts on my arms and legs and I got the wind knocked outta me, but nothing serious.  However, that crash, combined with the accumulated wear and tear of all of this week's activities has me stuck in slow gear right now.  Gotta have another cup of coffee if I'm going to make it out the door for my sunrise ride. 

Enjoy the pix.

An Expensive Vacation

A ride that nearly almost didn't happen

I wasn't supposed to ride today.  Knowing that I was going to take some time off this week while on vacation, I really beat up my legs last week with the toughest set of intervals I've done all season last week.  My legs were fried by the time I got aboard the plane on Saturday.

After lunch today we put the girls down for their naps (my oldest is now 5 1/2 years old and I know my days of a two hour kid break during nap are winding down...man will I miss that!).  My wife sat down at the laptop and started looking at Crate and Barrel's online store (apparently the house we're staying at gave her a bunch of ideas for our Cape house).  With silence now settling in to the house, I started to here the Siren's call of the bicycle.  The owner's of the house we're at had an old Giant mountain bike just sitting there in the garage, begging me to come out and play, so....

A ride that nearly should not have happened.

As I walked out the door, I hesitated for a moment.  While it was still partly cloudy, there were some clouds looming on the horizon.  I thought of checking the radar map, but that would have meant kicking Mrs. D off of the computer.  Rather that disturb her shopping, I figured I'd take my chances and head out anyway.

It took only about three miles to roll out of the busy down town area of Sedona, and it took only about 2.8 miles for the weather to head south.  I didn't snap a picture when I first left the house, but this was a shot right before the really dark clouds came in.

A few minutes later, I was still pedaling up the road, but I was unable to look ahead for any more than just a few seconds at a time.  The sky had opened up and sleet was pelting my face and eyes.  I couldn't tell at the time, but the ice was hitting me so hard that my face had turned red from the welts.  I'm surprised that the sleet wasn't really visible in these shots, but as you can see, things didn't look so promising.

I finally made it to the trail I was planning to hit, and almost as if there was a sound track synchronized to what was turning out to be a not so fun ride, thunder broke out to underscore the pain being inflicted by the ice pelting my face.  I went down about a hundred yards down the path, and dejectedly I halted.  I looked at the steep decline of loose rocks covered by ice, and I almost instantly dashed any dreams of ever being a mountain biker.  I turned around and quickly ended my first ever off road run right about here.

Here comes the sun

I didn't want to return home in defeat with just a 30 minute ride under my belt, so I figured I'd rough it a bit more in the ice and snow for a few more road miles.  Then (and I couldn't have planned this better had I been writing the script to my day), the clouds started to clear up and I saw a path off the side of the road called Sunrise.

The path was muddy and it was still pretty cold, but my mood quickly changed from disappointment to elation.  I was bounding up and down rolling and not too technical well maintained bike paths.  The thoughts going through my head (one previously dulled a lot by 1000s of miles on the trainer) was that I had just exited a world of black and white television and now I was looking at the world through a new HD color TV.  I never imagined how much fun I could have in the cold and mud, but man, it didn't take more than 45 minutes out on this path before I was hooked.

I doubt I'll ever switch to become a MTB biker; I likely won't ever do more than a small minority of my riding hours on a MTB bike.  The convenience of the road bike (and especially the trainer) will likely always keep me away from the offroad.  However, I got a taste of something today that I won't likely soon forget.  It is likely to end up being quite the expensive vacation, as I now must soon get myself my own MTB rig so that I can get a regular fix at home.  Anyone looking to sell?

So much for this week being an off week for me.  Any guess what I'll be doing tomorrow during the kid's naptime?