Friday, October 12, 2012

A Race With No Pedals



Striding to the Finish Line

 
Sometimes, I need to be reminded why I do the things I do.  Thanks to a great guy, Jeremy, I was able to regroup and remember that life is about having fun.  So why not add a little craziness to the mix. 
 
While at the International Mountain Biking Association's World Summit, there was a Strider Race for adults.   Any one who has seen these bikes, know they are about 12 inches tall and not really meant for an adult.  Luckily, we got to see their new line.  Striders for kids 6-10.  It's an 18 inch high (still not meant for adults) bike with NO pedals.
 
Testing out the NEW Strider Junior
Obviously, I needed to race one of these.  Who wouldn't?  OK, a lot of people wouldn't, but in a moment of craziness, I signed up to do it anyways.  I was desparate to get on one ahead of time and make sure I wasn't going to kill myself before the race.  I was able to snag one about 40 minutes before and check out its stability.  BIG MISTAKE!  Now I want one of my very own.  Little kids can wait.  This thing was FUN!
 
I was in the last heat of races and the only female in my heat.  ARGH!  No female finished in front of the guys in any heat to this point.  Being the engineer brained person that I am, I closely observed the other races to see what worked and what didn't.  Some great wipe outs were noted at the first corner.  We had a storm earlier and there was water and leaves all over the road.
 
I'm the one with the white stripes on my sleaves.
Santa Fe shut down its city square for our race and when I finally hit the start line, I was ready to go.  My goal was to get out front for the first turn and then haul booty around that block.  My start was great but so was the guy's next to me.  In an effort to hit that corner hard and fast we banged up against each other.  I could only push with my left foot as my coordination wasn't great but he was on my left and we were leaning on each other trying not to crash.  I was terrified to do anything but lean back and pray for NO WIPE OUT!

 
Luck was on my side for not crashing but it cost us both to be tangled up like that and I hit the first turn in about 4th place out of the six of us in my heat.  I gave it all I had and by the second turn, I was exhausted.  Gasping for air is a nice way of describing how I felt up in that high altitude city and I was passed by the rest of the racers.  DARN IT!  I don't want to finish last.  I need to represent the girls.  I kicked my foot harder and caught up to the guy in front of me.  As we cleared turn three we were neck and neck.
 
Turn 3:  We were going so fast, we appeared like ghosts
in the camera eye - there is actually a guy on a red bike
right next to me (behind me in the shot)
 
Unlucky for him, he went wide and I was able to squeeze ahead by hiting the turn as tighly as I could.  I was wiped out and still had a block and a half to go.  I sat on my seat for a moment and rallied my lungs.  As we hit the last turn we were still neck and neck.  It was gonna be a photo finish if one of us didn't do something.  I decided that muscle failure wasn't an option and started kicking with everything I had left.  YAY, I finished 5th of six strider racers in my heat and I was able to represent the gals by not finishing last. 
 
Perhaps I have a future in racing after all.  I just need the races to be shorter and without pedals.
 
 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

La Tierra Trails

Short But Sweet Ride

 
Santa Fe Sunset
We arrived in Santa Fe, NM late late late on Tuesday night.  After a good night's sleep in a cozy hotel room, we rose to hit the trails before checking into the IMBA World Summit. 
 
Hotel Santa Fe
A visit to the local bike shop scored us a map and some suggestions for some easy trails to ride.  I was so exhausted from riding in the car that I didn't feel up to a big, rocky challenge.  We found La Tierra Trails just outside of town.  They appeared to still be in the process of being built (designed) but there was plenty there for us to ride.
 
For almost two miles, we tooled around in the freeride area (bike skills park) where there were dirt jumps and all sorts of cool stuff.  I mostly watched while Darius tried out some stuff.  It was a little (read:  a lot) too technical for me.
 
Finally, we hit the single track trails. I discovered that great altitude feeling that I had felt last summer.  Going up even the smallest hill was a grand effort.  Thankfully, this trail was designed for the novice rider with side trails running through it for the more advanced rider to sneak a few skills in.  I stayed on the easy trails this day. 
 
ALL the trails looked like this at La Tierra
Trails at this park are short and numbered instead of named.  Our loop entailed trails 29, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 13, 12, 11, 25, and 26.  It sounds like a lot but we really only rode a total of 4.5 miles that included our two miles in the skills area.  After our ride, I realized that this is the kind of park we need back home.  SHORT loops with longer loops for the beginner riders that are still getting their fitness on.  This would have been perfect for me a year-and-a-half a go when I was starting out.  These were trails I could have happily ridden by myself without the fear of injury or getting lost.
 
Take note MORCA, this is what we need in Monterey County!!!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Flagstaff vs. Sedona

Flagstaff Wins!

