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It's good to be humbled by an old friend. In middle school and into high school I rode bikes a lot. We'd ride to Santa Barbara and back on the weekends which is about 85 miles round trip. Good now, but great when we were 14. Sixteen came and we abandoned bicycles for cars. It wasn't until I was 21 or 22 that I got back into cycling.

Freshly wounded by a bad breakup I wandered into the local shop and found a Cannondale on sale. It'd been stolen and recovered so they were discounting as used, but it was still new, and new to me. I bought it and looked around for places to ride. Someone had drawn up a cartoon map of a trail in the back of a Mountain Bike magazine. It looked fun and it was local!! Los Robles trail, located in the Santa Monica Mountains here in CA.

I headed up the next day to scout out the trail. Since I was only scouting it out I had no cycling gear with me and no water. I ended up riding the whole trail from end to end. I loved it. I was hard, twisty and challenging. I'd climb a bit and stop to catch my breath. Ride. Repeat. Eventually I reached the top. That was real mountain biking and I was hooked!! I came back the following day and literally hundreds of times since. It's a short trail, only 6.1 or 6.2 miles, but the track is varied, technical and just fun.

Doug and I started riding it regularly and eventually we got fit enough not to need to stop and rest. Now we reminisce about how unfit we were and we haven't been that unfit since. Back then Doug rode it on his dad's strangely very heavy, rigid, aluminum mountain bike basically with one hand and one brake. I've ridden it on many typical So Cal days and shortly after my dad's death I watched a sunset on a near perfect January day. That is where I said goodbye to Dad. I've seen and photographed many sunsets since though they mostly look alike, they're all spectacular. I haven't made it a ritual, but for several birthdays I've been up there to watch the sunset.

During the times I have lived in the area I'd ride Los Robles weekly, but not once since moving to Santa Barbara last year. Yesterday was my 36th birthday and dinner is tonight so I drove to Los Robles for another sunset ride. Lately, with my newly earned level of fitness it's been like driving around in a new sports car. I've been riding up hills that last year had the best of me. Today the hills seem shorter and less steep. Los Robles is a short sprint of a mountain bike trail. So much so that I no longer bother with my hydration pack, tools and tubes. If I flat I'll just walk it out. Oh well. So I rode up yesterday and even with my new found fitness it was still challenging. I figured it'd be a cake walk, but no, not really. The climbs were still tough... and though I have memorized the trail and even individual rocks and ruts, I have to admit I didn't give my old friend there enough respect. Skipping lunch and not drinking enough water during the day didn't help, but Los Robles humbled me a bit yesterday. And the sunset? Simply spectacular. Enjoy.

-PW

Rain

Last week I eked 100.7 miles for a monthly total of 265. Saturday I did fifty (49.1) miles in a rain storm for four hours. Training isn't just physical fitness, but mental too. I have to be able to ride for 12 hours, almost non-stop, in what ever the conditions happen to be on August 14th. The quick though of weather in August is summer. Nice. Warm. But the ride is at a high elevation in the Rocky Mountains and with elevation come dramatically different weather.

Last year the morning started near freezing, the day warmed nicely then a thunderstorm came in and it hailed. That's high altitude weather. I'll be keeping an eye on the west horizon, but should anything pop up I don't have much choice but to keep riding. So on Saturday I did my four hours in off and on rain, heavy at times, sunny, very windy with one spectacular double rainbow. That rainbow is cast on the downpour I just rode through. Three road closures and two detours later I rolled home. Wet and cold, but I felt good. Really good.

Until Saturday I was ready to hire a cycling coach to help me condition for the race. I'd planned to since I'd been accepted and after a lot research I'd settled on Chris Carmichael's CTS program. For those not in the know, Carmichael is Lance's coach. He has parlayed that notoriety into a coached training program for athletes. Well whether you pick CTS or one of the numerous others out there, it is spendy! Upward of $150 a month for a basic package. I figure I have three thing to deal with in this race: the distance, the climbing and the elevation. After the ride Saturday I decided I'm not hiring a coach. I felt that good! This race is already quite expensive so it's nice to know I'm saving there and I think I'll be fine in the end. We'll see, won't we?

After a 20 mile recovery ride on Sunday, Patsy did some massage work on my legs and they're worked. Knots with knots! My early riding schedule has been Tuesday, Thurday, Saturday and Sunday. Considering the knots, I took yesterday's (Tuesday) ride off the schedule so I'll have three days in a row without a ride. Recovery is a very important part of training. Since I've just began, I chose to listen to Patsy and my body and rest a bit, but tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle. I feel good, I'm eating plenty, drinking a lot of water and taking a lot of vitamins/minerals/aminos. I'll keep you posted.

-PW