Bootcamp

Everyone says it ...  you think you are in shape until you do something different/new.  Then you realize that you aren't really in shape, you are just good at certain things/sports :)

And yes, bootcamp is killing me.  Butterfly situps, pushups with clapping, lunges with 25lbs held over your head, squats with weight, sumo squats, burpees ....

ok, ok ... here are the real details:  Bootcamp starts at 6am on Tuesday and Thurdays. It runs about 1.5 hours ... we start with some stretching, a warm up (jog, run, sprint, shuffle, kick step, etc)  and then 'core'. core is about 20 minutes of lunges, pushups, situps, burpees, and squats with weights. it is as many set as you can do in the 20 minutes. I am sweating (read dripping) by the time we are done. What a workout!!!!

Then we head outside to do some running.  Sometimes we do sprints, sometimes hills, and sometimes an endurance run. At the end we usually 'cash out' with max pullups or something like that.

and yes, it is whipping me into shape!!!

last week the butterfly situps killed my adducters ... today the clapping pushups are killing my arms ... oh yes, i will be in shape after a few months of this!!!

Moving and prepping for Spokane

.... the past 4 weeks have been a blur. We got back from Moab, promptly packed up the house, moved into our new one, and began the long job of unpacking and settling in! Mix this with a heavy month at work and you get ... a quiet blog :)

It's that time though ... prepping for Spokane! I picked up the '10 Faze two weekends ago and and on her maiden voyage I killed my fastest lap time by 3 minutes!!! And I did it 3 laps in a row. Nice. That bike floats. I'm still looking fror the hole where they put the helium ... it climbs like a goat and the descending ... i made up a minute on the climb (25 min) and 2 on the descent (down to 17 minutes). That thing just rocks the downhills. I fell in love the first lap.

I've been taking it out every weekend since and beating my lap times each ride (faster and faster!)... until today.  Today was different ...

The day started out innocently enough  ..but with cloudy skies and a wet parking lot i knew I was in for a wet ride. I was cool with that ... it kinda suited my mood - i needed to release some energy so I wanted something hard. Well, i got it. I made good time up the climb and down the super technical singletrack. Even on the wet roots and rocks I was smoking fast. I was totally soaked and cold ... couldn't feel my fingers ... but I was loving it!

Out onto the road and then it happened. Absolute downpoor. I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. I am not kidding. It was dumping buckets. What can you do? Keep pedalling. Pedal faster ... my legs weren't super co-operative as they were freezing cold but I kept moving. And then.... yup ... hail! Ouch! that hurt. Little balls of hail spitting at me out of the sky. Not nice. Need to pedal faster!!! Eventually I got back to the car, lementing my lap time when I realized I had tied my best lap time from last year. Sweet!

I can't tell you how dirty and wet I was. It was like i stood under a stream of muddy water ... I'm putting the clothes through the wash for the 3rd time :)

But yeah, ok, now I feel tough enough for Spokane :)

Tomorrow I head out to Samammish Valley Cycle for a final tune up on my bikes ... it's coming fast!

Moab Madness Day 7 - It's a Classic!

Today we decided to 'take it a bit easy' and did Flat Pass + Steal Bender x 2 .... it's a classic. Full of climbs, rocks, and more rocks ... what a fun course!

Again no photos - today was a good endurance ride with lots of technical bits thrown in. Some steep ups to practice technical climbing ... and some crazy descents to practice getting behind the saddle.

Another great day ... but DUDE, where is the sun? Temps were cool again today and out came the winter leg warmers ... yup, I said winter!, arm warmers, vest, undershit, and little hat once again. We had a few stream-crossings today - wool socks were a must - but thankfully were hidden from the wind for most of the ride - thank goodness for that. The skys only spat at us today - teasing us with a threat of more rain to come. I'm happy to report that we were faster than the rain and made it in before any damage was done.

I also have to report on a gear review:  Today I tried out 'the Ferarri of bike shorts' (Assos FI 13 for ladies) - made affordable by Samammish Valley Cycle (thank you, thank you, thank you!).

General comments:
Wow, These shorts live up to their name. I went into the day with a bit of a sore bottom from yesterday's forray in the sun, rain, wind, and freezing cold temps. I was worried going into the ride today that my bottom would be the first thing to give out ... but to give these shorts a run for their money I didn't use any cream to lesson the pain/friction. And these shorts did not dissappoint. My bottom felt as comfortable as could be - it was like the shorts were a 2nd skin but better.

