It's Been a Long Time, Bishes. Update!
So this weekend, I'm doing the 50 mile Tour of the White Mountain Race by Epic Rides. It'll be my longest, hardest race to-date. (so not counting the dirty bunny ha). 50+ miles and over 5k ft of climbing. That'll be over 5 hrs of ride/race time. I didn't get to pre-ride the entire thing either. Hope it's marked well. I'm getting nervous. This summer was a bit up and down with motivation and eating well so I'm a little heavier and with the scorching, ridiculous heat...who can get in more than a 2hr bike ride w/out dying by 9am in AZ. Though I did shred lots of awesome downhill/All-mtn trails this summer and got better at that. I consider this an off-season race to help me get miles/hrs in to improve my endurance. So I keep telling myself, just survive, just learn how to eat, when to eat, what you like, what you need before this hill and that stretch, how to pass better, etc...just use it for learning experience. BUT you racers know that when the time comes, no matter what race you do, no matter what your stamina or situation, you get in freak out race mode...like a freakin' banshee at the start, hell probably on the drive up there I'll start bansheeing out. 50 miles though...takes so much thought and strategy to even survive w/out bonking. Hmm. I'll let you know how it goes!
So this summer I did me some downhilling and all-mountaining (uh is that a word?). I got to visit Angel Fire Bike Park 2x and did lots of Mount Lemmon trails which are pretty gnarly. I'm honored to have been asked to join the board of a new group that caters to the DH/All-Mtn world in Tucson called TORCA - Tucson Off-Road Cyclist and Activist and I've been able to learn so much and do shuttle runs with them. I put my 29er hartail race bike up and pulled out my awesome Ibis Mojo HD...bigger travel, FS, 26er. If you want to improve your skills greatly, go to a bike park and learn how to ride those downhill trails. Though I didn't get to do many black trails like I planned on my last time up there. Rain got in the way. I did a chainless race down what we would consider an intermediate trail called Ziggy up there. Yup they took your chain off and you had to use your momentum and not brake to carry speed to get through it. There were a couple parts where you went up a little and on flats you needed to pump and be moving when you got there. I had a couple practice runs and by go time, I ended up placing 2nd! I learned a ton that day as my friend, Tara, took a bad digger (she's ok thank god) on the way down and I didn't get to get my chain from Art who was helping her. I did my runs chainless that day and talk about an eye-opener on how much I brake, or used to. Tara is ok and back on her bike being awesome. Her and Art I look up to a lot as riders. Talk about a couple that can really shred it!
Going back to the 29er hardtail was a bit hairy at first but I got on and it's amazing what you're able to hit and do after practicing the gnarly stuff going fast. Just had to remember my positioning and such is a little different on that bike. I'm excited to see how practicing downhill spills over into my XC racing. Now it's time to combo up still doing some DH but also working on climbing and endurance. Ain't no way around improving that stuff...you gotta put in hours on the bike. Hours I've not had lately or have to exhaust myself to squeeze in.
So this summer I did me some downhilling and all-mountaining (uh is that a word?). I got to visit Angel Fire Bike Park 2x and did lots of Mount Lemmon trails which are pretty gnarly. I'm honored to have been asked to join the board of a new group that caters to the DH/All-Mtn world in Tucson called TORCA - Tucson Off-Road Cyclist and Activist and I've been able to learn so much and do shuttle runs with them. I put my 29er hartail race bike up and pulled out my awesome Ibis Mojo HD...bigger travel, FS, 26er. If you want to improve your skills greatly, go to a bike park and learn how to ride those downhill trails. Though I didn't get to do many black trails like I planned on my last time up there. Rain got in the way. I did a chainless race down what we would consider an intermediate trail called Ziggy up there. Yup they took your chain off and you had to use your momentum and not brake to carry speed to get through it. There were a couple parts where you went up a little and on flats you needed to pump and be moving when you got there. I had a couple practice runs and by go time, I ended up placing 2nd! I learned a ton that day as my friend, Tara, took a bad digger (she's ok thank god) on the way down and I didn't get to get my chain from Art who was helping her. I did my runs chainless that day and talk about an eye-opener on how much I brake, or used to. Tara is ok and back on her bike being awesome. Her and Art I look up to a lot as riders. Talk about a couple that can really shred it!
Going back to the 29er hardtail was a bit hairy at first but I got on and it's amazing what you're able to hit and do after practicing the gnarly stuff going fast. Just had to remember my positioning and such is a little different on that bike. I'm excited to see how practicing downhill spills over into my XC racing. Now it's time to combo up still doing some DH but also working on climbing and endurance. Ain't no way around improving that stuff...you gotta put in hours on the bike. Hours I've not had lately or have to exhaust myself to squeeze in.
Well I'm off to go get my bike from the shop and get ready for this weekend. Thanks for listening and will blog soon on my Tour of the White Mountain experience!
PS. I'm not spell or grammar checking this, deal with it ;).
PS. I'm not spell or grammar checking this, deal with it ;).
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