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!!!
Friday, April 23, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Moab Madness - Day 4 - Technical playground
Today we topped off the streak of classic rides with SlickRock - what a fun and crazy trail! Up, down, and allll around!
After playing around on slickrock we grabbed some food at Milts and then went up to Arches park ... amazing views:
The final treat of the day was tacking the climb at the beginning of Amasaback!
Monday, April 19, 2010
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!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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!
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!
Race Report: Fort Steilacoom
Last Sunday I completed my 3rd race of the 2010 season at Fort Steilacoom. My legs were ready to go and my mind was very eager - I'd missed out on the last race so I was full of racing energy.
Quick Summary:
# laps: 3
Total distance: 25km
Time: 1:41
Terrain: lots of twists and turns, very technical, some good climbs
# women in Open/Expert: 12
Place: 2nd
The Details:
The weather couldn't have been better. I left the house expecting overcast skys and potential rain. While I was warming up the sun came out and the arm and leg warmers came off ... perfect racing temperature. i had a good warmup because I heard it was a shorter course than usual. I was riding my hardtail for a change so I also wanted to try it out in the woods. It's been a while since I've been on a hardtail on the trails ... this wasn't the smoothest course for a hardtail .. but I was eager to try it out - I'm planning to race it at some of the 100milers I do this year.
The start was fast and furious as usual. I settled in behind two women and held their wheels. At the first turn one of them took the wrong direction (you really had to keep your eyes open on that course) and then there were two. I could hear two other women right behind me. The 4 of us were together up the first climb, which was steep and not so short ... it was also deceiving. There was a 'false top' where we were all still together and then another climb where we dropped the two behind me. Down the descent we made up even more time and never saw them again. I was chasing Keri around the course, playing cat and mouse. She was stronger in the twisty stuff ... I was strong on the climbs and descents ... back and forth we'd go. Finally up a long hard hill I pulled it off ... a good pass follwed by a fast descent! Just after that I bailed on a hard fast corner doing a full-body skid. She passed me and that was the end of that!
It was a fantastic race - i felt really strong on the hills and descent everywhere else. Project 'race into shape' is coming together :)
Quick Summary:
# laps: 3
Total distance: 25km
Time: 1:41
Terrain: lots of twists and turns, very technical, some good climbs
# women in Open/Expert: 12
Place: 2nd
The Details:
The weather couldn't have been better. I left the house expecting overcast skys and potential rain. While I was warming up the sun came out and the arm and leg warmers came off ... perfect racing temperature. i had a good warmup because I heard it was a shorter course than usual. I was riding my hardtail for a change so I also wanted to try it out in the woods. It's been a while since I've been on a hardtail on the trails ... this wasn't the smoothest course for a hardtail .. but I was eager to try it out - I'm planning to race it at some of the 100milers I do this year.
The start was fast and furious as usual. I settled in behind two women and held their wheels. At the first turn one of them took the wrong direction (you really had to keep your eyes open on that course) and then there were two. I could hear two other women right behind me. The 4 of us were together up the first climb, which was steep and not so short ... it was also deceiving. There was a 'false top' where we were all still together and then another climb where we dropped the two behind me. Down the descent we made up even more time and never saw them again. I was chasing Keri around the course, playing cat and mouse. She was stronger in the twisty stuff ... I was strong on the climbs and descents ... back and forth we'd go. Finally up a long hard hill I pulled it off ... a good pass follwed by a fast descent! Just after that I bailed on a hard fast corner doing a full-body skid. She passed me and that was the end of that!
It was a fantastic race - i felt really strong on the hills and descent everywhere else. Project 'race into shape' is coming together :)
When it rains, it pours
Especially in Seattle ...
We had a 6 hour race lined up for the weekend of April 3rd ... but it rained. And when I say rained ... i mean it rained enough for them to call of the race - we didn't even make it to the start line! I was pretty bummed because I had skipped the 2hr race the weekend before due to being busy at work and knowing that I had a 6hr coming up soon ....
Ah well! We did a 6 hour road ride instead ... no where near as fun as mountain biking!
We had a 6 hour race lined up for the weekend of April 3rd ... but it rained. And when I say rained ... i mean it rained enough for them to call of the race - we didn't even make it to the start line! I was pretty bummed because I had skipped the 2hr race the weekend before due to being busy at work and knowing that I had a 6hr coming up soon ....
Ah well! We did a 6 hour road ride instead ... no where near as fun as mountain biking!
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