These shorts have it all:
Shami: 12 out of 10. hands down the best shorts I've ever tried. I am now afraid to go back to my 'regular' shorts.
Compression: nice for people like me who take a while to warm up!
Breathability: outstanding
The bib even has a 'latch' which makes it easier to do your business:)

I can't even say enough good things about these shorts. In one word: WOW!  ...guess I'll be heading badk to SVC to get another pair - ladies and gentlemen: these shorts are well worth the money!!!

Moab Madness Day 6 - No Nonsense

So ... with all the boys gone and Frase and I left to our own devices ... what do we do? A 75 mile mountain bike ride, that's what!

The day started out a bit chilly - with the rain yesterday came a cold front. Starting out it was 10 Celcious (45 for you Americans). 3 days ago I was making fun of myself for bringing knickers and warm weather gear ... today I was sooo happy I had it. Ibex Knickers, under shirt, jersey, vest, arm warmers, little hat ... and I was good to go. The first 40 miles were pretty amazing - great moab sceanery, no cars, a little chilly but when the sun peaked out from the clouds it was a perfect temp.

We spent the majority of the day in the Canyonlands. Pretty amazing views. After ~35 miles we faced a 'moab wall' (3000 ft + rock wall). we had to climb it. Fortunately this time it was via switchback - no crazy hike-a-bike. 6 miles and 3000 feet later we were at the top. We thought it'd be easy going from there but we faced 20mi/hr headwinds and freezing cold temps (35F or 3C). Yikes. Back on with the arm-warmers, the extra jersey and the hankercheif aroud the neck. The next 30 miles were torture. We had to keep stopping to warm up our hands and we were so cold that we were forgetting to eat so we weren't so co-ordinated :) 

After getting out of the wind and into the canyons we started to warm up a bit again...  couple more miles and we were home free!  It was definately an epic ride - 5.5 hours of ride time, ~75 miles, and ~6500 feet of climbing. Not a bad pace either ...

Sorry - no pictures today ... no breaks, no photos, no nonsense!

Moab Madness - Day 5: What's up with the rain?

Yeah, rain. In Moab. What is up with that??? Not sure but here are the details ... today's weather was 20mi/hr winds with gusts up to 40mi/hr.  This meant that all exposed 'edgy' type rides were out. i'm too little, 20mi/hr winds blow me around, let alone 40mi/hr!!  Also Frase was doing an airport run (Tom left today) ... so my options were what was accessible from our camp site.

All that said ... today's ride was a nice easy spin out to Bar M trail, with a detour on 'Rockin A' and 'CircleO' and then back around Bar M. I was happy i'd chosen an 'easy' ride because the wind was blowing me around on the rocks in 'Rockin A' and 'CircleO'. I was happy there were any big edges near by!  On the way back (fighting the monster headwind) the skies decided to open and the rain flew down. Wow, was it painfull. That rain HURT, I tell you. It was fast and furious ... felt like hail. My arms and legs were all red due to the temperature and force of the rain. Crazy. A great ride though.

Moab Madness - days 2 and 3

So yesterday we did baby-steps - once for the full loop and the second time to ride down Klondike. What a fun ride!

Today we headed out to Hurrah pass, Jakub's ladder, Jackson Hole, and Amassaback. Another sweet ride with amazing views.... a picture is worth 1000 words so here we go:

At the top of hurrah pass:

Half way up Jakubs ladder:

Fraser is fast ... he's posing at the top of Jakub's ladder. Yes, we hike-a-biked up that!

What a fantastic day!

Moab Madness

So... Here I am in Moab! Catching up on blog posts and getting some great riding in!  I am joining the boys (Frase, Alan, Mark) after a few weeks of riding and they are all in good shape and ready for trouble.  Tom flow in the same day as I did ... and for our first ride in Moab the boys decided to take us to Porcupine Rim.  here are some shots:

And now you know why it's called 'porcupine rim' :) What a fantastic ride ... and what amazing views! A little sketchy at times so close to the edge but ... amazing!

If' you've never been to Moab .. it's full of huge rock, lots of technical riding, and some rim riding. Very fun ... and my Norco Faze is the perfect ride on this terrain!

Today we head out to ride Baby Steps and a few other trails! 

Going slower to get faster

In November I had some performance tests done and (no big surprise) my endurance zone is basically all that I have. I don't have much 'room' (in terms of watts or HR) above it before my legs scream for mercy and I have to stop. What this means is that I am a wimp :) No seriously, it means that I need to re-train my body to clear lactic acid, and that ultmately, I need to either be doing super high intensity, short intervals ... or I need to be taking it easy (bottom of endurance zone).