 
The original plan was to drive to Sedona and ride bike there, but our bottoms were getting tired of riding in a car, so we made a pit stop at Flagstaff, AZ and discoverd a wonderful set of trails there.  Obviously, we couldn't pass the opportunity up to ride, so we hit the trails.

To say it was beautiful up here is an understatement.  Lucky for me the trails were just what I liked.  Single track with a few rocks strewn in to make the ride interesting.
 
Riding buddies, Darius and Ken showing me the way.

The part I didn't like so much - the altitude.  We started on Shultz Creek Trail and we rode five miles UP HILL starting at 7,185 feet and ending at 8,089 feet.  Do the math. . .that is almost 1,000 feet of climbing.  Considering I LIVE around 0 feet and right by the ocean. . .well. . .I definately felt the altitude.  I had to stop every mile to catch my breath.  My lungs were burning, big time!  The guys were gracefully patient with me.  In spite of my lack of oxygen, I LOVED this trail.  Only next time, I wanna ride it DOWN!
 
Through the gate and we hit another mile of climbing.  My thought at this point was that there better be some darn (trying to keep it clean) good downhill coming up.  I'm working way too hard at this.
 
LOOK!  MAPS!  5 miles in - you can make sure you are taking the right trail.

The terrain is starting to level out and the scenery was incredible.  Some of the trees were turning yellow and they were embedded in the green stuff, so the contrast in colors required me to stop and take pictures.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  The regaining of my lungs while stopped was an added bonus.
 
Somewhere along this beautiful trail, we missed a turn.  Guess we weren't paying enough attention to the trail, but who could blame us with all the cool stuff to see? 
 
What that meant was another mile of STEEP, ROCKY climbing (I had to hike my bike a bit on this one) to the top of a mountain where we peaked out at 8,372 feet.  The view was spectacular.  Unfortunately, the trail just stopped.  There was nowhere else for us to go.
 
The view from the top

Did I mention I hate being lost in the woods?  The guys didn't seem to be all that phased about things, so I tried to go with the flow.  But, honestly, all I could think of was how much longer until we hit that downhill stuff?  It's gotta be somewhere out here.  The climbing was getting old at this point and being lost wasn't helping.

No More Trail for us to Ride

A quick perusal of our map told us we needed to go back. Not so bad, at least it was DOWN this time. We added two miles to our ride and another fifty feet or so of climbing - I was getting a work out!  

What our detour looked like on strava

A mile back down the rocks and we were looking at the map, comparing landmarks and wondering where the trail was at since we didn't see where our turn off was.  I rode a little further than the guys and BAM, I found our mystery trail.

ROCKS

Lower Brookbank Trail was DOWN HILL, baby!  I was in my element at last.  ROCKS and DOWN HILL!  Did I mention the DOWN part?  We dropped 600 feet in one mile.  I even scored Queen of the Mountain.  OK, I am the only female on strava riding this - but hey, I don't see where the other gals would even want to avoid this - it was FUN!!!

DOWN HILL

I came off this part absolutely elated.  The top was totally freaky with cliffy stuff and all the big rocks had smaller loose rocks running between them  It took me about a third of this to figure out how to ride in this stuff.  Once we cleared the end and hit the road at the bottom, I was ready to do it again.  I'll be back, Flagstaff, you can bet on it!

OH YEAH!

The last two and a half miles was on a trail called Rocky Ridge.  I KNOW - just what I always dreamed of more rocks and more down hill.  I was in for a bit of a surprise on this one, though.  It wasn't all down hill and I had finally hit my wall of concentration.  I was hitting rocks that my bike shouldn't have even been near.

First there was the 300 foot drop and then the 200 foot climb.  Dropped another 50 feet and then climbed that same 50 feet.  I was DONE with climbing.  I was now OFF my bike and doing the "hike a bike" thing.  I was on a rollercoaster made of rock.  Down 20 feet, up 20 feet.  Ultimately, we were descending, but it sure didn't feel like it.  I bonked in a big way and hiked DOWN the last 200 feet because I had almost gone over my handle bars once too many times at the end of this ride.  I determined I was too tired to concentrate and gave it up.  I'm calling this my goal for next time - don't BONK!

We finished our ride and in spite of my exhaustion at the end . . . it was AMAZING!!!

Holding out for the heat to arrive
 
ONE LAST NOTE:  Camping is fun (hahahahahaha), but Flagstaff dropped below freezing the night we were there.  I refused to exit the tent until the guys promised me breakfast in a warm restaurant instead of cooking at our 35 degree campground.  Guess who won?  OR maybe they just agreed that it was REALLY COLD outside.