Although I say it wasn't surprising, I had been doing most of my rides at the top of my endurance zone, hopeing to grow it. As my focus is on the longer races, I want to go as fast as possible for as long as possible - so this seemed to make sense. Well, it did - up to a point. I grew my endurance zone to the max possible!!!

So now I am going slower, to get faster! My intervals are super short - max length is 1 min - and they are are really high watts. Watts i haven't seen .... ever ... even when I was doing the OCup races. I've been doing this for a month now and I have to say that it's pretty fun. I love seeing the super high numbers and pushing my legs that hard. I do workouts both on the trainer (in the AMs) and on my roadbike (I have a powertap and lots of steep hills in the neighbourhood) and am making progress.

The hardest part? going slower. I have a hard time riding at lower watts/HR than I know I can for my 'endurance' rides. I feel like I want to GO and it's a mental challenge to take it easy. I have some follow up testing in January so I have another month to see the impact of this training .... it'll be very interesting to see how this shifts things around!

Turkey Day ... Atkinson style

Happy Turkey Day!

And what are we doing on this rainy turkey day? Well, the weekend involves the following activities:
- Turkey a la mountain (hiking in the rain - gotta love the rain if you live in the NW)
- Turkey a la snow (snowshoeing ... yup, we have to drive a bit but we will find snow!)
- Turkey a la bike (no comment needed ....)

OK, we actually aren't eating THAT much turkey, but you get the picture. Thanksgiving (2 days off) is an excuse to play for 2 more days!!!

The weekend got off to a nice start with a break-through ride for me (intervals ... I am becoming friends with lactic acid again ... ) and a record-setting run for Fraser! Not a bad way to start Turkey Day #1.

Race across the sky

Well, that didn't last long ... the transition thing I mean ...

Last weekend we went out with some cycling friends to watch 'Race Across The Sky'. Wow, want to get physched for long races? Want to get physched to do something epic? Want to get physched to train??? Then you NEED to see this!

It's an amazing documentary about the Leadvill 100 race. It's pretty cool. By the time the movie ended I was writing up my trianing plan in my head, ditching the idea of 'transition', and ready to get back on my bike for some serious rides - well, longer ones anyway.

All that said, the honest truth is that I am currently refining my diet - which means I am reading lots of books on how to eat as an athlete. I figure if i am going to race with the pros I should make an attempt to eat like them :). It's been interesting so far. What I am learning is that I should choose more complex carbs (read vegetables that are not potatoes) and that I am not getting enough protein. The potatoe thing makes me sad - as many of you know, potatoes have been my favorite vegetable for a long, long time. The other one that makes me sad is corn on the cob. What can I say? I am in no way a suger or sweets nut .. but I like my carbs. The trick will be just to eat less of them and more of the complex good stuff like spinich.

The other thing I am working on right now is figureing out my training plan for the year, listing out my wish list of races, and figureing out my focus for the 2010 season. Admist this I have become reunited with my love for running, am lifing some weights, and am enjoying some fall riding.

Life is good.

Want a tour? Heck yes!

Today we ventured up to Galbrath with our friend Calvin. It's about a 1.75hr drive each way but well worth it...

We arrived at the trailhead and were greeted by several other riders. People are very friendly in Bellingham, WA. We suited up out bikes and headed out with maps in-hand. Today would be an exploration day - hopefully we'd find these trails we heard so much about.

We ended up on a steep (I am talking 40+ percent incline) single-track that was partly over-grown with blackberry bushes. At the top of the hill we ran into a few locals who were (of course) super friendly and we chatted for a bit (after we caught our breath). We asked them which way to Bob's and headed off. We met them again just down the trail at an intersection and they offered us a tour.

Do you want a tour of the best trails on Galbrath? Um, ok! It was amazing. They took us on the best single-track I've ridden in a long time. It had everything you want including berms, roots, rocks, flow, stunts, bridges, ledges, views, and more. Three hours flew by and before we knew it we were back at the car!

We'll definately head up there again - maybe next time for an entire weekend :)

Scooping out the course for Worlds

We made the long drive up to BC on Saturday (actually, Fraser did all the driving ... I did my part by staying awake the whole time). We landed at my brother's place in Invamere on Saturday night and hooked up the trailer. Home sweet home for the next week. On Sunday we were planning to head up to Canmore to pre-ride but the map hadn't been posted on the site yet (they promised to post in on Monday) so we stayed put and had a relaxing day checking out the trails here in the area and hanging with family.

My brother has a very fun, very active two year old as well as a new-born - such a great family. My parents are also here and brought my sister's daughter with them too -- we are very lucky to combine family and racing this year!

On Monday we made the drive to Canmore, and although the map still wasn't posted we found the 'team' course easily enough. We did one loop and then headed out for food -- hungry!!! We spent the night there and went back to do some more loops. They had started to mark the Solo loop but didn't finish it yet - so we got lost initially. Back to the truck we replenished our bottles and headed out for a faster lap. Fraser quickly left me in the dust and i met up with a New Zealander and an Australian who knew the Solo bit of the course so I followed them through it.

So.... let me describe the course ... I want to start by saying that I may have missed parts of it (actually, i am convinced I did). It starts out with some good climbing to seperate the field. Wide climbing followed by single-track climing and a single-track descent. After the next road climb you don't see the road for ... um ... the rest of the race. This course has the most single-track in a WSC course i have seen yet. It's going to be fun. It's going to be bumpy. It's a full suspension course that is going to make me love my Norco Faze even more. It's going to be hard on the body and hard on the mind. In a nut shell, it is a course worthy of the title for 'World Solo 24hr Mountain Biking Championships'. Am I physched? yes!

After that loop we packed up the truck and made our way back to Invamere. Today we did a nice loop on the Spirit trail (think fun, fast, twisty, roller-coaster singletrack). It was a good day. i am enjoying this time off from work and am enjoying the rest I am geting as well as getting to visit with the family.

It's going to be a great race.

Missing out on Cascade Cream Puff

So I have been super keen to race Cascade Cream Puff since we moved out west. It's a 100mile mountain bike race with 18,000ft of climbing and loads of singletrack. Sounds like heaven, right? Yeah, I thought so too ...

This year both Frase and I registered. Unfortunately with the demands of work I had to bail. I made the call on the way home from the 8 hour race. With work being so busy and us leaving for Worlds this coming Friday ... I needed the weekend to catch up and get organized and packed for Worlds.

So today I did 3 laps at Tiger ... to keep myself on my toes I did my fastest laps yet, taking 2 min out of my last best effort. Not bad! It was smokin' hot today at around 90F with ~90% humidity. I was pretty happy to post such fast times in conditions that don't generally agree with me. I will admit that I had my handy ice water in my jersey again it it was my saving grace!

After Tiger i spent about an hour cleaning my bike and going over it ... if i need to buy new parts, I need to do it tomorrow. Thankfully Jon at SVC is all set to give my bikes the SVC 'once over' which will ensure they are in tip top form before I leave for Worlds.

The countdown is on and I am starting to get excited. I have a big deliverable at work this week and then we are off!!

Work + Bike + Live == Balance?

I have to admit juggling work (a demanding job which I do love), riding and racing my bike (which I also love), and life (social and 'the neccessities') is often a battle.

I think that alot of us 'working athletes' have the same struggles - how do we fit it all into a day? For me the answer and prioritization of Work/Bike/Life depends on what is going on - and sometimes it is out of my control and I just try to hang on tight for the ride.

It's been one of those 'hang on tight' months ... at work I am getting ready to move the website my team has been working (Microsoft Malware Protection portal) on from beta to production - for those interested: click here for the beta and here for the current production portal. We've done a lot of work :) I have also adopted another project as one of my coworkers has taken a new position outside of our team ... It's been busy ramping up on the new project, keeping it on track while delivering on my current project - the portal website. Of course admidst all this are lots of races and training to get me prepped for Worlds in a few short weeks.

For the past while a typical day consists of:
- roll out of bed around 6am
- wake up whilst riding my bike around 6:45am
- finish ride, drink a recovery drink, shower, and get ready for work
- leave for the office around 8:45am
- go to work and rush around to meetings and order people around all day (ok, not really ... I manage several projects)
- get home around 7pm
- make dinner and eat
- work some more until 9pmish
- head to bed

Rinse and repeat! As you can see there isn't much 'life' in the mix so to fit it in something else has to give. OK, so maybe thre really isn't a 'balance' per se, but it works for me (most days). I'm lucky that Fraser also loves to ride and understands my need to get out on my bike as well as the demands in the office.

Once race season is over the balance swings more in favor of work and life before I get back into training full swing again. So to all you athletes that are full-time moms or have demanding jobs, keep at it - make sure you find the balance that works for you!

Cascade Adventure - Day 3

How does it go - 'the best laid plans...'?

Today was one of those days. We headed out with plans to ride Devil's Gulch, Mission Ridge, and Tornsen Ridge over by Cle Elum. We headed up Tronsen Ridge trail and when I say UP, I mean UP. The switch-back single-track turned into steep hike-a-bike which lasted for 2 miles. 2 miles and 2000 feet later we were at the top and in for some great views (see Ranier in the background?).

Once on top of the ridge it wasn't too long before we were in for some true ridge riding - one moment you had a steep drop-off to the right and then we'd cross to the other side and have a steep drop to the left. The views were breath-taking and so was the riding. We were always on our toes - and no one more than me. I was totally out of my comfort zone - I really don't like off-camber riding ... and when it is accompanied by a steep drop to one side and some technical sections ... Lets just say I was very focused on the trail in front of me :)

We rode along the ridge for quite a while, did some crazy detours where we would eventually decide that it was insane to keep riding - er- pushing our bikes, and turn around to find the 'real' trail again. Here is a photo of one of the 'hike a bike' sections of the ridge line.

The ridge riding was a little more crazy then we had bargained for and our initial plan had us riding two more ridge lines. At the turn we had a quick conversation and agreed to head straight down and skip the two additional ridge rides. Turns out the ridge we rode was rated black diamond ... The other two are apparently better. Another day.

By the time we got back to the car (20 miles and 4000 feet of climbing later) it was right around 4 hours of riding and since Kate's break pads were toast and Fraser's headset was toast, we decided to call it a day. It's all about perspective - we were so prepared for an 8 hour day in the saddle that 4 hours seemed lame. Too funny. We finished off the weekend with an awesome BBQ and lots of chocolate chip cookies. Look out girls ... Kate's ready for TransRockies!! :)

Cascade Adventure - Day 2

No Cascade adventure (arranged by Fraser and I) would be complete without a day at Tiger. Today was that day .... we started the day with a climb up to Poo Poo point where we were offered a fantastic view of downtown Bellevue. Unfortunately Fraser didn't make it up the climb ... he broke (snapped!!) one of his egg-beater pedals on the way up the climb and turned back to get new pedals so he could join us the for the remainder of the ride. Good thing Tiger is close to home :)

Here is pic of Kate and I at the top of Poo Poo point.

On the way back down we took Iverson which offers loads of steep single-track climbing (up to 35% grade) and equally steep (and way more fun) single-track descending. 18 miles and 2500 feet of climbing later we were back in the parking lot and so was Frase ... we were good to go for a loop of Tiger.

Frase wanted to test his VooDoo (he's thinking of racing this bike at Cascade Cream Puff) so he flew up, down, and around Tiger. Kate and I ventured around the loop at more relaxed pace (ie: not mock 3). As per my usual form, I was starting to feel good around 3 hours and Kate was feeling pretty good too so we made good time back to the car.

All in all about 40 miles, 4400 feet of climbing, and 4 hours of riding! Tomorrow is our last and longest day with a planned 50 miles and 8800ft of climbing.

Cascade Adventure - Day 1

My friend Kate is visiting for the weekend - she's training for Trans Rockies and came for a long weekend so of course we had to plan some epic rides.

Today was Day 1 of what I am going to refer to as the Cascade Adventure. We started the day with a 45 min climb (1700ft of climbing up single-track) out of Roslyn (the filming site for the Northern Exposure TV show) up Ewalk to the Cle Elum ridge and over the other side into the Tenaway valley. We got lost for a while here, crossed several streams, and found some fun singletrack. We eventually found our way back up the ridge on some super steep sandy singletrack (yes, I was walking. Fraser, on the other hand, was a mountain goat today and was zooming up all of the steep climbs). We finished off the first part of our day with a super fun single-track descent called 'rat pack'. It was worth every foot of the 3350 feet of climbing and 22 miles.


The photo is atop of Cle Elum ridge. Not a bad view.

We then headed over to Kachess lake and climbed Thorp mountain. This is a 3500 ft climb with no breaks. It starts gently with 5 miles of 2% grade alongside the lake and then gets into switch-backs at 10-20% grade. The climb offers many great views and cool breazes. it was pretty hot today and I was excited to see the snow. At the top we admired the view before we turned our bikes around to the cool descent. This part of the ride was about 22 miles and 3500 feet of climbing.

We finished the day with some burgers at the 'Mountain High' burger joint and headed home. Ahhh, nothing quite like a long day in the saddle. All told we covered 44 miles and almost 7000 feet of climbing in under 6 hours. Not a bad day ... we've got 2 more days of riding bliss to come.

This second photo is on top of Mt Thorp ... another fantastic view!

The human body is an amazing thing ...

The human body and it's ability to push beyond never ceases to amaze me. Take this past weekend ....

Saturday I did 16 (yes, sixteen) hill repeats - the hills were ~16% grade and were about 5min long each. The intervals were on the road so where was some standing involved :) It was tough. I was exhausted at the end of the ride ... my powertap ("the truth") was proof that it was a good workout - my watts were high but the last two intervals they dropped substantially. I was toast - good thing I only had 16 to do - I don't think I had any left in me!

Sunday we decided to venture out to Tiger. It's been a while since I've visited my old haunt and the schedule had me doing a hard 6 hour effort. What better place to beat myself up? I went into the ride with the goal of doing 4 laps as fast as possible. Last year my pacing laps were 1:20ish and my fastest lap time was 1:11, on a day when i only did 1 lap. So the goal for Sunday was to race the old me and see where I landed - and not to hold back.

I completely surprised myself! I did 4 laps at 1:12 exactly - no drop in the pace throughout the rides. To set the scene, tiger is an unrelenting 3 mile climb, followed by a 2 mile technical descent that is very unforgiving, a bit of a fireroad section and then another few miles of powerlines where the climbing gets up past 25% in several spots. It's 11 miles and 1900ft of climbing per lap.

Might not sound impressive to you but I was soo excited! I pulled off the fastest lap times for 4 laps in a row ever and I didn't show any signs of slowing down. Maybe this pacing thing is overrated?? My legs were screaming on every climb from the intervals on Saturday but they continued to turn the pedals over and over like clock work.

Like I said, the human body is an amazing thing ...

The countdown has begun

Next weekend is Spokane! In seven days (yes seven!) I will be riding my bike in circles for 24 hours. So what have I been up to you ask? Eating. Sleeping in. Shorter rides. Getting organized.

All this eating and sleeping is treating me pretty well. I am feeling pretty good. I did a loop of Tiger today and crushed my climbing time by 1 minute. That might not seem like a lot to you but trust me- it is! It is one minute better than my best time! I felt fantastic - full of energy and wanting to ride. Looks like this taper thing is working.

So, 6 more days of eating, sleeping, and trying not to work too much should put me in a pretty good place for the race.

Eyeing the competition there are 11 women signed up for the Solo race. 3 of them are serious girls who've done well at Solos in the past (one got 3rd at Worlds one year and another placed 2nd (by 2 laps) to Rebecca Rusch at Spokane). Strong women. It should be a good race! It will be fun to have some good solid competition to really put my new eating strategy and fitness to the test.

Fraser is also contemplating doing it Solo so i am planning to self-support. I think I have a pretty good strategy to minimize pit time. My new eating plan makes self-supporting easier as I won't be eating many solids, if any. It should be good!

OK, off to eat some more food before I can start sleeping again ...

Ummm ...200KM hurts!

This weekend was a big training weekend - my last big one before NW 24hr Solos Champs.

I did 200KM in 6hrs on Saturday (yes, 200km) - I was toast at the end. My legs hurt. It hurt to walk down the stairs, walk up the stairs, do I need to go on? All I could do was sit and eat the food that my wonderful husband cooked for me. He just got back from a week in Moab mountain biking ... more on that later.

So Saturday night I was sitting and eating as much as possible knowing I had another 6 hour day in front of me. And admitedly woundering how I was going to do it.

Sunday morning I got up and got ready for my ride. I took off for Tiger, ready for any weather that may greet me. It was pretty freaking cold at first ... I had my warm leg-warmers on, my 'downhill' shorts, three layers on the top plus a vest .... and of course my little hat. I love my little hats - they keep my ears happy! Off I went. Tiger is a bit unforgiving. You start up hill .... for 30 minutes straight. The first fifteen minutes I wasn't sure I could ride for 6 hours. Then I decided that I'd eventually warm up and even though my legs hurt I could keep on pedalling. Once I got into the single-track I was convinced I could ride as long as I wanted :) I love single track!!!

It ended up being a fantastic day. The sun even peeked through for the last hour of my ride. I did 4 loops of Tiger plus one of Iverson for a total of 80km on the mountain bike. Not my fastest laps ... but not my slowest either.

All in all I am feeling ready for Spokane! I am also ready for my recovery week this week :)